Freeze Frame

Can City turn their possession into goals this weekend against Burnley?

Norwich City’s last two games have been complete contrasts in the fight to stay away from the Championship relegation dogfight.

Last weekend we absolutely dominated promotion challenging Bristol City and somehow managed to lose but the match before that we managed to hit five against bottom of the table Colchester with much less effort, organisation and quality passing football.

When Bristol City got their late and wholly undeserved winner at Ashton Gate it reminded me of when we were promoted as Champions and everything went our way. Sometimes it’s just your year, Phil Mulryne’s Easter Monday goal at the Madjeski Stadium, after the ball had bounced off the referee’s back anyone?

Quite a few of Glenn Roeder’s plans seem to be coming to fruition at the moment, the full-backs are linking with the wingers well and their pace and quality is shining through, the midfielders are battling hard and bursting into the opposition penalty areas, and generally we appear to have formed a strong team spirit and work ethic.

If we are to persist with playing attractive, passing football then we must remember something valuable that we have learned from firstly Martin Taylor this season and now from on-loan Reading centre-back Alex Pearce, and that is to not miss out the midfield when bringing the ball out from the back.

Both Taylor and Pearce have been popular at Carrow Road for their cool, calm defending and simple passing to the midfield, unlike the Gary Doherty angled long-ball style that has plagued us for the past few seasons.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Doherty and think he has had a pretty decent season but I think if Roeder can bring in a couple of new centre-back’s then he will do and one of Doherty or Shackell will fall under Glenn’s axe. As Doherty is older, still prone to the odd calamity, generally has less natural ability than Shackell and out is of contract this summer I think he may well be the candidate.

I spoke to City Captain Mark Fotheringham for this week’s show and I was pleased to hear him saying that he wants to stay on at Norwich as he likes it here and thinks we are a great club. If he can consistently produce the performances like he did at Ashton Gate on Saturday then he will be a real asset for us and can be the driving force in our engine room, just like you want your captain to be.

He seemed to be taking a bit more time on the ball against Bristol, using his bundles of energy to get forward and out wide, and produced a wonderful passing display as well as tackling back and wanting to have the ball at his feet all the time. I’m sure Glenn will offer him a new contract as he is only 24 but I still feel we’ll need a top-class consistent centre-midfielder if we’re to be challenging at the right end of the table.

If we play like we did against Bristol City again this weekend against Burnley at a full Carrow Road, then we should be able to put a serious dent in their play-off hopes and take a huge leap towards ensuring Championship football for next season.

Ched Evans looked lively when he came on but he will need to score some more goals this season to persuade Sven to keep him on at Manchester City and the whole team will have to combine their goal scoring performance against Col U with their excellent all-round performance against Bristol to overcome Owen Coyle’s men.

To listen to this week’s Norwich City Football FanCast in association with The Pink ‘Un click here. Dave spoke to Norwich captain Mark Fotheringham and Canaries ‘keeper Matty Gilks this week as well as all the other Norwich City news and views so make sure you have a listen.

Survival far from Secured

Dion Dublin told the media this week that he thought Norwich City’s Championship survival is far from secured and, as usual, our 38-year old talisman hit the nail slap bang on the head.

This weekend’s Championship results could not have demonstrated much better just how much work is still ahead of Glenn Roeder’s hits, misses, maybes and loanees, before they can go and sun themselves in far warmer climes than Norfolk.

While we were giving Chris Coleman a nice, easy and much needed three points at the Ricoh arena, Preston and Sheffield United both scored excellent away wins over play-off chasing Charlton and Plymouth respectively and Sheffield Wednesday were gaining a vital three points against QPR.

Now we all know how open, unpredictable and exciting the Championship has been this year but this means that we are only seven points clear and once again closer to the relegation zone than we are the play-offs.

Wednesday also have two games in hand on us, as do Middlesbrough’s conquerors Cardiff, and Sheffield United, Coventry and Barnsley also all have a game in hand on us.

Scunthorpe and Colchester also have a game in hand on us but I think they are as good as down now and that means that the visit of Gerraint William’s team to Carrow Road on the 22nd has got to be all three points.

I think our minimum points target from our last nine matches has got to be nine points, giving us a 55 point finish, 10 points more than the usual 45 point target due to the incredible competitiveness in our division this year.

So let’s have a look at where those points might come:-

Stoke (H) – L
Sheffield United (A) – L
Colchester Utd (H) – W
Bristol City (A) – L
Burnley (H) – D
Ipswich (A) – L
West Brom (H) – D
QPR (H) – W
Sheffield Wednesday (A) – D

Now this may be slightly ‘glass half empty’ sort of thinking and a very disappointing end to the season but within this set of poor results are the nine points that I think would definitely keep us in the Championship.

Can Roeder and his managerial team get back to the sort of form that kept us 13 games unbeaten though?

