Relegated? Probably. Down? No Way. #ncfc

In the relatively short time that I’ve blogged, I seem to have spent a disproportionate amount of time looking for crumbs of comfort, searching for mitigation or trying to eke some kind of positive edge on things to take forward.

 

Recent defeats to Leicester and Chelsea have ensured that the horizon couldn’t be bleaker unless Ipswich appeared on it, which, they kind of have.

 

So, here we go again… But…I’m fed up with making excuses, I’ve had it to the back teeth with well meaning yet empty platitudes from opposition fans and, quite clearly, we won’t “be OK if we play like that for the rest of the season” because we’re still losing every week. Other teams find a way, other teams play worse and win, other teams are “luckier” than us and EVERYBODY gets better referees than we do.

 

That’s rubbish though, isn’t it? Well, most of it (the referee thing still seems legitimate..). No, the overwhelming evidence to hand seems to point towards a verdict of us just not being good enough and furthermore, if that does turn out to be the case, I’m kind of OK with it.

 

Do I enjoy watching my team lose? No. Do I think we should strive to be the best that we can be? Of course. Are there things we could have done better? Definitely. Would more investment have helped? Did we need another striker/centre half/defensive midfielder/goalkeeper? Probably all of them.

 

These are valid questions and in the event of relegation the inevitable autopsy will see these questions, along with plenty of others, dissected to the nth degree.

 

But, here’s the crux, I still find myself – most of the time – remarkably proud of the team that I keep seeing lose. There’s been the odd no-show like Villa, it happens, but this side have essentially proved me to be very, very wrong. Not only have they showed the grit and guts for the fight that I felt had all but disappeared after we lost to Villa, but in another way too.

 

A couple of years ago, I stood up for the manager of the time and mocked suggestions that our predicament would be deemed acceptable if the style of play was more aesthetically pleasing. I reasoned that this was a smokescreen and that all people really cared about was winning. I was wrong.

 

Here we are, in a rut of form that is as bad as anything served up under Hughton and yet there are no missiles raining down on the dugout. There are no photoshopped images of Alex Neil in a clown wig and red nose. In fact, there’s barely a murmur of discontent. Through will, determination and effort, this struggling squad have held the crowd.

 

Of course, the shoulda/woulda/coulda brigade remain, but it’s unlikely they’ll be appeased until we find a magic formula to be better-than-the-best-team-that-aren’t-the-big-6-that-season every season. There’s nothing wrong with aspiration; without it, what would be the point? Sometimes though, sometimes you just have to accept what, who and where you are.

 

I’ve been labelled plenty of things in my time blogging: Happy Clapper, Apologist, of having a Little Norwich mentality and of accepting mediocrity just a few of them.

 

Maybe some or all of that is true, I don’t think it is but it’s not for me to judge. What I’m certain of is that when a bloodied, battered and visibly upset City team walked from the Carrow Road pitch as losers yet again against Chelsea, the overwhelming feeling that I had was pride.

 

I could bemoan transfer windows, investment levels, signings, management experience, the board, Colney, infrastructure and even the “profile and image” of our great City. Won’t do any good though, we are where we are, we’ve got who we’ve got and if they keep playing with the guile, endeavour and determination that we saw on Tuesday, well, it probably still won’t be enough to stay up.

 

It’ll be enough to make me proud of them though.

 

I guess that makes this another Happy Clapology. I’ll take that though, I guess it’s just who and what I am.

 

OTBC

Our Villanthropic Side Has To Go

Right, let’s start by saying that I’m not advocating ousting the manager, nor am I interested in stamping my feet and calling for an overhaul of a squad that we can’t alter, but enough is enough.

 

We’ve completely lost our way.

 

A decent festive spell had us transported to June. A happy Summer, record recruitment and dreams of us finding the gems that could make us ‘another Leicester’. The New Year has seen significant investment but it hasn’t halted an alarming run of form or done anything to strengthen our porcelain-like confidence. In fact, our transfer window must be paned with frosted glass as since it closed it’s been difficult to identify any shape or structure to our game and everything just seems a bit cloudy and confused. June now seems a long way off and thinking ahead to April or May is enough to bring on a cold sweat.

 

Throughout the season fans have identified areas of weakness. Ruddy’s handling, his inability to “get down”, Howson’s anonymity, Jerome’s lack of cutting edge, Redmond’s reluctance to go beyond a defender, Tettey’s ill discipline, Bassong’s concentration, anybody that’s played at full-back and their inability to prevent a cross, Gary O’Neil’s scissors and just being Russell Martin. Some have been isolated incidents, others seem to stem from deep-rooted weaknesses but from the names listed above you can see that the varying opinions show concerns all over the park. Currently, the announcement of any starting XI causes more widespread panic than an outbreak of Ebola.

 

Testament to our current predicament is the emergence of a trend that sees anybody not picked/suspended/injured or having a baby is the “big miss” that particular week. What does Lafferty have to do to get a game? No leadership or discipline without O’Neil, No mettle without Tettey screening the defensive line, no pace without Redmond, no guile without Hoolahan and no goals without, well, just no goals.

 

The hard and fast of it is that it isn’t this or that player missing or the fact that it’s Russ/Bassong/Whitts/Bennett/Olsson/Pinto or Brady that didn’t pick up their man this week, it’s that we’re not good enough as a TEAM.

 

Or defence was labelled a shambles, Pinto and Klose have come in to strengthen our options and Declan Rudd has taken over from John Ruddy in goal. The difference? Well, sod all so far. We don’t look any more secure, we still expose our centre halves by getting caught with our full backs high up the pitch, they’re exposed and out of position because the midfield make poor decisions in possession, we still see our full backs hitting nothing balls forward as we lack width due to us making up for a lack of quality by packing the midfield. And when we do create a chance? Too often we’re found wanting.

