Remember the term ‘Fortress Carrow Road? I still use it occasionally because FCR is useful in a 140 character limited tweet (pfft… so WWII – Ed), but it’s not really a thing any more is it? These days we seem as likely to win away from home as at ‘FCR’– a very ‘Un-Norwich City’ trait if ever there was one.
This of course is very nice if you’re one of the travelling faithful who over the years have clocked up thousands of miles more in hope than in expectation. Goodness knows we deserve it. For the most part this season, being on the road has been OK.
There have been some horror shows, not least last weekend, but when there is a derby victory tucked in there and a so nearly night at the Emirates it’s pretty damn good. Matches like those two remind the likes of me just why we do it.
So what exactly has happened to our home form? Going to stick my neck out here and say that I don’t think there’s been a great deal of difference in any of our home games this season, wins, lose or draw.
The first time I witnessed the Webber/Farke revolution was the Carabao Cup second round tie against Swindon in August. I was immediately impressed with the skill and technique on display, but worried that there was little end product. This carried on into the league games and the lack of home goals speaks for itself. A last minute equaliser and a 30-yard net buster can distort the impression of a game as you leave the ground, and you can end up thinking some of the games have been great when in reality they haven’t been too different from some of the mediocre ones.
To some fans a win is a good performance, a loss is a bad performance, and a 0-0 draw is boring. But for me the home matches have been much of a muchness. Lots of pretty pretty football with no end product. You can just about get away with that against the likes of QPR and Burton who seemed to be aiming at the same barn door as us – they both missed gilt edged opportunities at crucial stages of the games and we got out of jail – but as soon as you come up against a bit of quality like Derby and Wolves you will get punished and that’s what’s happened.
In just about every game we’ve started like a house on fire and threatened to blow away the opposition. We’ve hit the bar, hit the post, had great efforts saved and been guilty of some glaring misses. Never mind though, there’ll be lots more chances surely if we keep playing like this I kept telling myself. The goals are bound to go in.
But if I’ve learned nothing else this season, it’s to stop thinking that because increasingly it isn’t happening. The shots on target seem to dry up the longer the game goes on. I’m not sure if it’s a confidence thing, the opposition getting wise, or just us running out of ideas. The goals don’t come and once the crowd gets restless we look increasingly likely to draw a blank.
The much derided international break has given us a chance to address all of this of course. There will be much soul searching going on these two weeks on the fields of Colney about zonal marking versus man-marking, whether or not we have inadvertently loaned out the next Sergio Aguero to a lower league club, should we hurry back the injured players a bit sooner than we’d like, and countless other ideas born in the Bundesliga.
But I’m going to throw something of my own into the ring now. How about shooting the other way in the first half? Yes I know logic dictates it shouldn’t make any difference. As Grant Holt recently said during his very brief Kings Lynn cameo ‘The goals the same size wherever’. But it does make a difference, we all know that.
The Liverpool ‘We can suck the ball into the net’ Kop know it. The players know it. The Barclay and the Snakepit know it. Attacking the end where your noisiest most passionate supporters are gives the players a psychological boost and an edge, so why not use it when we need it most?
I can hear you all saying ‘Whatever difference will that make? ‘But what’s to lose?
And for all those rolling their eyes in exasperation, I give you Simeon Jackson 25th April 2011 Norwich v Derby …
Agree, completely.
Interesting! I was never good enough to have played at a high enough level to have considered this at a subjective level before.
What I will say is that if you’re in goal the abuse from the half a dozen drongos behind it can be distracting, especially if, like me, you tended to talk back to them.
But at a professional level? Sorry Kathy I don’t really buy it. Surely they can here us yelling from behind them as well as when they’re kicking towards us?
Maybe the trouble is the River End is just a little too quiet – the contrast between there and the Barclay/Pit is a marked one and always has been ever since we went all-seater. But given all the demographics we are not likely to be able to increase the volume emanating from there.
Us older boys in the UB don’t shout like we used to, but still make enough racket to theoretically upset a large number of River Enders if a few of us were transposed.
Mind you, it’s worth a try…
I have always said this. It makes no sense to shoot at the Barclay in the first half. Whatever happened to the coin toss? I’m sure I can remember Gunn senior having to pick his water bottle and towel up to run down to the other goal high-fiving the opposite keeper on the halfway line
Is there no longer a coin toss? I hadn’t noticed. I did wonder how we never kick towards the Barclay end in the second half and muse upon how we always called tails.
