Norwich v Horwich

[Prufrock]

Davies did all right when he came on, but once he is on there is no point in N'Gog, different sort of player, but both hold-it up and make chances for others without looking like scoring himself and can only aim for one of them. Should have been N'Gog for Davies if he was committed to bringing Davo on. Even if he had to go 4-4-2 it's one of Mark Davies, Eagles or Petrov (latter two were both utter gash today, cannot see what the point of having Klasnic on the bench over Miyachi was, and Mark Davies pretty anonymous) but never, ever one of Reo-Coker and Muamba. Their incredi-miss aside, I thought they never looked like scoring until then, despite seeming to have permanent possession. Seemed set for another point, more momentum, but no, he hooked Fab again. Game went wide open and they looked far more likely to score, and then did score.

Have to say, can't believe more fuss hasn't been made of the absolute, 10/10, stonewall penalty we didn't get at 1-0. Ruddy slide tackled N'Gog from behind, getting nowhere near the ball until N'Gog was on his arse behind him.

Knight useless for the first, the lot of them useless and motionless for the second, and Bogdan really should have done better. Jussi would have been tarred and feathered for that.

Still blame lies squarely at the feet of one Mr Coyle.

[Worthy4England]

Those stats need supplementing with Muamba dropped for shits and giggles to accommodate Largely,w hen we shipped 4/5 goals early doors...

[newboy]

Davies did all right when he came on, but once he is on there is no point in N'Gog, different sort of player, but both hold-it up and make chances for others without looking like scoring himself and can only aim for one of them. Should have been N'Gog for Davies if he was committed to bringing Davo on. Even if he had to go 4-4-2 it's one of Mark Davies, Eagles or Petrov (latter two were both utter gash today, cannot see what the point of having Klasnic on the bench over Miyachi was, and Mark Davies pretty anonymous) but never, ever one of Reo-Coker and Muamba. Their incredi-miss aside, I thought they never looked like scoring until then, despite seeming to have permanent possession. Seemed set for another point, more momentum, but no, he hooked Fab again. Game went wide open and they looked far more likely to score, and then did score.

Have to say, can't believe more fuss hasn't been made of the absolute, 10/10, stonewall penalty we didn't get at 1-0. Ruddy slide tackled N'Gog from behind, getting nowhere near the ball until N'Gog was on his arse behind him.

Knight useless for the first, the lot of them useless and motionless for the second, and Bogdan really should have done better. Jussi would have been tarred and feathered for that.

Still blame lies squarely at the feet of one Mr Coyle.

AS it should be ,getting a bit fecked off with him making the same mistake time after time. Why not just leave it as it was? the onus was on Norwich to come up with something to change the game not us,Instead he made the change that altered the game. Just saw his annoying smiling face on the post match interview Norwich wonderful blah blah world class players blah blah fantastic manager blah blah could have gone either way blah blah. Feck off you useless tosser.

[sean_taylor1995]

OC has to take the blame today,comfortable until the 4-4-2 switch.In my opinion the subs should of been davies for ngog and then sordell for eagles/petrov.

[longy]

[quote="officer_dibble"norwich are bog standard
and they have had 2 centre halves taken off today

taking off muamba costs us again
right to go 442 - but take off mark davies,, he cant play centre mid

I don't think taking muamba off cost us the match he was doing fcuk all just a body wandering around. Taking eagles off was a bad mistake but we lacked energy and commitment today so deserved to get beat.

Thats what he's there for, making a nuisance of himmself, breaking up play and giving the simple ball. Theres nothing wrong with that because we are hard to break down. as soon as he goes off we are wide open, thats what costs us time after time.

This is the thing with Muamba, its taken me a long, long time to appreciate what he does for the team. My judgement has always been clouded by his woeful passing and absolutely terrible shooting but its quite clear there's no-one else better in the team at breaking up play and providing some sort of screen for the defence. In our current situation, and with our current lineup, he should be a first name on the teams sheet stalwart and playing 90 minutes every week.

I just cant see why he's being brought off all the time.

I went for as cuppa when he took him off. Said to Mrs Clown that we'd concede at least one, probably two.

It's unbelievable. Really it is. He's there to prevent the other team playing. He rushes them, ruffles them, makes a nuisance of himself .... & he's bloody good at it. THAT is why Mavis can get the freedom to run with the ball.

