As Gary said yesterday, the moaners are out in force after five straight wins. You know, the same wins that took us from the bottom of a 24-team league to the top. Has that ever been achieved before? I dunno, you tell me.
Everybody wants us to sweep sides asunder [particularly visiting ones] with the flair of a Zorro or a D’Artagnan all the time but that concept is so unrealistic as to be barely worthy of consideration.
It must be said that we got lucky with the offside/interfering with play decision involving Tyler Walker. I’ve seen these given before and I’ve also seen them completely ignored by match officials and the goal allowed to stand.
As a believer in karma I’m looking at it like a belated payback from referee Gavin Ward for Simon Hooper’s ineptness that denied Cameron Jerome a perfectly good goal against Crystal Palace all those years ago.
Tim Krul also had to make the smartest of saves from Viktor Gyokeres, but apart from that a rather underwhelming Coventry City offered precious little as was only confirmed by manager Mark Robins’ post-match statements – and there are quite a few of these available!
Many have spoken about the 25-minute “losing of the ways” from the start of the second half until the substitutions which have now become trademark Dean Smith institutions. But I think I’d rather concentrate on our goals, each of which was a thing of minor beauty.
For the first, Marcelino Nunez eventually shook off Gustavo Hamer*** to play in the recalled Teemu Pukki who adopted his familiar modus operandi as in one touch to control, two to set and three to bury the ball past helpless Sky Blues keeper Ben Wilson.
Second time around there was a lovely move between Pukki and the impressive Aaron Ramsey which saw the latter put it on a plate for August Player of the Month, Josh Sargent.
Sandwiched betwixt the second and third goals there occurred what was a minor but seemingly significant incident. Fankaty Dabo wholeheartedly took out and passed Sam Byram only to see Byram leap to his feet like a gazelle and give belated chase.
You cannot do that if you are anything other than fully fit. Fingers crossed for you Sam.
The third strike saw a raking Todd Cantwell through ball find Sargent who still had a bit to do. He turned across his marker to unselfishly deliver the perfect cross for the untracked and oncoming substitute Kieran Dowell to make it three.
You can moan all you like but three quality goals like that are enough to keep me happy until we visit Turf Moor on Friday evening.
As is a quick glance at the quality of those who were brought on from the bench: Dowell, Gaby Sara, Onel Hernandez, Danel Sinani and Jordan Hugill. And that’s before we get Isaac Hayden, Dimi Giannoulis, Sam McCallum and Jacob Sorensen back from injury.
MFW’s “man in the stands” Don Harold told me afterwards:
“I can’t imagine that fans of any team, anywhere, have had to put up with as much nonsense as Coventry supporters have over the years. The fact that they were loud and humorous throughout is a tribute to them.
“This was as much of a stroll as I’ve seen for a long time. Surprisingly, I was surprised to see Pukki start, but not to see him score. Goal machine Sargent scoring just before halftime secured the points and Dowell put the icing on the cake.
“Coventry offered plenty of effort but not much else other than a disallowed goal in the first half, and forcing a good save from Krul straight after halftime.
“There was a huge gulf in ability between the teams and I’m looking forward to the next three games in which the standard of opponent should be much higher than the last two.”
*** Gustavo, Teemu says that if you really want his shorts that much he will get them washed and post them to you c/o CCFC.
———
The club will hold an extraordinary general meeting a week today [September 12] to appoint Mark Attanasio as a Director, with further proposals meaning he could purchase newly created C-preference shares which can be converted to ordinary shares.
The purchase of these C-preference shares could mean a potential £10million injection into the club, while Attanasio is also set to purchase 15.9pc of the club from Michael Foulger, who has been on the board since 1996.
Speaking in the club’s Coventry programme, NCFC board member Zoe Ward said: “Mark Attanasio is leading a buy-out of Michael Foulger’s shares in the club and will soon be part of the Norwich City family.
“His appointment as a Director comes after a long process which gave the club and Mark the time to get to know each other.
“His experience and knowledge will be a big asset to the board in the coming years.”
