Or at least IMO it should be. In League 1 and The Championship it caught a few teams out and on occasions was really effective, however in the Premier League teams are a lot more savvy and yesterday's game was a prime example. Every time Lambert has started with the 'diamond' this season, he has had to change formation during the game. Yesterday's change came far too late, every man and his dog could see that it wasn't working, we had no width and were being overrun and I couldn't understand why PL didn't change things at half-time? I felt sorry for Holty cos he was getting no service and was obviously unhappy when he was taken off. Having said that, I thought Moro looked quite sharp when he came on and, but for a terrific save, could have won the game for us. So Lambert got it wrong for once, but we we 'move on' and 'go again' next week. To sum up, I think that after a performance like that, we should consider that a point 'won' rather than two 'lost'. Now a reality check please, WTF were some people doing booing at the end ? Two and a half years ago we were playing third flight football and were heading for administration and oblivion. With little to spend this management team has taken us from there to 12th in the top league with ten games to go and Premier League survival all but guaranteed. If that's not good enough then give up your season tickets so true Canary fans who know just a little bit about football can have them ! Also, I had to turn the radio off when 'Canary call' came on as it was getting covered in too much spit, where the f*ck do they get these people from. If we're not careful, Lambert strikes me as the kind of guy that will just say 'bugger it' and walk away if he has to endure IMO these unwarranted negative comments. Finally, and a bit of a rant, can I just say, again IMO, what a carp commentator Martin Tyler is. All he seems to do is waffle on about things unrelated to what's going on, on the pitch. His comment that Norwich had the 'ideal sized stadium for their catchment area' had me shouting at the telly. 'Hello', we have actually got one of the largest catchment areas and have totally outgrown our stadium with people waiting for season tickets ! That was followed-up with 'You might be surprised to know that their are many good restaurants in Norwich'. I know this will divide opinion but as far as I'm concerned he's nothing but a patronising plank. Rant over, oh and of course ......... OTBC .... CTI .... ILWT
The diamond is effective in certain situations, and has been this season, but when it's not working we need to adapt quicker. The diamond wasn't working yesterday. What we should have done is taken Wes completely out of the situation For my money, we play the diamond with Wes or we go with widemen without him You can't have this in the middle situation of widemen and Wes, doesn't work.
Spot on kickitoff - it was the wrong formation yesterday and we were swamped in midfield (which got very congested) most of the time. They were quicker to the ball, won every second ball and moved it forward quickly whereas we played sideways and back all too often (shades of Sideways Sammy Clingan coming in through at times) - the game was crying out for width and we only got it once Benno and Pilks came on and we then started to play much better and created a couple of decent chances including that Morison header that nearly won it. To be fair Wigan played well - better than many teams who have come to CR this season and Moses was always a threat. Luckily they can't finish which is why they are where they are I guess. There was a lot of moaning and groaning inside CR yesterday - probably a lot of frustration as we could see the diamond not working out and we needed to change it but boos at the end - what's that all about ? There's no easy game in the Premier League and every point has to be hard fought for and hard won and that's how I see yesterday's result - a point won which moves us one point closer to safety and another seaon in the Premier League.
Spot on. Can't find anything here I disagree with. I think that the diamond has seen it's day with the current playing staff we have at our disposal. I can totally understand PL wanting to find a way to fit in two forwards for a home game against relatively weak opposition and have Hoolhan and Fox stroking the ball about in the middle giving them chances but we just did not win the ball often enough or manage to retain it when we did. I do think that if Wigan could find a striker like GH then they would be well out of the mire and hopefully dragging QPR down in their place.
'Hello', we have actually got one of the largest catchment areas and have totally outgrown our stadium with people waiting for season tickets ! That may be true about the season tickets but officially we have the smallest catchment area. That is why our academy has to be upgraded particularly financially so that we can recruit from areas farther afield.
I totally agree on canary call as well. I didn't even listen, couldn't face it, but I imagine it was full of old boys slitting their wrists as usual. Unbelievable the people that call that program.
do we think that we might also play the diamond to allow for Wes to play? other than playing him upfront, or behind one striker, he doesn't fit into our formation. i'm frustrated that we haven't started more games with Bennett and Pilkington, especially with target men like Holt and morrison. it's worked a treat in some games.
