The Norwich away, match thread

[officer_dibble]

Critical window in who we bin off as well as bring in...

[a1]

*something something zat knight's fault*

cockend

boo megson out

[a1]

Critical window in who we bin off as well as bring in...

he has to get a forward in, even if its on douglas's crystal palace scout list

i'd bin off spearing and play a sulky medo kamara, but thats probably just me.

[officer_dibble]

Spearing does tend to think he's the championships stevie g at times but his energy works for lennons team. Trotter was fecking invisible tonight mate.

But yeah a forward please. Someone to add finesse and movement to craig davies. Cameron jerome was a cut above tonight.

[CrazyHorse]

Thought that Lonergan and Pratley both had a great second half. Did trotter even touch the ball?
Bit disappointed cos I thought we'd get something tonight but Norwich's closing down & defending was superb. That we actually managed 8 attempts on goal against them shows how much we've improved.

[a1]

i meant for money. ie, sell spearing and buy a forward.

thinking a bit , sack that off, we'll only just 'not be able to spend it' due to some bullshit rule where we cant invented just for us.

i'd loan that Thomas kid from the Just Better's that was mooted a bit back. or summat along them lines.

or glen murray scored a few for reading fc, something like that maybe

darren bent, that Isiah Brown kid from wba/chelsea , summat somewhere

[Bruce Rioja]

Mills and Detroit responsible for the goals. Lennon employing a Freedman set-up with similar substitutional ineptitude. What a fecking shambles - not helped by Lennon. Wardrobe and Pratley in midfield for the 2nd half? Oh bring me fecking joy!

[CAPSLOCK]

The poorest 70 minutes I've seen for a while and a performance DF would have been slaughtered for. We looked great until the first goal went in. What was Mills doing letting his man turn and run past him?? It was beyond me.

Up to that point, we looked confident. After that we didn't win a single second ball and couldn't keep possession.

What really pished me off was Lennon sitting back and not changing it earlier. Clayton looked like a rabbit caught in the headlamps and how he got on in front of Cravies is anyone's guess.

The saying 'you can't polish a turd' comes to mind. DF has left a poor squad behind. I still think we can finish mid table, but we need to create more. This January transfer window will be critical.

He's left a squad behind, populated by Coyles big earners, Spearing, Beckford and bob a jobbers

Our 'good uns' are relatively shite and taking the majority of the wage bill we are allowed to carry

[SmokinFrazier]

I didn't think the performance was that bad. We had a lot of the ball but the obvious problem with getting a goal was Beckford, whose lack of movement meant that for all that possession, we weren't able to create chances. A strikers job isn't just to score, they should be pulling the defence apart with runs and either making room for themselves or their teammates and that's not something Beckford offers. There was a chance in the second half when a cross came from the left into the box and was easily cleared, but Beckford should have put in a better run than the one he did and if he had been in a better position, he likely has an easy chance to score. His movement is so poor, like he expects chances to be given to him on a plate. He doesn't seem to be able to read a game properly so unless the support is always perfect, he's going to struggle because he can't create openings for himself with intelligent movement. Defensively we were alright, barring a few individual mistakes, but the system is definitely better. A high line will catch us out a few times this season, like it did for Mills tonight, but it's an improvement and once the players get more used to it, I expect us to stop conceding in that way. The headed goal we conceded wasn't great either but easily amended.

I'm disappointed to lose, of course, but I'm not too down on the team. The only thing that really worried me was how quickly we reverted back to basic football as soon as our heads went down but our passing and movement is generally a lot better, so I'm looking forward to seeing us next time. I think a lot of the negatives in our play is down to a lack of confidence, so hopefully we can get a few good results and that changes.

[Prufrock]

Don't get how Mills is at fault for the first. Straight race between him and Jerome, never getting there. I'd be looking at the captain, who looks around, knows full well he's the only c*nt in central midfield, and points at Howson as if he's passing him on. Who to you prick?! Just track him, its 2v4!

Beckford was wank, but so were the rest. Pratley still isn't a footballer. Nor is Ream. Rule 1 of defending is show the winger in towards the nets right?

[Vertigo]

Don't get how Mills is at fault for the first. Straight race between him and Jerome, never getting there. I'd be looking at the captain, who looks around, knows full well he's the only c*nt in central midfield, and points at Howson as if he's passing him on. Who to you prick?! Just track him, its 2v4!

Beckford was wank, but so were the rest. Pratley still isn't a footballer. Nor is Ream. Rule 1 of defending is show the winger in towards the nets right?

Jerome did well for his goal. Very good strength and speed against Mills, who isn't a pushover.

Pratley was one of our better players in the second half.

Beckford did nothing, but he wasn't given anything to work with. Then again, Clayton came on and made some intelligent runs. Should have scored from one of them.

Spearing, Mills and Dervite didn't hit a single target with a long ball. Ream, Danns and even Mavies gave away too many short ones too.

It's easy to focus on the negatives, but there weren't that many positives. Chungy looked good again. Lonnergan was top class.

[Bruce Rioja]

Don't get how Mills is at fault for the first. Straight race between him and Jerome, never getting there.

There wouldn't have been a straight race had Mills not fecked it up in the first place.

[Peter Thompson]

Anyone who expected us to get anything at Norwich away is a little deluded...I expected a 3 or 4 nil defeat - NL has changed the way we play, we do press more, pass better, scrap more and are more attacking but we have a few players who have a shocking, lazy attitude....and are simply not good enough even at championship level.