With three of these teams chasing automatic promotion, two of them chasing play-offs and two battling relegation, there is absolutely no chance that our players are going to be able to coast through until the end of the season.

We need our big players to show their cards now to make sure that our safety is secured as soon as possible. Cureton and Evans will need to start scoring, Fozzy is going to need to find some creative form, Shacks must take advantage of Doherty’s two-match ban and most importantly of all Darren Huckerby must finish his fantastic Norwich City career with a flourish.

It’s going to be an interesting final straight but unless Glenn can get all of his boys to pull their collective fingers out, it won’t just be their Norwich City futures that they will be fighting to save but the Club’s as well.

Glenn Roeder has earned every Canary fan’s trust since he came in and hauled us away from the foot of the table though and I believe he can mould a much more positive end to what was so nearly a disastrous season.

If Roeder can force a top-half finish out of his current squad he will have worked nothing short of a miracle and I’m sure that by the time the carnival of opening day football rolls around in August, he will have us stronger, faster and more organised than any City team has been in years. Kick it off……

For those of you who don't know, I present a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen to this weeks show:-

All we want for Christmas is....

Four years ago we got more Christmas presents than we could possibly have hoped for. Our beloved football club went top of the table for the first time that season, courtesy of a 2-0 win against our low-moraled local-rivals Ipswich Town, and Father Christmas had one other big present to round off our festive fun with, Darren Huckerby.

The man that had played such a huge role in propelling the Canaries to such dizzy heights was unwrapped as a permanent Norwich City player in front of a rapturous Boxing Day Carrow Road crowd.

It was the dream present that we had all hoped for in 2003 but what do we have at the top of our footballing Christmas lists this year?

Martin 'Tiny' Taylor - The Birmingham City defender was Glenn Roeder's first signing as City manager and the 6' 4" centre-back was a revelation at the back during his loan spell.

Let's hope Roeder hasn't blown his chances by expressing his frustration with Karen Brady publicly in a story that looks set to run and run. Someone has to be lying about whether we made a bid or not.....

Ipswich to lose at home – Our suddenly cash-happy local rivals have an outstanding home record so far this season, winning every match at Portman Road apart from a draw against Barnsley at the start of this month.

Let's hope that the tide will turn for Jim Magilton’s men against resurgent Burnley today.

Their away form is even worse than City’s, failing to win in 11 attempts in the league and getting knocked out in the first round of the League Cup to League Two side MK Dons.

If their bubble at Portman Road bursts and Norwich continue to improve under Glenn Roeder, the 13 point gap could soon be getting smaller and smaller.

Ched Evans - The on-loan Manchester City striker has brought a vital cutting edge to our play since arriving, scoring two important goals and exciting us with his eye for goal and high-paced work-rate.

If Santa can bring an extension to the 18-year old Welshman’s loan contract until the end of the season, then Evans can continue to showcase his impressive potential and help us further up the table.

Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson has already said he would like Evans to stay out on loan for the rest of this season so Norwich fans will have to leave Santa out their best brandy and mince pies on Christmas Eve, to help persuade him to give them this highly sought after present.

Matty Pattison – The on-loan Newcastle United midfielder is another of Glenn Roeder’s loan rangers who has had a massive impact since his arrival in Norfolk.

The combative and creative South African has added some much needed steely desire to the City midfield and fortunately it would seem a permanent move is already in place with Newcastle, so Roeder must have sent this Christmas wish to the North Pole early.

Water from the fountain of eternal youth – To help keep talismanic centre-forward Dion Dublin’s 38-year old legs moving and maybe a bit of WD40 to keep the former Coventry man’s joints loose as well.

Dion has become a key figure for City but it is likely that he will bring his succesful career as a player to an end when the 2007/08 season comes to an end. Can old Saint Nick help to keep Dion's engine running a little while longer?

A Boxing Day win - Father Christmas will have finished delivering his Christmas cheer to Norfolk, if he can help Glenn Roeder’s team to a win against high-flying Charlton.

If history is anything to go by then we're in for a successful Christmas.

In our Premiership year we we're given a pre-Christmas 4-0 thrashing by champions-elect Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham on Boxing Day and an equally uninspiring 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough two days later.

The 2005/06 season took an unexpected positive turn when Nigel Worthington managed to fill the players’ tanks up with enough Christmas cheer to produce five wins in a row! Unfortunately we know all to well that it was the epitome of a false dawn, but it certainly made for a happier festive season.

Last year we drew 0-0 with struggling Southend United at home on Boxing Day, in one of the worst matches I have ever had the misfortune to witness.

Let’s hope the pattern continues and this year we are sent home to our cold Turkey sandwiches after giving Alan Pardew's men the Glenn Roeder treatment.