Taking Moo off is a death sentence. I honestly, honestly thought he'd learnt his lesson, but no. See the Everton match at home for this one today. Absolutely identical.

Fckg hell Coyle. Absolutely your fault you obstinate wanker.[/quote]


Absofuckinlutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Ten mins into the second half Norwich looked like they were running out of ideas then Father Doughal McGuire just cant resist the red button in the cockpit.

Still prior to that we looked compact and capable of at least picking up a point. I thought Mears did ok and Petrov/eagles had decent games. NGog was having an off day but Coyle made the wrong changes at the wrong time. Putting Sordell on for NGog around 70 mins and KD possibly for Petrov or Mavis on 80 would have made sense.Once Moo had gone it was far too easy for Norwich to move the ball quickly through the midfield.

[Dr.Karl]

Our 4-4-2 is worse defensively and attacking wise than our 4-5-1. So why do we consistently play it? The guy hasn't learned a thing.

Having more strikers on the field doesn't mean its more "positive". In our case its the opposite.

And BTW have our coaches arrived back yet? feck me it was awful by car can't imagine how bad it was by coach.

[elfil76]

It will be sad if a forummer can get this statistics and a manager doesnt't.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Our 4-4-2 is worse defensively and attacking wise than our 4-5-1.

Exactly. Played wity the right attacking intent, our starting system is more like 4-3-3 or even 4-2-4 once Mavies piles forward. But those '2' are key.

Mind you, did either goal conceded come directly from Muamba's absence?

[Burnden Cat]

We were right in the game after an hour. Should have left well alone & taken a point. Keep the scoreboard ticking over, building the unbeaten run.

Confidence is a brittle thing when you're in our position - let's hope it's not gone again.

Only positive is it showed Garry Birtles up to be a complete clueless tw*t. 'Get Davies on, Davies would have scored from there, Go 4-4-2' ad nauseam. Was the stream I was watching from 'Canary TV' or did Birtles once have a spell at Norwich cos it's been a long time since I heard such biased commentary?

[officer_dibble]

still fuming about this! norwich bog standard championship outfit have 6 points of us this season and they are practically safe! this set of players is being badly mismanaged!

[plymouth wanderer]

think how many points we'd have if west ham were still in the prem

[thebish]

We were right in the game after an hour. Should have left well alone & taken a point. Keep the scoreboard ticking over, building the unbeaten run.

Confidence is a brittle thing when you're in our position - let's hope it's not gone again.

yeah... but let's not lose total perspective...

we were under the cosh before Moo went off and could easily have been 2 down before the interval...

we were also looking totally toothless up front.

I know it is a favourite explanation for all things bad - but taking Moo off was not the only thing wrong on Saturday..

for one thing - we were simply not as "up for it" as we were against arsenal (and don't forget - we could easily have been 4 down at half time against arsenal with Moo on the pitch..)

[Athers]

The 10 minutes before the change were our best 10 of the match. Frustrating that we 'went for it' instead of keeping things as they were and forcing Norwich to react to being on the back foot.

But basically I think Coyle was outcoached in this one from the start, as you say.

[thebish]

Bolton vs Manchester City - Muamba taken off at 1-3 - Final Score: 2-3
(we conceded 3 with Moo on the pitch)
Liverpool vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 1-0 - Final Score: 3-1
(we were losing the with Moo on the pitch)
Arsenal vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 1-0 - Final Score: 3-0
(we were losing the game with Moo on the pitch)
West Brom vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 2-1 - Final Score: 2-1
(Moo on the pitch - we concede 2 goals)
Bolton vs Everton - Muamba taken off at 0-1 - Final Score: 0-2
(we concede as many with Moo off as with Moo on)
Tottenham vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 1-0 - Final Score: 3-0
(we are losing the game with Moo on the pitch)
Bolton vs Newcastle - Muamba taken off at 0-0 - Final Score: 2-0
(taking him off was a disaster!!)
Manchester Utd vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 2-0 - Final Score: 3-0
(we concede twice as many with Moo on than Moo off)
Norwich vs Bolton - Muamba taken off at 0-0 - Final Score: 2-0
(Taking him off was clearly an outrage!)

It doesn't work.

hmmm... but you can draw more than one conclusion from a set of stats.....

[BWFC_Insane]

We were right in the game after an hour. Should have left well alone & taken a point. Keep the scoreboard ticking over, building the unbeaten run.

