Norwich vs Derby (Home) Saturday 14th March 2015

[The Great Mass Debater]

Unlucky

 

[CanaryNath]

aaaaaaghhhh!!! That was the chance!!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Bugger

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Well we threw that away...

 

[TA Canary]

Derby really didn't deserve a point from that, oh well.

Three points from the top isn't bad at all.

 

[CanaryNath]

Real shame, however we weren't beaten, there are nine games to go, and we're only three points from the automatic places. 

 

[Gaffer]

Would it be fair to say the difference today was between Ruddy and Grant?

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

That feels like a defeat. Perhaps Im just biased, but I can remember a lot more incidents where we have given teams a nice little gift when they shouldnt be getting anything, than we have recieved in similar positions when we have been outplayed.

A number of times this season where we have played other teams off the park, only to self-destruct and come away with less than we deserved.

If anyone can give me some examples where teams have gifted us vital goals it would really cheer me up!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Would it be fair to say the difference today was between Ruddy and Grant?

Ruddy did a lot of good stuff today, but if it wasnt for an absolute clanger we'd have been leaving with three points. Fair to say that both Grant and Ruddy were the reason Derby got anything out of that match

 

[Canaryboy]

This result feels like a bad one because of the way that other results went today, but its actually a decent enough point when you consider how damaging a defeat would/could have been. I wouldn't have "taken it" before kick-off, not at home, but the teams above us probably have a slightly harder run in and will therefore all likely drop points. We're still in the mix. 

 

[Din]

Well I suppose that a point against a promotion rival isn't too bad a result on the whole, especially when you consider we have quite a favourable run of games coming up in comparison to the teams around us. But it certainly feels like 2 points dropped, especially considering that it was a bad mistake from Ruddy that ultimately cost us the win. Didn't think that we were near our best today, particularly in the 2nd half. 
 
Never seen a team that so blatantly were playing for a draw as Derby did today. From the first minute their keeper took as long as he possibly could to take every goal kick, and just in general there was no sense of urgency at all about them, up until we scored anyway. Overall didn't think Derby looked a very good team at all. I know they were missing key players but even so I expected better. Will Hughes for example is a player that I thought would be much better than he was (played against him at youth level and he was ridiculous). 
 
For us I thought Hoolahan had a good game, and overall I thought Bassong was very good as well. He can be very worrying when he had the ball at his feet, but in the air he is absolutely dominant. Surprisingly Johnson I thought was probably our weakest player. Obviously Ruddy does have to take a large slice of the blame due to it being his mistake (there are claims that his arm was being held, but I couldn't see from where I was sat) but it was nice to see our fans singing his name at the end of the game even so. The number of times he's saved us over the last few years massively outnumbers the number of mistakes he's made, so that was nice to see that from our fans at the end. We had chances to win the game though which is the most frustrating thing, it's not like the Wigan game where we didn't create anything. Grant made a couple of good saves from Bassong and Hooper. Jerome also had a couple of chances that he should've done better with, particularly that header where Whittaker did well to get the ball in when it looked like it was going out of play, and he diving headed it over. 
 
Oh well, onwards and upwards. 2 winnable games in the next week coming up, where hopefully we can make up more ground on the top of the table.
 
Alex Tettey cheered me up a little bit though by saying "Hopefully tonight I won't die in my sleep"

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

This result feels like a bad one because of the way that other results went today, but its actually a decent enough point when you consider how damaging a defeat would/could have been. I wouldn't have "taken it" before kick-off, not at home, but the teams above us probably have a slightly harder run in and will therefore all likely drop points. We're still in the mix. 

Its just hard to take that in both games this season we were far superior to Derby and we should have doubled them. Im still annoyed by the softness of their goals at Pride Park. To drop points in similar fashion against the same team is like a kick in the teeth, especially when there's a good chance theyll be promoted at our expense because of it   :angry:

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Played against him at youth level and he was ridiculous

You've peaked my interest now, what was your level of youth involvement?

 

[Din]

You've peaked my interest now, what was your level of youth involvement?

