I know that a few of our MFW readers like to cook now and again when the stars are aligned. Quite possibly many others of us do too but I’m not nosey so I’ve never asked anyone who hasn’t freely offered up such information.
But I’ve managed to stuff up all three of my favourite meals in my lifetime , beginning with Chateaubriand in Paris when I thought it good to add a huge dollop of marmalade from the breakfast table and ruined what should have been a wonderful meal for Mrs P and myself.
Then there was the skate and chips from Mary Jane’s in Cromer, which I put sugar on with the vinegar instead of salt. The crispy aromatic duck I made myself was fine until I served it up with Kung Po Sauce instead of Hoisin.
And that’s how Saturday’s match with Stoke seemed as well. Fantastic, but with a serious fault attempting to ruin a marvellous effort – but not for long I’m delighted to say.
We’re two nought up, more or less cruising and what does Dimitris Giannoulis do? Square across his own box to that nasty piece of work known as Nick Powell. Giannoulis wasn’t alone – Kenny McLean had already played Steven Fletcher in minutes earlier.
Those moments were my marmalade, sugar and Kung Po sauce. Everything else was served up really rather well and for all those supporters of other clubs – and respect to you all – the small cannon on the foredeck of HMS Canary has fired its shot across your bows.
Emi Buendia summed it up nicely when he said: “We’re really pleased with the performance today. We played a very good first-half, created a lot of chances and scored twice. The second-half was a bit tough to begin with but we always believed in our football. We still created a lot of chances and that helped us get a really good result.”
Who among us would not be delighted with a goal-scoring list of Cantwell, Pukki [two, one pen] and Buendia?
As Simon Lappin, the King of Spain said to Chris Goreham: *This is vintage Norwich and should get some detractors back onside. The lads have really deserved this result*.
Or something like that, anyway.
I plead with you good folks to watch the outfield goals again if you haven’t already. You won’t be disappointed. Every one is class.
And oh boy I’m still in love with Max Aarons – in a platonic way I hasten to add.
After yesterday’s performance from Barnsley, which proves that anything can indeed happen in this league, that size 5 football is now firmly back in our court. Brentford were not expecting that result, and neither was I for what it’s worth. But the Bees will be shaken up and nervous after that reverse, which I’m really not sorry about. OK, I’m delighted.
Well done Carlton Morris for proving himself by scoring in the Championship for the very first time – and on arguably the best occasion imaginable for NCFC!
Meanwhile, for anybody out there even vaguely interested in cooking, this a blast. Ignore the plugs for Delia’s books, it’s truly comical.
Good morning Mr P and a great read as usual and the recollection of your cooling disasters brightened up this dull Monday morning. We should soon see the last of the snow and ice in the next few days.
A resounding and much needed victory on Saturday despite unforgivable errors by McLean (that’s twice in 2 games!!) and Giannoulis. The victory stemmed from what several posters have been saying in recent weeks – we need to get the ball forward more quickly and that’s exactly what we did!! For those who regularly yell – ‘get rid of it’, TC’s goal hit the back of the net 25 seconds after Krul passed it to Hanley!!
Well, what can we say about DF and his coaches?? They were certainly able to rekindle the spirit and winning mentality within the team and all those who were calling for a change have now gone back under their rocks! As DF said, he needed a complete week with all his players fit and clear of Covid-19, let’s just hope we can keep our foot ‘to the floor’ for most of the remaining games.
Bendy was back to his brilliant best and he also came through the game without being given a yellow card and in fact, none of our players got a yellow, Giannoulis certainly delivered after his howler led to the Stoke goal and I feel that we are starting to see what SW/DF saw in him.
As was mentioned on Canary Call on Saturday, we have a quite ‘easy run’ of games (if there is such a thing!!), but none of our challengers has a particularly difficult run of games until the end of this month, other than when Watford play Bournemouth.