Confidence is a brittle thing when you're in our position - let's hope it's not gone again.

yeah... but let's not lose total perspective...

we were under the cosh before Moo went off and could easily have been 2 down before the interval...

we were also looking totally toothless up front.

I know it is a favourite explanation for all things bad - but taking Moo off was not the only thing wrong on Saturday..

for one thing - we were simply not as "up for it" as we were against arsenal (and don't forget - we could easily have been 4 down at half time against arsenal with Moo on the pitch..)

Bish, we were hanging in there with 5 across midfield and actually had for the first time, managed to exert some level of control.

The change was just mindblowingly stupid.

Davies could well have come on for Ngog, no issue there. But to take Muamba off for a striker and completely lose the control we'd finally managed was just ridiculous.

I did like the commentators surprise at Davies not throwing himself at a good ball across the box though...folk keep saying "crosses and early balls in suit Davies". They don't, because he's always flat footed, never on the move, and never attacks the ball well.

End of the day it was a horrific decision, on the back of many others made by our manager. All we can do is hope eventually someone manages to get through to him and that when they do its not too late.

[Wandering Willy]

Davies could well have come on for Ngog, no issue there. But to take Muamba off for a striker and completely lose the control we'd finally managed was just ridiculous.

Nay, nay and thrice nay.

KD is never going to come on and make a difference. There are 2 parts to the substitution, who you take off and who you put on. Unless the player put on can make more impact than the one you take off then what's the point?

This is why KD should have been sold in the window - having him here means Coyle will play him at some time. He is not good enough - wish he was, but he's not.

[thebish]

We were right in the game after an hour. Should have left well alone & taken a point. Keep the scoreboard ticking over, building the unbeaten run.

Confidence is a brittle thing when you're in our position - let's hope it's not gone again.

yeah... but let's not lose total perspective...

we were under the cosh before Moo went off and could easily have been 2 down before the interval...

we were also looking totally toothless up front.

I know it is a favourite explanation for all things bad - but taking Moo off was not the only thing wrong on Saturday..

for one thing - we were simply not as "up for it" as we were against arsenal (and don't forget - we could easily have been 4 down at half time against arsenal with Moo on the pitch..)

Bish, we were hanging in there with 5 across midfield and actually had for the first time, managed to exert some level of control.

The change was just mindblowingly stupid.

Davies could well have come on for Ngog, no issue there. But to take Muamba off for a striker and completely lose the control we'd finally managed was just ridiculous.

I did like the commentators surprise at Davies not throwing himself at a good ball across the box though...folk keep saying "crosses and early balls in suit Davies". They don't, because he's always flat footed, never on the move, and never attacks the ball well.

End of the day it was a horrific decision, on the back of many others made by our manager. All we can do is hope eventually someone manages to get through to him and that when they do its not too late.

yes it was stupid - I said so at the time and I still think so. BUT - do you REALLY think it was the only thing wrong with our performance on saturday? If so - I respectfully suggest you have lost the plot...

[BWFC_Insane]

Davies could well have come on for Ngog, no issue there. But to take Muamba off for a striker and completely lose the control we'd finally managed was just ridiculous.

Nay, nay and thrice nay.

KD is never going to come on and make a difference. There are 2 parts to the substitution, who you take off and who you put on. Unless the player put on can make more impact than the one you take off then what's the point?

This is why KD should have been sold in the window - having him here means Coyle will play him at some time. He is not good enough - wish he was, but he's not.

Well, I kind of agree, I think NGog did enough, to sort of deserve to stay on. But he doesn't look a goalthreat. Mind KD is not exactly one of those either.

Against two inexperienced centre halves I can see the logic of trying the old and wily and more physical Davies, but not at the expense of a midfielder at that stage.

The right decision was to leave it as it was. But had he straight swapped Davies for NGog I'd not have slated him as I'd have at least seen the logic....so to speak....

As an aside note the commentators saying "and Lambert doesn't change it, he sticks with the system and believes in it". Thats cos he knows what he's doing....

There are times to gamble and times to absolutely not. Saturday was not a game where we even should have thought about it.

Wigan, thats a must win now, how we tackle that will be interesting.

[ohjimmyjimmy]

At least in our favour (ish) is that Wigan will see it as a must-win too so they wont park the bus, time is running out for them as well and they will fancy this one. Still too feckin angry about Saturday to even get arsed about it at the moment though.