Psycological boost or not, when do you deem that we need it the most? Given our record of coming from behind in games, is it more important to have that advantage from the start? It hasn’t worked so far. (It was 0-0 till the 46th minute vs Derby and playing toward the Barclay hadn’t helped) Or in the second half when we might already be behind? Again we don’t seem to do come backs, the opposition will already then have hit full defensive mode.
I’m with Grolt on this, it makes no real difference, there maybe some advantage shooting towards the Barclay but which 45 that is, is in my book is inconsequencial relative to being a goal down, the oppositions game plan and most importantly our game plan.
Its our game plan that needs sorting out, create chances, good chances for players who have the apptitude to take them and goals will come.
Keep banging away with what appear to be flawed tactics and you are either waiting for a change of luck or manager.
Bah!
Interesting final point. I’ve often wondered why we’ve kicked towards the Barclay in the first half more often than not.
I personally believe that the crowd can make a difference, both positive and negative, so it seems to make little sense to kick towards the quieter end the second half.
Completely agree. No idea why we don’t kick that way always. It’s just sun in the eyes for the keeper I think. Defo change now!!!!
I don’t think there is any real solution. We’ve become exactly what we’re supposed to be, a mid table ‘almost ran’. Unfortunately the club now lacks competitive edge compared to the likes of Derby and, though it pains me to type this, Wolves. The reason we’re not scoring is because we have only two players capable of which, one of those is currently injured and the other one is Maddison. Jerome hasn’t been the answers for nigh on three seasons and Watkins is hardly convincing. The simple matter is, we can defend until the cows come home, hooray, we’re not losing 4-0 anymore but we’re not scoring because we just haven’t got the quality and all that means is teams can sit back against us and wait for their chance. There’s only so much you can do with a small budget and as we all know the future, without proper 2018 investment (let’s address the elephant), we’ll struggle to maintain a mid table finish each season as more and more clubs get bought out. As it stands we have one of the poorer owners in this league and all the will, all the Barclay in the world cannot bring good players to a club teetering on the mediocre. I fear the redevelopment of Colney has come late in the day, I understand the principle to become a ‘sell on’ club and though that notion doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, it’s fine for me IF (and it’s a big one) it generates funds from shipping talent youngsters further up the league and (maybe) into the Premier League. This sustainable model would have paid dividends some years ago but Norwich have left it late. It might just be enough to keep City in the Championship but that alone will not propel the club to the echelons of this league and beyond anymore. Unless of course the Int. break changes everything and we go on a massive run and smash it… Then I’ll eat a hat.
City have always beeen a selling club since the days of Chase/South and Jones, remember the following.
Sutton to Blackburn Paddon to WHU
Fox to Newcastle Davis to Southampton
Fashanu to Nottingham Forest Reeves to Man City
Drinkell to Rangers Fleck to Chelsea
Woods to Rangers Townsend to Chelsea
Gordon to Rangers Redmond to Southampton
Bruce to Man U Rob Green to WHU
Watson to Everton Ashton to WHU
All the above are just a few that I can remember Snodgrass , Earnshaw, Etuhu, Bellamy plus many more some came from are own youth program others got cheap sold high so nothing is new except the fee’s keep going up and that makes buying a bigger gamble, city had agood scouting network in and around the south west / south Wales that has now gone so lets get that area covered again.
“City have always beeen a selling club”
I think the key difference from our recent history is that until last year the club were VERY proud to say “We don’t HAVE to sell any players”. Sometimes they wanted to when they got a good offer.
But now, with a 20M+ gap to fill, we have no choice.
Anyway, in regards to the idea floated… worth a try!
There must be an element of deafness from certain areas of the ground or is it that it has always been vogue to address the River End as quiet. I have sat in every area of Carrow Road and the River End is actually the third noisiest behind the Barclay and Snakepit respectively.
The third noisiest Kevin? Yes you’re quite correct.
But it’s a bit like saying 1: Black Sabbath, 2: Led Zeppelin, 3: Bananarama.
The gap between #2 and #3 is a significant and very large one.
I disrepect nobody in any part of the ground for not being vocal; I make far less noise than I once did myself.
