...You've all in one way or another been advocating 'patience' and also 'stability' for the last twelve months or so. After today's rank poor showing, hard on the heels of a weak performance vs Stoke - and complete capitulation vs Villa, Let's be 'avin' some justification in these firmly held beliefs, please?
If it's any consolation we're playing dreadful against the teams around us. Big chance for you next week.
Although I predicted a win in our CPL, I didn't really expect a win, Saints are safely mid-table, so I didn't suffer from delusional expectations like so many on here do! I tell you something, no matter who our next manager is, the very same usual suspects will be calling for his head! We are Norwich, hopefully we can remain in the PL for money's sake but it will be decades before we can become the kind of team you all expect us to be! I hope that is clear enough for you! CH's remit was to keep us in the PL and he is still on course to achieve that, no matter how wet your pants get!
There's staying up playing football though? That's what I'm asking for plain & simple. And no I won't be calling for anyone's head if they do there job properly. Which is not just to scrape home playing dross crappy boring football which embarrasses our badge.
Surely it's not too much to ask to see our team string a few passes together and occasionally give evidence of being in possession of a pair of bo**ocks is it?
What carrabuh said. Where has all your patience got us? If anything, we're worse than last season, in terms of cluelessness and mistakes, whereby having strengthened and worked together for much longer as a squad of players, we should be tighter knit? It'a all gone very quiet in the "patience" justification department?
Firstly Im sure everyone agrees the club or any club for that matter requires stability to achieve success. No peoples ideas of stability may be different e.g. some may feel having a stable board and ownership is enouth whereas others may include a manager and finances in this. I doubt anyone includes players as that is unrealistic. I have said since around January if we are to sack CH then we should wait until the end of the season and i stand by that. That does not mean I think we play great football. I can see how he wants us to play and I agree with some of it but by no means all. Under PL we went for it more which was great to watch but we also played without much control in the games. This was great then but long term we had to look at having more control and patience in matches to take us up another level. If you like him or not CH has at least tried to do this which is a good thing although as yet not that successful. This is actually my biggest criticism of him is that I feel he tries to play in a way many of our current players are not capable of. The other issue is who could we bring in? They have to be an improvement on CH if not whats the point? The worst thing is to sack CH and let somebody else relegate us. A club like Norwich imo must try and long long term for any new coach. Stop gaps cost a lot of money and often unbalance the squad. On the plus side amazingly we are not in the bottom three still! So should we jepordise this by bringing in a new manager? Yes we are not playing well and it is going to be a scrap to stay up but bringing a new manager in is always a gamble and is as likely to take us down as it is keeping us up. We are for once in a good financial position so if we can stay up we should be able to make significant improvements in the summer whoever the manager may be. On a side note and slightly off topic. Few people in a previos thread feel playing at home is a big advantage because of the fans. So if fans have a big impact on performance and confidence it is a shame that at times ours have been poor in their support of team and manager this season. Maybe if we had got behind them all from the start and throughout we would be in a better position? Of course people can point team having to raise the crowd, we turn up every week etc but just a thought. Hope that answers your question and is not swerving around it.
I should add that this also very much depends on the players support of CH and if they are relativly happy playing for him. But I dont know the answer to that and it shouldnt be left to speculation.
Unlike the outers, we don't need to bang on the same thing ad nauseum, we have made our point, the outers have to keep wriggling because they have an agenda!