Normally I would think back to the Turners or the appointment of one Jez Moxey and grimace, but not this time around. It sounds like Mark is here for the long haul and that looks to be a good thing to me.
I’m dedicating this to Gary’s matchday mate “Boot It” and some of the others in the River End – and elsewhere as well:
Morning Martin. Thoroughly enjoyable game (apart from 20 minutes in the second half) and nice to win five in a row. Now on to the next three, which will be a real test.
On the subject of refereeing decisions, I imagine Arsenal fans (not that you care!) weren’t too happy about the disallowed goal, particularly when United fans started singing “he’s one of own” about referee Paul Tierney. He comes from Wigan, which I believe is part of Greater Manchester. Tierney hadn’t seen anything wrong with the earlier challenge which VAR asked him to look at again on the monitor, so “clear and obvious error”? One of many suspect VAR calls this weekend. I’m so glad we’re not having to suffer it this season.
Morning Jim
As you rightly point out I’m no Gooner but although obvious on the replay that shove on Eriksen didn’t seem clear or obvious to me either in real time.
The Jarrod Bowen one for West Ham was even worse as he did everything to clear Mendy and the ref should have stuck with his original decision.
Not a good weekend for the technical stuff and like you I’m glad we’re not suffering from it this season.
Cheers
Beats me… I am no big fan of Smithy, but he is getting some things right, the players are responding so who I am to moan?
He has read the last few games well and got his subs to make the difference, it isn’t rocket science, is it. I said 10 games as a marker. 2 more to go, in my eyes he has not done half bad, what more do some want, losing hand over fist last season to this? No brainer really.
Some say the league is weak, heard that nearly every season for years, we can only beat what is in front of us. OK so a 20-minute spell of losing the way, we got that back and some.
People say a better team would punish us during that time, but if the league is weak according to them where are the better teams.? Sort of kills their arguments.
Don’t care if every game was like Saturday, the end result is what matters. I seem to recall Farke had rough games too.
Some people are just born to moan and groan,if we won the league, FA cup and League Cup and qualified for Europe, with several of the squad called up for England.they would still find something to pee on
Hi Lad
Not being on social media I’ve not heard all the moans but certainly enough to cause a bit of inner concern.
If something is clearly, identifiably wrong I will moan too, but not on the end of a 3-0 win. That’s taking it too far for me and why I felt I had to highlight the quality of the goals as some kind of counterbalance.
I’m discovering for the very first time this season what it’s like not being able to go to matches for a significant period of time – those who moan excessively and for no real reason should consider their prioroties really.
Cheers
and sell me their ticket. hahaha
Cheeky!
Hi Martin
Chas and Dave both big Spurs fans and very easy listening music great choice as usual.
As I said yesterday not a great fan of DS&SS but I do respect the job they are doing, it’s taken them 10months to get a tune out of this team and long may it last.
I did read that Rose is up for a short gig before starting his badges at Spurs so that could be an option but then his wages, attitude might put a few off but you can’t deny he is a good LB on his day.
VAR to me got the ManUre V Arse-nal decision right, Shoulder to Shoulder is fair but a two handed shove no way and next season I understand it will be in the Championship.
12th Sept is it the turning point for city and investment and let’s hope MA will bring added knowledge and investment to take the club forward but I still see the Stowmarket pair blocking real change.
If we obtain the ‘P’ word again would you trust Webber with half the amount Forest have spent or let him recruit 22 new players at the start of a season.
Coventry were there for the taking and City did what was required, let’s for get the lapse in concentration for 27mins and digest the other 63mins of good football.
Supporters as we know are a fickle bunch win ugly and the go home happy win with panash and have a dull few mins and the groaners come out.
Friday will be a long haul but Burnley are a revitalised team playing a ManC style with cheaper players and is Cities first real test against our relegation cousins let’s just not lose a win would be nice but Turf Moor is a very welcoming ground mire Dark Satanic Mills come to mind.
Hi Alex
See them twice – once at St Andrews Hall and once supporting LedZep at Knebworth, believe it or not!