Our next 4 games –
Coventry (A)
Rotherham (H)
Birmingham (A)
Wycombe (A)
All before we host Brentford at home on Wed 3rd March. If we’re serious about getting back to the ‘Land of Plenty’ – aka the PL, then we really need to be picking up a minimum of 9 or 10 points from this run of games and putting pressure on those around us.
It was nice to see that ‘one of own’ by the name of Carlton Morris was on the scoresheet V Brentford and 2 more of our ‘old boys’ could help us out in the next few weeks, as Brentford have to play both Coventry (McCullum – OK, not quite an ‘old boy’) and the Owls (Rhodes) and Swansea have to play Coventry.
Morning Ed
I can’t recall a previous match this season in which we picked up no bookings – there must have been one but I can’t think of it right now.
We certainly did move the ball more quickly on Saturday which I’d put down to a mixture of good coaching and application in training.
I’ve never really been in the *if in doubt, hoof it out* brigade myself but I do get the shakes when Tim Krul is closed down and has to release it on his right foot in a hurry!
As for the fixtures you mention, only Coventry aren’t habitual bus parkers but they’re really up against it just now so might try to play it tighter than in the previous two fixtures between us this season.
Not one of those four games will prove *easy* – but neither will Brentford of course 🙂
Cheers
Morning Mr P, who couldn,t pleased with hitting four first time we scored 3 since ManCity..
Good way to end a mini drought, hope that is the start of a break the dam. I am still purring over that back heel to Toddy , a second of class from Super Mario.
The is the second moment of madness from Kenny in as many games, as for Giannoulis, an elementary error, it was hammered into us playing in school teams never, repeat never attempt or think about passing across ya box. 500 lines if you do..
That was not in the category of “getting used to English football”. It is more a bad decision.
While most eyes are on The Bees & The Swans, I see The Hornets have found their sting, putting 6 past The Robins, who are consider a half decent outfit. Keep a close eye them, hitting some form about right time. I still fancy them to be in the second Auto spot,
And a very good morning to you too, Lad.
Yes that was a lovely back heel from Mario to Todd and he also earlier played a superb nutmeg to set Emi surging into the six-yard box.
Fair point about our school teams in the old days – I can still remember being told that if you’re gonna pass back to the keeper, always do it so he receives it wide of the goal itself. Ref: Robert Ullathorne & Gunny v Ipswich in the 1990s!
I’m not one for predictions but I can safely say that I agree with you that Watford will have a big part to play between now and the final dénouement.
Thanks as always
Morning Martin. Never had any cooking disasters like yours, however I have burnt my hand or arm on the oven a few times whilst cooking a family meal. Those scars have healed, unlike some of my NCFC ones over the years (2 x FA Cup semi-final defeats and the penalty shoot out loss to Brum in 2002). Anyway, moving on.
After watching Barnsley against Chelsea, and being somewhat impressed with their performance, I wasn’t actually that surprised with their win yesterday in Middlesex. I had a feeling they had the potential to cause the Bees some problems….perhaps stifle the home side and hit them with counter attacks and possibly get the win. There are certainly players in that Barnsley team that could be bought for a Farkeball 2021/22 promotion challenge, SHOULD we miss out this season. Mowatt, Woodrow, Chaplin and Britain are players that could be considered as replacements to players that no doubt we would inevitably lose should we not go up.
Coincidentally I think the Barnsley players might’ve heard my whoops of joy at full time yesterday I was working only two miles from the Brentford stadium yesterday afternoon 🤣
As for us on Saturday, it was of course good to get back on the horse with a positive performance and result to match. Emi returning was both welcome and timely. With four winnable fixtures remaining this month, no cup distractions, and a squad that has personnel coming back from injury and hopefully keeping COVID free, we can now put a consecutive wins run together with goals and clean sheets thrown in to give us the best possible chance of achieving the automatic promotion objective that we all desire.
Take care everyone and stay safe.
Morning Mark
One of my culinary disasters I can put down to excess vino, one was bad luck and the third was sheer unadulterated stupidity!
