PREVIEW

As the curtain comes down on what has frankly been a disastrous season for the boys from NR1, it has fallen to me to write the last MFW match preview, in which we face Tottenham Hotspur at 1600 hours promptly on Sunday. Bad luck? Sins of a past life catching up with me? Probably not, […]

Okay, full disclosure. It’s 8am on Saturday and I’ve only just remembered it’s my turn on the rota to do the match preview. Apologies Mr Gowers (Absolved – Ed). So while I sit here waiting for the garage to do my MOT, my bank account effectively in their hands, I thought I’d share my Nostradamus-like […]

Another Norwich game – at this stage, who cares? Well, there are one or two reasons to. I’ll get to a preview of the game. First, with your indulgence, a detour. A good friend of mine is a life-long Fulham fan. We share thoughts and reminiscences on the – remarkably similar – highs and lows […]

Our game at Villa Park tomorrow would under any other circumstances have the central theme of reunions at the heart of it with Dean Smith returning to the club he supports and indeed managed until very recently and our travelling support gets to see Emi Buendia up close and personal once more. That’s if Emi […]

Carrow Road will take on an American theme tomorrow, but that isn’t the only thing that’ll feel foreign to Norwich City fans as Newcastle United visit NR1. For the first time in a long time, there’s a sense of optimism around the club, after the Canaries’ last home game ended in victory. That sense is […]

Usually, with these previews, I look at the opposition, their typical tactics and their likely starters, but do you know what? Not today. Because it’s bl.oody Man United. One of the top six. So we get them rammed down our throats 24/7 anyway. I can give you the same breakdown that Sky Sports usually do. […]

It’s hard to muster too much enthusiasm when previewing a game we’re, in all likelihood, going to lose. (To be honest, it’s hard to muster too much enthusiasm full stop right now). And it’s painful enough to write about a defeat after said event, but to set the scene for said defeat before a ball […]

As over 1,000 stoical, long-suffering Yellow and Green souls prepare to head for the South Coast tomorrow to witness our visit to Brighton I thought it appropriate to speak once again with the fervent Seagulls supporter that is the admirable Alan Howick. Alan was a great help to me during my early days as a […]

After Norwich City’s last league win they were made to wait 19 days until their next league game. As the Canaries travel to Leeds United on Sunday in the midst of a six-game losing streak, they’ll play for the fourth time in 12 days. This feels like the epitome of City’s season, a perfect example […]

It’s not a game we wanted to be playing less than 72 hours before we head off to Yorkshire to play Los Blancos in another relegation six-pointer, but who cares what we think. It’s clearly more important to carefully manage Chelsea’s load than ours, so we find ourselves returning to the scene of Saturday’s disaster […]

So here we are, at the real sharp end of the season. It really is now or never if City are going to make a last desperate flail at the Premier League. We’re playing understandably uninspiring football as Dean Smith does what he can to wring every last drop of potential from a threadbare squad […]

Here we go [to Anfield] again. Yes, and this time around it’s to face a Liverpool side buoyed by their quite astonishing Carabao Cup Final win over Chelsea 11-10 after penalties. Me? I’d have preferred a replay but currently, worldwide television scheduling rules out anything of a traditional nature so penalties to decide the contest […]

Thirteen games. Thirteen games in which to cobble together enough wins and draws to make it to 36 points. Even then it may not be enough. I plucked out 36 points because, despite 40 being seen as the magic number, since the turn of the century the average number needed to guarantee survival and without […]

Following hard on the heels of our 4-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Carra, we now anticipate a visit to Anfield for an encounter with the mighty Reds of Liverpool tomorrow. It never rains but it pours, hey? And after a visit from the Bees of Brentford – which takes on a “must-win” significance […]

In the past three weeks, City have woken up, and shaken up, the bottom half of the Premier League. Finally given a near-fit squad, Dean Smith had galvanised them into a competitive team. Whether or not inspired by the 120-mile-distant Billy Gilmour as the BBC would have us believe – I think not, though I’m happy […]

With the dreaded dotted line finally breached by Norwich City, their next task is to start dragging new rivals into the relegation battle. Crystal Palace’s visit tomorrow night provides them with the perfect opportunity to do just that. Patrick Viera’s side are currently 13th in the Premier League table and eight points ahead of the […]

Those of us at Carrow Road on Saturday, watching the players out on their feet at the final whistle after repelling the inevitably-launched kitchen sink from Everton, were at least glad of one thing. At least Watford have to play again before we play them so they’ll be even more knackered than us. So, inevitably […]

Stand by your beds everybody – the boys in blue are coming round. No, not the Old Bill or the binmen from along the A140 but something even more intimidating. We shortly entertain the slightly less noisy section of a great big footballing City in the North West, aka Everton. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve […]

Early in the second half [of Sunday’s game] on Twitter, I began my planning for this piece. @AndyHead02: ‘Oh FFS I’ve got to do the @MFW_NCFC preview for Wednesday off the back of this…  Can I just write “West Ham are going to beat us” and leave it at that @Gary_Gowers? #NCFC‘ To which I […]

Do you remember that time when Charlton Athletic FC was the model we were either following or recommended to follow? (I can’t recall which). Either way, it was a plan we ended up following rather too rigorously. Charlton dropped from the Premier League to the Championship and then League One. We missed out the Premier […]