 

The one beacon of light was the first half and a bit against Liverpool. We played with an urgency and a belief that day that was something to behold. Even getting back to 4-4 at the death after seemingly shooting ourselves in the foot, only to see us sucker punched at the death of the death.

 

But that game seems to have taken it’s toll.

 

Since then we’ve barely shown up and when we’ve really needed to show our balls and fight, they’ve not been there. It’s like Adam Lallana’s scuffed volley gave the squad a group orchidectomy. In fact, we’ve been so poor at times that I wondered if the Plumstead Road sink-hole was caused by Naismith trying to tunnel his arse back to Merseyside right quick.

 

It’s that matchday anonymity which deflates and disappoints me more than anything. There’s a long way to go this season but if we’ve given up already and aren’t willing to throw a few punches (thank God Grabban has gone he might have thought I meant literally) then atmospheres will quickly turn nasty. It’s starting to look like we might come up short, a performance bereft of spirit at Villa – one of the worst sides I can remember at this level – being the latest evidence. That it came on a day that Newcastle ground out an ugly 1-0 and Sunderland managed to get up off the canvas to snatch a point at Anfield just made it hurt all the more.

 

We haven’t got time to pine for this player or miss that suspended player and the time for chopping and changing the back four has surely passed now. If Klose and Pinto were brought in as improvements, then they HAVE to play every week, the apparent lack of “leadership” and communication can’t be aided by seeing a different face next to you every week.

 

Our best chance is surely to name our strongest XI every game. If Alex isn’t sure what that is by now, we’re in more trouble than I thought. We started the season caring little for the opposition or their reputation, until Newcastle that stood us in reasonable stead. Today, we played a Villa side that haven’t won a game since Scotland qualified for a major tournament and failed to impose ourselves on the game. We need a return to that original mentality, that have-a-go-at’em and let them worry about us attitude, and, accompanied by the hope that with a bit more bedding in the new faces could still make a difference, well, it’s still in our hands isn’t it?

 

But if we carry on in this vein and limp from defeat to defeat and accept relegation without so much as a kick, scream or scrap? A lot of fans would find that hard to forgive and the recriminations would be deep and long-lasting. That’d be no good for anyone.

 

I retain the faith that we CAN stay up but for the first time this season, I’m just not sure that I believe we will.

 

OTBC

The Excitement, Joy and Devastation #ncfc

I’d pretty much made the decision to stop blogging and then THAT game had to go and happen. Despite experiencing a sinking feeling that only Atlantis could empathise with and sharing periods of incandescent rage at our fallibility with almost every other Canary fan, I’m in no rush to forget our last-gasp defeat to Liverpool.

 

I understand the frustration, we came from behind and put ourselves in a position to win the game, 3-1 up at home and you’d be forgiven for almost relaxing in your yellow plastic seat – it should be job done.

 

That’s just not the way with this Norwich side though. We started the season with an attacking mentality, a desire to take the game to the opposition, commit players forward and overload numbers by utilising our full-backs in the attacking third. It worked reasonably well. We won some, lost more and drew enough to keep the points tally ticking over and then we got thumped at Newcastle.

 

That game – much like the one against Liverpool – could have ended with a final score more akin to a Rugby Union match but, again like yesterday, we found ourselves on the wrong end of a high scoring defeat. Post-Newcastle we adopted a more conservative approach and were pragmatic to the point of being Hughtonesque. As a result, we conceded fewer goals, job done? Well, no. We were also far less of a threat to the opposition, created fewer chances and the results didn’t improve either. We were still losing games.

 

Recently, we’ve returned to something more akin to our early season methodology and we’ve been all the better for it, certainly aesthetically, winning a few games and causing some upsets along the way.

 

The Liverpool game was exceedingly close to being another of those. Ok, Liverpool aren’t the force of the 80s, they don’t even have Gerrard and Suarez anymore, but the day we start as favourites against them is still some way off; if we beat them it’s still regarded as an upset. That’s probably best put into perspective by the fact that we haven’t beaten them since that famous last day in front of the Kop.

 

This time though there would be no humble, whimpering surrender as they thump us 5 or 6 scoring goals from each and every corner and a range that they should need a sat-nav from, no, THIS time we went for the jugular (best way to kill a circus, that).

 

We started brightly, committed in the tackle, closing and harrying and were the better side right up until Firmino sprung a flimsy off-side trap and scuffed the ball in off the post. Despite the setback, we continued to play on the front foot, something that a line-up including Wes, Redmond, Mbokani and Naismith surely demanded. Our endeavour was rewarded as Martin kept a deep corner alive at the far post and when Liverpool failed to clear effectively Mbokani used his strength and ingenuity to manufacture a splendid back-heeled leveller. It soon got even better as Wes and Naismith spoiled us with some sublime interaction before our newest Scottish recruit thumped the ball into the corner.

 

After the break, Wes made it 3-1 from the spot and the crowd were in raptures for about a minute. Almost immediately we were pegged back though as Henderson swept home in the kind of isolation only the bloke cutting the grass would experience.

 

At 3-2, some might argue that we should have returned to a more pragmatic outlook, made negative substitutions (imagine that after the stick Hughton used to get!!) and looked to kill the game. The problem is, we’ve amply demonstrated already this season that we don’t have the personnel to do so and certainly not when we are Tetteyless. So we continued to attempt to play with the verve and swagger that had put us 3-1 up. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen against Palace, Leicester, Newcastle and others, our commitment to our forward sorties leaves us vulnerable to the quick break. Lose the ball high up the pitch, a switch of play, two more passes, defenders stranded up-field and others dragged out of position leave somebody with a simple tap in. This time it was Firmino again. In fairness, it was a good goal. The final ball and finish were exquisite but again, poor decision making when in attacking possession left us chasing shadows in defence.

 

All of a sudden, from looking likely winners we were clinging on and then Russell Martin threw a bucket of petrol onto the burning desire of many to see him take a manager enforced break from the action.