That brings to a close my first year as a blogger for the Pink 'Un and I'd just like to say thank you to everybody that has kept reading throughout 2007 and wish you all a very merry Christmas and raise a glass to a much better footballing new year. Cheers!

For those of you who don't know, I present a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen to this weeks show:-

Finally there's reason to smile

The vital win against Coventry on Saturday was the first time that we have been able to truly enjoy a matchday from start to finish in a long while.

It was the sort of day that people follow football religiously for and one that sent the good people of Norfolk into pubs and restaurants across the County on Saturday night, with a well overdue and thoroughly satisfied smile on their faces.

The new boys certainly did their part, you can’t ask for much more from Matty Pattison than 2 assists on his debut. Darrell Russell and Luke Chadwick got back to the form that they had shown against Ipswich and Mark Fotheringham’s performance was even more impressive considering it was his first match back from a lengthy injury.

Hopefully Jamie Cureton’s goal can give him the confidence to start knocking the goals in regularly again, especially with Ched Evans breathing down his neck, but the case of who to partner him with is still a difficult one to suss with Dion going off injured.

The stats that sum-up the difference since the international break for me are the amount of shots we had. Against Coventry we had 12 shots with 7 on target, at Home Park we had 8 shots with only 2 on target and in our last home match we had a measly 3 shots with only 1 on target, admittedly against league leaders Watford but still, a terrible stat.

There were 24,590 people at Carrow Road against Coventry on Saturday, despite City being rock-bottom of the division. That’s just 932 short of Carrow Road’s all-time record all-seated attendance against Man Utd in the 04/05 Premiership season.

It was the highest attendance of the 11 Championship matches and nearly 1,000 more than the next highest attendance at Bramell Lane managed.

That is real support and if Norwich City should survive for just one reason this season, it is because the club’s supporters bloody well deserve it!

The cherry on top of the ‘much-needed-three-points-with-a-top-performance’ cake on Saturday, was Kings Lynn’s fantastic 3-1 win against Conference South league leaders Eastbourne Borough in the FA trophy, not to mention Ipswich losing!

Let’s enjoy it while it lasts, after a thoroughly depressing week provided to us by Steve Maclaren and co, and take Glenn Roeder’s Green Revolution to Blackpool on Tuesday night and remind them that Norwich City are one of the big dogs in this division, it’s just taken us a bit of a while to remember it!

Our season is up and running and Roeder’s honeymoon period has started properly, so lets arrive back in Norfolk this time next week with at least four points from Bloomfield Rd and The Britannia, and start moving back towards where we belong.

All together now, KICK IT OFF…….

For those of you who don't know, I present a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen to this weeks show:-

Pride Joins the Long Ride home

It was heartbreaking to see the ball roll past David Marshall at the City of Manchester stadium on Tuesday night but I think most City fans left the impressive stadium able to take great comfort in the performance of their team. After the doldrums that followed Saturdays terrible performance at Wolves, to play at least as well as a top half Premiership team, has restored some much needed belief in me.

The rousing edition of OTBC after the final whistle and the players coming over to applaud the excellent away following was a great moment to be a part of and hopefully can go someway to forging a bond between a squad that is heavy with new players and ever-longing supporters.

My ratings:-

Marshall - 7 - Composed and commanding. Distribution is still not up to much but a couple of good saves, especially the save from Michael Ball's free-kick early in the first-half and the save at Biannci's feet at the death to keep the score respectable.

Otsemebor - 7 - Showed some cool and classy touches defensively and a couple of timely blocks as well. Got forward and linked with Croft a lot better than he has been with Chadwick but both he and Croft were guilty of making the wrong decisions with their final ball.

Murray - 7 - Did a solid and unnoticed job. Covered his position well, stayed with his man and generally did well.

Doherty - 7 - If it wasn't for the stupid and unneccesary long balls this would probably have been the Doc back to his best. Appeared to be struggling with injury in the second half and wasn't going forward for set-pieces but I dont think he would have prevented the goal if he was 100% anyway. Commanding in the air and generally looked solid.

Lappin - 6 - Looked OK, set-piece delivery could have been better but defensively solid and unfussy.

Croft - 7 - Looked much more like a wide-man than Chadwick, caused problems with his pace against a good defence but often his final ball was dissapointing, Should have leathered the ball when clean through in the second half but tried to lay it back to Cureton. Needs games to get his sharpness but generally impressive.

Rossi Jarvis - 7 - Strong, hard working and not afraid to have the ball at his feet. Looked much more composed and confident than Brellier has so far. Covered for lots of his team-mates mistakes (Russell, Brown, Croft) well in the middle of the park and will soon have more appearances than his older brother if he continues in this vein. Was a vital cog to the machine.

Darrel Russell - 6 - Shocking first half where he could barely even make an accurate pass. Seems to spend a lot of time running around the centre of the park but failing to influence either end of the pitch. Needs to get into the box more and take a few more risks with his passing. Towards the end of the game he improved a lot and finally seemed on the same page as Jarvis and Spillane.