On to Mark Attanasio and I fear you could be right. Zoe Ward spoke fine words but you always get the feeling that the Smiths listen to nobody, agreed.
I can’t think of another promoted team that has done what Forest have done before and no of course I would not want to see that kind of approach here, with or without Webber as it happens!
Time will tell on that one.
Burnley is, I think, the only major ground in the NW that I’ve never been to and many folks say the same as you about it.
Marty, the ‘boot it’ boys must be down to the last few now, reminds me of the old flat cap and rattle days. But nostalgia an’t what it use to be. Good to see Pukki back in the grove and it looks as if he and the Sarge can tactically play together, I did have my doubts, thought it would have to be one or the other, but thankfully not, and the 5 subs rule will suit our large squad. I like football again.
Hi Cutty
Yes many of us wondered if Pukki and Bilko could play together and we seem to have been answered in the positive – Sargent’s somewhere out there saying how much he enjoyed it anyway.
You do still get the odd throwback but I’m pretty lucky in that respect as the guys around me are very much realists.
*Boot it* is Gary’s neighbour not mine. And no, I don’t want him 🙂
Cheers
You’re very welcome to have him in the Upper Barclay, lads. I’ll even march him down there personally!
Ha!
It would probably very quickly be a case of *return to sender* 🙂
Hi Martin enjoyed the game and the drummer gave it extra atmosphere which is sorely needed like a morgue at times .played like a team first half not disjointed displays like rest of season has been think some of players wilted in the heat second half but picked up with the subs.as for the moaners remember being top last time round with record points we had two draws and defeat at Swansea was farke out time Delia and webber same ol squit keep well mate .
Hi Kev
I’m in two minds about the drummer myself but I’ll withold judgement until I’ve seen/heard him in action – if you say he made it better he must have done.
The heat has to be a factor which is probably contributory to just how effective the subs have been. I’m sure this will continue during the winter as well, of course.
Cheers
I gertcha, Martin. Wins are always a delight. Especially when you get a hen’s teeth set in a row. Big test of capabilities against one the big boys in Burnley on Friday. But once we have a settled left back and one (how long must we wait) a CENTRAL DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER (Skipp aside, I’ve been screaming that for years until I’m green and yellow in the face, for chuff’s sake). There could surely only be maybe three or four sides in the division who could possibly finish above us this season. It’s a good year to have a good team, because it’s there for the taking.
We’ll haver to wait and see. Perhaps Deano and The Bard’s success will see them poached by another club around Christmas (a la Alex Neil)?
Hi Chris
Gertcha! indeed 🙂
Without a Tettey or particularly a Skipp we have been severely lacking and young Oliver’s loan from Spurs was the best since that of Hucks all those years ago.
Let’s hope to see Hayden and Gibbs on the field asap, although in the case of the latter it could understandably be some time.
Cheers
Good point about Gibbs, Martin. He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to a genuine CDM currently. Hayden could be the Megson we need – but it would be nice to have two players available for each position!
Like everyone I’m liking the 5 subs rule, certainly gives us a teensy advantage to bring on pace against tiring teams in the last quarter.
Five from five and plenty of room for improvement in the performance level.
We still give the ball away too much, when comfortably in possession. Concentration levels need to be maintained. Please
Hi Bernie
Yes, the lack of concentration is a concern – there are times when some of them seem to be on autopilot and there’s always a mistake in us somewhere.
Trouble is i can’t remember a recent time when it hasn’t been like that!
Cheers
Good morning Martin after a rather satisfying visit to the Carra on Saturday and briefly finding ourselves at the top of the Championship. Of course there will still be people who moan, but I have to admit that DS is slowly winning me over!! His only flaw is the part of him which is convinced that McLean is a midfielder!! 🙁.
I’d love to think that as our injured players return to fitness, he will no longer be in the starting 11, but I’m not holding my breath!!
I like how DS uses a triple substitution to good effect after around 60 minutes..
