Fed up

bravo thai

 

thanks for that cromer. yes, very similar approach to myself. been really, really impressed with naughton and tierney. i think tierney is rapidly becoming my favourite player and has all the attributes to play at this level for the rest of his career.

 

Nobody's saying you didn't deserve to get promoted last year, or that we didn't deserve to get beat 9-2 over the two matches but you can't say that some of your players were very quick to fall to the floor or feign injuries whenever it suited them!

I blame the FIFA idiots for how un-entertaining football has become. They seem to be obsessed with 'protecting' players because they think it encourages good football. They are correct that it produces better footballing play, Spain / Barcelone for example, but it makes for a less entertaining match. It encourages play acting, simulation, feigned injuries, time wasting etc etc and this fills most of the 90 mins. Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas etc would be far better players if they cut this out and were more physical.

That and the obscene amounts of money are the cancer of football and both are abundant in the Premier League. Thank fully not so much in the Championship.

 

I agree with you Thai but you have to admit that by not having a couple of wise old heads in the side it will diminish your chances of survival and lets face it survival is the name of the game in the PL. You lack steel in the spine of the team, a player in midfield that can break up play and do the ugly things. The funniest moment from yesterday was Bennet(?) catching the ball before it went out for a throw in! A basic mistake allowing the other team an easy free kick. I admire the style of football you try and play but I question whether you have the battling qualities that are needed to survive in the league.

 

best post you've made on here for a while warky

having said that, concentration is our biggest downfall. we seem to fall asleep too often and its a long-routed problem. we suffered from it in league one but got away with it. we suffered from it in the championship but again got a way with it, but we aren't being so lucky now. i feel we have the steel - i've been particularly impressed by johnson's contribution. much better player than the leeds fans suggested (surprise surprise!) though they were right about his shooting being wayward 9 times out of ten. whats missing is the creative spark, which is all the more galling when we have the creative spark sitting on the bench! we need an injection of pace too, which again, we have on the bench. i just feel lambert is being a tad negative in his approach at the moment. remember, he is learning his trade at this level too! we can bemoan decisions by the officials as much as we like - and we have certainly had good reason to do so - but we can't change that. what we can change is our approach and i think with two or three little adjustments we will begin to win matches. on the evidence so far, there aren't that many really good teams in this league. its much of a muchness.

 

good post svendust (apart from the slightly twisted beginning). barcelona are the benchmark for all teams worldwide. their football is staggering but my word do they cheat. and you think city cheat

these things happen at every level but at this level its twenty times worse. at one point i found myself laughing at the belly flop shane long performed. i expect ipswich fans would call it holt-esque; i'd call it plain cheating as there was zero contact. what i found equally disturbing was the reaction of tamas after he tried to execute vaughan. the bloke is a coward and i hope he gets banned. duncan ferguson did something similar and was jailed for goodness sake!

 

what i don't quite get with this whole experience thing is that our manager has no experience of this league - he didn't even play in it! should we be looking to replace him too? experience is great but it means nothing unless they are better players than what we have and if we want that then we are going to end up forking out large sums of money that we simply don't have, and could jeopardise the future of the club long-term. i don't want that thanks. i'm very happy with the way the club is pursuing young players with something to prove. its not done us any harm in the previous two years.

 

The wise old heads bit I can agree with but they do not have to come from the PL. A well seasoned Championship center back pairing could be just as good (with the right 2 people and coaching staff).

Bennett was a little foolish in doing that but I was sitting here thinking - why not let some common sense in to the situation. The ball was clearly going out and no WBA players was ever going to get anywhere near the ball.
If Bennett chose to take a throw in as opposed to stretching to take the ball with his foot then why not let it go? I know it's laws of the game but in an instance like that it seems so petty.

 

Much about the Premier league stinks and nearly always has done, but I'd rather be here than not. As frustrated as I've been with some of it so far this season, it's not nearly as frustrating as watching Championship football desperately trying and failing (bar two seasons) to get here.

As for the team, pace up front, a little bit of concentration and common sense at the back, and I wonder about starting Surman and Johnson in the center (broadly speaking a 4-4-2). It would mean that the full backs can't push on as much, though.

 

not sure i agree with that thai re: bennett. i didn't have a problem with him doing it to be honest - it showed how willing he was to get the ball back in play! he is only a kid and he won't do it again. just a bit too eager!! still, handball is handball so you can't let him off it!

 

exile, i think what the opening four games have told us is that we aren't out of our depth, we aren't a million miles off, and with a bit of tinkering, some good coaching and getting the right mix of players on the pitch we'll have a great chance. there are always going to be weaknesses - 99.9% of teams have them - but ours aren't impossible to solve quickly. the team doesn't need a major facelift or anything like that, unlike qpr who did.

 

Guys banter aside it is still early days and its better to get the mistakes out of the way in August/September then at the business end of the season when every point is vital. The big test for Norwich now is to bounce back and get a result at Bolton. Lambert's managerial qualities will now come under closer scrutiny then ever before.

 

I see the Binners have sent in their own version of the Ugly Sisters - JWM and Guru to try and attempt a wind up

Bit sad and pathetic really seeing that their poor excuse of a pub team will be in League One next season with no chance of getting out of it.

 

In one respect it would not be bad if we remain at or near the bottom all season, PL becomes less of a target for the 'big' clubs if that happens and we get to keep him

 

Has RBFs slalker gone yet? He may need to apply to Dave for a cyber restraining order

 

Hey Treacs if you have bothered to read any of my posts on this thread you will see that I have been largely constructive It is a shame that you dont seem able to engage in anything other than petty points scoring!

 

Well we've got to get them somewhere

 

True mate, no need for a major overhaul. The odd lapse in concentration aside, not one of our players has looked out of place in the top flight, it's just trying to find that extra bit of penetration with solidity. We can get the penetration through Hoolahan, but I'm not sure about the diamond at this level.

 

All you need to do is tighten things up a bit as the Bishop said to Delia!

 

exactly. its all about getting the balance right, and this is where lambert is struggling to determine his best team. i think he wants to play the diamond but feels we will be even more open. if true, he has a point! i just feel we have to find a place for hoolahan. every time he's been involved so far this season we've looked likely to score goals - personally, i feel our defensive lapses have been quite rare this season and feel we have tightened up massively over the summer, probably because barnett is back. naughton is better than martin, de laet, well, the jury is out - i like him a lot but you can't argue against the fact he has made three costly errors resulting in goals already! i do think he will get better and better and strangely, despite the criticism, i think the defence is the area of the field we've improved on the most. its that midfield that i'm not sure about. i like johnson more than i believed i would - he is similar to crofts but i think he has a bit more quality. i'd keep him in there ahead of crofts and i really feel fox should be in the team - he controls a match with his passing. i wonder if he is being left out because of his poor showing at wigan. unfair if so, everyone seemed nervous that afternoon. anyway, i've already said it a few times but we need pace and guile and a bit more concentration at the back - these are all elements we possess already within this squad, its just a matter of getting the blend right.