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No time to let standards slip. You’ve raised the bar, now jump it again…

28th December 2007 By theexpert Leave a Comment

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Only five points from the last three games for the Canaries ? standards are obviously slipping!

But seriously, Glenn Roeder has done such a terrific job since he walked through the door here at Norwich and raised hopes and expectations to such levels now that when games are lost or points are dropped there's every reason to feel disappointed.

When City take to the field nowadays, especially at home, they rightly do so as favourites to win the game, and the vast majority of supporters will feel confident of witnessing the Canaries getting the job done.

So taking everything into consideration, I don't feel that it's being unduly hasty or unnecessarily critical to infer that in recent matches City have not come up to scratch or performed in a manner befitting their present capabilities.

Of course, it would be remiss not to recall and compare with earlier times this season when performances of this standard and results and points being accumulated in the manner they currently are would have been a received with open arms and treated as a Godsend.

But, thankfully, that's history now, and so I feel there's every justification in making the above statement.

Certainly tomorrow's visit of an underperforming Wolves team provides Norwich with a golden opportunity to rack up another three points and continue what unquestionably remains an excellent recent run of form.

And providing they can maintain the same attitude and degree of competitive spirit that has formed the bedrock of this Norwich side under Roeder's leadership – as well as finding a improved cutting edge in their opponents half of the pitch and especially in front of goal – they'll have every chance of doing so.

The fact that City have now lifted the bar in terms of their performances means that players can no longer complain if they find themselves left out of the team despite them having performed to decent standards, and it might be the case tomorrow whereby someone misses out because Roeder feels that he needs to change the shape of the side in order to accomplish the mission.

There was certainly an imbalance to the team on Boxing Day, as with Jimmy Smith, Darel Russell, and Matty Pattison all included from the start in midfield it often lead to no-one providing a passing outlet wide on the right.

Jon Otsemobor is now beginning to show more determination to get forward down the right flank, but when City quickly regain possession in midfield and want move forward with the first pass, too often the option to go to the right is denied them.

And, as we saw on Wednesday, if Darren Huckerby is being subdued partially as a result of being double-marked but mainly due to not having a particularly good game over on the other side, City accordingly have to try to attack centrally all the time or opt for the long ball forward into the channels which is, of course, very predictable and very easy to defend against.

When Lee Croft was introduced to the action in mid-week Norwich were finally able to fully stretch their opponents, and with crosses coming in from both sides of the pitch Charlton suddenly looked genuinely vulnerable for the first time in the game.

Certainly tomorrow's clash with a Wolves team that is stuck in a bit of a rut at the moment calls for the Canaries to take the game to their opponents and be at their attacking best, and that might mean making a change or two.

I reiterate that it is to the current regimes credit as well as to the players themselves that we are at the stage where we can even dare to suggest that there is room for improvement after five wins and two draws from the last eight league games?

?but nothing was ever achieved through complacency or being happy with the level you're at, and it's no different with the Canaries ? despite such an admirable recent turnaround in the team's fortunes.


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