After today's game (warning long post)

We won comfortably against a side which next year could well be out of the Conference. Ok so we avoided the sort of upset which Championship teams have suffered before. We changed in a portakabin, had to put up with a poor playing surface, a steep slope etc etc And the boys can claim to have had to work a little harder than usual, in slightly less comfort than usual for their many thousands of pounds this week.

However, I still think today was indicative of how very far we have fallen in a very short time. There were periods of play today where we were simply awful, and I don't just mean the first fifteen minutes. I am amazed at how slack our midfield marking is. We simply let the opposition midfield players take possession, standing five or even ten yards off them, allowing them to take possession and move towards our goal before even beginning to close them down. This is particularly noticeable at throw ins when we allow the ball to be thrown often to an unmarked man and I lost count of the number of throws we allowed to be played back to the (unmarked) thrower. This is basic defending we are talking about here and we cannot do it. Etuhu is the worst culprit but Huckerby is poor in this regard and though Safri passed well today he's not much better.

Doherty is a very clumsy and awkward defender who will get destroyed by any player with quick feet and pace. He belongs in league two in my opinion. Shackell did not have a good game today. Since his debut at Derby (in that game when Greeno had that hideous air shot!) Shackell has always been combative and strong, quite good in the air but an awful distributor of the ball. Alongside a better player (as shown when Dublin plays at the back) he is useful, alongside Doherty (neither of them helped by the lack of engagement in front of them) he looks fragile. What has happened to Drury is symptomatic of what has happened to the team....he's gone downhill fast. Is this really the same player who played in the promotion team? He defended better today than he has recently - he simply doesn't stop wide players getting their crosses in - but going forward he is quite terrible. I lost count today of the number of aimless overhit 'passes' he knocked past Huckerby. Colin was ok, I thought, bur I have little confidence in Gallagher - he's a fair shot-stopper but his frailty on crosses is well-documented.

So where to for Grant? I'm glad Earnshaw played (yes he did, honest, I saw him miss an early chance!) but I still think we should sell him and buy four or five others. If we keep Earnshaw unfortunately I cannot see what good it will do us. We will have his goals but little money to do anything to replace the utter rubbish Worthington has left Grant with. We need to get 5 million for Earnshaw and let Grant have at least 3 of it. He needs to get a couple of strikers, a couple of midfielders, a couple of defenders and a keeper. All for 3m? Yes and to do it he has to use his contacts, influence, scouting set up etc. etc to completely re-structure Norwich City's team. We want young hungry players from lower divisions NOT Premiership has beens or wannabes who drive big cars and want big wages. We aren't going anywhere this year and probably not next. Let's get rid of the crap (Etuhu, Robinson, Hughes, Doherty, Gallagher, McVeigh etc. etc.) and START AGAIN and NEVER repeat Worthington's mistakes (i.e giving fat contracts to crap players)

Today we avoided humiliation but let's not think that makes us a good side or anything like it! There were times today when some of our players looked as though they had found their level. Which players looked a class above? Dublin, Huckerby occasionally and Safri. We know Earnshaw is a top player. Croft and Colin were fair. The rest? Do me a favour? Ask the Tamworth fans what they thought. We won because we had some real quality from A VERY FEW of our players

Posted By: BillySteele, Jan 6, 19:01:25