Today's game and the general mood

Have to say I found today's game v.interesting as an exile. Its the first game I've seen since Fulham.

What I noticed most of all was the awful silence around Carrow road. The whole second half was like a morgue.

Plymouth weren't good. They had some decent players and for ten minutes in the second half played some great football. If they get a decent manager I reckon theyll finish mid-table.

City visibly lack confidence Even the goals didn't settle us. Generally I though we looked good everywhere on the pitch except central defence. The thing is I thought Flem had an OK game its just him and Shacks don't seem to be a unit.

The loss of Hucks clearly affected the ability o breakdown the opposition too. Several times we tried to brek from defence and realised noone had any pace.

Sorry but Hughes is much much better thn Holt. He looked a little clumsy but is a bustling non-stop worker who makes charging runs and keeps the team ticking. OK his first touch isnt fab but frankly Damian Francis wasnt exactly Maradona.

My view basically is that 2-3 wins and we will be a major force to be reckoned with. WE just need belief.

Team ratings:

Green: 6
A couple of world class saves and several schoolboy howlers. Never looked comfotable doing the simple stuff and a couple of flaps at corners nearly cost us
but one or two top class saves. Looks like he doesnt trust his defence.

Fleming 6
Did nothing wrong personally but him + shacks both look individually ok to me + yet people keep finding space in our box who one of them should be covering.

Shackell 5
Thougjht he had a poor game. Generally sounnd but must share some responsibility for not working with Flem. Low mark is due to the constant fols he gave away in semi dangerous positions. If Plymouth floated a hopeful clearance into our half you could guarantee that Shacks would challenge and climb on the Plymouth player giving them a freekick they could punt into the box.

Drury - 8
V.Good and got forward a lot. A few years back I genuinely thought he'd go on to play for England. Last year (+before toa degree) he was v.v.poor seems to be finding his feet again.

Colin - 7
Looked good.

Marney - 7
Looked useful. V.V.good at times but a little light weight.

Safri - 8
Would be a 9 but for the stupid kick that should have given away a penatly and the pettulanec afterwards.

Hughes - 8.5
Clumsy but didnt seem to matter. Charging runs were our main threat as they mde plymouth defenders leave space for the ttackers.

Deano -7
Watched with my dad who's v.v.much an armchair fan. He didn't now what the fuss was and kept saying that Ashton looked like a carthorse. I told him he was watching 1/20 of the player of last season but he'd still scored 3 in 6. He promptly picked up his gane sciored and hit the post. He looke dlike he might score at any point and yet looked like he was performing at 10% of his ability, What a player he could be if he gets back into form.

McVeigh - 7
Bustling performace. He is too lightweight and sl but he did well to force the first goal and odes give us some creativity. I just worry that far too oftn he's too easy to knock off the ball in this league.

Brennan - 6.5
Generally good but looks like a fullback in midfield and shooting was comically bad.

Subs:
Lisbie - 5
Crap. Did enough to suggest though that he could be an inspired signing once the rust wears off. He looked clumsy in the extreme and a bad finisher but has pace in abunance and looked like he could be really useful after a few games.

Henderson N/A
Only on for minutes. Deserved a proper chance.

Generally we were much better than I expected having read this board every day for the last month. The next 3 games are crucial. A couple of wins a bit of confidence and we'll be right up there. A bit of the rub of the green whatever and this side will gel but defeats don't bear thinking about.

Posted By: matgore, Sep 10, 21:53:55