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Lambert eyes a change or two for Black Cats clash. ‘I need to know exactly what I’ve got…

24th August 2009 By Latest News Leave a Comment

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New City boss Paul Lambert was promising further changes ahead of tonight's Carling Cup second round clash with Premiership visitors Sunderland.

For whilst the majority of managers might have looked at Saturday's 5-2 defeat of Wycombe Wanderers and simply said: 'Same again, boys…' as Steve Bruce's new charges roll into Carrow Road, Lambert has other priorities.

Not least discovering just what players he has at his disposal; who else could do him a job in League One and spare him a trip to the August sales with just seven days left in this summer's transfer window.

“I might make some changes – I might do,” he admitted, fresh from opening his managerial account in such impressive fashion.

“Because I have to see everybody. I have to see people to see what they can offer.

“As I say, a lot of the lads that played today haven't played much, but the turnaround is that short that I have to look at players to see if they're going to be good enough to stay.”

He has, at least, a clean bill of health to work with; Matt Gill is only one with a slight knock – he may well have to play second fiddle to 18-year-old Korey Smith in the heart of that midfield after City's FA Youth Cup skipper produced his first senior strike on his first senior start at Carrow Road this weekend.

“As far as I know, everyone is OK,” said Lambert.

“Gill is struggling at the moment; he's about the only one. Cody [McDonald] had a dead leg the other day. But everybody else is OK.”

The Canaries have now delivered their long-suffering supporters 15 goals in their opening two home games of the season – nine of which have come to the opposition.

In theory, it should make for a decent spectacle for this evening's Sky viewers, but Lambert insists he is not out to deliver such entertainment on a regular basis. He would like less of the 'heart-attack football' and rather more sense and certainty at either end of the pitch following that 7-1 opener against his own Us side and this weekend's 5-2 thriller against another of his former employers, Wycombe Wanderers.

“I said when I was at Wycombe that I wasn't going to play 'PlayStation football' – and I stand by that,” said Lambert, suggesting a diet of sober 1-0 wins could be his next target. “I'm here to try and win and if I can win; and if we can be hard to beat and try and do the right things, then I will take it.

“If you tell me I will win one-nothing, I will take it. Really boring, I know. But as long as we score more than the other team, I will take it.”

Ideally, City carry on where they left off on Saturday; with another decent Carrow Road crowd beginning – just beginning – to believe in a new dawn.

“The club's obviously been dented a bit with the whole Colchester thing, but I'm absolutely delighted with the response that we've got,” said Lambert.

Saturday had clearly done little to tamper his enthusiasm for the task ahead; the fact that Norwich would ship two sloppy goals before Jens Berthel Askou's bullet header set them on their way again with the killer fourth goal merely ensured that Lambert knows exactly what his new charges are capable of – decent one minute, hapless the next.

“It's a brilliant challenge,” he said. “The club itself has got everything here. Whate we've got to do is get the team up and running. And today was the first step.

“And we'll do everything we can to make this club successful. But the structure of the football club is brilliant; the fan base is brilliant – and the football team we have to improve.”

But there will be fresh faces; either in this window or the next.

“I will try and get players in to give this current group a hand,” he promised. “Whether it's this window or next January… But if it's not, it doesn't phase me.

“Because I'm confident enough in the group of lads that are already here to drive it on, but ultimately they'll need a bit of help.”

Team-wise, Lambert might be tempted to have another look at his centre-half pairings; swap a Doherty or a Nelson for either a Spillane or an Askou.

Whether Smith, Paul McVeigh, Stephen Hughes and Simon Lappin have the legs for another full outing so swiftly after their last – and first – of the season is another matter; ditto Jamie Cureton. One suspects that he would have to rip the shirt off Grant Holt's back right now; with five goals from his first five outings in a Canary shirt, the blossoming 28-year-old would relish a chance to have a pop at a Premiership outfit.


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ian_m1 Ian 🔰 @ian_m1 ·
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As the great Barry Davies said, that’s a magnificent goal. #ncfc

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