Match Day Thread Norwich City versus Tottenham

There were things to criticize about this game but I really didn't like that period when we played long ball/defense; it started too early in the game.

 

The weird thing about this group is they don't seem to have been knocked by all the many many setbacks and disappointments, you can criticise them for not being good enough but they still play with enormous energy and heart.

They would run through walls for Farke, they may end up in the Matthew Jarvis ward but they would do it .

 

I was a supporter of VAR and believed it when they said it would overturn only clear and obvious errors. That decision was made from a slanted camera angle at a great distance. This isn't Hawkeye, this is a opinion from dubious criteria that isn't related to clear and obvious errors. This second guessing is killing the game time after time.

Like ManCity and Leicester this was a great performance, but we deserved the points.

 

I agree with that mostly, but against Wolves and Villa we lost our way after going behind. That's understandable though. If we are to fight back after losing so many key games to lower teams it's going to take a huge amount of mental strength from here on in. A real test of character to be sure.

 

Started the second half of the season with a point, which is a 100% better than how we started the first half of the season.

 

VAR adjudged his right arm to off side having come back on side before the ball was played. So he was ruled off side because not all of his anatomy was onside.
This is getting beyond absurd and almost laughable. I bet DF is having a stiff drink before he says anything in front of the press.

 

And we scored from 3 of the chances we created Canario! (though one was ridiculously ruled out).

 

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker: Here we go again. More nonsense from VAR. Pukki goal ruled out when level. If you have to draw lines and dots and it's still not clear one way or the other, then please stop undermining the on-field officials. Absurd.

 

Agree. Totally pointless when we have Pukki on his own up front. He’s not a target man so it just invites pressure.

Sometimes I wonder whether we would be better off in those situations having Pukki drop back and having a bigger midfielder who can’t really defend well like Vrancic going up top. Then we at least have a chance of holding the ball up.

 

I am fairly certain that offside is called when a part of the body that can score a legal goal is ahead of the defence. The arm is not such a part of the body.

 

The NBC commentators pointed that out. I'd never heard that before.

They also talked about listening in on the discussion between Friend and the VAR and the officials were talking about Pukki being offside during the build-up of the play. That would have no bearing what so ever, as far as I know (which isn't very much ).

 

Yes, might as well not send him forward for all the good it does.

 

Norwich might be bottom, but we're not playing badly, maybe we used too much of our 2019 luck quota to get promoted. Hopefully 2020 will see us get the rub of the green, if so hopefully we can gather some good points.

 

I’d accept that if we’d been really lucky in going up - like we did with Alec Neil when we got pretty lucky in the second half of the season to get play offs.

But last season we thoroughly deserved to win the league, let alone be amongst the three promoted teams.

 

Yes, I agree Rob. After the first half jitters at Anfield, we started the season well in difficult fixtures. The loss of Zimmerman at West Ham was a real blow and though we over achieved against ManCity the injury crisis set in after that and we struggled. Since Everton we've achieved a better balance between attack and defence and the performances have been consistently better, though not always producing the results they merited. If we can continue that consistency, perhaps add a CB in January, we could start to pick up points more regularly. I don't think it will be enough to survive, but at least we might show that we can compete at this level.

 

We are competing at this level, its not like we're getting thrashed or out classed week on week. Very few teams have scored more than 2 against us and most are only beating us by a single goal. We are regularly scoring against the top teams and generally our performances particularly against the top teams has been good, however most frustratingly we haven't won any of our 6 pointers. We are going toe to toe with most teams and it is only very small margins that are preventing us from drawing or winning games and accumulating points. The thing that I think has hurt us most is our CB injury crisis and poor defending for set pieces (linked). I can't help feeling that things could have been very different at this stage if we'd been able to field 2 experience CB's for every game. As Chris Hughton and others were saying yesterday, we're not playing like a team that is destined for relegation.

 

Yes, look where the ball is. It has left Vrancic's foot, so if you need to determine the relative positions of Alderweireld and Pukki at the moment the ball leaves Vrancic's foot this image does not help you.

 

To clarify the offside rule here it is from the IFAB Laws of the Game (Law 11)

http://www.thefa.com/football-rules...Dmkc9NOXZKXzIOegsdzR9SJ-2FLNAxFh5lmdjwINHLVJU

The hands/arms are NOT included when judging an offside position - how can VAR say Pukki's armpit was in an offside position if it is NOT included when judging if a player is offside?