The three mental scars involving NCFC you mention I can only agree with. I was there to see each of them and all journeys home were horrendous, particularly the Everton loss for reasons I don’t need to mention.
Good call on Barnsley’s players. I’d have Mowatt like a shot and I like their LB {Styles?] very much too.
As you say the Brentford result means that – for now – the prize is ours to lose.
Great comment – thanks.
Hi Martin. Yes despite being 16 in 1989, 19 in 1992 and 29 in 2002, I think I cried on all three journeys home. Should never have lost at Hillsboro in ‘92….our best ever chance of reaching a cup final at Wembley. A fully fit and mentally right Fleck would’ve certainly been the difference between a win and defeat on that day. The injury and death of his father prior to the match had a certain effect on the poor Glaswegian.
Yes I remember the Sunderland game all too well and as you say the pressure on Flecky came from two sides.
I remember stopping afterwards at the KFC in Newark and this old boy in colours saying to me: *What do you reckon on that then?* I simply replied: *we were crap*.
He retorted: *give over, we weren’t that good*.
Strangely I remember that encounter more than I do the match itself.
Morning Martin,
Enjoyed reading the article. There I was ‘pecking’ away on my keyboard putting together this ‘comment’ and the lights inexplicably went out!! and no it wasn’t a case of putting another 50p in the meter 😉 With full power restored, here we go with take 2!!
We seemed offensively we had our mojo back on Saturday. I think Giannoulis is forgiven for his faux pas by providing an assist for Emi’s goal. Just on Giannoulis, he’s clearly still finding his feet but I felt there’s a bit more balance in the team now going forward. He gave Stoke another problem defensively. I wonder if this is in some way is why our other attacking players were finding little bit more space than they have in recent games?
As for the Brentford/Barnsley game, I don’t think anyone saw that result coming except for perhaps Valérien Ismaël who seemed to do a number tactically on Brentford as he did on us!
We now have a run of games that we need results if we are maintain an automatic’ spot in the table, but, as we know there are on free lunches in the championship!! Hopefully, this is where our experience of two seasons ago in handling the pressure of the run-in will help us over the line. Anyway, there’s still 16 games to go, so…..
Cheers
John
Morning John
We did indeed seem to have more space to play in than of late – partly due to the return of Emi – and I think we can all forgive Dimitris as he more than atoned for his error but as Ed says [above] schoolboy howler really wasn’t in it!
Without talking anything up we do seem very close to having a full squad with which to see out the season and as long as we get no further serious injuries we should be okay.
# the batteries on my laptops claim *up to* 13 hours of life. The reality is about four 🙁
Cheers
I really don’t see why you can’t have Kung Po sauce with your crispy duck .
Time for The Mayor to have an eye test to check for colour blindness, but a relief to see Norwich being effectively offensive again.
Hi Bernie
My sauces are both from the Oriental Delight Chinese supermarket on Whiffler Road and look exactly the same due to the stylized Lee Kum Kee packaging, colour and texture.
Call me strange but I like to taste the duck, not the violent Kung Po!
Try it if you like but I wouldn’t recommend it 🙁
*Effectively offensive* seems a tad harsh on us after a fine win.
Cheers mate
During the last 10 months I have become a competent cook. That is to say, I have become someone who follows recipes to the letter and produces something edible, sometimes positively nice. My wife is a fantastic cook-she’ll go into a cupboard with hardly any food in it and produce a delicious feast.
On Saturday, Todd’s goal was like my wife’s cooking. When Krul and Hanley were seemingly stuck in our penalty area, there seemed little prospect of a tasty finish. But add a few magic ingredients including a surging Skipp and a Vrancic flick and you end up with something a footballing Michelin would certainly have awarded a star to (a rather nice Todd In The Hole, maybe). Luckily, we don’t produce many performances analogous of my cooking, but think of the average Burnley goal and that should do it.