Spillane - 8 - (MOTM) - Physical, confident, classy, end-to-end and creative. My three non-Norwich supporting friends who were sitting with me were very impressed with him and he has made himself virtaully un-droppable. Dare I say, he even demonstrated shades of a Roy Keane type player. I hope he's given his chance because plenty of other players manage to do it at his age in this division and if he plays like this consistently he will become a big fans favourite. I hope his manager will hand him the chance he has now earnt. If Russell had not played would he and Rossi have struck the balanced midfield pairing that we've been looking for? The way in which they played individually certainly suggests they might of.

Brown - 6 - Might as well have not been on the pitch in the first half, playing in an odd half-left-wing, half-centre-forward mess of a position that didn't even nearly play to his attributes. Was much more effective playing further forward in the second half, trying to bully his way to the ball, on the ground and in the air. Still looks about as dangerous as Mr Blobby in and around the opposition area though and in my book thats just not good enough.

Cureton - 6 - Covered a lot of ground and chased the few half-chances he got but unfortunately it wasn't his night. Probably should have done better with his first-half chance that he blazed over the bar.

Peter Grant - 7 - Had he have been able to bring Huckerby on with 20 minutes to go I think we could have nicked it but unfortuantely he had limited options on the bench and I think he was right to not bring on the subs. His 4-5-1 seemed to just about work although it has to be remembered that Man City were far from on top of the game, despite having a pretty strong team on the pitch.

Manchester City will feel relieved that City did not possess the killer instinct to get that all important goal tonight but their manager Sven Goran Eriksson clearly feels that the performance was largely down to his team playing poorly. He told their official site, "Norwich fought, they had no pressure so could go out and express themselves, which they did.”

Coming from such a knowledgeable and experienced manager it must be taken as a compliment by the players that they had the ability to "express" themselves against a team packed with as much quality as it was.

Sheffield Wednesday represents quite possibly the most important game of Peter Grant's reign yet. Lose and the pressure will well and truly be on and of course a win will buy him more time to prove he's upto the job. Unfortunately for Grant, a win will not suffice.

Brian Laws' team have had a quite horrendous start to the season and finally got their first win of the season last weekend against Hull. It is a game that we SHOULD win at home but after the awful performances against Palace and Wolves and the very encouraging performance against Man City, Grant needs to show that he can make his boys tick. If not, he may well be back alongside Alan Pardew sooner rather than later.

My team for Saturday would be:-

(4-4-2) Marshall; Otsemebor, Doherty, Murray, Lappin; Croft, Spillane, Russell, Chadwick (Huckerby if fit); Strihavka, Cureton.

For those of you who don't know, I present a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen to this weeks show:-

Nearly Round Pegs Need Holes That Fit Them

Peter Grant's choice of personnel rather puzzled me this weekend and got me to feeling a little sorry for Luke Chadwick.

Ian Murray, devoid of a chance to properly get to know his new team-mates, let alone a chance to train with them, is put straight into the City starting 11 ahead of the former-Stoke man and not only that but in a position he had stated just two days earlier that he was "not so keen playing at full-back."

Chadwick was arguably one of the best performers in pre-season, looking fit, creative, hungry and notching a few goals to boot yet, after featuring for the first 65 minutes at Preston, he has featured minimally in the last three matches. It would appear to me that Chadwick is the closest replica of the 'Canary Messiah' (aka Darren Huckerby) that PG has in his squad.

Particularly with Grant's front line relying largely on Chris Brown being fed the ball from all angles, in the hope that he can put the ball into Jamie Curetons lethal path. The most effective way to supply Brown is surely to have two wingers bombing on towards the by-line, something that Chadwick and Croft are surely better qualified at doing than playing 'in the hole behind the front two.'

We've been terribly unlucky to lose our two most creative passers, Fotheringham and Smith, until Christmas but we need to look at a different way to get round this, rather then trying to push nearly-round shapes into round holes.

Simon Lappin has done very little wrong in his time at the club, looks good with the ball at his feet, doesn't give the ball away and his dead-ball skills can be vital to us but he does not seem to be the sort of player who is going to attack full-backs.

Hindsight is, as ever, a wonderful thing but surely it would of made more sense to have played Lappin at left-back with Chadwick attempting his best 'Canary Messiah' impression in front of him, Lee Croft in his more natural position on the right and then leave Brellier and Russell to try and deconstruct a timid Hull attacking threat and play simple passes.

Don't get me wrong, I’ve not suddenly decided to jump onto the bandwagon of negativity that constantly circles Carrow Road now-a-days, waiting to try and turn a small crack into a dramatic ravine, I’m sure PG had reasons that made sense to him, they just don't seem to be obvious to me.

