My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis
Norwich City – news, comment and analysis
It's been an interesting few weeks here at Carrow Road, both on and off the pitch.
Did we learn anything new from this week's AGM?
Well?Erm? No.
The transfer budget for this season has already been used… The club is actively seeking investment… The manager has no regrets at all about allowing Darren Huckerby to walk off into the sunset… And Peter Cullum never really made a serious offer for control of Norwich City.
On …
It's been an interesting few weeks here at Carrow Road, both on and off the pitch.
Did we learn anything new from this week's AGM?
Well?Erm? No.
The transfer budget for this season has already been used… The club is actively seeking investment… The manager has no regrets at all about allowing Darren Huckerby to walk off into the sunset… And Peter Cullum never really made a serious offer for control of Norwich City.
On …
Tuesday night's emphatic 5-2 thumping of then league leaders Wolves has finally cast a shower of light on what was otherwise fast developing into depressing situation at Carrow Road.
Performances hadn't been all that bad if we're being honest.
Admittedly, it's a damn sight easier to offer up the above statement without fear of having your opinion shot to pieces and your sanity questioned after your team has just enjoyed a goal-fest than it is when …
As if things couldn't get much worse at the oppositions' end of the pitch given the Canaries' general lack of a killer instinct in front of goal this season and them once again demonstrating an inability to covert excellent goal-scoring chances into goals at St Mary's in midweek, we now discover that City boss Glenn Roeder will be struggling to name a centre-back pairing for what must surely be viewed as must-win game against Derby on Saturday?
The one crumb of …
The last thee matches has seen the good, the bad and the indifferent from the Canaries.
I'll deal with them in order.
The good.
Plymouth away just over a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely superb. A masterclass in attacking football from Norwich where they created an abundance of goal-scoring chances and put a considerably inferior team to the sword in a manner that any side harbouring hopes of a successful campaign ultimately should.
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?Ah yes, Plymouth.
The place that bore witness to one of the worst individual performances from a player in a yellow shirt, and also where the Canaries' effort as a team just over a year later sank to equally low depths.
Poor Patrick Boyle.
Remember him?
A whole-hearted young full-back without a doubt. Someone that possessed bundles of energy and enthusiasm and, no doubt, the potential to earn a living in the game if not necessarily one at the top …
No-one likes a smart-Alec, so I'll only brush on my pre-match thoughts that basically alluded to the fact that regardless of how well they keep playing, victories are going to be hard to come by for the Canaries until a target-man arrives.
Because insomuch as where Norwich's overall display against Birmingham should be placed in what is already a pretty impressive list, Saturday's performance undoubtedly goes straight to the top.
City bossed and …
At the time of writing there is still no sign of City boss Glenn Roeder being any closer to adding a target man to his squad.
Now I'm not going to go down the road of debating the why's and wherefore's of how long it's taken and whether or not he should have abandoned perusing the targets off his “A” list and instead focused his attention on lists “B” or even “C” when he realised that the wheels of the old transfer machine weren't spinning quite as quickly as he …
As an advert for Championship football, Saturday's encounter pretty much summed it all up perfectly.
A league in which mis-placed passing and sloppy play considerably outweighs instances of the opposite, where every team is capable of beating any other, and when games certainly aren't over until the final whistle.
If the Fat Lady wasn't exactly belting out a number at with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining Ninian Park she was sure as hell warming up …
One point from two league games and against two very average Championship sides at that ? OK so Coventry might sit atop the table at present, but they won't be up there for long; dumped out of the Carling Cup at the first hurdle by lower league opposition; the next three fixtures comprising the visit to Carrow Road of highly-fancied Birmingham and moneybags QPR plus a trip to the one ground where it all went so horribly wrong under Glenn Roeder last season- Plymouth.
Safe to say, …
They say a picture paints a thousand words.
Well, there was an image of the face of Arturo Lupoli frozen onto the monitors around the ground on Saturday just after he'd missed THAT chance, and I tell you what, a thousand words wouldn't even be half enough to begin to describe it.
Just as words wouldn't do justice to the faces of 23,000 City fans and manager Glenn Roeder at that particular moment either.
I suppose you could call it a mixture of …
Let's consider the views from each of what is fast appearing to be two camps concerning all things City at the moment.
The pessimists, or should that be realists? ? And please don't shoot the messenger! All I refer to is the supporters that are predicting a gloomy outlook… – will indicate that these are nervy times at Norwich, mainly because a degree of uncertainty and uneasiness has hung in the air as a result of the events during the close season.
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Oh dear!
First things first. Credit to MK Dons.
They are very capable League One outfit who – to the eternal credit of their manager Roberto Di Matteo as well as former boss Paul Ince ? try to play football the way it should be played.
They get the ball down and pass it – even at the back when they are put under pressure. And they 've got a good 'Big 'un – little 'un' combination that can cause problems up front. Good on them. …
The film buffs amongst you will completely understand.
For those that aren't, just ride with me on this and you'll soon get the picture.
The clock ticks over to 6:00 am in the morning. The Sonny and Cher hit record 'I've Got You Babe' is playing?. And poor Bill Murray wakes up in exactly the same day again.
It's Groundhog Day. Nothing has changed. It's all-too depressingly familiar.
Now then… It's a …
If the Canaries are about to embark on the type of season that everyone at Carrow Road is quietly hoping for and expecting, there's one major question that the team needs to answer above all others tomorrow.
Forget about systems of play, who plays where and whether or not City can create and subsequently convert enough goal-scoring chances over the course of the next 46 league games in order to make a decent fist of things at the top end of the table for a change, the one …
Departures aplenty, new arrivals and transfer rumours in abundance? oh, and the small matter of a multi-million pound takeover?
?Safe to say that it's hardly been a quiet summer at Carrow Road!
One thing that goes without saying though is that simply has to be a whole lot better for the Canaries this season.
For a club of such stature and standing in this division and one that can boast such incredible support both at home and away, finishing …
After one of the most prolonged transfers for many a year and rumour after rumour, finally the Canaries have secured the services of the highly-rated Wes Hoolahan.
The arrival of Sammy Clingan last week was generally met with approval amongst the City faithful, but given that Hoolahan was undoubtedly one of the star performers in the Championship last season, we can only hope that the calibre of any other subsequent additions to the squad here at Carrow Road are as impressive …
There are plenty of adjectives that one could select in order to appropriately summarise the Canaries' 2007-08 season.
Unfortunately, none would be complimentary.
For a club of such stature and standing in the Coca-Cola Championship, and one that is ? almost embarrassingly – afforded such magnificent support both at home and away, 07-08 was completely unacceptable. It has been an awful campaign.
Of course, it would only be right to highlight the …
When posing the question as to exactly what type of a Norwich team would turn up at Hillsborough on Sunday I ended my preview to this particular match with the line ?…a half-hearted, nothing-to-play-for totally unconvincing and feeble Canaries outfit?or something resembling the A-Team??
We got both.
First half. Magnificent.
Everything and more that you want to see from Norwich, and hopefully so on a regular basis next term.
Passion, …
The Expert has been digesting the noises that have emanated from Carrow Road this week and is? cautiously impressed.
Because on top of the club's announcement of a new sponsorship deal with local insurance giants Aviva, City boss Glenn Roeder had been talking tough.
Talk of 'future heroes', only looking forward and not back, winning cultures and no-one at the club being allowed to play in a comfort zone next season paints a clear enough picture in that …