Norwich vs Bolton (Home) 31st October 2014

[crawley canary]

Much better second half, our play had more fluidity about it and really comfortable until the late defensive mishap. O'Neil, Redmond and Jerome were great and O'Neil's crossing and dead balls really added a lot and made us look more dangerous. 

Still feels a question mark about where goals will come from if Jerome has a blank day. With Redmond and Lafferty as key parts of the front 3 it feels like one or both needs to add goals to help Jerome out. Based on tonight I reckon you'd have to say that line-up is the best use of the players we have available and maybe we can get a run of games where we can settle into that shape and see if the fluency and goals from other players begin to flow.

A good night, and great to see us back winning again

 

[Din]

Well that was a much needed 3 points. The second half performance was better than the first, but it still didn't feel like we were at 100% today. It was also very unnecessarily nervous towards the end, after conceding a very poor goal. I thought though on the whole we defended well, particularly Turner. The performance was an improvement on recent weeks, and overall we played well and it was a deserved win. Great for Jerome to get back on form as well with a good couple of goals, and the first was very well taken.
 
Sky apparently gave Redmond the MOTM. Whilst I thought he was a threat second half, and was unfortunate when he hit the post, I thought he was pretty poor in the first half. Gave the ball away more times than he kept hold of it, and I don't think he was our best player. O'Neil was superb, as was Tettey, and I also thought that Lafferty was a real threat. My MOTM personally would've gone to Turner though.
 
Overall I thought everyone played well, with one exception. Once again I thought Whittaker was poor. He was better than he had been in the last couple, but was still well below par. I can't wait until Ryan Bennett gets back, and we can put him at centre half and put Russell Martin right back. Every header Whittaker went for he either missed or headed backwards, and I'm still not convinced by his distribution, although it was better tonight than it had been. 
 
After we went 1-0 up after 10 minutes I thought we'd go on and win comfortably, but for the remainder of the first half we sat too far off Bolton, and gave them too much time of the ball. Second half though we gave them less time and once we went 2-0 up we never really looked like losing it.
 
Bolton were pretty poor and I expected much better from them, not complaining though 
 
Hopefully maybe one or two results will go in our way tomorrow, and we'll stay roughly where we are in the table.

 

[GJP]

 
 
Overall I thought everyone played well, with one exception. Once again I thought Whittaker was poor. 

Agree we played well. Totally disagree about Whittaker.

 

[Din]

Btw, did anyone else see in the first half, about half an hour in, when off the ball Lafferty pretty much got the Bolton right back in a head lock and then threw him to the floor? Lafferty's lucky the ref didn't see that or he could've been in trouble there.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Great three points, but even with the definite improvement in performance in the second..........it's so slow, predictable and ploddy!

I want to know what Norwich City we have got back? AS in all the years I have watched us I cannot recall having such a strong squad that under performs like this and plays soooooooooo slowly and ploddy.

But hey we won, and before this game I said that its about the result, and thats what we got!    

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

I cannot recall having such a strong squad that under performs like this and plays soooooooooo slowly and ploddy.

I don't blame you for erasing last season and the one before from your memory

 

[Andy]

Btw, did anyone else see in the first half, about half an hour in, when off the ball Lafferty pretty much got the Bolton right back in a head lock and then threw him to the floor? Lafferty's lucky the ref didn't see that or he could've been in trouble there.

Looked like a straight red to me. Lafferty grabbed the Bolton player around the throat and, as you say, threw him - no idea how the Lino missed it as he was just a few feet away. There was a loud gasp from the Jarrold as we waited for the inevitable from the ref but nothing happened. The Bolton lad just got up and got on with it.

Lafferty did well yesterday but his temperament worries me.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Agree we played well. Totally disagree about Whittaker.

I don't know if its instructions but Whittaker stands very narrow to Martin and allows so much space for the opposition to run into. Then he has to make poor challenges to try and rectify it.

We definitely need a left footed centre back and put Martin back to right back. Although Turner has been playing well he does look clumsy trying to tackle on his left side.