Murray, a good signing on paper it would seem to me, could then have a chance to settle at the club and, as we shouldn't need him against Rochdale, could get a week of training under his belt. In my view, he should then be installed alongside Captain Shacks at centre-back.

Although I think Gary Doherty has become somewhat of a scapegoat and is sometimes unfairly blamed, I believe a fresh voice and point of view is needed at the back. Most people would agree that Shackell looked much better with Dion Dublin alongside him last season and as club captain he could impose his authority and organisation on a new player a lot better.

Doherty has actually been a first-team regular longer than Shackell and has Premier League experience so this must be difficult for Shackell to do with Doherty. There seems to be a trust issue with the former-Spurs man that stems from the terraces and continues on to the pitch and a fresh start could work wonders in the same way that John Otsemebor has reminded us that we do actually have a right-back in our starting XI every week, I can't remember one since Darren Kenton myself.

We face our 1962 League Cup Final opponents Rochdale on Tuesday night and with Keith Hill's men sitting second from bottom in League 2 it would seem we have an excellent chance of progressing in the competition we have reached the final of four times and won twice.

As we all know all too well though, we usually like to make these matches difficult for ourselves so let's hope to avoid a repeat of our exit courtesy of struggling Port Vale last year at Spotland this week.

There will at least be one friendly face in the Dale line-up, former Rotherham centre-back Guy Branston. I seem to remember him getting slightly irate with Darren Huckerby a few years ago in a 4-4 draw at Millmoor, that resulted in him getting a half-time red card after causing a scuffle in the tunnel going into the break.

Let's hope PG unleashes a no doubt chomping at the bit Huckerby, to cause the lumbering centre-back some more problems. We need that spark of excitement and attacking flair to take the pressure off a solid supporting cast that can more than help messers Huckerby and Cureton do the damage this season.

My Team: (4-4-2) Gilks, Otsemebor, Shackell, Spillane, Lappin, Croft, Brellier, Russell, Chadwick, Strihavka, Cureton. (Subs): Arnold, Doherty, Jarvis, Huckerby, Brown

Loan Files

With Ryan Jarvis playing for Kilmarnock in the SPL, Joe Lewis in League Two with Morecambe and PG likely to let the likes of Halliday, Smart, Arnold, Eagle and Bexfield test the murky first-team waters in the lower leagues, I thought I’d open up the Loan Files again.

Joe Lewis - Has played 90 minutes in all four of the League newcomers games so far, including their Carling Cup win over Preston, conceding four and keeping one clean sheet. They got their first League win on Saturday with a 3-1 home win over Mansfield Town. Joe apparently picked up a knock just before the goal he conceded and this contributed heavily to him not saving the goal.

Their fans seem happy with him so far with this comment coming from the message board on the Morecambe official website. - "Joe Lewis, apart from his mistake for the goal and his other little slip, looked pretty sound again. He took crosses cleanly and showed good handling throughout."

Ryan Jarvis - Ryan was an unused substitute in Kilie's 2-1 home loss to SPL heavyweights Rangers on Saturday. He will be in the squad for their CIS Cup second-round match away to Scottish Second Division side Peterhead on Tuesday night.

Paul Gallacher - Paul played 90 minutes of his debut for Scottish First Division side Dunfermline in their 2-1 home win against Stirling Albion with former-City loanee Kevin Harper scoring a late winner,

If you did not already know, I am now a co-presenter of a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen:-

You can also subscribe to it on itunes, just search 'championship fancast' in their podcasts section.

Cheers

Training Ground Moles and Carrow Road Goals....

“Norwich City have uncovered a training ground mole” stated Matt ‘I wish I could pull off one-liners like Lineker’ Smith, at the start of this weekend’s The Championship on ITV1.

The fact that such a small story has made national news shows what a quiet and un-dramatic start to the English football season it has been. It is also just plain, wrong.

“Training ground mole” implies that “citizen journalists” (of which I guess I am considered one of) are doing their work for our opponents gain. OK we may have unwittingly done so but it is in fact the complete opposite.

It is our seemingly insatiable need for Norwich City information that has left us wanting to know every going on up at Colney.

I swear Norwich City FC and Anglian Water have some kind of secret deal to keep whatever is in the water in Norfolk, in constant supply.

Why else do we continue to have such loyal and strong support, home and away?

How else did we manage to find positives in Andy Hughes abilities for so long?

It’s what non-football fans just can’t understand. “Why do you need to know the other scores?” my long-suffering and clearly narked girlfriend asked as I turned on Radio 5 Live for ‘Sports Report’, “you don’t support them!”

I wonder what it’s like to not be consumed by “the beautiful game”…..

Anyway, once again us Norfolk folk are the butt of national chuckles and made to look stupid for being seemingly naïve when in fact all we wanted to do is feast ourselves on all things yellow and green.

