• 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

Four in a row as the Crawley resistance ultimately proves futile against the young guns

27th August 2014 By Gary Gowers 5 Comments

Please share

John Gregory’s assertion that the ‘best side lost’ may have a semblance of truth if stats are anything to go by, but – as Mr G knows only too well – the ‘in the hat for the next round’ cliche remains king in cup competitions; Norwich’s reward being an away tie at Shrewsbury.

For City it was a job well done and with a liberal sprinkling of FA Youth Cup winning heroes and other assorted youngsters on view it was one of those that left the faithful feeling a little warm and fuzzy.

Crawley played their part of course and Gregory’s post-match rant was likely borne of pride in their performance – Neil Adams was equally complimentary of the test they provided – but it was those two exquisite finishes by Josh Murphy that ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.

Many of us questioned the benefit Josh would gain from those few futile cameos last season – particularly the one at The Etihad – but from what we’ve seen this season the school of hard knocks has stood him in good stead for facing the challenge of whizzing past Football League defenders. He makes the task of beating the first man appear a breeze.

And the stock of Neil Adams continues to rise. Four wins in a row is impressive by any standards, but with the fourth of those being achieved by an XI that comprised youth with a smattering of experience was doubly pleasing.

The faith shown in persisting with the youngsters even in the face of Crawley pressure was laudable, and confirmed to them, and us, that the boss will indeed stick to his guns when it comes to blooding youth when the time is right.

Some young men will have metaphorically departed Carrow Road a few inches taller on Tuesday night. And good for them.

____________________________________________________________________

With only five days left in the summer transfer window the wind of change shows no sign in abating at Carrow Road with Falkirk’s 18 year-old winger Conor McGrandles being the latest through the door.

The Scotland Under-19 international arrives courtesy of an undisclosed fee and the blessing of his former club who have received what has been rumoured to be a club record fee. He joins up with Gary Holt – the former Falkirk manager – who he described as a ‘big factor’ in his move south.

Also heading to Norfolk, if reports emanating from Belgium (and some grainy images on Twitter) are finally confirmed, will be Belgian midfielder Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe. The  25-year-old, who has won five caps with the national side, will reportedly sign a three-year deal with City having agreed a fee of around £4million with Club Brugge.

____________________________________________________________________

While things in the real world are ticking along very nicely thank you, in the virtual world of the Football Manager Parallel Championship things are going *even* better, if that’s possible.

So far a combination of Martin Emerson’s shrewd management and some equally astute team selections from the MyFootballWriter readers have seen City go top of the table with four straight wins.

Can we make it five in a row? We need your help again folks.

You know the routine now… please give us, based on those players available, your starting XI with your preferred formation and Martin and I (mainly Martin) will do the rest.

Over to you. All opinions and thoughts welcome.

“ON THE BALL CITY…”


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Gary Gowers

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stewart Lewis says

    27th August 2014 at 10:38 pm

    Ruddy – Whittaker Martin Turner Olsson – Johnson Tettey – Lafferty Hoolahan Redmond – Grabban

    Josh M is pressing, but the winning League team should get another chance (with Olsson restored now he’s available again).

    Reply
  2. Ben K says

    28th August 2014 at 11:36 am

    Seems there’s a first choice XI forming (subject to business conducted before the window closes).

    As such:

    Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Turner, Olsson; Johnson, Tettey; Redmond, Hoolahan, Lafferty; Grabban (4-2-3-1).

    Reply
  3. Ben K says

    28th August 2014 at 11:38 am

    Should Josh Murphy be given a starting place ahead of Redmond? Will Murphy’s form give Redmond a kick up the rear?

    Reply
  4. Damian Sal says

    28th August 2014 at 12:13 pm

    Good win in the cup although we scored 3 less than last year at the same stage – missing that Elmander cutting edge! Nice to see Redknapp and Lambert getting a bloody nose from lower leaguers too.
    We’ve definitely got the right ‘Neil’ in charge – poor Palace fans have to suffer Warnock again.. that Kate Bush line springs to mind – “every old sock meets an old shoe.” Miss Bush has clearly never been to my house (unfortunately).
    Not frolicked at Gay Meadow for the best part of 30 years – Mellon’s boys could be a banana skin in a fruity encounter but we should be able to tame the shrews.
    Agree with the line-up already suggested with Murphy pushing Redmond to the bench.

    Reply
  5. Ian Lamedi says

    29th August 2014 at 4:13 pm

    Any clues as to how this online league actually works – is it just a random score generator or something more sophisticated?
    Ever on the hunt for an unusual name, Crawley’s kit manager goes by the splendid one of Marco Quasimodo! Bet he had the hump after we beat them.
    http://careersinfootball.com/2014/06/10/marco-quasimodo/

    Reply

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

norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
19m

🎟 Tickets for our trip to The Den to face Millwall next month go on sale on Monday.

More details ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1621546557949485056 Retweet on Twitter 1621546557949485056 Like on Twitter 1621546557949485056 11 Twitter 1621546557949485056
footballleaguew Football League World @footballleaguew ·
21m

🤔 Can David Wagner's resurgent Norwich City halt Burnley's title procession on Saturday?

🔋 Or will Vincent Kompany's men make it 9 wins in 9?

#NCFC #UTC

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/we-can-exploit-them-david-wagner-makes-bold-claim-ahead-of-norwich-city-v-burnley/

Reply on Twitter 1621546221302124557 Retweet on Twitter 1621546221302124557 Like on Twitter 1621546221302124557 3 Twitter 1621546221302124557
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
49m

David Prutton’s Championship score predictions - https://fanbanter.co.uk/david-pruttons-championship-score-predictions/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #kro #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #bluebirds #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #ltfc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #sufc #scfc #wba

Reply on Twitter 1621539141031714817 Retweet on Twitter 1621539141031714817 Like on Twitter 1621539141031714817 Twitter 1621539141031714817
pinkun The Pink Un @pinkun ·
49m

🗣️ @adam_harv19 and @cjsouthwell1902 preview #NCFC's clash with #twitterclarets 🔰

🇬🇷🇧🇷 Tzolis & Marquinhos involved ❓
💚💛 New contract for Adam Idah
📈 The opposition
🔥 Plus much more

🎥 https://youtube.com/live/_UR0pumwLtM?feature=share

Reply on Twitter 1621539004931014656 Retweet on Twitter 1621539004931014656 Like on Twitter 1621539004931014656 3 Twitter 1621539004931014656
norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
55m

♻️ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖

Junior Canaries who have taken climate friendly actions in their matchday routine are in with a chance of winning some signed items at the Carrow Park FanZone ahead of kick-off 🎁

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1621537495094800384 Retweet on Twitter 1621537495094800384 1 Like on Twitter 1621537495094800384 13 Twitter 1621537495094800384
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