Cut. Copy. Paste. From any of the games from two years ago. An all too familiar script, and all too familiar outcome. Daniel Farke retained the formation from the midweek game with Liverpool, Kabak coming in for Omobamidele, Williams in for Giannoulis. But it was immediately obvious that this was far more a 5-3-2 than […]
Column
With Derby and Reading on the brink, it’s time for a reset. Step forward *Fair Game*
With FIFA desperately trying to force through two-yearly World Cup’s with all the lucrative money-making opportunities they would bring and £100m transfer fees now barely raising an eyebrow, the game seems to be intent on hurtling towards a point where will see more and more clubs crash and burn as they try to stay aboard […]
EVERTON PREVIEW: The final Goodison hurrah for the travelling Yellow Army?
We play Everton at Goodison Park tomorrow, which is almost certainly the last chance our loyal group of away supporters, both regular and casual, will have the opportunity to visit that grand old stadium before, with a little financial help from Liverpool City Council, a new stadium is built not too far away from the […]
More of the same and the tide could turn; the very last thing Daniel Farke deserves
It’s August 2013. Saturday, the 24th of August, 2013, to be precise. I’m not going to flog it any further by giving you the time (but it would have been five-ish in the afternoon). Norwich City had just played out a flat, uninspiring, 0-1 Premier League defeat at the KC Stadium against a Hull City side […]
Press high, pick off an early City mistake, score from it and it’s all but game over…
How often have us Norwich City types come across the phrase *Boys against Men*? Quite a lot if you’ve seen its use as many times as I have recently – I’ve lost count in all honesty. But on Tuesday night against Liverpool at Carrow Road there was a novel twist on the oft-used cliché. The […]
Another match, another loss. The same old story as City enter Project Restart Mark II
Another match, another loss for City as they were unceremoniously dumped from the Carabao Cup last night, but after the repetition of a familiar result, at least the script felt slightly altered. After weeks of the same old naivety, defensive errors and lack of creativity, it was courteous of the Canaries to throw in some […]
MATCH REPORT: Too easy for Liverpool. “Porous at the back. Blunt up front”
Given that Daniel Farke had barely a day to work with his players since the capitulation to Watford, it should come as no surprise to any Canary fan that, once again, there was a familiar theme to this defeat. The Sky commentator summed it up in eight words. Too porous at the back. Too blunt up front. […]
Hope. The Currency of the modern football fan
Norwich fans are no strangers to challenging times. We have a small and inglorious hall of fame of moments where being a Norwich fan seemed more an unwanted life sentence than the joy and pleasure we feel for the majority of the time. That hall of fame includes a penalty shootout at the Millennium Stadium, […]
LIVERPOOL PREVIEW – a repeat of opening day but with 22(?) different faces
We’ve got a repeat of the opening Premier League fixture on Wednesday night with the return of the mighty Liverpool to Carrow Road in the Carabao Cup third round. I’ve discovered via another chat with the excellent Tony Evans, who is a columnist for The Independent, a former Football Editor of The Times, a contributor to […]
Reasons to be cheerful…
Twas a grim weekend, so in the spirit of looking for positivity… Positive, positive, positive… Right, here goes. 1. The squad Good cover in nearly every position. Two very good goalkeepers; four quick full-backs; two centre-backs with proven ability and two more with exciting potential; a plethora of dynamic wingers; three forwards with goals in […]
Something better change. More of the same and this season only ends one way
I was scheduled to pass my season ticket to a mate on Saturday. It had been an agreement for over a month as he lives in the West Midlands and rarely gets to Carrow Road at the moment. You don’t renege on a deal like that. But on Friday dinner time I was feeling the […]
Five games in and the going is tough. Very tough. Oh for a single point on the board
You know things are not going well when you’ve had to give Match of the Day the swerve for five consecutive Saturdays. Some of you are no doubt braver than I, but Lineker’s half-hearted ‘and Norwich?’ that invariably follows the collective gushing over the qualities of our opponents is too much to take when the […]
MATCH REPORT: No City heroes as Hornets make it five on the spin against Canaries
‘You got me monologuing. The words are from the villain ‘Syndrome’ in the Disney Pixar Film ‘The Incredibles’, but could equally be applied to Daniel Farke after his pre-match press conference this week. Regrettably, there were no superheroes at Carrow Road today, nor anything Incredible. Despite his passionate defence of his players, Farke made changes […]
“The key is to stay positive”: Farke’s rallying cry to keep the faith
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke has passionately reiterated the importance of positivity as the Canaries head into their crucial match against Watford, claiming that 100% of supporters must remain upbeat to earn Premier League establishment. The German denied that the game was ‘must-win’ for his side, but called on supporters to “make Carrow Road […]
WATFORD PREVIEW – The season starts here
The real test of whether Norwich City can survive in the top flight begins at Carrow Road tomorrow. Before we come back and expand on that, a brief detour to Watford – the club closest to where I live, though not to my heart. My Watford-supporting friends assure me I’m safe to write this column. […]
Will game number 5 be the one? And has Webber addressed the bullying issue?
The joy of watching Emma Radacanu winning the US Open last Saturday evening may have temporarily eased the pain of another City defeat but was only a short-term fix. I’m not sure what specifically it is about an away defeat at the Emirates that encaptures everything about Norwich City in the Premier League (we tend […]
Should Farke persevere with 4-3-3? Or will we see the much-discussed back three?
For all the frustrations we currently feel, I remain optimistic that City will survive. But I also think it is dangerous to downplay the last two games and hide behind reputations. Leicester’s defence was as makeshift as City’s against Manchester City in 2019, which included Ibrahim Amadou at centre-back, and they appeared there for the […]
The salutary tale of Graham Poll – a fallible human, alone in the centre of a storm
When he realised his career had imploded in a moment of global humiliation, referee Graham Poll needed to be alone. But solitude is hard to find when you are at a World Cup match. Eventually, he managed to shrug off solicitous colleagues, forced his head up and walked out into the bowl of the Stuttgart […]
Advantage Omobamidele in the battle for centre-back starting berths
After a frantic contest had drawn to a close and various officials from both Arsenal and Norwich City gathered around to complete their post-match duties, one man still stood out as the calmest in the Emirates Stadium. Surprisingly that man was a 19-year-old, who months ago was known to very few but suddenly has been […]
The pursuit of truth: can a self-funding club ever survive in the Premier League?
Urban myths. You know, stories that filter down to you second and third hand that you’d really like to believe in and happily share with your friends but with a sensible head on you’re not sure if you can believe they are true. Two of my three favourite examples concern the rock music industry of […]