 

A veteran of over 200 games, promotions, relegation and those black pants, Martin is a real Norwich man but he’s suffering at the moment. He isn’t playing well, the system leaving him so exposed is exacerbating that and the stick he’s taking in accompaniment with a dip in confidence might just be affecting his decision making. Whatever the mitigating factors, the blind backpass – no, let’s be honest – the through ball he played for Milner was either disastrous or sublime depending on which end of your half and half scarf you were supporting at the time.

 

It was a howler. A blooper. A ricket of the highest order. The only possible saving grace was that it was Milner that read it and not somebody half decent, but even he managed to slot past the hesitant (understandable after Bournemouth?) Rudd.

 

So, there we have it. We’d somehow managed to contrive to be chasing the game just a tick after leading it by two goals. But chase it we did.

 

Despite our substitutions being largely ineffective we managed to stay in the game and when Benteke went haring off-side it gave us the opportunity to pump one last ball into the mixer. The ball was suitably launched forward, the heads went up and the second ball dropped on the edge of the area to….Bassong?….anyone but hi…..GOAL. We’d salvaged a point, the Barclay started tearing into the devastated Scousers, the world had regained some semblance of normality and we’d reflect on this as being one of the games of our lives and we’d drink and reflect in the hostelries of Norwich in a stupor of disappointment and relief.

 

Or we would have  done had Adam Lallana not shinned Robbie Brady’s awful header into the Carrow Road turf sending it looping over the stranded Rudd and into the corner of the net. 4-5.

 

The stupor of disappointment and relief was replaced by a crimson mist of anger and vitriol – much of which was aimed at our beleaguered and much-maligned skipper.

 

He didn’t have a great game irrespective of the backpass, he hasn’t been playing well and even the goals have dried up. Was he solely to blame for our defeat? Of course not and there are plenty of culprits who contributed to our downfall if you really want to go looking for them. His mistake was the stand-out one of the match, it isn’t the first time that he’s come up short either but some of the reaction was, and is, way beyond the pale.

 

Alex Neil does not suffer fools and neither does he pay much heed to reputation – look at the way we beat Manchester United, were robbed at Man City and took the game to Liverpool – and that speaks volumes about his decision to keep picking Russell Martin. This might well be the point where Martin gets rested, but Neil is his own man and if he does choose to drop the skipper it will be his decision rather than any swell of ill-feeling in the crowd breaching this particular dam.

 

Either way, one day in the future we’ll all be telling someone that we were there for “that” game, like the Fashanu match, like the Middlesbrough comeback, Colchester and Wembley.

 

OTBC

 

 

—————————-

 

If you’re not bored of my drivel already, here is a post I made on Social Media dealing solely with the Russell Martin situation:

 

Football fans are fickle. It doesn’t matter who they support, it’s the nature of the beast. It’s sad when anger and frustration manifests itself into something personal but you’ll see it time and time again and at every club. We’ve been here before with Doherty, Worthington, Hughton and plenty of others. Is Russ as bad as people are claiming? No, certainly not. The guy is an international footballer and of all the people I see publicly haranguing him, I don’t know any of them with an international cap. Is he struggling for form? Definitely. He isn’t playing well and he’d be the first to admit it. Are those blaming him for everything from every goal we concede to the hole in the Ozone layer helping? No. If anybody thinks that people writing, saying or shouting negative stuff about you doesn’t have SOME impact on their self-esteem and confidence, they’re mental. Will that make them stop? No.

Realistically, I’d like to see him given a break. As with Ruddy, it’s the best way to demonstrate that the apparent problems are down to more than an individual. Rudd is shipping goals just like Ruddy did, the reason? Are they both crap? No. They have both suffered for the defence in front of them, who in turn suffer from a lack of protection in front of them. It’s a collective issue and one directly aligned to the style of play we’ve chosen to pursue. It’s a style that gives us a great chance of wining games but also leaves us, at times, massively exposed at the back.
The thing is, Russ won’t want a break, he won’t want taking out of the firing line or to “be protected”; he’ll want to get back out there and prove that he is every bit good enough.
It’s a conundrum for Alex Neil, he obviously has faith as he keeps picking him and keeps him as his skipper.
That so many people think they know better than Alex is, if it wasn’t so conceited, funny. The startling lack of criticism of him when he is the guy consistently picking Russ is also laughable. But…Alex is still riding a wave of goodwill following Wembley; if we lose our next 3 or 4 and find ourselves in the drop zone, watch the difference in attitude towards him too.

Bottom line this week is that Russ made an awful, awful mistake. We went on to lose the game by the odd goal and as such that mistake has been magnified. He will probably pay for that with his place for the next game but Alex is his own man and I wouldn’t be surprised AT ALL to see him back his man and stick with him. Whether that would do either any favours with the fans is open to debate!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Is Our Defensive Vulnerability Considered?

Hopeless, hapless and helpless.

An embarrassing day at the office and the road ahead looks not so much bumpy but unmade, pothole ridden and with plenty of tyre (or bubble) bursting sharp flints thrown in.

Let’s get straight to the point; the game was typified by cataclysmic defending on both sides and an almost stubborn concentration on the attacking side of the game. Relentless forays into opposition territory by our full backs created both our goals and other chances too but what did it cost us at the other end?

I mentioned that I thought Ranieri had sussed us out and I’m starting to wonder if it’s just him. We commit numbers forward and, as mentioned, it pays dividends. We play decent football, solid passing with just enough intricacy but it’s what happens when we lose the ball that is the worry. This was typified by Newcastle’s third where Redmond lost the ball; he chased back until he reached our defensive third where he applied the brakes leaving us in a 3v3 situation. I don’t think it was a case of him downing tools, I think it’s a case of us playing to trust those left defending to defend and come out on top. I simply can’t think of another reason we would continue to play in such a way that leaves us so vulnerable to the counter attack unless it is an intentional ploy. If it isn’t? Well, we have some discipline problems.

