With Bassong’s initial challenge – the one that caused the whole furore – looking to be nothing more than ‘meaty’, the visitors may now regret making such a fuss. When a tackle of that ilk is deemed worthy of a ‘yellow’ then football, for me, is getting perilously close to being a non-contact sport. Do we really want to go there?
Defeat by the Kings of Europe was undoubtedley disappointing but a little perspective shows just how far we've come
The ride we’ve been on had to end at some stage and – as Hughton has reminded us on numerous occasions – we will lose several times this season. It’s always disappointing when it happens and – I can guarantee – doesn’t get any easier to take with age. The success, or otherwise, of those boys in Yellow does have a nasty ability to make or break impact most of our weekends.
Hughton's dignity in defeat speaks volumes of the decent man we now have at the Canary helm
At least Barcelona can rest a little easier now they don’t have the Canaries breathing down their necks in that well-known European ‘top league’ form table. I’m sure Messi, Xavi and Iniesta slept so much more soundly on Saturday night.
Canaries fail to make it eleven games undefeated as The Hawthorns proves just one prickly step too far
City failed to give the Canary Nation the Christmas present it had hoped for when the unbeaten Premier League run of ten games ended with a narrow 2-1 defeat at West Brom. A header from Romelu Lukaku with just nine minutes remaining forced the visitors to taste league defeat for the first time since their […]
City's end-of-term report makes good reading, but will the run continue at the Hawthorns?
The disappointment of the Capital One cup exit was quickly forgotten as City returned to ‘business as usual’ with that gritty win over Wigan, but if we learnt one thing from the Villa game it was that, minus Wes, we lack a little bit of creativity
Hughton salutes his troops and reminds the Canary Nation that with some belief 'anything is achievable'
With the latest instalment of City’s triumphant march through the autumn of 2012 ending in another win, there’s little reason to doubt anything our leader says right now. That some of the aforementioned belief has been instilled in the class of 2012/13 is certainly not in doubt and with the unbeaten league run now stretching to a record-breaking ten games, the Canary Nation too is now starting to believe.
Onwards and upwards; the cup run may be over but just six wins needed to prove TalkSport wrong
That we missed the wizardry of Wes is not in question… who wouldn’t. My feeling is that without him we just need to find another way of playing; one that doesn’t rely on the ‘number 10’ role acting as the hub through which everything flows.
Even the return of an old friend can't overshadow a Capital One quarter-final date with the Villa
It was a turning point; a day when the new broom did start sweeping clean. It was also one that will furthermore be known simply as ‘game two’, on our record-breaking (number yet to be determined) unbeaten run.
The Canaries emerge victorious from a seven goal thriller at the Liberty… and the run continues
Hughton’s enforced changes did little to slow his team’s momentum in the opening period, as they revealed a previously hidden ruthless streak to storm into a 3-0 lead. But for a ten minute spell midway through the first 45, during which a Danny Graham header crashed against Mark Bunn’s crossbar, the Canaries dominated and were well worth their lead.
Hughton's 'back to basics' philosophy and a generous portion of good fortune makes it a priceless eight
The Liverpool disaster still brings back painful memories – for me at least – but the progress made in the intervening 66 days is immeasurable. In Chris Hughton’s words the antidote to that, and the marginally better fare served up at Chelsea in the game that followed, was to ‘go back to basics’.
A hard-earned point at St Mary's makes it a magnificent seven as the Canary bandwagon trundles on
While the performance failed to reach any of the heady heights seen recently at Carrow Road, it was still composed, solid and controlled… just how Hughton likes it. Two banks of four with the full-backs tucked in has proved a hit on the road of late, and last night was no exception.
Bassong's late-show ticks another box for Team Hughton; and confines a dismal first half showing to annals of history
For those of us who’ve watched and played the game, the first half showing – coming as it did off the back of the Manchester United spine-tingler – didn’t come as a complete surprise. I’ll avoid the Lord Mayor cliché, but to produce such a lack-lustre 45 after previously scaling the heights isn’t unusual.
Team Hughton calls it right again; even Sir Alex and the Match of the Day boys agree
Last night was a classic case of Team Hughton getting the tricky balance of defence/attack absolutely spot on. To go ‘gung-ho’ against the likes of United leaves you wide open to be picked-off on the counter-attack, and to park the bus merely invites them to further pile the pressure on.
Hughton's decision to build from the back and make City that much harder to beat is reaping its due reward
The price being paid is that chances created for Grant Holt and co are currently less plentiful. It’s no coincidence that the last two homes games have been 1-0 wins – but while the points are being accumulated I don’t think there’ll be too many complaints. Hughton’s risk and reward strategy is currently producing a profit…
May the football gods opt not to return Reading any favours this weekend; three points for City and we're really flying…
For Hughton, the return of Grant Holt – following his opening, five-game sabbatical – and the emergence of one Sebastien Bassong have gone a long way to answer these particular questions. No room for complacency of course, but add Alex Tettey into the mix and there is now promising looking spine running through the side…
If that's what passes for entertainment at the Britannia then Mr Pulis better start delivering the results, one suspects…
The bit that seems to be missing from the Stoke model is that football is an entertainment industry and we, the fans, pay handsomely for the privilege of watching these highly skilled sportsman at work…
Team Hughton delivers again. And delivers a re-union with our old mentor, to boot. Now that will be worth watching…
The cliché ‘name on the cup’ is not one I tend to use – makes it sound as if you just need to turn up, do nothing, yet still miraculously appear in the hat for the next round. But it makes you wonder doesn’t it? How else could you explain this phenomenon of late winners, penalty saves, home draws and ‘dream’ ties?
It might – just – have been honours even on the past and present manager front, but for me the real winners on the day were the Yellow Army…
He had to settle for a point against a Villa side that, surprisingly, looked to have improved very little since that desperate visit to Carrow Road on the final day of last season. I wrote back then – following their dire performance and subsequent successful pursuit of our manager – that Villa looked more in need of a Paul Daniels than a Paul Lambert. I witnessed nothing yesterday to change my mind…
My plea would be for a dignified indifference at Villa Park. Let our football do the talking and bag another three huge points…
Chris Hughton and Co will, I predict, remind us that Saturday’s is just another game and – however big we chose to make it – there are still only three points at stake. All true and laudable, except it ISN’T just another game – and there are two million reasons why that not the case…
That was a little bit special; a game to long treasure as our Wes inspires a famous City win
If that winning feeling wasn’t sweet enough, I was reminded during Saturday evening ‘s triumphant march back over Carrow Bridge that some of the visiting guests – from that North London enclave called, Beccles – were predicting their heroes would put six past us. Oh how wrong…