We have played five of the current top 7 teams already. Hull are also top half which leaves Stoke and Villa the only teams we have played so far who are in the bottom half right now. I know the table probably won't stay that way all seasons of course, but considering the quality of most of our performances we should be more than ok this season.
Hmm, that's got me thinking. Slap-dash analysis time....:* Norwich have played: 1st, 2,15,12,7,5,9,6 Average: 7.1 Sunderland: 11,8,3,13,1,20,5,17 Average: 9.8 Palace: 3,5,11,8,20,15,7 Average: 9.9 Fulham: 15,16,2,13,10,1,20 Average: 11 Cardiff: 2,10,17,14,7,9,6,4 Average: 8.6 Stoke: 13,17,18,1,4,14,20,3 Average: 11.3 West Ham: 4,7,9,6,5,15,10,16 Average: 9 I can't be bothered to do the rest right now, but based on the current table, our fixture list has been particularly hard, especially compared to Fulham and Stoke! *Yeah, you could argue whether the table is the cause or effect of our position to some extent, but this was only for a quick look out of curiosity.
I was having a frank exchange of views with QPR fans the other week on this very subject.They have played eleven games so far and the highest placed opposition team is Ipswich in 11th place.
Think suggesting that playing Hull is somehow proof of a tough fixture list is stretching a point to beyond tenuous!
Or mine for that matter! Pretending Hull were 20th would still give us a lower average than any other team in the bottom 6.
Two draws against Hull and Villa, and everything would look much rosier, that's for sure. The performances are improving and the last piece of the jigsaw is getting more bite up front. Yesterday we saw more signs of not just hoofing in long crosses and hoping.
We r ok !! I wobbled a bit after the villa game but thought we were great v Chelski not seen any if today's game but happy enough out squad
For a spell in the second half we were the better side.That's not the view of a rose tinted Norwich fan either but was the take of the MOTD commentator.If you look at the relegation suspects we still have five of the bottom group of seven to play.Going to Selhurst Park isn't going to be like going to The Emirates.If we can beat Cardiff things will look very different.
That's a big if for me at the moment. Yes we are improving but not getting points, which is a concern. No issues with the results from the last two games but we are looking vulnerable at the back and the strikers are not scoring. Yes the midfield seems to be getting there but if you do not score you do not win games. We are all assuming the Norwich we have seen in the last two games will turn up against Cardiff. If you have been following Norwich for as long as I have we tend not to do that for the games we should be getting something from ( with all respect to Cardiff). Already the pressure is building and game 9 is developing a must win feel. You spend all your time wanting to get to the Premier league and when you get here it is not enjoyable fearing losing your place each year. Thought we would be not suffering this thus year this much early doors but I was naive.
Cast your mind back three games and remember the performance and win against Stoke. That is a team we would be looking at and thinking we could get some points and we did. We've played well in the past three games and against lesser opposition we would have got more points. There is no reason to believe we won't put in another good performance next weekend.
I think a lot of us expected that the new players would gel more quickly. Fer is now a far better player than he looked in the opening 4 games, as was RvW against Stoke and Chelsea (though more of a case of other players adjusting to him). Olsson has played fewer games but is already looking the part. Redmond is full of pace and promise and an excellent player to bring on as an impact sub and Hooper needs more games to show what he can do. The midfield trio has found an excellent balance between attack and defence. I'm optimistic that performances will continue to improve and City will be in mid-table by Christmas, with money available for the January window if needed.
While the midfield do appear to be functioning well as a unit, we still look like struggling to feed the front man/men. Not an immediate concern but something that does need addressing sooner rather than later. As for money to spend - I can't work out where, on the pitch, it would be spent on other than the back line, and even then I am not sure at whose expense. In fact, unless we have some crippling injuries, I would not be surprised if no new players are recruited this season.
I think that's right, Thai, but I'm impressed with the way Howson's game is growing the more he plays. His pacy runs at the Arsenal defence, supported by Fer and Tettey show promise, IMO. I also think that Pilks and Snods are adjusting their game to focus on cutting in and even acting as a second striker at times. I think Wenger's post-game comments are interesting: “We won 4-1 and their keeper had a good game, but Norwich played well, so it is strange,” he said. “They made it difficult for us and we struggled between 30 and 60 minutes to keep our game going. I would come out of the match thinking Norwich were a good team."
I've had these exact thoughts too. I still think we're getting better at finding the frontman, but we don't look like creating more than 1 or 2 chances a game, at most, for said striker. If the rest of the team keep chipping in goals though, I'm less worried about RvW/Hooper scoring relatively few. As to recruitment, I agree I can't see an obvious weak link. If Toivonen was available to challenge Howson, then I wouldn't mind seeing him arrive, but otherwise I guess it's just going to be a case of strengthening anywhere we can see obvious value for money. To me, that's a nice position to be in, as we're not going to be wasting too much money.
There is indeed no reason why we won't put in another good performance but this is Norwich we are talking about!! You watch us go 1 nil down!
Arsenal are in superb form probably one of the best teams in Europe at the moment based on how their playing, Chelsea after a wobbly start have started pulling together results and if we're to be entirely honest about it that should of been a draw.
I watched the Villa-Spurs game today and was amazed to learn that no Spurs striker had scored from outfield play this season until Soldado finally did so late in the game. The single striker formation makes it very tough on the strikers.
A lot of the pundits had been saying about Soldado needing to pull his weight a bit more as he likes to keep around the same area, in my opinion a player like Soldado needs someone in the hole behind him rather then flat midfield, I think it suits their style of play well because they take time to build things up, I thought Townsend once he tired out Luna was getting balls into the box more. This single striker formation has stemmed out of German-Spanish football system which we're trying to emulate badly, they've successfully developed the wide players to play as wide secondary forwards, we've struggled to make wingers adapt to that role especially players from British backgrounds they seem to be more concerned with sticking to flanks, we have the pace the trickery and power the attributes but some of the positional play is awful and it totally isolates the loan forwards.