As for the Arsenal disallowed goal – would the referee have made the same decision at the Emirates???? I see PGMOL (think VAR and Stockley Park) are having ‘discussions’ with the PL this week. Hats off to Michael Oliver for sticking to his decision!! 👍
PS – I seem to remember saying that I felt that the ginger poodle and the goat would be in the starting 11 on Saturday!! 👍
One of the most pleasing aspects of our play on Saturday was our 2nd and 3rd goals when a player looked up to see if a teammate was in a better position to score.
Hi Ed
You saved the best bit until last – spot on!
The sub strategy works well because there’s no way it can be countered until it’s happened and not many teams have enough quality on their benches to match it.
I read the thing about VAR too – it was only yesterday they were talking about how good it was going to be soon that they were considering scrapping linesmen!
Cheers
The VAR problem is not really a technical one. It simply emphasises the poor quality referees we have at the moment. It used to be the case that when watching European games we cringed at the refs but now they seem much better than our crop.
As for S & S. look at the tune they are getting out of Sargent and the football we are playing is really top notch at times. The problem with Smith is he doesn’t have the outgoing personality to create a bond with the fans and some are still mourning the loss of Herr Farke To them I say look at the way Smith changes the game with his use of substitutes! He has also brought out the best of Dowell and rejuvenated Todd so stick by him I say.
My friends here in Hull were impressed by our football and still don’t know how they won that game.
On the VAR system Steven Warnock has claimed a few times it would be better to have an ex player on each team to use his experience I’m not sure that would work as it would only throw in another opinion so slowing down decision making
Ex-players can bear the most unlikely of grudges so, no thanks.
Hi Cyprus
i find it difficult not to agree with you about Smith in the personality stakes but that’s not his fault of course and Farke is indeed a hard act to follow.
Maybe that should be put on the back burner as we appreciate what Smith is doing with the subs and, as you say, Sargent. Farke didn’t shine in either respect.
Cheers
I’m more than happy with what’s happening on the pitch. Dean Smith deserves credit and has got the team going quicker than I expected and who would have thought Josh playing such as key role so far – not me and many others too!
Yes the same old problems will rear their ugly head if we go up, but I just want to enjoy what’s happening as some Norwich fans need to be reminded that it is a results business and you don’t get any bonus points for artistic merit.
Onwards and upwards. Again.
HI IR
You’ve got it bang on there.
There’s rarely a dull moment at NCFC it would seem but some folks really do need to ditch some of their unrealistic expectations.
Cheers
Hi Martin
The first half on Saturday was almost perfect – good foorball, two nil up and no VAR to overule the Coventry offside decision 🙂
Second half had a worrying start and as you rightly state – the DS Substitutions changed that around
Onto Burnley and we should see a different game … with more open play and not the majority of the opposition sitting deep … Second half on Saturday saw a lot of forward moves slow because there was no one in any space along the front line due to the Coventry numbers behind the ball – with Burnley’s open play, along with ours, the scoreline could be pretty interesting, but you can see goals (and probably multiple goals) coming from both sides.
Whilst the DS substitutions have been pretty inspiring over the past few games – the Burnley game could turn that on its head – DS has so far brought on our in-depth attacking force to spark games back into life … if we are one goal up at Burnley, logic suggests we put on additional defensive midfielders to keep Burnley out … and other than Gibson, the bench is quite short of depth defensively when we need to shut up shop. Maybe DS sees attack as the best form of defence and carries on as he has to date.
Overall though – sitting second in the table today and the side only just starting to click – we do have the potential to dominate this league and as much as we need to respect all teams and especially Burnley, Watford and Sheffield United – I think they will all be looking at us and worryng it they will be the team we play where we fully click.
Pukki didnt seem to have any interest in cheering his goal, actually it looked like that other Norwich tried to cheer him up a little bit. This is his figure this season, it might start bothering other Norwich players during the season, or they just have to accept that there is 1 player who will not be happy no matter what happens.