It isn’t particularly “en vogue” to criticise the River End to my knowledge, but I’ve been in there many times, particularly Cup games, myself and it can sometimes resemble a graveyard. Give me the Barclay any day.
I will show my age now last time I was in the river end was a night game I travelled down from RAF Stanmore Park with a few friends it was all standing and no roof and Saunders was manager we were playing stock and Banks was in goal I think we won that night and it was jumping.
I would put the lack of noise down to many things but all seaters kills the atmosphere in any ground and the younger and newer supporters haven’t had the experience of a real lively night game standing on a noisy terrace all they know is a damp squid atmosphere just like they call Old Trafford the Theatre of Dreams it isn’t a theatre it is a stadium that should reverberate with noise, you go to theatre sit in your seat watch a play and you don’t partisipate. Watching a band you pay for your seat and 95% stand all night sing,shout wobble in a restricted area or the aisles, no silly law stopping you standing in crapped conditions in a theatre.
Yet we now have modern football stadiums and if I can possibly be corrected if I am wrong the only country that enforces a no standing ban, safe standing needs to come in and soon or we will be in noiseless stadiums as someone will want to get the noise abatement society involved.
Us River Enders seems to be getting a bit of a bum rap here.
*River-Enders have feelings too* 😉
Sing up then ?
Massive ha!
Seriously it is horses for courses – I’d feel a bit out of place in the LB or the Pit these days tbh. The UB is perfect for someone like me who is 60 this month but still with a bit of the old burning stuff in his gut:-)
I dislike being anywhere else in the ground, the UB is just where I feel happy really.
“Noisiest most passionate fans” hmm. Noisiest does not necessarily mean most passionate. Often found away that those yelling about making noise are the first to disappear if the game is going against us & have a look at the Snake Pit next time City have a cup tie.
Kathy you have hit the nail on the head in this article and most contributors here have missed it. NO not the River End v Barklay bit but that in ALL of our games we have ve seen lots of pretty pretty passing football with no teeth. You know what – I am beginning to think we should have just given Alan Irvine the job in the first place. Farke talks well and has the ideas to set the team up playing fancy football (which I like) but goals win games you can’t win on points and I fear that he doesn’t understand that. He is at a disadvantage in that we have recruited several players who are simply not good enough ( Franke, Vrancic and Steiperman as examples) but what is required is a boot up certain backsides to get us playing football in the areas that count. I still beleive he could turn us around (because of my rose coloured specs) but work is not in progress for me at the moment.
Agreed with Irvine. Nothing against Farke, he’s doing a passable job. But Irvine looked have had us moving in the right direction already.
I generally disagree with most of what CC has to say. Irvine might have been a quick fix, he may have even done a decent job, but it strikes me as it would be a half measure in the brave new world that webber and the board are imagining. I think given time and a fit Oliviera we will start to score a few more goals, add to that Pritchard and we could start resembling a decent side. As examples go of poor recruitment, I’m going to take umbridge with naming Stieperman who I think has adapted well and been a good signing, Vrancic the jury is still out on and I’ll be generous to Franke and say whilst he hasn’t been very good so far, he still hasn’t had a chance in a back 6 of; Pinto, klose, Stieperman, Tettey and Trybull so I think he should still get the benefit of a doubt until he at least has another chance to prove otherwise.
At least we both have some optimism that Farke could turn us around. i’m also concerned that his answer to shipping goals was to go so defensive that scoring them is just not happening, but I think we need someone like him who can secure us at the back and build a plan for attack (TBC if he can build an attack!) I think we have looked good enough at times to suggest that he will get us going. We desperately need a fit finisher though, get a goal up more often during some of these decent starts to games and the garden will be a good deal more rosie!
Bah!
A fit Oliveira could be a mirage! I take your point that Irvine could maybe not be a long term fix but we would have continued moving forward not backwards. I will happily be proved wrong about the aforementioned players but I am not as confident as you. Time will tell eh?
As a River Ender it’s been noticeably quieter in all areas this season. Never understood why people are raucous in the pubs but as soon as they get to the ground they’re quiet as church mice. Everyone needs to sing up.
Spot on! I was going to tweet about this weeks ago but keep not finding the time! It’s a no-brainer, obvious marginal game we can make. We might need to swap dugouts and warm up in front of the Barclay too, but even that would help. Are you watching Mr Webber? Make the change!