A great performance and result with Carlton Morris providing the icing on the cake.
Todd in the hole. Brilliant.
I thought it was brilliant too but as I said to Don earlier:
*Todd in the Hole? Unless we’re talking about him playing as a #10 that sounds a bit ooh, er, Mrs to me 🙂*
Hi Martin
As I trained as a chef at the Star Hotel in the 60’s I will confess there were many a screw up luckily there was someone on hand to help redeem the screw up.
Swansea are the only one at present with games in hand over city and I asked points or games and most replied points, games have to be fitted into an already compressed schedule and that adds to the risk of injuries.
Brentford are on the same games but 1 point adrift with a vastly big goal difference not sure city can at this stage over take that.
Barnsley are becoming a good team under this new manager and yesterday’s result was a surprise but not wholely unexpected and they are cities ladt game of the season.
Coventry will be like a wounded animal on Wednesday after a poor performance 🎭 against Cardiff this is a red button game on sky.
I am watching the test at this time is it a lost cause or can we turn this fameo its head, Viral Kholi is conducting the 25k crowd to get the most noise out them but in reality the Indian’s don’t need much to scream about.
Back to the footy I will go for a city narrow win 2-0/1.
Enjoy your Skate we can’t get it in the fish and chip shops here in Blackpool or Fleetwood, they will fry it if you take it into them at £1 a portion they say they provide the batter and expertise.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Stay Healthy 🙏
Hi Alex
Although we gained five in terms of positive GD on Brentford over the weekend we still have a further 15 to make up and I doubt that’s gonna happen tbh.
Of course the compressed fixture list can lead to unwarranted injuries [particularly of the muscular variety] – it’s bad enough in the Championship even if everything goes to plan, which it hasn’t and never will.
As for the second Test: it was a lost cause at tea on Saturday to me!
Skate is scarce and expensive here in Norfolk but I’ve never heard of taking your own into a chippy for bespoke battering and frying – I bet that breaks an H&S rule somewhere along the line. Or net. Or whatever.
Cheers mate
When I asked a couple of local chippies why they don’t offer skate I was told that it was a good frying fish and Fleetwood being a white fish port Haddock and Cod were what the locals wanted.
Yet the local fresh fish market sells it they told me so buy it and we will fry it for you, yeah I don’t think H&S would approve so now I shallow fry it slowly in butter after a good seasoned flooring tastes nice you should try it
Should try it? Loads of times mate. As you suggest but I either chuck at least half a squeezed lemon’s worth of juice in or do it unfloured with black butter. Pink peppercorn butter is great too – just make it early and chuck it in the freezer for about 20 minutes before you need it.
Plaice is too delicate for this treatment – I tried it once years ago and wished we’d had a cat to give it to, It was rank 🙁
Hi Don
Years ago a mate’s wife was Hong Kong Chinese and she showed me the basics of her cooking and it somehow stuck. She gave me a book by Kenneth Lo which I’ve still got but rarely use.
Sue’s a very good cook so we’ve always shared the load, depending on who does what the best. I’m the Kenny McLean of the domestic kitchen as in I can do most things fairly well but don’t half have some crazy moments.
I’m sure you’ve become a far better cook than Chris Wood has a striker.
Todd in the Hole? Unless we’re talking about him playing as a #10 that sounds a bit ooh, er, Mrs to me 🙂
Cheers mate
Well, if I tell you that cheese-on-toast is the limit of my abilities – and on one occasion I even messed that up by forgetting to turn the toast over before adding the cheese – you’ll get the picture….
(Friend: “You mean you can’t even whip up beans on toast?” Me “Didn’t realise you have to whip the beans….”)
I felt very sorry for Giannulis immediately after he created their goal because up to then he’d shown signs of being the best tackling LB we’ve had for a while – since Adam Drury perhaps? That he made up for that error instantly is brilliant, but just every report gives the impression that his mistake was the first thing he’d done in the game. far from it.
