Another great result but...

[Safri15]

...are we starting games too slowly?

I wasn't at Brentford or Cardiff, but am starting to get a little worried by how slowly we are starting games. By all accounts we owe Ruddy another massive pat on the back for not being at least 1 down to Brentford before we smashed our 3 in.

Blackburn was a slow start at home...

It seems to be a regular occurrence now and at some point we might get to the point where we don't have an amazing 2nd half or it'll be too little too late by the time we turn up. But then we do still have Hooper and Howson to come back who can maybe rectify this. I believe Hooper will be more clinical than Grabban.

Don't get me wrong, we are top of the league and loving life, but there is always room for improvement aye

But at the moment, lets once again be thankful we have the best goalkeeper in the league!

 

[Ankles]

I think last nights result, on top of Cardiff, is going to see Managers of opponents now setting up very, very defensively

So while I agree we seem to be a bit off the mark in the first 45minutes it will be less important as opposition are going to get 10men behind the ball fearing our goal scoring record

 

[morty]

Not sure on this, sometimes there is something to be said for measuring your opponent before going in for the kill. But obviously if it means you are conceding (like at Cardiff) then that is a problem.

But if you can play the "you score two and we'll score four" game and get away with it, then its all good

 

[Jimmy smith]

I'd need to see it happen more often than twice to think of it as a problem. Hopefully there are teams that do come and set up for the draw because I actually think that would suit us given our options to be flexible. We not only look to have a plan B for scoring now, but plans all the way down to z.

 

[Robert Brompton]

Thing was we didn't start slowly last night. We were on top in the first 15 minutes but then as Brentford got to grips with the game they got on top but, vitally, we defended well and of course Ruddy pulled off some great saves. Second half we overpowered them but not from the off.

Against Bournemouth I would say that we were better in the first half than the second.

An important factor seems to be that our fitness levels seem really good compared to some teams. Last night Brentford looked out on their feet after about 75 minutes while we seemed to get stronger and stronger.

 

[shaun_wilkinson]

We actually did ok in the first half last night until the last 15 mins when Brentford were really on top. That's going to happen away to teams that are doing well. The main thing is that we don't concede too many when the other team are on top because we can clearly score plenty of goals this season.

Our fitness and quality will always make the difference the longer games go on.

 

[Salopian]

I think last nights result, on top of Cardiff, is going to see Managers of opponents now setting up very, very defensively

So while I agree we seem to be a bit off the mark in the first 45minutes it will be less important as opposition are going to get 10men behind the ball fearing our goal scoring record

I am not sure about the defensive set up. Cardiff could have won by onslaught, and Brentford tried. Ruddy saved us. I think it possible that other teams, especially when the home team, may try the onslaught approach. "Score one or two and then pack your defence."

Whether it's tempo or pride at beating one of the top sides, some teams may feel that the only way to beat Norwich, given their second half power, is all out attack.

Whatever other managers decide, we clearly have to be ready. We certainly were not at Cardiff, and last night with steadier finishing we could have had a repetition.

NA admitted that the score probably flattered us a little, but we scored three very good goals with highly mobile attacking and it's a long time since we have been able to say that.

 

[Safri15]

I was only going by BBC stats as I was out with a Brentford supporting mate. Brentford racked up 10 shots before we had even registered 1 and were sitting on about 60% possession by the 30th min which is where I got our slow start from. I know Stats can be very misleading and looks like the case again.

I'll consider myself told and hope you are all correct of course! I've always just been nervous of the "we'll score more than you" tactic as it only takes some off form strikers for it all to go badly wrong. But we should have enough depth in that department to keep us going!

 

[Yellow Fever]

IMO, it's more difficult to get on top in away matches, but counterattacking with pace is far more effective when the opposition are tiring. In the PL, we often stayed in the match early on and then got done by pace and skill later on. Now it's the other way around.

 

[Crowey66]

Being who we are we will have this problem especiallyaway from home all season.Teams will be at us from the off as they see us as a "scalp".Mr Tettey summed it up nicely when he said that the team had no doubt they would win as Brentford had used up a lot of energy.

It will be all about riding the storm this season im sure.

 

[Jimmy smith]

It brings back memories of about 10 years ago when we beat Burnley 5-3 and we were 3-0 or 3-1 down. I remember because we'd scored for fun that year the manager and a few players saying how they always felt they'd win as they knew they'd get the goals.

Totally different to last year when as soon as we went a goal down we might as well have thrown the towel in. We now have the equal most amount of goals in all the divisions and the second best goal difference.

