• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Reasons to be cheerful right now? Er… Clingan. Crofty. And Sunday. And, er…

11th December 2008 By Guest Blogger Leave a Comment

Please share

We apologise, Ladies and Gentlemen, for the interruption of your programme. Please be assured that normal service has now been resumed…

Oh well, Stan enjoyed it while it lasted. Three days of feeling chipper, happy in the knowledge that we have players who care; that we beat the old enemy; that we can actually win football matches every now and again.

So demob happy was Stan that the passing of Lee Clark did not really hit home.

Even the signing of Carl Cort was received with a sense of 'This could work…' rather than: 'He'll be injured and out by Boxing Day…'

Now, however, reality has once more descended and the same old Norwich City (Roeder model) remains.

The characteristics of our current side are well-known. We tend to play decent football. We pass the ball well at times; even stepping up to a high tempo for sustained patches.

In most games this season, we have dominated possession; the midfield looks effective overall.

On only three occasions can Stan remember us being wholly out-gunned in the middle of the pitch for the duration of a match (Barnsley, QPR, Burnley).

Clingan has proven himself to be an exceptional player, and his co-conspirators – including the wide men – have all done their bit (especially Croft and Patty), going so far as to actually SCORE GOALS.

Unfortunately, these more positive traits have been undone by our very evident inadequacies elsewhere. These are, of course, poor defending and weakness in attack.

Let's take the defence first.

With Drury's experience apparently surplus to requirements, we have tried and failed to forge a rearguard around three young and promising, but inconsistent full backs, an old-head who had begun to look off the pace before he got crocked, the ever willing but frustrating Doc, and the fine but put-upon Kennedy.

All sorts of formations have been tested; yet the penalties and soft goals from set-pieces continue.

 
Last night, even Marshall got in on the act, meaning that we again bossed a game for 90 minutes only to lose because the opposition took their two, rather pathetic chances and we failed to take ours.

Oh for a Martin Taylor; oh for a solid and experienced defence that can do the basics as a matter of instinct.

Up the other end, the problems are somewhat different. We started the season lightweight up front. The wait for Iversen proved fruitless, Sibi proved a makeshift solution of questionable (or only occasional) quality; the heir to Iwan, Deano and Dion failed to appear.

Instead, Curo lost it, Arturo upset the boss and continues to lack a 'protector' of the sort Steve Howard provided him at Derby, and OJ hurt himself after a few brief (and goal-less) cameos of 'jury out' propensity.

We do have, temporarily, the indefatigable Lita, whose tireless running into the channels helps us create chances for which there is no-one to convert unless our hard-working midfield can get far enough up the pitch.

Certainly, the belated placing of Wes in the hole appears to offer one way out, though this was denied us at Watford.

Put bluntly, Carl Cort needs to be a man of legendary status or we will go down, almost certainly.

However well you play, you do not win games if you do not score goals and you let in a goal every time the oppositon shoots.

A final word on Lee Clark. He seemed a good man; passionate and a role model for the players.

Indeed, Stan fears that the player's commitment to the club and eachother was forged more by the passion of Clark than it was by the pseudo-Wengerisms and rather hard faced approach of Roeder. We shall see.

As it is, Stan wishes him well, though he does wonder if the top job may have been his here had he just hung on a while … Oh well, it's only Reading on Saturday…


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Stanley

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

diss_express Diss Express @diss_express ·
51m

#ncfc columnist @EdwardSeaman94 says the strikers need to rediscover their form in front of goal
https://www.dissexpress.co.uk/sport/norwich-city-column-strikers-need-to-rediscover-form-in-fro-9305157/

Reply on Twitter 1639285336168644609 Retweet on Twitter 1639285336168644609 Like on Twitter 1639285336168644609 Twitter 1639285336168644609
buryfree Bury Free Press @buryfree ·
51m

#ncfc columnist @EdwardSeaman94 says the strikers need to rediscover their form in front of goal
https://www.dissexpress.co.uk/sport/norwich-city-column-strikers-need-to-rediscover-form-in-fro-9305157/

Reply on Twitter 1639285315201376257 Retweet on Twitter 1639285315201376257 Like on Twitter 1639285315201376257 Twitter 1639285315201376257
saund65 Canaries Caption It @saund65 ·
1h

Mel Machin's flat cap & track suit combo at Wembley will *never ever* fail to bring a smile to my face.
Timeless..
#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1639282025247932418 Retweet on Twitter 1639282025247932418 Like on Twitter 1639282025247932418 7 Twitter 1639282025247932418
footballbobbles Football Bobbles @footballbobbles ·
1h

🟡🟢 Egg & Cress Bucket Hats IN STOCK!

https://footballbobbles.com/product-tag/norwich-city/

Perfect for #NCFC supporters!

@AlongComeNodge

Reply on Twitter 1639281163612172291 Retweet on Twitter 1639281163612172291 Like on Twitter 1639281163612172291 Twitter 1639281163612172291
norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
1h

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 MA: "It's obviously a complete honour to represent my country."

Hear from Max Aarons ahead of fixtures against France and Croatia for England Under-21s ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1639280923022708737 Retweet on Twitter 1639280923022708737 Like on Twitter 1639280923022708737 29 Twitter 1639280923022708737
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by