 

[Dubai Mark]

To be honest Reserve Team. I certainly have not erased the last two seasons, and I genuinely don't see much overall improvement, if any, as we are now playing a level lower, with arguably a stronger squad and the football is at a slower pace even than last season....... and we have clear under performing players who dont seem pumped up enough playing against very mediocre teams. Last season we certainly didnt play to our potential enough of the time, not the case the season before so much, but this season I feel that our league position paints a false picture. Just my view, as I am concerned that a squad that should already be flying in this league is in reality just in the mix for a possible play-off place despite dominating so many games, which is not good enough.    

 

[eatonparkboy]

To be honest Reserve Team. I certainly have not erased the last two seasons, and I genuinely don't see much overall improvement, if any, as we are now playing a level lower, with arguably a stronger squad and the football is at a slower pace even than last season....... and we have clear under performing players who dont seem pumped up enough playing against very mediocre teams. Last season we certainly didnt play to our potential enough of the time, not the case the season before so much, but this season I feel that our league position paints a false picture. Just my view, as I am concerned that a squad that should already be flying in this league is in reality just in the mix for a possible play-off place despite dominating so many games, which is not good enough.    

Despite support for it by many posters, I believe the system is not right, particularly at home. To me, it is getting Hughtonesque in its approach. We do attack with width pretty well at times but the final delivery is to one man. We are not supporting the front man quickly enough or in enough numbers. I think it is time to give Jerome more support and take a few risks in the middle. Too often last night we allowed Bolton to play it around at the back for long spells because we had dropped off. Its a 14 man game and we shouldn't be giving inferior opposition the time to settle on the ball.

If we are going to stick with this system then I think we need to press a bit more rather than sitting back.

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

Under Hughton we regularly went weeks at a time without registering a shot on target, I think some of you really have forgotten quite what it was like.

Currently we are level on points with 1st place, 3rd best goals scored, 3rd best goal difference, 1st in shots per game, 2nd in shots on target, and spend more time in the opposition half than any other team.

If there are problems with our team (and there are, we should have more points than we do),our attacking play is not what we should be pointing fingers at.

 

[Surgeryman]

Decent performance last night but we should have scored more and the goal conceded was sloppy.

I thought O Neil was superb last night and made a difference. Wouldn't have taken him off as we tailed off when he did but understand to a degree the logic with him being on a yellow.Also why take Jerome off? If I was on a hat trick I would have been miffed. Grabban who I think is awful, did OK in fairness

Midfield were good and Tettey did all the ugly break up play well. Jerome's best game for me. Some people are criticising Lafferty but for a big fella his ball control is very good. He was often the target man and we are really playing him in the wrong position. Redmond did well but that end product eludes him still.

Defence is where I have issues, every Bolton attack especially first half made our back 4 look a little dodgy. They did OK ultimately but they are unbalanced. Olssen did , OK and Whittaker who I do not rate played OK.Its what many of us are saying. Turner was solid but looks uncomfortable as a right footed player on the left, Russ is a full back. So sort it Neil. Russ to RB! Turner right centre back and one of the other proper CBs on the left. I know Russ plays there for Scotland ( name me who else could play there for them?) and can fill in but we are much more balanced when he is RB.

Our lack of a naturally left footed wide player/ midfielder needs addressing in January

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

I think the issue with moving Martin out of central defence is that clearly Cuellar's legs have gone, Hooiveld isn't any good, and none of us have a clue how good Miquel is. We need Bennett to hurry back.

 

[It's Character Forming]

I've felt the last couple of games we've taken control in the second half and with a bit of luck (and less heroics by the Dheff Wed keeper) both would've been comfortable wins).

The next couple of tough away games will tell us a lot about how the season is likely to pan out.

On the Lafferty challenge, on TV it looked like the defender was blocking him and had both hands on him to stop him getting past, which turned into a tussle between them ending with Lafferty pushing the defender to the floor. I suspect the ref gave nothing because he felt it was 50/50. That's how it looked to me anyway

 

[Monty13]

Under Hughton we regularly went weeks at a time without registering a shot on target, I think some of you really have forgotten quite what it was like.

Currently we are level on points with 1st place, 3rd best goals scored, 3rd best goal difference, 1st in shots per game, 2nd in shots on target, and spend more time in the opposition half than any other team.

If there are problems with our team (and there are, we should have more points than we do),our attacking play is not what we should be pointing fingers at.

