I guess there may have been a twist if Surman’s shot – in the first minute of the second-half – had gone in. As it happened, TV replays showed that Snodgrass’s intervention didn’t stop the ball going in, but instead probably just saved a photographer’s lens. And as bright spots go, that was just about it…
Archives for September 2012
Hughton left to seethe over the manner in which his City side handed Suarez chance after chance – chances he was never going to miss
“The Gerrard goal takes a big deflection – that’s how it was today,” he said. “But the goals before that were goals that we could have done something about. “The second goal is the one that hurts us. They’ve scored early, but we’ve got ourselves back into the game and while we would have liked to have been a bigger threat we were still very much in the game.”
Suarez rips City apart again as a rampant Reds add to Hughton’s woes; Holt’s first strike of the season offers little consolation
Having pulled one wide only seconds earlier, he robbed a dawdling Turner before delivering the perfect finish with a flick of the outside of his right foot and on, inside Ruddy’s right upright. As good as the finish was, the invite was again delivered by sloppy defending. Give Suarez and his Premier League ilk an inch, they’ll take a mile…
Suarez rips City apart again as a rampant Reds add to Hughton's woes; Holt's first strike of the season offers little consolation
Having pulled one wide only seconds earlier, he robbed a dawdling Turner before delivering the perfect finish with a flick of the outside of his right foot and on, inside Ruddy’s right upright. As good as the finish was, the invite was again delivered by sloppy defending. Give Suarez and his Premier League ilk an inch, they’ll take a mile…
Holt far from alone in wishing his fortunes would turn in front of goal; even Suarez says he is being short-changed by Lady Luck
“Sometimes I’m doing the hard part by getting away from the defender, but then I’m not finishing well,” added Suarez, who finished all-too well in the corresponding fixture last year. “But that’s what you work on in training and sometimes there’s a bit of luck involved as well, but by practising hard I’m sure that the goals I want to score will come.”
A heartfelt thanks to Alexander Tettey for giving us a win on a night when we needed it more than most. Bondy would have thought it 'Magic…
The number of top level players that passed through his hands during his Carrow Road stint were numerous – too many to mention – but spoke volumes of Bondy’s standing and regard within the game that he got them here. Martin Peters is the obvious one – not too many World Cup winners will be calling Carrow Road home any time soon – but he was one of several…
Tettey’s debut strike proves enough to steer City through as the club mourns the passing of one of its greatest…
The second longest-serving manager in City’s history, Bond did so much much to instill the sense of ‘playing the Canary way…’ into the Norfolk club; an expectation that the beautiful game would be just that; that Saturday afternoon at Carrow Road would be one where entertaining football came before effective football…
Tettey's debut strike proves enough to steer City through as the club mourns the passing of one of its greatest…
The second longest-serving manager in City’s history, Bond did so much much to instill the sense of ‘playing the Canary way…’ into the Norfolk club; an expectation that the beautiful game would be just that; that Saturday afternoon at Carrow Road would be one where entertaining football came before effective football…
I'm with the vast majority and am happy to pin a little hope on the cards that Hughton still has left up his sleeve – starting tomorrow night
To date, little has been spoken of his fledgling City career, in no small part due to the quiet, unassuming and efficient way the real King of Spain goes about his business. No frills; no dramas; few errors; few misplaced passes and a left foot that can open a tin of beans…
Goal-shy City slip nearer the bottom three as Norwich's inability to make possession count continues to haunt new boss Hughton
The first hiccup of the day arrived in the form of an injury to a key player. Sebastien Bassong’s return to Tyneside was short-lived when he pulled up following a forward foray for a corner, with what looked to be hamstring pull. Such has been the Cameroonian’s impact early on in his Norwich career, Hughton will be praying it’s not a bad one…
I’m left to wonder whether Hughton has taken a leaf out of my book – plug – and is carefully hoarding all that is dear to us…
In fact, I probably couldn’t tackle the task without the help of my wife. Yes, there are occasional differences of opinion – one man’s programme collection is another woman’s pile of waste paper, apparently – but she is very good at identifying and throwing out anything unlikely ever to be used again. Though curiously, I notice her wedding dress is still up in the loft…
Fragile is not the word you would use for Hughton’s post-Fulham Canaries as two of the three new-boys get the early wobbles
Right now, those two look the part. Whether Chris Hughton threw them together more by luck than judgement on the back of the Bennett-Turner misadventures at Craven Cottage is for the manager to know and the rest of us to guess. But they have pace, power and, certainly in the case of Bassong, presence.
For now I'll take the clean sheet and trust that between Messrs Hughton, Holt and Kane the goals will start to flow…
As ever, the trick is to find a system that gives us defensive solidity, while still retaining a cutting edge going forward. Finding the net presented us with few problems last season and it has been well documented that outside of the top six we were the top scorers…
City chief Hughton cannot hide his disappointment as that last touch of quality finish-wise eludes his hungry Canary side
“We’ve not only got into good positions, but when we’ve run the ball then that final ball could have been a little bit more decisive and better. But those are the things that you want to be working on. If we weren’t creating the chances then I would be worried.”
Hughton’s quest to deliver that first win of the season turns to Newcastle next week as Jaaskelainen lets Hammers hurry home with a point
The biggest decision of the half arrived on that 40th minute mark as Collins lost his head and swept the feet from beneath Surman in or on the very edge of the Hammers box. It was a cat’s whisker only between City and a spot-kick. But on the replay referee Foy appeared to have called it correctly; that controversy would rage on afterwards – as it did with the award of the QPR penalty…
Hughton's quest to deliver that first win of the season turns to Newcastle next week as Jaaskelainen lets Hammers hurry home with a point
The biggest decision of the half arrived on that 40th minute mark as Collins lost his head and swept the feet from beneath Surman in or on the very edge of the Hammers box. It was a cat’s whisker only between City and a spot-kick. But on the replay referee Foy appeared to have called it correctly; that controversy would rage on afterwards – as it did with the award of the QPR penalty…
Cole for Carroll cuts little ice with City boss Hughton as the Canaries gun for their opening Premier League win of the season
“Carlton Cole is the player that played the three games before Andy Carroll arrived, and did an extremely good job,” added Hughton. “He’s as difficult an opponent as Andy Carroll would be, and it will be a strong opposition, who have had a very good start…
That 'little ol Norwich' tag is one that we can do without; I think we have moved beyond that of late, Mr Shearer…
Where the MOTD boys let themselves down, in my eyes, is their failure to justify some of their dismissive put-downs. A prime example is the classic ‘Norwich will find it difficult this season’, shortly followed by ‘QPR’ will be fine…
Morison all set for Serbian battle as Wales look to right the wrongs of that opening World Cup defeat
“Somebody will go to Serbia and win and I see no reason why that can’t be us,” he added. “We will be in good spirits there. It will be a very different game, but it is one we are very much looking forward to.”
The court of supporter opinion is ever more swift to judge; for the Premier League new-boys, points need to be proved ASAP…
Why I dug the odds out in the first place is because, this year – more than most – it strikes me that there are a lot of new managers, fresh in their post, determined to nip the doubters in the bud with a bright and successful start to their new employment…