The famous gulf between bottom half of prem and the championship

I'm beginning to think that there really is a gulf between the teams from the top of the championship and the bottom half of the prem!!!

Norwich 10 13
Swansea 10 12
QPR 9 12
THE GULF
Wolves 10 8
Bolton 10 6
Blackburn 10 6
Wigan 10 5

Even though Norwich were below par against Wigan and Blackburn we still got draws against them both. OTBC

 

The only stats which matter are when Matches = 38. Also, as was discussed on another thread, why is that when their team is second best, fans always say they were "below par" or "unlucky". Why not just give Blackburn some credit and admit we were lucky to get out of the game with a point?

 

To be fair Robbie, nearly every account I have read on here from our members has said just that! We didn't deserve a point, but when you weigh it up against our first 5 matches, it's about time lady luck flirted with us! We'll take whatever we can get

 

Well I didn't want RT to feel my grumble was just at him! Yes, lots have said we were lucky, but a lot have also said we were "below par". I thought we were rather shown up by Blackburn: they played some good football, cut us apart easily at times, and kept us on the back foot for long periods of the game. Nothing to do with us being below par. We were being asked questions and out-thought by an experienced team. The free kick when JR was very nearly caught out was an example. Every City defender including JR was expecting a ball in to Samba and N'Zonzi, but Pedersen had the wit to do the unexpected -- and it very nearly came off.

 

As I said on our game against you a fortnight ago, yes we played badly, but the reason for that was you didn't allow us to play our game and made us look bad, it's quite simple really you played us off the park, and you fully deserved to win the game.

If opposition supporters are saying we had an off day, a bad day at the office etc, it just normally means that we were beaten by a better team on the day, and should admit it

 

I fully admit that we were second best on the day, which is why I'm so encouraged by the fact we managed to get a point.

The teams that stay up this year will have gained points they didn't deserve in just the way norwich did today. The teams that go down will have dropped points they shld have won. For me, yesterday speaks volumes about the character of the two teams.

 

Exactly. Talking of gulfs, you could say there's usually no greater gulf than the one between reality and a football fan's take on things!!!! (Joke, fellas, before you jump on me!)

 

Yes,on balance nobody could deny that Blackburn probably deserved the points.The fact that they didn't get them though is not solely down to luck.After two goals in quick sucession PL could be forgiven for going for damage limitation rather than fightback.The substitutions worked,tactical genius.

 

Good point Cruffy. Steve Kean's substitutions made a difference too. He went very defensive--understandable I suppose at 1-3--but it invited us to put pressure on them for the last ten-fifteen minutes. It was the kind of pressure that their forward play and ability on the ball prevented us from doing for large portions of the game. Have to say I was very impressed with Junior Hoilett, regardless of his goal, which had me clapping despite my disappointment at conceding.

 

Agreed, both good points. Shutting up shop is a great skill, but don't try it if you don't have it. I've often thought the same when watching Arsenal in recent times, and their 4--3 defeat at Blackburn this season was a case in point. Why remove the attacking threat which keeps opponents relying on counterattack and let them lay siege to your goal?

 

"..Blackburn probably deserved the points.The fact that they didn't get them though is not solely down to luck"

Sorry, but a horribly deflected shot (and another deflection on the lead up to it) coupled with a pen that never was says otherwise. At the risk of causing a ****storm I've been saying for a while that I see Norwich as a fader team. A lack of strength in depth will do for them in the end imo and they've had a run of fortune that must end sooner or later. On another day Liverpool would have thumped them by 5 or 6 goals, and the luck continued yesterday, when they should have been comfortably beaten by the bottom team.

Nothing personal against Norwich. A mate of mine is a Canary and we enjoy a lot of good natured banter. Even he agrees you got out of jail against a poor team yesterday.

 

Yes we had a run of fortune against Wigan,Stoke,West Brom,Chelsea with dodgy penalties.That run ended yesterday with a bit of good fortune.Football is all about luck.The difference between and unstopable,unreachable shot that goes in and one that comes back off the woodwork is a centimetre,one deflects in,one out.No player on earth can judge that finely.Like a hole in one at golf the skill is getting there or thereabouts,after that it's luck.We may get relegated yet but we wont have spent tens of millions getting there and,if we do survive that is a real achievement.

 

People go on about this gulf. Swansea starting line up the last few games. Has been almost the same team that was playing in the Championship. the only additions is a new keeper, because we had to get a new one and a new striker. the guts of our team is the same. so i dont get this gulf.

 

And graham mate

 

We played badly at times (also played some good stuff, mind) and we still got a point.

It's not luck, I've seen it done dozens of times before, we fight ALL THE WAY to the whistle. It wasn't shown on match of the day but we HAMMERED Blackburn after they scored their third and we got the goals we deserved. Holty was cool as ****, what a legend.

Yesterday's performance is why we will stay up.

 

I think why so many people feel we were below par is because we did not push Blackburn back like we have done with Sunderland and Swansea. That was of our own doing for some odd reason. Blackburn, although probably stronger in midfield did not totally bully us and I feel we could have played the high line again against them but we didn't and the performance was poorer for it.

Blackburn did not stop us trying to play our game, we just played a different game to what we were used to seeing and it didn't work particularly well on the day. That is not taking any credit away from Blackburn, they played better than many expected and caused us plenty of problems.

 

I'm getting quite tired of saying this, yes the penalty was dubious, but we SHOULD of had a penalty earlier in the game for another (in my opinion deliberate handball) and the guy should of probably been sent off for it. Yes Johnson's goal was extremely fortuitous, but to be honest, we had other good chances like Fox's shot and so on, and I don't think we where poor that day, we weren't up to our best but we weren't awful at all. And Blackburn also played very well, lots of dangerous through balls, and they couldn't really do anything about any of our goals.

So, yes we where a little lucky, but nothing compared to what we've had go against us so far.

 

Were you away from home yesterday H T R??? No, no you weren t come back next time after getting shafted by Liverpool away then you have Man united........ Can t see you getting anything there with your crap away record, you may think we will fade, i think you will drop like a brick............

 

LOL! take a ticket and get to the back of the "Norwiches luck will run out sooner or later" queue mate! You'll be in good company!

 

Some touchy people on here to say the least !

One tip though Canaries and I'm not joking, I understand you have Wolves away coming up. Be careful because their fans will be in the stand above you and when we were there last week they were throwing objects down at us and I had two kids with me. It's not the first time either I've encounters problems in that dump. So be safe lads and be on your guard