What an excellent heart felt response. (Just remember to put some paragraphs in next time so I can follow your words better!)
Cheers, ChrisAcle08. For the sake of all Norwich fans eyesight, I have now paragraphed my post. Happy new year to you all.
AppleJack, What a superb post I think it's fair to say that 99.9% of Norwich fans are extremely impressed with your philosophy and the way Rodgers sets out to play the game. Shrewd (management and tactics) as opposed to lewd (the team that got promoted with us both) I believe we'll both be plying our trade in this league next season.
Swansea fully deserve all the praise they are getting for all the reasons posted by BAJ. On the brink of losing football league status less than a decade ago to the present day, what a remarkable achievement. On top of that they play football, not hoofball! ok they lack a bit of penetration in the PL at times but that might be sorted out this month and they could potentially have a very decent side. Personally I have no issue with Norwich getting less coverage (even none would be fine with me) than the Swans or any other team as long as it is for the right reasons
I don't really understand the issue with Swansea getting more media attention, if in fact that is the case. However, I would like us to play "tappy tappy football" a bit more. The hoofing it forward aimlessly drives me insane and gives the ball away so we are on the backfoot far mroe often than we need to be. We could certainly take a leaf out of Swansea's book, especially as their style of play gives the other teams less opportunities. A blend of the two approaches would be idea for NCFC and maybe now with Ayala (if he proves himself) we may actually show some more finesse at the back
longsight, i think you are confusing 'aimless drives' with 'balls into channels'. there is a big difference - the way we play the game stretches opponents quickly and means we create many more chances. if we were to play david fox every game then we will play tappy tappy, or tiki-taka as i think its really called! he controls the tempo of our team and uses the ball better than anyone else in our team. but its not always the right tactic to play him so why limit ourselves with a certain brand of football? personally i feel swansea haven't quite got the balance right between playing beautiful football and being dangerous. they almost always have 60-70% possession but 95% of it is in their own half. whats the point of that unless your aim is to keep a clean sheet? its far, far too negative and i'm surprised graham has done so well to bag himself a few goals considering how little service he gets. i think norwich have the better balance. we also play beautiful football but when the time is right, can play more direct when the time is right or be more aggressive when the time is right. swansea have a plan a and if that doesn't work they are stuck. they don't push enough bodies forward and its easy to trap them in their own half if you press on the edge of the box when their keeper has the ball - its all about bravery but we showed its possible to do it at carrow road earlier this season. it invariably works as swansea refuse to play over the top of your very high line, you pinch the ball back in their half and you end up dominating.
That's a very optimistic description of our football. All I was trying to say is that we might do better to keep the ball a little longer until a forward has put themselves in a "channel" rather than onto the head of an opposing centre back and give away posession time and time again. Just a thought. Or maybe they are looking for channels but keep tuning into static
To quote Adam Drury and to make my point a little clearer “It’s got a little bit quicker, perhaps, I think maybe now it’s a bit more like international football where teams keep the ball and don’t give the ball away as much as they used to,” he said. “If you give it away, you don’t get it back too quickly, so you end up doing a lot of running without the ball. But I think it’s the best league in the world and that’s where everyone wants to be. Just trying to say that in my opinion holding onto the ball a little more would benefit us and maybe we play the channel too quickly without thought.
how on earth is that an 'optimistic' description of our football? that is EXACTLY how we play the game!! of course sometimes we look for morison's head with a long ball but he's very good in the air - we play to our strengths! we don't do it all the time. we do pass the ball well, maybe not as well as swansea, but i've already stated that they tend to play their football in the wrong part of the pitch - at least we play ours further forward where it is more effective! sometimes i really wonder what some of our fans are watching. never happy, always looking for something to moan about. today its cos we don't play tiki-taka. unbelievable
Jesus wept if someone diasagrees with you or criticises the team, then you take umbridge so quickly. whats the issue, we give away posession too frequently, and maybe some thought could be put into the decision making process. I'm ecstatic with the position we are in and have loved every minute, I will refrain in future from using inappropriate adjectives so it comes across more accurately and try to execute precision in my statements
posted that previous post before i read your next one, which is a much better way of putting 'we could keep the ball better at times'. well thats fair enough, and you could aim that at 95% of teams but we play the way we do to utilise our players strengths. whats the problem? the only team i think have truly used the ball to great effect against us is tottenham. well there's a surprise! they are a top notch team. also, when we do play football and knock it around at the back, why do people moan in the ground? not suggesting you longsight, but honestly, i think some of our fans struggle with football...
Exactly and that's why I'm very optimistic about Ayala and Whitbread, both seem happy to play the ball and wait for the opportunity. I could see that they did that against QPR and thought they had a good game, and I was very happy with their performance and think it bodes well for the future. Jeez you have to be careful what you say on these sites
yes ayala looks a talent doesn't he! very good piece of business (based on two games admittedly) sorry if it seemed i snapped but what you were thinking wasn't being replicated correctly in words or maybe i just didn't understand it. we are currently playing very well considering how limited our team looks on paper. every single player has stepped up to the plate and done themselves and us proud. they played the game the right way but they have also shown they are no pushovers, so to see comments about them not playing like swansea enough or to play more like swansea, which is a flawed game plan and not as strong as our own under lambert, irked me. elements from their game are terrific, but ours will stand us in better stead over the course of a season
I have no problem with Swansea, they have a reputation as a passing/footballing side, as do we. They were tipped at the start of the season to get humiliated, so were we. They're proving a lot of people wrong and gaining a lot of admirers, so are we. Without meaning to sound disrespectful, the main reason Swansea are getting a bit more coverage than us this season is because the media see them as a novelty. They are the first Welsh side in the Premier league and as such give the media something to latch onto. Lets say we both stay up and next season we're joined by West Ham and Southampton, we'll both get completely ignored so the media can have their usual love in over the Hammers and they'll rave about how wonderful it is that Southampton have had an amazing turn around in fortunes. The simple fact is outside of the big five or six teams we're not a) seen as a big club by the media eg West Ham, Wolves, b) a bit of a novelty eg Swansea or Blackpool c) in heavily populated area eg London, Manchester, Midlands We'll always be 'little old Norwich' to the media until the day we win a major trophy and even then the spot light will only be on us in anticipation of us failing
I like Swansea. I like their fans (more so after having seen what last season's Championship winners are like) and I like their football. (Not so keen on their city- "graveyard of ambition" Dylan Thomas called it). I think they do play more attractive football than us and deserve the accolades for that, but I also think it is better for us, and how Lambert likes it, for us to stay under the radar and keep on surprising.