 

[Trevmuttley]

Having seen how we play I think other teams will try and break us down and get a goal then get 10 men behind the ball and then rely on the counter attack to get another goal. But you have to give credit to N. A. and his back room staff in getting the killer instinct back into the team, I wonder what would have happened if N. A. had been given the job before Christmas last year, we might not have been relegated, who knows!

 

[IP14canary]

From memory our first goal was more or less the first shot on target but I had several beers ! once the goal went in it was all one way traffic but the original post about us being slow to start is true but if we can do that every game and still come out on top then so be it ! btw our fans were terrific last night ! We've got our Norwich back !!

 

[eatonparkboy]

I think it is more of a concern if you are a supporter than part of the team out there. We do expect, not always believing, that our team will come charging out of the blocks, score an early goal and set the pattern for the game.

I'm positive that the management and players are more pragmatic and expect to come under the cosh, particularly away from home, from teams whose play is based on energy and directness rather than tactics, movement or skill.

But in the same way as some boxers let their opponents punch themselves out, I wonder if our style of play is to be more measured particularly with the quality of the bench we have compared to most other clubs in the division.

 

[Din]

If we continue to start games slowly, then we will eventually get caught out. That said though it's not so much a 'problem' until it starts happening consistantly. If we do continue to start slowly then we will need to seriously address it.

 

[ZLF]

I agree with the view that we may see several games like the last two where opponents start with high energy tactics that put us on the back foot and restrict our attacking instincts.

But as in top flight rugby thats a tough thing to deliver for 90 mins and as teams time, and we have allowed the ball to do most of the movement,  we will find time and space to have chances.   We will fall behind and lose games,  but the key is to not panic and change things too soon.

The challenge is to move them around through good passing,  keep it tight and focused at the back (and the back 4 definitely fell asleep during the last 10 mins of the first half) and for us fans to remain patient.

 

[Lone Star Canary]

In the PL, we often stayed in the match early on and then got done by pace and skill later on. Now it's the other way around.

This is very much inline with my thinking, and is congruent with the comments about our fitness and pace later in games.  We've got serious depth this season relative to the rest of the league, a 180 degree reversal of the last year or two.  I'd rather eat a fistful of ghost peppers than defend Chris Hughton, but I think some of his late game substitution issues might have been a lack of confidence in whoever was on the bench - we just didn't have the horses in the stable.  We don't have that problem this year - we have reserves that could finish mid-table at worst.  We can empty a clip and know there's bullets remaining when we need to reload.  If I were to express any single factor as the top reason for our success, it's that we have a lot of players capable of scoring at this level (and Hooper's still to return!), and we just haven't had that the last couple of years.

But without giving Neyul too much credit, there is something to be said for the idea that we're just measuring up our opponent in the first half then making the adjustments.  The trick to this theory is how we do against teams on the second leg later in the season - do we dominate more?  There's a lot of moving parts before then, but something to stick in the back pocket until the second matches start rolling in.

But there's certainly been a transformation in the dressing room.  As the winning continues we're going from a "hey we won a game" to "hey this isn't too difficult" to "hey, there's no reason why we can't win against any opponent in this league, anywhere."  I think opening at Wolves was a bad luck draw of the schedule.  We go to Molineaux now and we win by two or three, just like all the other games.

We are doing to the league what the top PL teams did to us most every game the last two years.  Are we going to finish 44-1-1?  Nope... but if this culture of confidence continues to grow (and I kind of wish RvW were here to get in on it) then there's no reason why we can't finish on top with over 100 points.

 

[GJP]

Nothing to worry about in my opinion.

There's always room for improvement but for most teams in this league that room is a lot bigger than it is for us.

 

[GazzaTCC]

I can only comment on last night.

Brentford had one early half chance and it took them 20 minutes to register their first meaningful chance.

City largely controlled possession in the opening half hour without making any decent openings.

Thereafter, Brentford started to win the midfield battle. Wes and Redmond were largely ineffective, Tettey and Johnson overrun. The final ten minutes was mainly all Brentford, but, when they created decent openings, either Ruddy came to the rescue, or they were wasteful.

At the start of the second half, City, probably with their ears still ringing, created two decent chances, both wasted.

The game then entered a more even period, but, as time progressed, Brentford's big pressing game started to relax, the game became more open and City suddenly became more clinical. Once the first goal went in, there was only ever going to be one winner.

Did the scoreline flatter? Maybe it did a tad. However, the real difference was in the finishing, City did, Brentford rarely looked like doing so.

OTBC

 

[Gaffer]

How often did we appear in the PL to be on top of teams like Chelsea and Man City early on only to tire and get beaten later in the game? In the Championship we're the Man City and will face an early onslaught. If we can ride that storm and pick off the opposition late in the game then that's the mark of champions. Nothing to worry about.