Folk are going to concentrate on Wijnaldum getting the run on Whittaker or argue that Martin should have committed to ball or player rather than splitting the two and I’m sure that they’ll feel justified. In truth, it wasn’t a great performance from any of the back five but they were also let down by those in front of them; it was a poor team display. Of course, conceding six the focus will be on the defence and there isn’t much to erm, defend them based on today. I can hardly remember Ruddy doing anything bar pick the ball out of the net but normally he contributes at least a couple of great saves a game, today? Well, almost everything they hit went in, right down to the Wijnaldum/Whittaker tag-team deflected effort to make it 6-2.

We also hit the post twice and had a header cleared off the line. Had we enjoyed a bit of fortune we might have got five ourselves. And still lost.

There’s still an inkling of temptation to put this down as “one of those days” and try and dig out a positive or two to carry forward but it’s not just one of those days. We’re conceding too many goals and while we’re decent going forward, we’re constantly giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

Now, I’ve stuck up for our defence all season and I’m sure plenty will be citing today as clear evidence that I’ve been wrong all along. That’s fine. Perhaps I have been, writing a blog doesn’t make me any more or less prone to getting things right or wrong, it just leaves them set in print for people to read back. I can’t change my opinion and pretend it never happened (though it would be handy sometimes!).

Rights and wrongs aside, the defence we’ve got is in place until January at the earliest. I simply can’t agree that Ryan Bennett is the answer, though on the back of such a drubbing he might get a chance. He’s been a “promising” Centre Back for years now and has never got past being promising. Maybe now is his time, but if that was the case I don’t think Alex Neil would have persevered for so long without giving him a go.

However; perhaps rather than looking at specific personnel, we need to look at our method of play? It’s been unthinkable to question Alex Neil given the achievements since he came in but are we a bit too gung-ho? Should we be asking our full-backs to concentrate on their primary tasks? Are we asking too much of Tettey, Martin and Bassong as we camp the other seven outfield players in the final third to create scoring opportunities? That’s before we see Bassong maraud forward to get involved himself!

Are we just that little bit naïve?

I don’t know. I certainly don’t think that we’re 4 goals worse than Newcastle or that Wijnaldum has suddenly become Luis Suarez (might feel like it for John Ruddy this evening..).

What can’t be argued is that something’s got to give. If we elect to play like this then we have to be two things:

• More clinical in front of goal.
• Luckier in front of our own goal.

After this hiding, 40 points and May look a LONG way off.

One final point. To all those people who said that they didn’t mind losing so long as we “had a go” and “played attacking football” under he who shall not be named….

Never was the case, was it? We just don’t like losing. I don’t think Alex Neil does either, expect a response next week.

OTBC

Finally Appreciating “Only” Scotland’s Finest

Not that long ago, I stated that Norwich City would always struggle if they persisted with playing two average right-backs in their first choice back four. At the time there was a nervousness and inherent fallibility surrounding Martin and Whittaker that spread like Japanese Knotweed around the crowd and magnified every mistake that they made. In fact, such was the feeling that they were a weak link that quite often fans would convince themselves of their ultimate culpability for things that weren’t really their fault.

As I’ve said, I was firmly positioned in the camp that considered Martin the better option at Right Back and that would have preferred A.N. Other at centre half. The thing is, it’s increasingly looking like I – not for the first time – had it wrong.

Alex Neil inevitably takes plenty of credit, there’s no coincidence that they’ve looked a different proposition since his appointment. The restoration of Seb Bassong has helped too. His lethargic demeanour might not always convince but we’ve been infinitely better for having him back in the fold. Perhaps most of the credit should be placed at the feet of the maligned duo though?

This piece is far easier to write this week than last and some will no doubt be convinced that the motivation is the fact that they both got on the scoresheet yesterday. I’m sure that some will say that they could have played in our defence yesterday such was the lack of threat from Sunderland and that ultimately we still conceded a “soft” goal. Others will point towards the defensive shortcomings that saw us go 0-2 against Palace last week and retain the view that we would be better with different options.

Perhaps. It’d be foolish to suggest that there aren’t “better” players than both plying their trade in the Premier League and we’ll need to continually evolve and improve if we want to remain on an upward trajectory. It’s also fair to say that they aren’t the glaring weakness that some, like me, had them down as either.

They’re first-choice for their country but such is the lack of faith from their club supporters, that country is known as “Only Scotland” around these parts. How disrespectful is that?!? Graeme Dorrans has been in sublime form since he joined us and he can’t get a game for Only Scotland. If players that DO play for them aren’t good enough for NCFC then Dorrans must be really bad!!!

Russ and Whitts are playing with a verve and confidence that deserves appreciation. Some of the link-up play between Whittaker and Redmond is a delight to behold and Martin has helped deal with England strikers of the future and past (Bamford and Defoe) with aplomb in recent outings. They’ll make mistakes, those mistakes will be exploited too. Not many goals are scored without some form of defensive error and all defenders make them. At times Whittaker will look pedestrian but there’ll be plenty of fullbacks left trailing in the wake of Raheem Sterling, Theo Walcott or, dare I say it, Nathan Redmond. Whittaker certainly didn’t lack pace, strength or desire as he linked with Wes and drove into the Sunderland box yesterday.

Of course we’d like to see further depth added to the squad. However, I imagine that the clamour for incoming players will subside to a dull roar this week after our victory.

Cameron Jerome led the line in a performance that has typified his City career thus far. Full of industry and endeavour, Sunderland never got a minute’s piece. Ably supported by the master puppeteer Hoolahan and the classy midfield triumvirate of Dorrans, Howson and Tettey, we pressed them at a relentless pace. Redmond became increasingly involved and was far keener to commit defenders in the second half, while Whittaker and Brady provided excellent outlets on either flank.