The premier league var refereeing has gone to a level where they try as hard as possible to cancel goals. Now that game refereeing is something where almost any foul is accepted by the referee, they change everything completely if the goal happens. If I remember right there happened 5 goals which were disallowed. I have impossible to understand how its so difficult all the time for the premier league referees? Foreign referees seem to be the best solution.
Helsinki city derby is going to be played today between HJK and HIFK. League top club meets the bottom one which is in bankruptcy about 50 times in season and begs people to buy tickets or buy supporting tickets. They have all time 1 of the best finnish footballers Roman Eremenko in their squad whose 2 year cocaine ban has ended and Mixu Paatelainen as their coach. HJK has sold out their half of the stadium, but HIFK not. It will be a fearless battle where local police are also activated, but any other outcome than HJK win would be a huge surprise. All HJK europa league home fixtures are already sold out, so yes live football sells sometimes here too. The premier league tv rights sell always well here. 1 thing to be mentioned is that this month in Helsinki there is a Manchester United exhibition. Finnish Manchester United fan happen to have the worlds second largest Manchester United collection and the first time its possible to go to see it in public. Some american Manchester United fan have the largest collection.
Hi 1×2
I still don’t get that impression with Pukki myself and remain very much convinced that he’ll continue to do a first class job for us while he’s here.
Your background to the Helsinki derby is fascinating. We have several games like this In the UK but never ones with such a fiancancial disparity as you mention!
As you will know our major ones are City-United, Spurs-Arsenal and Liverpool-Everton. The first mentioned clubs have the most money in each case, but not by such an amount that affects the opposition putting out a combative side.
Celrtic-Rangers is a huge match in Scotland as well
Kiitos
HIFK has messed up their finances. Their owners change often and now the new ones have overpaid to some players and their squad is not competitive enough to avoid relegation. We have some clubs just like several clubs in Sweden which can be called athletic clubs. So they participate in several sports, HIFK is 1 of those in Finland. In theory their fan base is huge in finnish level, but we just dont have a similar community spirit as swedes have. Basically their football club has tried to activate their other sports fans and likely they have overestimated that stuff overall. Their largest fan base is in ice hockey so basically they have asked them to help. Even Helsinki derby has been something different here, I think its obvious that the second level is better for them. Yesterdays game was interrupted about 10-15 minutes after police marched to the field. HIFK fans had stolen HJK flag or something and they started to burn it. After that HJK fans somehow were able to break the safe net and some of them went to the field. After that police made a pitch invasion with their dogs and some kind of airsoft guns. HJK won the game 2-1 in their last minutes goal. I dont personally think that we need that kind of stuff, if people feel unsafe even less people will go to watch football in Finland.
Im sure Teemu will use his skills just enough this season to help Norwich to get results. Is it enough to get Norwich promoted, difficult to say.
Although clubs like Wigan and Charlton retain it in their name, the athletic club concept died out in the UK many years ago.
Stealing another club’s flag is the ultimate insult so I can see why there was so much trouble between the supporters.
Football itself isn’t unsafe here but there are some very dodgy areas close to the grounds that are best avoided!
Mark Antanassi will have done his due diligence. He seems to be a level headed guy but he does not invest megabucks in his team in the USA. So I am not expecting a huge investment from him. £10million sounds about right. Did Webber anticipate that money and spend it on Sara and Nunez? I think MA will expect promotion and my guess is he thinks we are set up to achieve that.
Hi Colin
Yes I think that’s about right on Attanasio. I’m rather hoping his expertise is as useful as his money – he certainly seems well respected, from what I’ve seen anyway.
I’d love to think you’re right on the promotion aspect.
Time will tell 🙂
Cheers
Hi Dave
I’ve not seen that much of Burnley this season but I know they’ve ditched the Dyche litany.
Interesting thought about what the bench might look like on Friday – right now we seem to have very little defensive depth to call upon.
While I’m here you mentioned the pitch at [I think] Sunderland and said it might have made it difficult for our recipients to have controlled some off our speedier passes. I forgot to say so at the time but the more I think about it the more I reckon you were right.
Cheers