Nah, Ricky's been saving them all up for a blockbuster performance. I'd laugh if it wasn't so true....
I'm actually one of the few on here who have long admired the Swansea approach and there has been alot of sniping on the Norwich boards in the past for the credit that Swansea have been given. The Brendan Rogers Swansea is the direction I want our own team to go. The point I was making is that Swansea (conceptually) are going more towards the traditional direct English model. Look at Bony for example, he's a traditional Premiership forward. I never said we play better football than Swansea, or that we are a better team because I know both are untrue, even before the game yesterday. We are as dour as they come, and our football last season was the most rotten I've ever seen. My point is that I do think you are regressing on the football front because the patience is leaving your game, even against us it was evident (not that patience was needed admittedly). Is Garry Monk really going to go back to that tradition? Not very likely.
I heard rob butler getting into him and slating him for not effecting games enough when he is on the pitch. I detest rob butler but he does have a point. RVW hasn't been a game changer or scored many goals.
No the difference now is we can still play all the tip tappy keep ball when we want to. But now we actually have a plan B and be a bit more direct when needed.
I agree RvW hasn't done a lot, but I think the midfield have to shoulder a significant amount of the responsibility. The central midfielders we had available to us yesterday have just two assists between them all season. Snodgrass, Hoolahan and even Elmander have been better of late, but for the vast majority of the season we've not had the midfield needed to support our strikers. Going forwards, Johnson is more a hindrance than help, Tettey and Howson offer little more than recycling possession (and the occasional effort from range). Fer seems to have no idea what role he's playing, rendering him ineffectual. Redmond doesn't realise he has team-mates on the pitch. Pilks is criminally underused. We've had this same problem since our 10 game run ended in December 2012. We scraped through last season on our set-pieces, but even they've dried up this season. Holt, Jackson, Kamara, RvW, Hooper, Elmander, whoever's been up front has been feeding off scraps. If we survive, to push on next season we need a huge overhaul of the midfield. I'm happy us playing 4-5-1 (or variations on the theme), but Fer and Snodgrass are the only ones I'd want as regular starter next seasons. Howson and Tettey should be bench options, Johnson in reserve for when injuries strike. I can see Pilks leaving in the summer, so we're going to need a left winger capable of taking some pressure off Snodgrass, an attacking midfield who creates, scores and is generally wonderful, and a rock of a defensive midfielder who can pass. With a RB, CB and striker, that's a mere 6 top signings required....easy.
I've always felt the better concept was to make Plan A better. I don't think you are tip tappy anymore, your just one of the better footballing sides.
That Norwich will probably stay up will be because the likes of West Brom, Cardiff and Fulham's serve up even greater dross. I don't think there are any jacks that want to see a team like norwich go down but if i was forced to put a bet on then sentiment put aside i can see norwich as the team that cardiff and sunderland must aim for looking at your last 4 games, I think it will go right to the wire and your next 3 games are a must win because if there is anyone in the bottom 2 who still have a chance then It will be very difficult and who knows what will happen....The next 3 games are crucial and i hope you get the right results..
You raise some very valuable points here carrabuh, and I think that it was because of too much watering down of our pure football by Laudrup that our board looked to sack him, and while I agree with other Jacks that we needed to be more direct on times, Laudrup took it too far and was dismantling our midfield passing and possession strength and good qualities far too much, and it put our defence under far too much pressure, and hence why we conceded too many goals this season. I really do not think that Laudrup really understood our game that Martinez gave us, and which Rodgers perfected, but I have confidence that our board will want our pure football philosophy back on the field for next season, and so it's because of this that I think that Monk is only temporary, but should he stay, then we will get someone in from Spain to assist him with our game development!................