With Mulumbu and Olsson to return, all of a sudden you wonder where we’ll fit players in. Last year’s Player Of The Season Bradley Johnson found himself omitted yesterday and with Brady impressing from an unfavourable left-back berth and Olsson nearing fitness, he’ll have a job to win back his spot. The depth looks good and the competition healthy, but if Cam got injured I do wonder whether we have sufficient options to cover us there.

It could also be argued that we’re a bit short of cover at the back. I think signing another striker is a necessity, it’s evident that RVW is the proverbial mile from the first-team and offloading him will free up a valuable chunk of the wage budget. Another defender coming in would also be welcome, it’s just that signing an upgrade on Martin or Whittaker might not be quite as easy as it once may have seemed.

OTBC

We Can Smash The Smoggies In The Smoke #ncfc

The disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion has all but disappeared and should we complete the job at Wembley on Monday, I’ll be surprised if anybody remembers how it felt.

If – it’s the clichéd big IF – we do obtain promotion by beating Middlesbrough; memories will instantly be altered. No more anguish at our run towards the top two petering out at the hands of the same opposition; no more anger at the antics that facilitated their victory at Carrow Road. No, it will all feel like a masterplan, one that included an opportunity to extinguish Ipswich’s own promotion dreams with a third routine victory and a long overdue trip to Wembley.

While the Meccano arch doesn’t quite exude the stature and majesty of the old twin towers, it IS still the home of the FA Cup and of course England; the nation that gave birth to our game. Purists might argue that the addition of Play Offs, Paint Pots and Semi Finals has somewhat watered down the significance of playing there but is it really such a bad thing that more players, clubs and fans now get a taste of that magic? I don’t know, but if the notion is that the “once in a lifetime” feeling has disappeared then they only need to look at us as an example of where it hasn’t.

I’m one of those fortunate enough to have been before but at 36 I’m only just old enough to have attended in 1985. It’s therefore perfectly conceivable that there are two generations of Canary supporters who HAVEN’T been to the home of football…..and NFL, Motor Racing etc. It’s going to be a special day for all of us, an occasion to be savoured and enjoy. The only thing that’s better than watching YOUR team play at Wembley is seeing them win there.

While I’m sure that the players are going to have a day to remember too; it’s important that we all keep a level of focus. Alex Neil will ensure that they’ve got their eyes firmly on the Premier Prize and, in turn, I’m positive that David McNally will offer 120,000,000 reasons why everyone needs to have their boots on the right feet.

Our opponents have beaten us home and away this season. The games represented low points in the campaign for very different reasons though. The capitulation at the Riverside was arguably our poorest performance (though I’m sure those that went to Preston might lobby quite hard..) along with the two defeats to Reading. Thoroughly outpointed and a comprehensive 4-0 defeat that in some ways exemplified the temporary soft-centre we found ourselves with at around that time.

The return fixture is plenty fresh enough in the memory.

Middlesbrough came at us hard, fast and early. The way they pressed and harried and forced mistakes was as impressive as their later antics were depressing. They got the early goal and defended it brilliantly; they also left the Carrow Road pitch looking like the beach scenes from Saving Private Ryan. Not because of any bloodlust or tackling of the dirty-northern-Leeds variety, no, more with cynical theatrics and injuries and subsequent recoveries that would have left Christ perplexed.

My own personal favourite was when the keeper collected the ball in an isolation befitting somebody with a tropical disease, only to then collapse as if he’d taken a roundhouse from Chuck Norris while being kneecapped by an uzi-wielding Arnie.

Luckily, he survived.

The thing was, they were probably doing enough to hold out anyway. It was looking like we could have played all night without scoring; Dani Ayala displaying the kind of resolution and tenacity that we never saw in a City shirt.

In fairness to ‘Boro; the referee gave them licence to act as they did with his interpretation of the rules and in a game where ‘Boro players were going down easier than Kathy Beale in a lay-by, he still only found our own Wes Hoolahan guilty of any “simulation”.

It’s not all negative though. Norwich City are a resilient and self-confident team now; I’d be very surprised if Middlesbrough could keep our free-scoring attackers at bay again with Alex Neil at the helm and I’d be amazed if Dani Ayala could play that well again. In addition, there’ll be a certain level of the City players wanting to right a few wrongs from that Friday night.

‘Boro caught us flat-footed and there’ll be no rabbits-in-the-headlights should they employ similar tactics. By the same token, we’ve seen time and again since Alex Neil arrived that teams who set out to stifle us struggle to keep it up for 90 minutes – let alone do it twice. It just isn’t possible to play with that level of intensity for a sustained and prolonged period and yet again, the first goal is going to be imperative to the way the game plays out.

Both Alex Neil and Aitor Karanka have proven to be astute choices for their positions and have displayed tactical nous at various times through the season. They’re both backed by club owners who are genuine supporters and as such have ploughed ridiculous amounts of their own wealth into their teams. To that end, it would be nice to think that in an environment now dominated by foreign investment that both could find a way for their clubs to make the top-flight.

However; that can’t happen. There can only be one winner on Monday and the days of Ravanelli, Juninho and Emerson are long gone. Despite losing to them twice, I still think we’ve got more depth and quality to our squad and will have too much for Middlesbrough. The prowess of Redmond, Hoolahan, Johnson, Howson, Dorrans, Jerome and the fresh-as-a-daisy Grabban coupled with the defensive solidity provided by Tettey, Bassong, Martin, Whitts and Olsson, all marshalled by John Ruddy mean that there is plenty to be confident about.

When you add Alex Neil to that mix, the balance tips in our favour. Middlesbrough are a decent side and they’ll provide an admirable test but I expect them to again rely on their defensive strength and I think that Alex will ensure that we’ve got a plan to counter that this time around.