Cromer - I have always expected and always advocated, and always will, advocate and expect patience and particularly support from anyone calling themselves a City fan, and by that I don´t just mean paying their money and turning up each week, I mean support, both the players and the manager, whoever they may be, for as long as they are employed at the club, and however the team and manager perform. Old-fashioned I may be, but that is what supporters do, booing at players, jeering at the manager, chanting ´you don´t know what you´re doing´ has no place in my view. If fans really want Hughton out, then they should aim all their ammunition at McNally and the board, NOT at Hughton or the players, because by doing so, they are undermining the very thing they´re trying to build. I´m amazed that so many fans seem incapable of seeing that for themselves. Many times on here, and other message boards, I´ve read that `Hughton is draining all the confidence out of the players´ - NO, Hughton isn´t draining all the confidence out of the players, if anyone is draining confidence out of them, and him, it´s those supporters who continually forget to support, and would rather find things to criticise. Also I´ve heard many say how disgusted they are, at being ´let down´ by the players and manager, whatever right have they got to feel ´let down´ for heavens sake, just reaching the Premier League and staying in it, is a triumph for a club of our size and stature. I can truthfully say I´ve never once felt let down, I´ve been sad and disappointed plenty of times, but let down, no never. Particularly when things are going badly on the pitch, is the time for cutting out the criticism and getting back to some supporting, that is the sort of patience I´ve been calling for, for ages. I feel absolutely convinced that to continue with this ´one man witch-hunt´ and mindless criticism at whatever he does, will only lead us one way, and that is, down.
Cheers Dave! Although Im sure its not over them Lets get one thing straight, everyone on here wants the best for Norwich of that I have no doubt. Even our little Blue friends who pop over now and again It is just that people have different views on what is best for the club. Some have more tollerance, variation in expectations but all want us to do well. Like RBF though, I do have a bit of an issue with some of the "support" but again maybe that is just a differing of opinion.
I understand your definition of the 'patience' required, RBF and thanks for taking the time to answer. But - I may be as thick as two short planks here, patience as I define it, is being tolerant and not minding waiting while something is being done, or assembled for as long as it takes to achieve the desired goal / end product. In other words, not expecting Rome to be built in a day. This current situation was not helped from very early on by Alan Bowkett saying publicly that after finishes of 12th and 11th, then 10th this year was a realistic target Small wonder that many - possibly the slightly younger brigade of fans have taken this literally and use it (every draw or loss) as a stick to beat Hughton with. Being ...ahem, older-school, and having had a season ticket when we couldn't even beat Oxford Utd or Bury (FFS!) I'm too long in the tooth to be swayed by a few words and 17th position will do just fine by me. But 'patience' when the coaching team are clearly devoid of a system and style of play (as in yesterday) and 'patience' when we (coaches and team) open the floodgates repeatedly this season (Manchester City, Liverpool and even Aston bloody Villa) without a scooby how to respond / regroup / retaliate ... well I'm sorry. That's not good enough. Plus,as I said above it's gone backwards. Having spent £25m (as did everyone else in the league, I know) on upgrading the playing staff, you'd expect to see higher pass completion, ball retention, overall possession being achieved ... HA!! We've gotten worse. From where I sit, it's not so much Rome being built in a day as dismantled and destroyed over the course of a season. Sorry to go on and on but.....
I think I'm probably now swaying into the "out" camp, even if that's tempered somewhat with wanting us to have the right replacement, not just anyone. It's not the results that bothers me, it's not delusions of grandeur, it's simply that every game seems more painful than the last. I'm not expecting us to turn up and play teams off the park each week, but I don't think asking for a team capable of stringing a few passes together is being greedy. If we'd had the season Hull have had, despite only being a single point better off, I suspect there'd be much less dissent. I'm perfectly happy for us to spend 10 years between 11th and 17th in the league, but it's infuriating to watch us capitulate every time we concede, and score maybe twice a month. It's just about been effective enough so far, but if football was all about being effective then Tony Pulis would be managing Barcelona.
Cromer, there have been several occasions this season where even the strongest of outers have agreed thay can see an improvement in style, only to back-track when we lose, often unfairly, Hull, Man U, Chelsea and bloody Cardiff with their parked bus set up by their former manager that those very outers want as our new manager! Fickle or what?????
So explain to me the eleven headless, clueless chickens who turned out yesterday? One of the few games left this season where we might realistically have expected to take something. Calling it men vs boys would be insulting to the men of Southampton!
Impossible to explain, all I can say is even Barcelona have off days, quite a few this season by their standards!