When I was 10 my mum and dad split up, and my mum moved to Romford in East London where she's from, and I went with her. When I was 12 I was playing for my sunday league team and was scouted by someone from Millwall, and after a few trial games I ended up joining their academy at under 13 level. I played for them for a couple of years until I was 14 and then my mum and dad got back together so I moved back to Norwich, and therefore couldn't play for Millwall academy. But yeah I remember we played Derby academy in one of my final games their, and I distinctly remember the long blonde hair. I played centre midfield as well so was right up against him, and I got absolutely destroyed. He was so good, went round me every time. But yeah anyway when I got back to Norwich I had trials at Norwich academy, and also I dare to say that I had one at Ipswich as well, but got into neither. Had I got into Norwich I would've likely been part of the FA Youth Cup winning team. I also played against Diego Poyet and Demarai Gray for Millwall, as well as probably a few others playing in the Championship/League One. 

 

[Killiecanary]

I thought the reason Hughes was quiet yesterday was the way Dorrans was set to keep him out if the game and stop him and nice linking. I thought that was why he started instead of Redmond, NAND he did it exceptionally well...doesn't always get noticed playing that role but I thought he did it perfectly. And as soon as Hughes was taken off, AN swapped Dorrans for Hoops.

I thought ANs tactics were spot on yesterday, and but for a mistake / foul (delete as applicable) I think we would have won 1 or 2 nil. But I agree with CB on another thread...I think we will look back on it as a good point at trend if the seasons and if we miss out by a point or to it won't be yesterday's match we look back in with regret!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

When I was 10 my mum and dad split up, and my mum moved to Romford in East London where she's from, and I went with her. When I was 12 I was playing for my sunday league team and was scouted by someone from Millwall, and after a few trial games I ended up joining their academy at under 13 level. I played for them for a couple of years until I was 14 and then my mum and dad got back together so I moved back to Norwich, and therefore couldn't play for Millwall academy. But yeah I remember we played Derby academy in one of my final games their, and I distinctly remember the long blonde hair. I played centre midfield as well so was right up against him, and I got absolutely destroyed. He was so good, went round me every time. But yeah anyway when I got back to Norwich I had trials at Norwich academy, and also I dare to say that I had one at Ipswich as well, but got into neither. Had I got into Norwich I would've likely been part of the FA Youth Cup winning team. I also played against Diego Poyet and Demarai Gray for Millwall, as well as probably a few others playing in the Championship/League One. 

Was going to ask if you'd played against anyone else? Anyone you can remember who impressed you at the time (like Hughes did) but then disappeared?

You'll be too young to remember but I remember there was a lad in the Norwich academy I kept hearing was really skillful called Seb Muddell, but as far as Im aware he never made a career out of football

When you're playing youth football, is a career in football something you cant see past, something you just hope might happen, or are you just playing in the moment and not really thinking about where it might lead?

 

[Canaryboy]

When you're playing youth football, is a career in football something you cant see past, something you just hope might happen, or are you just playing in the moment and not really thinking about where it might lead?

Obviously the above is true for many, and also for players who retire at 33 without ever having really considered what they'd be doing for the rest of their adult life, but there was a kid in my year who was in the Norwich academy for a bit, and then an academy of another East Anglian club, who got straight A's in his GCSE, straight A's at A-level, went to one of the top 4 or 5 uni's in the country.

He's now 29/30 and is (apparently, according to a friend of mine who knows him well) making more than he would likely be making as a Championship footballer if he'd "made it", so there are certainly exceptions to the rule. If he'd of made it he'd probably be a famously intelligent footballer like Tom Adeyemi. We could speculate as to whether he'd of made it if he'd spent more time playing football and less time focusing on exams though, so there's always that angle. 

 

[Din]

Was going to ask if you'd played against anyone else? Anyone you can remember who impressed you at the time (like Hughes did) but then disappeared?

You'll be too young to remember but I remember there was a lad in the Norwich academy I kept hearing was really skillful called Seb Muddell, but as far as Im aware he never made a career out of football

When you're playing youth football, is a career in football something you cant see past, something you just hope might happen, or are you just playing in the moment and not really thinking about where it might lead?