Come On You Yellows!!!

OTBC

Wrong Team In Yellow

On the day that Watford secured their promotion to the Premier League, we are once again left feeling a little hard done by.

Lewis Grabban found himself dismissed for the kind of powder-puff punch that blighted Audley Harrison’s career, though it would undoubtedly have knocked down anybody in a Middlesbrough kit. In fairness to the Rotherham lad, he didn’t make anything of it – it didn’t look like there was anything to react to – but the ref saw a nibble and applied the letter of the law rather than a modicum of common sense. In the earlier fixture at the Amex, Troy Deeney found himself engaged in a full two minutes of handbags with a Brighton player who “hit” his hand of apology away at least twice and popped a couple of taps into his sizable midriff too. The referee saw it for what it was – nothing – had a quick word and got on with it.

Unfortunately, the officiating in the Championship has been pretty woeful, certainly from our point of view and it seems like we’ve gone from getting no decisions in the Premier to crap decisions in the Champs.

It’s been a funny season for Lewis Grabban. Jonny-on-the-spot goals at the start of the season, missed penalties, injuries, loss of form/confidence, homesick, reinvigoration, double-derby-hero and now red-card villain. It’s difficult to envisage us NOT winning the game had we retained a full compliment, or is it?

My personal opinion is that we are the “best” team in this league. We have the quality to beat anyone and when we are “at it” our class and superiority normally shines through. Watford on the other hand aren’t; they definitely have goals in their make-up and in players like Guedioura and Abdi, they too have quality, but as we’ve shown twice this season, man for man we are the better team.

Watford though have a ruthlessness that perhaps we sometimes lack.

They’ve racked up an incredible 46 points against the bottom 8 sides in the Championship. That’s a record of :

p16 W 15 D1 L0 Pts 46

In the same fixtures we’ve picked up 27 points (Fulham still to come…so 27 points…)

p15 W8 D3 L4 Pts 27

Yes, that does mean that our record against the rest of the division is significantly better than theirs but by being “flat track bullies” they’ve given themselves the cushion of being able to drop points against the sides that are, by definition, harder to beat. It reminds me of when Colin Lloyd was the Worlds Number One Darts player; he achieved this position by amassing a huge amount of ranking points in floor tournaments against weaker players, yet when the big tournaments and games came along, he was clearly inferior to the likes of Taylor and Barneveld – and so it is with Watford. But….Ultimately, we’ve failed to beat Rotherham, Reading and, as yet, Fulham, taking just 2 points from 15 available and it’s these games that mean we’re not celebrating tonight too.

Many people want to blame Neil Adams for that and we DID have a poor run of form around the two defeats to Reading. Alex Neil has come in and we’ve gone on a stupendous run that might leave people wondering “what if” but by the same token, for all our great form and as hard as we’ve pushed, we’ve failed to beat Rotherham when we needed to and that home loss against Wigan all of a sudden looks huge.

This all feels a bit negative; perhaps it’s the sullen acceptance that it is going to be the Play-Offs after all that has made me all-a-maudlin’ but really, the figures should send us into the lottery – it isn’t a lottery – of the post-season fixtures full of confidence. Yes, we’ve struggled to break down the unambitious bus-parkers and have taken the odd sucker punch, that Wigan goal packed far more poundage than Lewis Grabban’s right hand, but we’ve been decent against the better sides.

We’ve doubled Watford, trounced the tractor-driving knuckle-draggers twice, are unbeaten against the South Coast Barce-swansa-lona, unbeaten against Derby, hold the upper hand against Wolves and definitely owe Middlesbrough one (if they can scrape a side together with all those injuries..). We have nothing at all to fear and our spot is safely booked irrespective of Fulham and their witch-like curse over us. That said, if we fail to bury the hoodoo, we’ll be going into the semi on the back of three games without a win, fortunately, Alex Neil won’t be allowing that and I fully expect us to go out and win and power into the Play Offs rather than crawl over the line like an extra on the beach in Saving Private Ryan (Boro kit optional).

Yes, it looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way, yes it’s more games and more expense but when we show the world how good we can be on the biggest of stages at Wembley, I’ll barely remember today’s disappointment and if it’ s Lewis Grabban punching the air in elation rather than an opponent in frustration, then all the better.

So it’s chins (plenty in my case) up and go again. The last few months have been a ball, why wouldn’t we want to extend it just a little bit..?

OTBC

Relentless

What a weekend of sport.

It’s always exciting to see a young, fresh talent give a sublime demonstration of ability that defies both the pressure and his years. It’s rare that someone just setting out on their career path can show such a steely resolve and ruthless ‘eyes on the prize’ mentality. Yet we saw it in abundance this weekend; no conservative consolidation, just solid attacking intent. A relentless onslaught that maintained the pressure on the opponents underpinned with the belief that they would crack first.

It worked beautifully. Oh, and a kid called Jordan won some golf tournament too.

When Gary Hooper latched onto Cameron Jerome’s knockdown and somehow contorted his body to lift it over the Bolton keeper, it demonstrated the belief that this team has in each other and their manager has in them.

Alex had taken a gamble. Banking on the fact that we’d get “one more” decent chance at least, he ensured that we had the best chance of taking it by having Grabban, Jerome and Hooper all on the field. Of course; it could have backfired. If we’d been caught pressing for the winner and Bolton had broke away a la Forest earlier in the season, I’d feel differently I’m sure. The thing is; it just doesn’t feel like that will happen.

Some managers have a feel or a touch for situations. It doesn’t last forever (ask Aston Villa fans) but for a while it’s worth its weight in TV Rights money. Conversely, some managers find the opposite and everything they touch turns to a steaming pile (ask Aston Villa fans) but a wise man once said it is better to be lucky than good.

