Yes carrow, you're probably right in what you say. I wonder if we'll see some significant changes in the starting 11 on Saturday, starting with JR reclaiming his slot????
The biggest joke was and is our defence , other than Pinto they are our strongest back 4 because we didn't strengthen . Chucking on Turner or Bassong would be mental so he's forced to play the same arseholes that played last Saturday . God forbid Tim or Jerome get injured.
I'm still a fan of Ruddy, but I'm not sure we'll see any improvement in his performance whilst AN is at the helm. For me, Ruddy's performance levels have gone downhill since his injury / AN arrived, like many others players. All of our players are playing well below their best. Even McGoven has now been at the club long enough to become a nervous wreck. As DD says only Klose & Jerome look anywhere near top of the Championship quality. I wonder if we would have capitulated quiet as easily if Howson was not injure. Our performances seem to have got even worse since he has become unavailable.
The club says it's imperative we return to the premier league in the next two years? Do they not realise we should know our place, and cut our cloth accordingly?
An article that epitomises everything I have felt in recent weeks. To me too many players are salary gathering - not putting in maximum effort, showing a distinct lack of interest and not putting the team first. I don't know what is wrong but something clearly is amiss and it is beginning to remind me of Hughton's last days - ironic considering the damage his team did to us on Saturday. OK the crowd hasn't turned on Neil thus far, but if we see a repeat of the shambles of recent weeks on Saturday I fear a vitriol outpouring which could turn toxic. There's still time to turn it round. Quite how we improve our defence is beyond me considering the lack of quality cover, but we must have players who play for the shirt and not for the wage packet and that is the first step to recovery in my limited humble opinion.
VERY well said ocf and I think you've summed up the feelings of practically 100% of the fans. We seem to have gone backwards since beating Wolves and I feel we were quite fortunate to get that victory, as they could have snatched at least a draw had their strikers been on form.
Well said ocf. Fans earn a fraction of what some of these players do and spend a huge chunk on season tickets, travel costs to support the club & replica shirts, etc. (£73 and upwards, last I heard!) so they give 100% support every week. Least they can expect is for the squad to do likewise.
Agree with you carrow about Howson. He is the lynchpin in the middle of the park, doing the simple things that are mostly missed by the fans.
I think they may as well gandy, because I fear this is where we are going to be for the immediate future.
Sorry RBF, I guess i was cocking a bit of a snoot at a comment you made the other day! I respect your comments, I always do, and if you are merely saying we look to be stuck here for a while, on current showing, that seems likely. What I don't get are the fans who seem actually HAPPY to stay here. Win a few more than we lose (even that seems unlikely on recent performances), keep well clear of relegation whilst not troubling the zenith of the league. I can only say - where's the passion? I couldn't bear to think that way.
ILD - You don´t seem to do much to try and understand the points I´m making. I know I´m in a minority of one when it comes to preferring to ply our trade here rather than in the PL. I´m not expecting or advocating that anyone (Delia included) should either agree with me, or wish the same. Naturally we should try to get out of this League, and I fully expect us to try, unfortunately I don´t actually think we will, just yet, and secondly I very múch fear for the consequences, if by some streak of fate we do manage to, at some point. With the current set up at the Club and the general football climate being what it is at the moment, I don´t think we´d have a ´cats chance in hell´ of staying there for more than a season or two at the most. The countless number of times we´ve already tried and failed, if, doing nothing else, surely is telling its own story.
gandy - if we seriously could survive and make a go of it up there, then I would like nothing better, but to see us up there getting thumped every second week, and eventually coming back down again at the end of the first or possibly second season, is not for me. I´m not happy to stay here, but I would prefer us to stay here, for our own good, so that we´re not continually humiliated (last Saturday excepted).
If we stay where we are as you seem to want us to do, HOW do we improve unless we pit ourselves against teams of premiership quality. That's the only way we will progress even if we have to have a few goes at it. You don't improve playing against the same level of opposition week in week out. Plus I want to see the best players in the world playing at CR, and they're not in the championship!
I guess the problem with staying in the championship is that the probability of declining as a football club increases. There appears to be very few teams that are able to develop (as in days gone by) without considerable investment. I agree that money has poisoned football, but surely for the overall benefit of the club and for the greater probability of watching Norwich produce better quality football then the aspiration has to be the PL. Everything should be done to realise that ambition. As I've mentioned before, the team has played pretty poor football for most of the season, - players will want away ASAP. There are some excellent footballers at our club, but they are seldom playing to their individual potential and certainly not to their collective potential. That is worrying and there are remedies. My own view is that AN has reached a plateau and I imagine that he can improve, but the question is always how long will it take? There is a finite window of opportunity to produce success, and every opportunity wasted can make it that much harder o bounce back. The club needs to harness its current potential, rather than piss it away- I'm no longer convinced that AN is able to harness the potential . I think it is possible to produce one of the best Norwich city teams with the current crop of players (and a couple of additional signings). They might not be as successful as previous teams but that is because the relative quality of teams has progressed dramatically over the years. I'm concerned that opportunity is going to be missed and for every professional sports team/person the aim is to be the best one can can be- We need to start being a club that is aiming to be the best it can possibly be.
Good points made HOTRC. My other fear is that if we don't improve soon and we slip further away from the autos (and even the play-off positions) the quality players such as Klose and Olsson (although he has been far from his best this season - "want away syndrome maybe") could be be lured away in January as they would see no way of getting back to the PL with us and that would make us considerably weaker than we currently are.