I think the problem for a lot of people is they miss having easy things to moan about, they were spoiled under Hughton...

I'm not saying people shouldn't critique the football, they should, but the facts above speak for themselves. We'd all have bitten someones hand off to ensure this is where we were at the end of Oct when the club was relegated.

But for one sloppy mistake we played well last night, we didn't dominate Bolton to the point where they posed no threat like some seem to demand, but we were the much better side over the 90 imo.

 

[Surgeryman]

I think the issue with moving Martin out of central defence is that clearly Cuellar's legs have gone, Hooiveld isn't any good, and none of us have a clue how good Miquel is. We need Bennett to hurry back.

/I see where you are coming from with say Cuellar. Disagree with Hooiveld. How can you say that after what 2/3 games played? He was a rock with Fonte at Saints when they went up. Needs more game time for me to make that decision. Why not give Miquel a go?

Agree regarding Ryan Bennett. Glad he is back in training. Would be happy with RM, Bennett, Turner and Olssen.

I just think the back four would be much more solid and composed with RM playing at RB, a naturally right footed and naturally left footed CB pairing and then Olssen/Garrido. We have the players but seem not to want to do that, which baffles me a bit. If they are not good enough, why get them in?

 

[eatonparkboy]

I think the problem for a lot of people is they miss having easy things to moan about, they were spoiled under Hughton...

I'm not saying people shouldn't critique the football, they should, but the facts above speak for themselves. We'd all have bitten someones hand off to ensure this is where we were at the end of Oct when the club was relegated.

But for one sloppy mistake we played well last night, we didn't dominate Bolton to the point where they posed no threat like some seem to demand, but we were the much better side over the 90 imo.

I think that's unfair. Surely you judge each game on its merits. Obviously you accumulate those judgements but each game stands alone. And of course we are all delighted with the position in the table at the moment. But some peoples level of judgement is different from others. And what they want from each game is different also. Of course the NA haters will moan much in the same way as others will point out that some people are happy to accept poor performances if there is a result at the end of it.

I don't agree we played well last night. We played better in the second half and the first 10-15 minutes of that half was a build up of pressure that we hadn't achieved in the first. I think 6/10 is fair for the overall performance. I watched it on SKY admittedly but I think the coverage was good enough to form a reasonable decision.

I just think NA is a wee bit too timid but do understand that he is still under pressure and many are ready to jump on him if he doesn't produce. Personally I think he has done remarkably well and just needs to believe that he has the best squad and need not fear anyone else.

 

[Yellow Fever]

As you say EPB, people will see what they expect to see and opinions will vary. I thought the play was generally good last night as I thought it was last week, the difference being that Jerome converted both his chances very expertly. Last week, he performed just as well but the keeper made great saves. The difference last night for me was O'Neil who brought calm possession and excellent passing and set piece delivery as well. His linking up with Howson was also excellent and Howson improved as well. The difference was noticeable when BJ replaced O'Neil and the midfield lost some of its cohesion. 

 

[Surgeryman]

As you say EPB, people will see what they expect to see and opinions will vary. I thought the play was generally good last night as I thought it was last week, the difference being that Jerome converted both his chances very expertly. Last week, he performed just as well but the keeper made great saves. The difference last night for me was O'Neil who brought calm possession and excellent passing and set piece delivery as well. His linking up with Howson was also excellent and Howson improved as well. The difference was noticeable when BJ replaced O'Neil and the midfield lost some of its cohesion.

Agree with this Yellow. Although the defending was poor for the goal, the changes to the midfield really created it. They missed another chance just before when the lad was clean through but put it wide. We were playing much better second half and I think we would have scored a third if Adams had not changed it. Understand to a point why he did it but it did disrupt our play.

 

[Din]

Looked like a straight red to me. Lafferty grabbed the Bolton player around the throat and, as you say, threw him - no idea how the Lino missed it as he was just a few feet away. There was a loud gasp from the Jarrold as we waited for the inevitable from the ref but nothing happened. The Bolton lad just got up and got on with it.

Lafferty did well yesterday but his temperament worries me.

Yeah, I sit in the Jarrold and as soon as I saw Lafferty throw him to the floor I looked straight at the ref. Fortunately he didn't seem to see it, but as you say, no idea how the linesman missed it.