The win itself was a huge result. With our closest rivals all winning, it looked as if we’d be the first to drop the baton in the race for the line. However, that late winner will have taken the edge of their respective victories and with a bit of luck will have given them a psychological kick in the goolies.

There’s still a lot of football to be played, mistakes to be made and humps to negotiate but I’m cautiously optimistic. It just feels like we can do it. The hunger, desire and confidence is evident in the players and Alex Neil’s demeanour tells you that any hint of complacency will be eradicated as quickly and efficiently as Ipswich’s “gap”.

While we remain excited about a potential swift return to the Premier League, the weekend action in the land of milk and honey provided a timely reminder – as if we needed one – that sometimes that milk turns sour.

Sunderland put in a performance of such ineptitude that it created an evacuation of the stands; the fans clearly wishing they’d adopted the approach of the players and not bothered turning up.

Their problems have been apparent for a long time and they’re probably still paying a price for the Di Canio madness. Poyet pulled a miracle out of the bag last season but he’s gone now and Advocaat doesn’t look to have a Snowball in hells chance of performing something similar.

At the other end of the table Manchester City provided us with confirmation that money only gets you so far and that April isn’t too early for deckchairs.

The sight of Yaya “£200,000 a week” Toure ambling through the Manchester Derby cheesed me off and I have no affinity for Citeh. He simply went through the motions and couldn’t appear to care less. In fact, I reckon my teenage daughter would put in a better shift if I asked her to wash up. If I’d have been Pellegrini, I’d have torn into him and subbed him but the manager had been sold so far down the river by his team that Yaya probably wouldn’t have heard him anyway. It would have been a disgraceful performance in any game, but in a local derby that lethargy and apathy is unforgivable.

Seeing these players sapping the resources of your club must be devastating. As professionals the least they can do is try their best, if that isn’t good enough then so be it, but to roll over is unacceptable.

It isn’t all like that though and thankfully it’s unlikely we’ll ever afford such mercenaries. Sunderland’s opponents Crystal Palace are having a whale of a time. They’re already safe with half a dozen games to go, winning matches and living the dream. Leicester continue to fight for their lives and their late winner will fill their fans with hope and optimism; while Southampton and Swansea continue to provide the current “It could be you…” carrot for teams with Premier League aspirations.

That’s what we have and under Alex Neil, should we realise these aspirations, I’ve every confidence we’ll give it a real go. That’s the bare minimum expectation; a few of these pampered charlatans at the “big” clubs might want to remember that, although they’re welcome to turn in a shocker when we ride into town next season…hopefully…

4 to go….

OTBC

Bradvantage Norwich!

Beating Brighton and Hove Albion left us just two points off the top of the Championship, it also meant that we’d avoided the “former manager with something to prove” banana skin. If we’d just managed to do that against Paul Lambert we might still….let’s not go there.

It might not have been a dominant, emphatic victory but at this stage of the campaign ugly 1-0s are beautiful. Bradley Johnson netted for the 11th time this season and he’d surely have to sign for Ipswich between now and May 2nd to prevent him from getting his hands on the Barry Butler. Of course I’m sure that BJ will be focused on getting his hands on another piece of silverware and his accomplished finish at the Amex definitely kept that dream alive.

Draws in the two later fixtures opened up a little gap between 4th and 5th but this season has been such that with only 7 points covering 1st to 8th, there’ll be glass half-full merchants fiddling their predictors in Ipswich and Wolves still thinking they can make it. For us, it’s a case of just keep winning; the Middlesbrough game looks massive and there’s still the visit of that nose-blocker of a bogey-side Fulham to negotiate, but realistically they’re all going to be tough.

It’s a tough, competitive division and at times this season we’ve heard opposing managers and players make reference to the quality of our squad, the depth we have and the financial advantage being recently relegated from the Premier cash cow allows us. At various stages, we’ve been able to nod sagely and appreciate where they are coming from. The ability to bring the likes of Jerome or Hooper off the bench coupled with a Redmond or Wes to supply them. The fact that we loaned out players like Bassong – mistake as that may have been – and our ability to retain players through the transfer windows is further testament to our ‘strength’ and apparent financial clout.

But why don’t we add some context?

Yes, it can be argued that we were/are in a fortunate position in terms of finance and assets but is the same not true of Cardiff and Fulham? They came down with us and got paid too. Fulham retained the likes of Bryan Ruiz, Scott Parker and spent £11m on Ross McCormack, hardly penny-pinching stuff there. Wigan and Reading also received financial bolstering from the Premier League thanks to their second season of parachute payments. Along with Fulham they find themselves in the bottom 6 of the Championship and Wigan look certainties for the drop having made the play-offs last year.

The additional finance that comes in the form of Parachute Payments is there to soften the blow of the huge drop in revenue. It’s supposed to safeguard the clubs and prevent a “boom and bust” scenario within the game, used correctly it can do that but by the same token that money can be hoovered up by unscrupulous players. Beating Brighton meant that with 6 games to go, we are already guaranteed to finish above the other two relegated sides, the other teams with this alleged advantage.

I think that this puts our performance this season into context. Wrongly, we thought that we could run away with the division, that our quality would just be too great. I reckon Fulham and Cardiff had similar ideas but while theirs disappeared months ago, ours could still come to fruition. No, we won’t run away with it but we could still find ourselves Champions in May.

There’s a lot of water to flow under Carrow Bridge before then but should that happen, I’m sure that we’ll hear plenty more about the advantage we had.

The thing is; that advantage has been earned. We survived three seasons in the Premier League and we also managed our club effectively. It doesn’t seem long ago that an element of the support were feeling that the board were directly responsible for our relegation and our languishing in mid-table through inaction. If you look at the predicament the rest of the parachute posse find themselves in, it seems that they have gone a long way to redeeming themselves.