That’s clearly the best game for a while, certainly that I’ve been able to get on iFollow. It’s curious though how we look at the game our way. Imagine if you are a Stoke fan:
“Ist goal, we should have read the Vrancic flick. Haven’t they studied the video showing him set up Aarons exactly the same way earlier in the season?
2nd goal, what WAS Fox thinking of? Don’t they know Buendia is a tenacious rat who’ll either nick the ball off you or fall over and claim a foul if he doesn’t get it?
3rd goal, how did their idiot of a full back get past Collins? Should have been got a tackle in and played it off him for a goal kick.
4th goal, never a penalty, and even if it was how stupid was it to lunge in like that – the diving Argentian was already falling over and going nowhere.”
I jest of course, well sort of. The fact is once we’d offered Stoke the obligatory first-minute chance (how often have we done that this season?) we were on the front foot and well in control from the off.
And like others I wasn’t surprised Barnsley got something yesterday, although I certainly didn’t expect them to keep a clean sheet. Shads of our loss to Derby I guess.
Whilst some teams may continue to shut up shop and look for a point, the time is coming when clubs fighting relegation really need more than that, and the 7 or 8 clubs who are 6-8 points adrift of the play-offs also have to win games to make up that gap. So games might be a bit more open in weeks to come. Bring them on!
Hi Keith
I certainly like your points #1-4 from an imagined Stoke perspective – although I think Giannoulis has a way to go before he can be compared with Adam Drury.
As I replied to Ed [above] I think we could be in for a quartet of matches against bus-parkers with the possible exception of Cov, but even they might revert to that approach.
From this point on just about everybody will have something to play for, whatever their individual reasoning behind it and what they need to do in order to achieve their goals. Even, say, Barnsley, Bristol City and Preston will think they can make the play-offs while Wycombe, Rotherham, Birmingham and aforementioned Coventry are already in serious bother at the wrong end of the table. Whether that will lead to more open matches I’m not so sure.
I hope Brum don’t sack Karanka until after we’ve played them!
Thanks as ever
Hi martin I too managed to put sugar on my fish and chips in a well known store cafe in Norwich and my dear ol mother put salt in an apple pie yuk good performance sat with two or three careless errors need to cut them out as I said last week brenford would lose soon by the amount of chances other teams making against them they’ll be like a bottle of pop shake it up go to the top and then go flat I fully expect Watford to give us most to do not the other two keep well mate
Hi Kev
You might well be right about Watford of course but I still see Swansea and Brentford as our major threats – at least currently.
I reckon the home game against the Bees on March 3 could very well be crucial but they do have a history of *bottling* [nice reference] and that could work in our favour.
I’m guessing you’re referring to Jarrolds although it could have been M&S or even BHS I suppose. A mistake that’s impossible to rectify!
Cheers
Great write up Martin, some excellent comments and even better culinary references.
We tried so, so hard on Saturday to help Stoke, but following Obi-Mikel’s miss in minute one we really turned it on.
Cantwell’s strike was class; Buendia’s overall performance somewhat better than that.
What a talent Buendia is when he plays as he did on Saturday, and such a shame most of us cannot see what will surely be his last season in Yellow and Green.
Once we got the second it should have been plain sailing, but of course, we are Norwich and McLean tried then Giannoulis succeeded in giving Stoke a lifeline. I was impressed by how we (and Giannoulis in particular) put that particular error so quickly behind him. He appears quick, and can also make a tackle and (so far) is another Webber masterstroke.
The games to come are eminently winnable; as someone said above, those teams at the bottom have to be going for wins in order to escape the dreaded drop, which could play into our hands.
Although of course, with the Wycombe game now on a Sunday, Brentford have an extra day compared to us to prepare for the Carrow Road showdown with them.
Well done Carlton Morris and Barnsley yesterday…just don’t do THAT on the last day of the season!
