Before You All Get A Bit Carried Away

[Redcliffe 78]

We conceded an early Pen. This meant our game plan was thrown out of the window and we had to chase the game rather than try keep hold of the ball a little more.

Norwich are more than likely going to get promoted to the Premier League, They are a better side than us. The fact that Lansbury is on the bench for them says just how much better they are.

We conceded two in the last minute. Without a couple of mistakes at the end of the game we would have got a(n underserved) draw.

No team in the championship plays well every game, Why anyone expects us to I have no idea.

I am as upset as the rest of you, Conceding late and playing badly is annoying... But lets not act like this is a result that came out of the blue or anything like that.

We've gone on a good run of form where we've beaten very good teams, We've avoided relegation and we've shown that the team has a decent core that can develop next season.... So shh?

[/quote

Nobody plays well every game, but certain players froze tonight, we looked a awful side like we have been for most of the season, live on TV makes it more painful for me.

[Sydneybcfc]

People are always going to be disappointed after a loss but as people have said we need to remember not long ago we would have given body parts to be where we are in the league right now. Norwich are at the top because they have earned it by beating more teams and got more points than most other sides over 3/4 of a season. As our current position probably indicates our current ability level we should only be upset getting beaten by teams below not above and be looking to pick up points against other mid table sides.

[Andy082005]

Norwich did well and opened us up quite a few times. But the goals we actually gave away were so soft. It was disapointing to not claim a point after we had got back to level from nowhere.

I agree with this post. Im not really that disappointed with the loss, whats really upset me was the way in which we gave away. not only the goals, but possession at times.

The first goal, inexcusable. 250 senior appearences and after 45 seconds he's diving in????? this is basics!!!

The second goal.....now I dont think anyone else has mentioned this on here, but Pitman! its 89th minute in a game where we have had very little possession.......hold the ball! no, he goes for a spectacular.......whic goes high and wide. Gives the ball right back to them asnd they virtually score straight away.

The third goal......again, total farce.

There were so many occasions where we got the complete basics wrong. another instance midway through the second half, Pitman breaks, cuts inside and instead of switching the play, he tries to play a ball down the left hand side. Why cut inside and start a move which would switch play....only to play a ball down the left where there are two Norwich players?

As for Pitman......on the left??? really!

Next season if we want to progress, we have to start getting basics right

[StGeorge]

We'll probably play the same way on Saturday and win, and all will be rosey in the land City again

I'll certainly take winning 15 points from a possible 18................

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

I genuinely believe Carey and Macca would've been better for us tonight than what we had.

Well of course they would have been, that's self-evident. Carey is an expererienced right back; McAllister is an experienced left back. Where's the surprise in believing that?

We've had a good run, particularly considering our injuries, but the defence got found out last night, which was hardly surprising. It's only three points, and I'm already looking forward to Burnley on Saturday.

[Fiale]

Well I was upset as anyone, but that is always the way with a sport/team you care about. After a few hours your reality check kicks in and you become more accepting and analytic.

The only things we did poorly was ball retention, we were put under pressure by ourselves by simply not being able to put our foot on the ball and take the pressure off ourselves. So many poor/misplaced passes that it was frankly embarrassing. I hate when we move into a 4-3-3 which seems to one of Millens preferred formations, we just cannot play it effectively even though on papaer we seem to have the players who could make it work.

I just wish we would stick to 4-5-1 pack midfield, win the ball and keep it, pass it until space/chances open up. With Cisse as a DM and Woolford/Adomah able to go wide, Elliott in the middle with Maynard playing a free role just behind Pitman. When we are in possession Cisse staying back making a flat 3 with the Lb and RB moving up to support.... I still feel it's the safest option, especially when not playing well....

But hey, we are safe, and maybe now is the time to just experiment a little, try out some of our younger players, try to get Ribs/Fonts/Edwards/Tangs playing and gelling if we are beyond relegation possbility.

[spudski]

I suppose you have to look at our squad to see the reason we play this way. We have pace up front and on the wing areas and we have an abundance of battling midfielders, So our strengths are in turning the ball over in midfield and hitting teams on the break.

Away from home it's probably the best way to play to get decent results, Proven by the fact that we've done pretty well away from AG this season. Next season hopefully we will add a few players who will add a couple more dimensions to our squad.

I don't think you can downplay the importance of that early penalty, Conceding that early is always going to alter the way the team can execute the game plan, Had we held on to 0-0 for half an hour we might have had more opportunities to keep the ball and play it wide quicker... It's all specualtion of course, but I think that early first goal had a big bearing on our performance.

What I will say is, Norwich had 65% of the possession, but they didn't create an abundance of chances, So we weren't soaking up the pressure for 90 minutes as you put it.

I don't understand your last sentence...The reason Norwich didn't create an 'abundance' of chances, is because we were working at soaking up their pressure. We defended, and cleared, defended and cleared...it was a constant loop of pressure.It came in waves... We never held onto the ball long enough to release that pressure.

And as for playing it wide...it's become our weapon of choice, and teams will stop it. Adomah was marked out of the game yesterday, and Woolford...although left footed, and apparantly bringing balance to our team, imho, looks very weak and ineffective in large parts of the game. I hope he improves, because he's not the answer to our left side next season.