Ensuring that players were on divisional contracts, backing their managers and signing players at key times – Jerome, O’Neil and Dorrans stand out in that respect – have meant that we’ve utilised rather than squandered our financial buffering. Cardiff and their bonkers-billionaire are looking at us jealously and heaven knows what the fans at Craven Cottage must be thinking.

What I’m thinking is that it’s pretty clear that the board have made a pretty decent fist of handling our relegation. History indicates that bouncing straight back is far from a common occurrence irrespective of the money that the clubs get; having got this far and being this close it’s imperative we finish the job.

Getting out of this league get’s increasingly difficult the longer that you’re in it. Everyone has been keen to point out our “advantage”; the best thing we can do is press it home.

OTBC

Promised Land Or Not, We Have To Get Back

The bookies haven’t got a clue.

With 10 games to go they are going 3/1 the field with Derby, Bournemouth and ourselves as the co-favourites and Middlesbrough just a point longer at 4/1.

By comparison Chelsea are 1/9 to win the “Best League In The World” and Bristol City are 1/8 to win League One, both divisions seemingly tied up by March.

The Championship though continues to thrill, disappoint and bankrupt football punters weekly. Even with our improved resolve and consistency, Norwich are still playing an active role in all of it. Away wins at Blackburn and Watford, comfortable home wins against Ipswich and Wolves and then the easy game at home to a virtually relegated Wigan. Defeat. The balloons and banners go back in the box, the 50 or so Latics fans make the long journey back with a renewed optimism and all of a sudden those automatic spots disappear over the horizon again for the mass of yellows.

Just three days later and a combination of wins, losses and improbable draws leave five clubs within a point of one another at the top while the dinghy of survival that Wigan grabbed from the Wensum clearly had a slow puncture as they capitulated at home again.

And that’s what makes the Championship. Every team goes into every game with a chance and with ten games left; nearly every club is still “going” for something. Fans are dreaming of sensational late dashes to the play-offs, plenty of sides still aren’t safe and those that are down there – like Wigan and Millwall – are fighting for every point available. Or so you’d think. More on that later.

Deep down, as fans, we all know that the club “needs” to be in the Premier League. The financial security that it provides safeguards the long-term future of our team, we (theoretically) see better players, own better players and the aim of any competitive sport has to be to compete at the highest level.

But that’s where it falls down. The Premier League isn’t competitive. In truth, it’s bloody boring. Once you’ve visited the big grounds a couple of times the novelty wears off, it wears off even quicker as you realise that they are resting players against you because they just don’t rate you. Then you play the teams in your “mini” league, the rest. A war of attrition where anything goes just to get the win; an early goal away from home then two banks of four that are so deep they make the Mariana Trench look like a puddle.

There are still high points. Beating one of the “bigger boys” is always satisfying but the reality is that unless you’re a supporter of one of the big six; you’re massively unlikely to reach 50 points. If you win 11 games, you’ll likely stay up but you’re also likely to lose close to 20. Losing more than half of your league fixtures is never going to lead to a happy fan-base.

Of course, there are exceptions. Southampton and Swansea at the moment; it was West Brom a couple of years ago, Bolton, Sunderland and of course Charlton, the model that all clubs our size should be built on.

They don’t last though. Man City and Chelsea are the only sides that appear to have successfully set up camp in the upper echelons of the game and should the Sheikh or Roman elect to up sticks, I’m not sure how viable their current positions would continue to be.

Norwich might well get their season in the sun, we might finish 8^th or 9^th one year – how would we contain ourselves with the success? The gravitational pull of that mountain of cash even prevents us having a proper go at the cup competitions, 30 years since our Milk Cup win and 23 years after our last FA Cup Semi and we put our reserves out – even in the Championship.

No, the Premier League is a golden carrot that has forced a plethora of clubs to the brink either chasing or trying to maintain the dream. It has suffocated the ambition from all but a few and left many formerly plucky clubs gasping for breath. But when mere survival is enough to warrant “success”..?

It’s not a surprise that clubs adopt the siege mentality and the stay-up-at-all-costs approach. It’s not surprising that managers are sacked with unerring regularity as clubs gamble and are willing to try anything. It’s not surprising that some managers become tortoise-esque, retreating into their shell and taking the “safety first” outlook. None of it is a surprise because the reward is so great just for turning up. Well, for the club itself.

For the fans the reward is another season of agonising defeats, uncompetitive fixtures, ridiculous pricing structures and a further torturous race to 40 points.

The alternative is the Championship. A season of real competition, a season with hope of genuine success within your division, a season where you could win the league!! And end up back in the Premier…

It’s a cruel cycle. The unfortunate truth is that those seasons of real competition don’t tend to last either. Once the parachute payments dry up, the wage structure will need adjusting accordingly, the better players will disappear, a reliance on loans and freebies will emerge. Sometimes it works, look at Ipswich. More often it doesn’t, look at Millwall.

For all that the Championship is the most competitive league around, Millwall don’t seem to belong within that definition. We’ve rattled 10 goals past them this season and the body language and effort of their players on Saturday belied their divisional status.

Since the Premier League started in 1992-93, Millwall have spent 14 seasons in the second tier without ever getting a bite of the Premier Pie. That’s more than any other club.

Poor attendances, poorer players and an apparently even poorer outlook. It’s a bleak existence, which is why for all its foibles, Norwich City NEED the Premier League and we NEED to get back there.

Our club is well run; look at how the parachute payments have supported us while Fulham and Cardiff languish below us. It’s vital we keep topping up that money-pot, however underwhelming some of our Premier seasons may be. It’s where we need to be, it’s where we should be; but I for one won’t mind the odd drop into the Championship for some proper football every now and then, just so long as we don’t have to stay there and become Millwall.

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Incidentally…..

Should we beat Derby next week, that 3/1 might look pretty big. If we lose, it will likely look pretty skinny. I guess it depends where your bottle is; right now I think it would be a brave man who backed against us finishing the job.

OTBC