I thought that Beckford was abysmal he should never play again, it's like playing with 10 men when he plays - he's a lazy, bone idle stump, and what NL sees in Trotter I don't know....he lumbers about the pitch, very slow and contributes nothing - did he actually have a kick. Pratley worked his socks off but he's just not a good footballer, he's technically very poor.

Ream was poor as was Danns, who's coming across as a player who has 1 good game in 3.

I actually thought we were good in possession with CYL & M Davies, and played some decent football which unfortunately stopped at the edge of the 18 yard box, because as with most games we have no width, no pace , no movement and absolutely nothing up front....but Norwich are a good balanced side with a lot of pace in the side.

However, NL will sort it - 2 wins from 4 games (3 away) is a decent start - he's given players a chance, but he now needs to get tough....Beckford, Pratley & Trotter should be nowhere near the starting XI, and we lack leadership on the pitch....Lennon looked very pissed off sat on the bench I think he knows what's needed.

[Armchair Wanderer]

Did people see the throw-in in the attacking half that Threlkeld was trying to make? Everyone was pushed up in attacking positions but no-one wanted the ball. After a long time he eventually throws the ball and they lost the ball cheaply. A second later the ball was pumped downfield, everyone's still upfield and they scored.

If Clayton had scored that 1-on-1 we might have scraped a draw. Ruddy's positioning was probably better than Lonergan's.

[Harry Genshaw]

There were some positives; there was a decent tempo and aggression in the first half that had been lacking under Freedman. Lonergan is playing out of his skin at the moment and CYL is looking like the player we all know he can be. It was also the best performance I've seen from Pratley.

Loads for Lennon to put right though after the 2 previous regimes. Goalkeepers are great but do we own a decent defender? Our midfield aren't enough of a threat to play 1 up top. And Beckford

[Devon White]

Not good enough. Good side Norwich, but not an excuse for our performance.

None of the back four had good games today. Threlkeld seemed nervy, Redmond had Ream in his pocket and all four made mistakes.

Biggest problem today was giving the ball away. Gave away possession so often without even being under pressure.

Oh yeah, and so tame going forward.

Good post, saved me having a rant. thanks vertigo

[norm the jedi]

I was much more dissappointed with the display than many seem..

Limited is the principle adjective that springs to mind over and over.

Seemingly our purpose for ball retention is to prevent us conceding because whilst we knocked it about tidily enough at times we didn't look like scoring at any point.. I know much less than many on here. I largely lost interest in anything but the result when we started loaning a minbus load of dreck from sarf east London...

So based mostly on last nights viewing..

Beckford is a Shithouse with the football intelligence of a corner flag and marginally less movement than a crossbar.
I'd have kicked him out on the hard shoulder on't way home if I were NL
The lad who replaced him almost made a spectacular impact simply by making an intelligent run but not surprisingly lacked composure in the finish..
CYL does my head in! Goal notwithstanding, He seems to flatter to decieve most of the time but is difficult to criticise on account of work rate and talent in a very workmanlike squad. But in terms of an end product he had almost nothing last night.
Mavis is great in flashes when he isn't broken but can't be expected to do it on his own...
Dervite looked potentially decent until leaving his man and jumping under the ball for the second goal...
Mills got caught on the first goal by being too tight to Jerome, half arsing and not competing for the flick and then found himself in a race he was never winning.. But he is what he is and probably presents more positives than negatives at this level... The rest are for the most part interchangeable in my memory - limited - interchangeable - workmanlike - uninspiring..
Lennon will no doubt bring some much needed organisation and spirit... but he'll need some players to get us anywhere..
All in all for me, quite a depressing watch...

[Jugs]

Back in the summer of 2011, Coyle was supposedly in two minds between Ngog and Jerome. I think Jerome has so far proven this season that he'd have been a far better buy for the Championship. Foresight would have been a great thing!

Hmm. Strange performance last night. We were very good in patches, moved the ball around well, but we disappeared for the first 20 minutes of the second half and that was the killer. Clayton's miss was a huge miss, came at a time when we were getting on the ball again. Had that have gone in, well, who knows? But we'd have got at least another clear cut chance.

I'm getting a bit annoyed that Lennon keeps persisting with Beckford. He's offered very little in these 4 games. And I was also a bit perplexed that Trotter got precedence over Vela.

And, I'm sorry, but those who were criticising Mavies in the Mavies thread ... those comments seem frankly laughable in the wake of his performance last night (and his goal against Brentford). Without him - and Chungy - this team would be absolutely shocking to watch (much more shocking than it already might be). He and Chungy looked excellent on the ball in the first half, they gave us some hope, skill and creativity. And his through ball for Clayton was magic. Shame about the finish but he made a good run did Clayton.

[thebish]

Back in the summer of 2011, Coyle was supposedly in two minds between Ngog and Jerome. I think Jerome has so far proven this season that he'd have been a far better buy for the Championship. Foresight would have been a great thing!

indeed! pretty much every time Jerome has been mentioned in a transfer window on this forum - and it has been pretty much every one for the last 40yrs - it has been with some expression of derision!

[Jugs]

I know. Maybe Neil Adams inspires him He definitely works more for the team than Ngog does.

Though to be fair I remember him doing well at this level with Cardiff a few years ago. I guess we thought we deserved better players at the time we were linked with him (the 2011 time).