[grove park city]

Did nobody else notice that Norwich actually played really well? They followed up an early goal with closing down absolutely all over the pitch giving us no time at all, they were dangerous down both flanks and they had a real line leader in Holt and a proper passing midfielder in Hoolahan.

We were down three starters, we had a loanee youngster playing RB and a centre half playing left back, and even without the injuries we'd still be three or four players short of where Norwich's first XI were.

Our recent run of wins has come against bottom half sides with the exception of mid table Watford and if you were expecting anything other than a very difficult evening when we were away at a top four side you weren't being realistic.

Hoolahan was the player that City lacked not one midfield player comes close to his quality his running on and off the ball his control and passing how many times was his name mentioned last night ? Norwich City are a better team overall it was a cruel twist at the end but i expect many fans weren't that surprised i thought 2-1 was deserved the 3rd just did for Norwich what they should have done far earlier wrap the game up... Without Caulker the result would have been far worse but then Nyatanga just isn't good enough and Fontaine without Carey seems to get pulled out of position all the time,anyway Burnley is a game City can win so on to the next game.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

We conceded an early Pen. This meant our game plan was thrown out of the window and we had to chase the game rather than try keep hold of the ball a little more.

Norwich are more than likely going to get promoted to the Premier League, They are a better side than us. The fact that Lansbury is on the bench for them says just how much better they are.

We conceded two in the last minute. Without a couple of mistakes at the end of the game we would have got a(n underserved) draw.

No team in the championship plays well every game, Why anyone expects us to I have no idea.

I am as upset as the rest of you, Conceding late and playing badly is annoying... But lets not act like this is a result that came out of the blue or anything like that.

We've gone on a good run of form where we've beaten very good teams, We've avoided relegation and we've shown that the team has a decent core that can develop next season.... So shh?

[/quote

Nobody plays well every game, but certain players froze tonight, we looked a awful side like we have been for most of the season, live on TV makes it more painful for me.

[Steve Watts]

We've gone on a good run of form where we've beaten very good teams, We've avoided relegation and we've shown that the team has a decent core that can develop next season.... So shh?

Really? From what I recall, we beat relegation bound Preston, relegation bound S****horpe, a Watford team who had failed to win in eight, a Coventry team in such poor form that one more defeat saw Hoofroyd fired and a Pompey team who ran us ragged, but admittedly we did play defensively very well and restricted their chances. To me, that reads that we've beaten one good team, but not by playing them off the park, or even playing better football than them.

Last night was always going to be the acid test as to how far we've come over the past month, and the performance last night and the tactics employed (we were so deep that I swear when Norwich had the ball we were playing an 9-0-1 formation!) showed that actually we've not come far at all. We found the grit to dig out some results and get some of the points needed to avoid relegation, but anyone who thinks that we've really truthfully turned the corner really do have the blinkers on.

By virtue of the number of piss poor teams below us I think we are safe. (I also think we could see a record low number of points required to avoid the drop this year - we could lose every game from now to the end of the season and there's not enough quality below to catch us)

Norwich played well last night, no doubt. They are a very well organised team, but we made them look a whole lot better due to the way we played and basically allowed them to play as much as they wanted.

[Nogbad the Bad]

From what I recall, we beat relegation bound Preston, relegation bound S****horpe, a Watford team who had failed to win in eight, a Coventry team in such poor form that one more defeat saw Hoofroyd fired and a Pompey team who ran us ragged, but admittedly we did play defensively very well and restricted their chances. To me, that reads that we've beaten one good team, but not by playing them off the park, or even playing better football than them.

Well said, let's keep the recent 'great run' in perspective.

It was a very fortuitous run of fixtures that we took advantage of without ever really looking convincing or playing well.

Last night we were worryingly poor again - let's hope Norwich wasn't the start of yet another dreadful run which unfortunately we still look well capable of.

[Spud55]

All very true however, I and few others are finding difficult to understand the set up of the defence. I for one would love to know exactly what instructions were given to Nyatanga, because he was never once in the the left full position, Woolford appeared to be playing full back in the first half, when he brought on JCR and Pitman, again it appeared to me as if he was expecting Pitman to play as a wing back, JCR played in the middle of midfield, i'm sorry I don't get it.

Nyatanga was probably given instructions to play as a left back but he is a central defender so naturally always compresses inside when the opposition attack, he's a center back and thats what he does, both him and spence just looked like center backs playing at full back, when center backs play out wide unless they have considerable expirence of playing the position they always tend to tuck in too much.

I would also argue that the defence was set up wrong in that i think it would have made more sense to play Stewart from the off as Fontaine got schooled by Grant Holt all game pretty much, who out muscled him all game and despite being technically a worse defender i think stewart has the attributes to deal with Holt far more than Fonts.

We quickly changed shape to match Norwich's 4-3-3 but nobody got hold of Hoolahan and he ran the game and did us a lot of damage. We didn't play well at all but it was mainly the large gulf in ability between the two sides that told, we have a poor squad that really isn't up to challenging sides like Norwich and it more than showed last night.