O T B C
Hi John
Yeah we’ve cooked up some excellent comments today and that’s for sure – luckily most [but not all] of them were about the football 🙂
I’m not sure just how much a single day’s difference in gap time between ourselves and Brentford playing on February’s final weekend will work out as they will have to travel to us on the Wednesday. But then you could say that Wycombe to Norwich is just slightly worse a journey than Brentford to Norwich. It should even itself out but I’m no good at logistics so I’m not sure!
Your point about Emi Buendia is spot on but I can’t help thinking that incredibly sadly we’ll never physically get to see Olly Skipp in a yellow shirt at all and he’ll never hear our appreciation for him in the established Carrow Road manner.
Thanks a lot.
Good read as usual Martin and some great comments too.
Since I retired my cooking skills have improved a lot. So much so that I now do all the cooking. Everyone has a few mishaps as they improve. I put McLean and Giannoulis in that mould as well as myself. If you are going to make a mistake do it when 2-0 up and on the way to a 4-1 win. Just learn and don’t do it when it’s 0-0.
On the whole a good team performance but it is even clearer what effect Emi has on the team’s performance both attacking and defending. There are going to be no easy games in the next 17 for us or any of the promotion contenders. My guess is any team in the top 4 that loses 3 or less games between now and the end of the season will go up automatically. I think as it stands our biggest rivals are Brentford and Swansea. Watford will need to go on a really good run to get into the top 2. They have the players that are capable of doing that but I can’t see them sustaining a strong run in.
Hopefully we can keep our key players fit and not suspended then we can look forward with confidence for this season at least.
OTBC
Hi Colin
I suppose if you put McLean and Giannoulis into a mould you could create a cold Graeco-Scottish dish of some complexity – as in I’ve never been able to completely work Kenny out and am so far struggling with Dimitris!
It’s easy to ignore Emi’s defensive work but I bet Max Aarons would give him a humongous thumbs up for it – Che has got quite an engine on him, as has Max of course.
It’s amazing what a good win can do for our collective morale and despite the faults it was indeed a very good win, with perfect timing.
For what it’s worth I found cooking professionally a great experience. You learn some tricks, particularly appreciate the importance of prep and do everything three times faster than you would normally. It was crazy in its way!
I retired at 55 and can assure you I’ve thoroughly enjoyed cooking ever since. But oh boy do I continue to make mistakes with new ideas. However, just like Giannoulis on Saturday, you do your utmost not to make the same mistake twice.
Cheers
With city naming their price for Max Aaron’s it is being reported that ManU are being advised to walk away but the bought a RB with a lot less experience for £50m from CP who isn’t consistent
*They* reckon Wan-Bissaka is fine defensively but Max [£30-35 million I’ve read] is supposedly much better going forward.
I’d put him in the same category as Madders and Ben Godfrey by saying thanks, you deserve your big move now go and tear it up at Man U, Bayern, Spurs or wherever.
Hello Martin, it’s great to be reading about a win again after the meagre rations of the last four games.
The full week on the training pitch with his charges was clearly utilised to great effect by farke and some subtle changes to our play were detected.
The loss of Buendia over the previous 4 games has clearly hit us hard. His industry allied to the artistry and the new found goal scoring prowess since the gentle nudge from Farke makes all the difference and he appears to be in the groove.
Cantwell likewise was on song, following some sub par efforts and hopefully will. Continue to score goals to take the weight off Pukkis shoulders.
Dimitiri, apart from his gaffe looked the part and with Aarons provided that key element of farke football, the attacking full backs.
Now is the time to press home the advantage and take back some of the ground lost to Swansea and Brentford in the last ten day or so.
Hi Chris
Yes I feel pretty much the same way.
The next four matches are not necessarily the key to the season, but 10 or 12 points from them would set down a huge marker. to our rivals.
I’m more concerned about Rotherham than the other three because Warney makes them fight, fight and fight again.
Well done for picking up on Emi’s industry. It so often goes unnoticed except by Max!
Cheers