Agree totally with this, so why the hell did Crofts start yesterday rather than either of Bennett or Pilks, both of whom can use the width of the pitch better regardless of diamond or flat 4-4-2. ?
This is exactly what I said. Surman and pilks in the middle of the diamond worked a treat till hit changed for the cup game, since then we havent seen that brought back!!??
Our 'catchment area' for SUPPORT redruth is vast when you think that our nearest rivals are 40 miles away. We draw our support from the whole of Norfolk, north Suffolk, right up to the borders of Lincolnshire.
Hi Beef, I listened to it, mainly because there's normally a good interview with Paul Lambert. Most of it was total and utter crap as usual, people who don't go to the games seem to have a very informed opinion of how we play(ed). I was getting so angry I was about to turn it off, however Iwan Roberts was on and came out with some..... well you decide! a) He fully "expected" Norwich to beat Wigan, as he'd seen them (Wigan) last week and they were really bad. b) He understood why people boo'ed at the end of the game. c) He "expected" Norwich to finish in the top half of the division. That may not be word for word but it's near enough. ILD OTBC
I agree it seems a big area but this is the official line from the club and the FA etc. Even Plymouth has a bigger catchment area. What it does say though is that per head we must have one of the best supported clubs in the country.
......and into lincolnshire in my case, though i am originally from the great land. getting back to the thread, i will admit to being amazed that PL went with the diamond for this match given the roasting moses gave martin at the dw, thought e.bennett was certain to play to track back to cover naughton. i won't criticise PL but can not see what he was thinking with his team selection.
There've been more and more comments lately about team selection and how PL has "got it wrong". Maybe the conclusion we should draw is that, when filling in his team sheet, PL has a lot more in mind than just winning the next game. Although he keeps saying we aren't yet safe, and he won't believe we are until someone tells him it is mathematically impossible for us to be relegated, his selections don't strike me as those of someone who, bar injuries, wants to put out his best side every game. He wants to win every game, but there are also a lot of other things to take into consideration, as well as things he wants to settle in his mind, before the end of the season. We may not quite be 100% safe, but we are certainly comfortable enough to allow some flexibility in his team selection.
But surely he still has a duty to the supporters to go for a win in every game with the best team. I know he likes to tinker and I'm not totally against that but what had Crofts done in Spain to justify a start yesterday? Johnson had been out of favour, looked to be our only midfielder against Stoke and then sits it out on the bench. It is confusing.
it was strange yesterday how every single person in the ground could see that we required some width but lambert still persisted without! funny how when he changed to wingers we looked more dangerous... still, can't get it right all the time and lets face it, how many times have we looked at one of his teams and thought 'this isn't going to work', only to then feel a bit stupid afterwards when we've won?
I can only assume that, as we edge ever closer to total safety, he is trying out different things as a learning process, and hopefully, he learned a lot from the game on Sunday!
I was sitting there thinking we need Pilks on pretty quickly, but didn't say so out loud as it sometimes starts an argument, (which is not like me at all) then the man next to me said for *ucks sake we need some width don't you think? I don't know about everyone in the ground thinking the same, as I couldn't hear all of them, but the groans sort of gave that impression. I was listening to the team selection on the way to the ground and thought, that's going to work fine........Huh, what the *uck do I know about football? Best leave it to the experts Eh. ILD OTBC
Up to a point, but surely we supporters are not so blinkered that we can't appreciate anything but the current game? Speaking for myself, I'd be very unhappy if I didn't think PL was putting a lot of thought into planning for next season, or not thinking about the futures and well-being of every player in his squad. We should be able to appreciate that there's a bigger picture to everything he does and not just focus all the time on individual games.
robbieBB - That has got to be one of the best statements I have read on this board - I'm sure PL is always a bit like a chess player and looking further ahead than just the next game. I would add that I think Hoolahan is becoming a 'luxury that we can no longer afford' and he didn't offer much yesterday, apart from his goal - he always wants to beat one too many defenders for me. I thought Bennett in Hoolahan's role against Swansea at the Liberty was SUPERB and his vision and actually passing the ball was responsible for the 2nd and 3rd goal that day.