Long post coming up, so you might wanna get comfy

There's a lad called Kyle Copp, who played for Swansea academy, who everyone thought at our level thought was gonna be the next big thing. He's still only 18, so could easily make a career for himself yet, but back then we all thought that he would break into the Swansea first team by the time he's that age. Pretty sure he was captain of the Wales national youth team, and he is the one player that we just hated playing against. He literally had legendary status amongst our league. He's pretty much a Wayne Rooney but with pace, fantastic player who we just couldn't stop. Was ridiculously strong for his age, and couldn't half hit a ball. Really thought he was gonna become something special, but pretty sure he's never even made the bench for a Swansea first team game, which really surprises me, considering how ahead of his time he was. There was also another lad who played for Sheffield United's academy called Ioan Evans (That's an 'I' in his first name btw, not an L). He was a centre half and was about 6ft2 at the age of 14. I remember he won POTS for the whole league on year. Incredibly strong and won everything in the air, and yet I don't think he's ever played for the Sheffield United first team, which really surprises me.

As I mentioned earlier as well, I played against Demarai Gray and Diego Poyet. I remember playing against Gray but can't remember if he was spectacularly good or not. Poyet though I clearly remember as he absolutely destroyed me Doesn't surprise me he's now at a Premier League club. Now that I've thought about it as well I also remember playing against Patrick Roberts, who's been a regular starter for Fulham this season. All I remember about him though is how outrageously quick he was. Millwall Academy were never in the top league, so we only really played against teams who's first team are in the Championship/League One. With a few exceptions (Swansea, QPR, Palace).

And to be honest, at the age of 13/14, although you do have your heart set on being a professional footballer, you always know it's a bit of a long shot (I did at least anyway). You still go to school everyday, and only train a couple of nights a week. Obviously I was desperate to be a professional footballer, and I constantly thought about where it might lead, but I always aware that even though I was in an academy it was unlikely that I could ever be a full professional, simply because there are so many young lads in exactly the same position as me, but the majority of them are in better academy's than Millwall's. I mean if I'd never moved back to Norwich then I'd probably still be in the Millwall youth team, as I was a regular starter there and the only reason I had to be released was because I had to move back to Norwich, which is just one of those things. Do I wish I could be a professional footballer, of bloody course I do, but considering how realistic my chances actually were of being able to make a career as a football, compared to how my life is now (Going to uni in September to do Film and Media Studies, which will hopefully lead to me being a film producer in later life, which is something I would love to do and is definitely achievable, love living in Norwich in comparison to East London, got a good family, girlfriend, mates etc) I am sort of happy looking back now that I didn't pursue that career.

I mean look at the players in Norwich's academy. Off the top of my head, the only player from the Norwich academy in the Premier League is Jason Shackell, then in the Championship there's Chris Martin and Tom Adeyemi, in League One there's Korey Smith and Ian Henderson. There's also Declan Rudd and Josh Murphy if you count them as well. Apart from that I can't think of any, which when you consider the hundreds, probably thousands of players who have been in Norwich's academy over the years, that there's barely a handful that have been able to make a living from football then I'm confident that leaving Millwall was a good thing. Norwich's academy as well has always been much better than Millwall's, so there's even less chance I would've made it than most Norwich grads.

Anyway yeah, I'll bring an autobiography soon so if anyone doesn't wanna read that post they can just buy that if interested

 

[Canaryboy]

Richard Brindley at Rotherham in the Championship is another, played against us earlier in the season. He suffered a bad injury in his last year as a scholar here, leg break I think, my dad lives near his big brother and used to chat to him. He got released and joined Chelmsford City.

Knew nothing about his subsequent move to Chesterfield, and then Rotherham, until we played them. I do know that he was rated very highly by us before his injury though.

There was a figure bandied around at one stage which illustrated how many 15/16 year olds in the 92 professional clubs youth systems are still playing professional football at 25, can't remember what the percentage was but it was definitely low single digits, 2% or something. Doesn't help that most clubs in the lower two leagues are happy to go into seasons with just 18/20 pros.