As usual, it is a case of us being too damn nice (again, see Mr A Hughes) and as City’s Head of Media Joe Ferrari stated “it brings our policy more into line with that of most other professional clubs in this country, where access to training sessions is either heavily restricted or, in some cases, not allowed at all.”

As innocent as the whole thing is, it seems ridiculous that the club ever allowed it in the first place.

How do you prove you’re a Norwich City fan with time to kill and an interest in watching Darren Huckerby running rings around the rest of the squad and not a Preston scout?

I’m proud to support a club which gives so much back to it’s community and generally treats it’s fans pretty well but football has to come first every time.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world in football and we have to take every precaution that might give us the edge over our rivals.

Saying that, we’ve started off the 2007/08 campaign pretty well and with our key player yet to be added to the mix, I’m feeling confident that we can reach the play-offs if everybody is singing off the same hymn sheet.

Seven goals in two goals is not a bad return and the prodigal son is certainly having a pretty good home-coming so far!

Let’s see if we can use our combined ‘citizen journalism’ talents to un-pick other teams in the Championship and give Peter Grant and Jim Duffy a virtual hand.

If you did not already know, I am now a co-presenter of a Championship podcast on www.footballfancast.com.

Click here to have a listen:-

http://www.footballfancast.com/Your-club/Championship

You can also subscribe to it on itunes, just search 'championship fancast' in their podcasts section.

Cheers

Derby losing it's passion?

A timid East Anglian derby typified both club's season's on Sunday and justified Sky's choice to show the Wolves v Birmingham game at the same time. The West Midlands derby finished 3-2 to Birmingham at Molineux, after the home side had recovered from being 1-0 down, to lead 2-1, before Cameron Jerome won the game for Steve Bruce's side in the 88th minute.

An exciting and passionate derby game that had four yellow card's for each side, as opposed to the one each at Carrow Road. It all just reminded Norwich and Ipswich fans of how we had absolutely nothing to play for.

This was not to say the game at Carrow Road was awful, if it had continued like it had done for the first ten minutes it could have been a classic, but the motivation was ultimately, just not there.

I was rather surprised to hear about the arrests of the 10+ Ipswich fans in the week building up to the game as trouble rarely threatens the East Anglian Derby anymore, due to the ever-increasing 'traditional' local hatred between the two club's, instead of a genuine league rivalry.

I'm not suggesting that I or any other City fan doesn't loathe our Suffolk neighbours but more so that, we have no reason to loathe them. When was the last time a match between the two teams actually meant anything?

The 'battle' for 14th place on Sunday certainly had little relevance, earlier in the season the two East Anglian team's were fighting over 12th spot, in February '06 Ipswich leapfrogged Norwich into 12th spot, City's 1-0 victory over Town in the September of that season left them 17th and Town 13th and in 04/05 Norwich were in the Premiership so the two teams did not meet. Exciting stuff hey?

The last East Anglian Derby to hold any importance was the 3-1 City victory in March '04 that consolidated their position at the top of the Championship and kept Ipswich 7th and just outside of the play-off's.

Of course the infamous 2-0 win at Portman Road on the 21st of December 2003 left Norwich top of the tree and Ipswich 5th and in the season before, Ipswich's 2-0 win in March took them 8th to just a point behind City in 7th. Before that Ipswich were in the Premiership in the 2001/02 and 2000/01 season’s.

Even Ipswich's famous 5-0 win in Feb '98 only left them 9th and City 14th and earlier that season City won 2-1 to go 10th and leave Town 22nd. Town's late 1996/97 season 2-0 win virtually guaranteed their play-off spot that year to put them 5th and leave City's play-off hopes in tatters in 9th place.

City picked up six points against Town in the perilous 1994/95 Premiership season but both results were fairly irrelevant as both club's were relegated, with Town finishing bottom.

Again in the Premiership, in 1993/94, there were win's a piece in the first half of the season but they were fairly irrelevant as City finished 12th and Town staved off relegation in 19th.

In April '93 Town completed a Premiership double over City with a 3-1 win that finished off City's stuttering title aspiration’s to leave them 3rd and virtually guarantee safety for Town in 16th. Earlier that season in December '92 Town won 2-0 at Carrow Road to prevent City from lengthening their 4 point lead at the top of the Premiership and leave Town 6th.

Between the 1991/92 season and 1986/87 season Town were in the old Second Division and City in the first so it was in March 1985 that the last really important, competitive Derby took place. City recovered a 1-0 first-leg deficit to win the Milk Cup semi-final, courtesy of a Steve Bruce header, to go to Wembley, where they would eventually triumph over Sunderland to lift the trophy.

A big game like that is needed in East Anglia again, and soon.

If you compare this to Wolves and Birmingham's recent clashes, it is a stark contrast.

The 3-2 win for Birmingham on Sunday put them top of the table again and got their promotion chase back on course while leaving Wolves' 6th placed play-off position looking vulnerable.

In 05/06 and 04/05 Birmingham were in the Premiership and Wolves the Championship but when they were both in the Premiership in the 2003/04 season they drew 2-2 in the April to leave Wolves rock bottom and Birmingham 9th. With three games to go, the result virtually consigned Wolves to their fate.

In April 2000 Birmingham beat Wolves 1-0 to go 5th and leave Wolves 7th, in December '99 Wolves won 2-1to go 10th and leave the Blue's 8th, in April '99 Wolves won 1-0 to leave Birmingham 4th and themselves 6th, when Wolves won 3-1 in November '98 they went 5th and left Birmingham 8th.

In short, they've caused each other plenty of problems in recent times and given their fans a reason to dislike each other; their teams were standing in each other's way. Sadly, Ipswich and Norwich have rarely stood in each other's way and we have lost this kind of relationship.

The West Midlands rivals may hardly have the tension of Rangers v Celtic, Man Utd v Liverpool, Southampton v Portsmouth or Tottenham v Arsenal but they at least have more reason than just their geographical positioning to dislike each other. Promotion scraps, play-off race's and even relegation dog-fight's, there's no doubt that if this were to happen in East Anglia, the torch would truly be lit.

In fact City fan's have more rivalry with Birmingham and Wolves than they do with Ipswich after the 2001 play-off's!

Danny Hayne's late winning, punched goal at Carrow Road last year is already as good as forgotten, because the game meant nothing, zilch, nada.

A Derby game does not need sending off's, booking's, brawl's and mindless hooliganism to be tense and exciting, and with midday kick-off's and massive police presence at derby game's eliminating the 'ugly' side of local derbies, this side of the game's has lessened hugely, but this does not mean that passion is not allowed.

Imagine next year, four game to go, both teams in the play-off mix, Chrissy Martin runs out with freshly dyed green hair, Danny Haynes scores an equalising goal, before Alex Bruce passes back to Lewis Price, who proceeds to do his best Gunny impression and hand City the game. That would more than light the torch!

That is the kind of drama that the East Anglian Derby is missing.

Who's going to scale the academy wall next?

How many other clubs could possibly expect to get an attendance of 1286 for a reserve game, on a chilly, clear spring Monday night, against the second string of League Two MK Dons?

Not many I’ll bet but the taste of Norwich City seems to be pretty addictive to the people of Norfolk. 2318 people attended the match against Southend in mid-November and nearly four thousand for the game against Ipswich reserves and the club must take a lot of praise for this.

Soccer PM really is a success and considering that it is rare to see an experienced first-team player involved with the reserves, unless making his way back to fitness, it reflects even more favourably on both club and loyal young supporters.

It is a good idea to try and get the young fans supporting the club’s youngsters who, if the academy successes continue to keep coming, will grow up with those players. Hopefully this can shorten the ever widening breach between fans and players, as highlighted by Wigan manager Paul Jewell this week.

I was at the game on Monday night and I enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining, competitive game between a young City side against a surprisingly strong, young MK Dons side, with former Swansea bad-boy hit man Leon Knight up front.

It was a heated and physical game that was well refereed by ‘Best Referee’ nominee in the Non-League Awards for this year, Darren Cann. The Norfolk referee, who has been an assistant to Graham Poll in a Champions League game before, was forced to book Paul McLean after he and Leon Knight got into a running battle of going in hard and late on each other.

The Dons took the lead after a well worked move that the City defence were unlucky to not get clear and City equalised through Bexfield after a defensive lapse saw Cave-Brown’s pass roll through to be chipped over the keeper by Bexfield. The Dons won it after Eagle brought down Knight for a penalty that was dispatched efficiently.

Dons first-team coach Martin Allen was in the stands for the game but decided to go down to the dugouts and give his side a lift after 10 minutes. He then proceeded to ‘f and blind’ his way through the first half, over petty incidents, much to the annoyance of watching City Assistant Manager Jim Duffy.

With the academy scholars set to be told whether they will be offered a professional contract very soon I thought I’d take the opportunity to let you know how I thought our lads performed.

Steve Arnold – 6 – Made a good early save and came off his line well to make some good interceptions throughout the game but lacks the presence of Joe Lewis, good basic keeping skills but can he find that cutting edge?

Andrew Cave-Brown – 7 –Solid performance from the Scottish under-19 player, who got forward well and always wanted the ball. He had an air of authority about him at this level and if he can perform similarly for the first-team he could well save Peter Grant a hefty chunk of his limited summer budget.

Robert Eagle – 7 - Celebrated the one-year extension to his professional contract with a classy performance on the ball, with good, creative passing and crosses. A shame that he had to play left-back as defending is not his strong point but he looks like he has the potential to be the sort of player that Paul Mcveigh was in his prime.

Alvin Quaye – 6 – Unfortunately for Alvin he has the Anton/Rio Ferdinand too laid back attribute mixed with the Titus Bramble lapses in concentration, which is a shame because he is strong and good in the air.

Paul McLean – 8 – I was impressed with Paul, he is big and strong for a young guy and seemed to have the air of a leader around him, constantly getting involved, committed and sometimes last-ditch defending. Hopefully a Malky or Duncan Forbes of the future!

Jamie Eames – 7 – A lively performance from a player I hadn’t seen before and knew very little about but looked solid and creative on the right wing. Although he played well he will have to show more of a cutting edge to make the step up.

Bally Smart – 7 – Absolutely lightning pace but unfortunately not much beyond that. If he can develop a better touch and control, he could have an impact at first team level but if he can’t find a final ball then maybe he should turn towards the athletics track.

Damon Lathrope – 6 – A quiet game in the centre of the park where he failed to impose himself on the game and never really seemed to have an eye for a pass. Was probably his fault that the Dons scored their winner after he got in the way of a McLean clearance and the rebound left Eagle horribly exposed to bring Knight down for the penalty.

Patrick Bexfield – 8 – Bexfield ran all night, constantly nipping at people’s heels and trying to be first to the ball. Showed real determination, looked to move the ball forward and capped off a good night’s work with a tidy finish for City’s goal.

Seb Muddel – 6 – Plenty of effort but little product from the striker against a big, strong defence.

Kris Renton – 6 – The potential man of the moment did little to justify the hype. He certainly is a big lad for 17 and he showed good strength and tried to use his aerial presence but as with his strike partner, offered little in the way of a goal scoring threat.

It was great to see Chris Martin sign his first professional contract with the club today, I hope that any stress or pressure this had brought on him the last few games has been lifted and he can enjoy his football for the rest of the season.

With two match day’s over the coming weekend I’ll stock up on information for a bumper Loan Files next week so stay tuned if you interested in how Rossi and Ryan Jarvis, Ian Henderson, Andrew Fisk, Paul Mcveigh and Joe Lewis have enjoyed their Easter bank-holiday weekend.

Paul Mcveigh scored the second in Burnley’s 4-0 win over Plymouth tonight so let’s hope he doesn’t get given too many chocolate egg’s before his matches at the weekend!

Let's get the Green Flag flying high again!!!

Hard work only just beginning...

It’s been a frantic marathon of football for all connected with Norwich City since the turn of the year. 16 games in 76 days meaning that Peter Grant’s squad have had a game to contend with every 4.75 days, they’ve certainly earned their pennies in 2007 so far.

The hefty schedule could have easily weighed down an already disheartened and beleaguered squad, which had emerged from a vital January without a single point, but not under the guidance of Grant, no chance. Our passionate Scottish gaffer will not suffer fools and he worked everybody at the club to the bone, not least himself.

With the finish line in sight Grant has begun to, hopefully, turn things around at Fortress Carrow and players and staff can all take a well deserved breather this week before setting their sights on turning recent encouraging form into the consistent norm.

One of the major factors that have gone in tandem with the massive improvements recently, far from coincidentally I’m sure, is the appointment of former Dundee and Hibs boss Jim Duffy as Grant’s assistant.

Duffy has spoken of the two-week break being “a double edged sword” but judging by the second half performances of both teams at Fortress Carrow on Saturday, the rest will be doing far more good than harm. Let’s just hope Safri and Martin return from international duty in the same fitness and form that they left.

We have a worrying pattern of two wins, followed by two losses emerging and I really believe that the squad and management now have the belief and ability to break that form and keep on pushing towards the top half of the table.

Grant has got his wish for more 1-0’s and it’s great to be getting some long coveted clean sheets but it is the goal difference column that needs to be improved upon over the rest of the season. Getting it into the positive would be a really good achievement and should be a big target for the players to aim at.

We’re only six points behind Colchester, with a game in hand, and really hope we can show the over performing U’s who the real pride of East Anglia is. Returning to Norfolk with four points from the away games at Colchester then Hull would be more than respectable but we can definitely take all six if we continue the last week’s form.

With a faltering West Brom set to visit Norfolk on Easter Monday followed by three games against teams currently below us in the table, Leicester, Burnley and that lot down the road, a top ten finish is well within our grasp, if all the effort being put in can continue to pay dividends.

Saying this, our final league position means fairly little and Grant will surely have one eye firmly on building for next season. Hopefully this will mean we will get to have a proper look at some of the other youngsters such as Lewis, Spillane, Eagle, Cave-Brown and maybe even O’Toole and Smart.

Chris Martin has shown them that the chance is there for the taking if they can step up to the plate and show some of the older guys how it should be done, lets hope they can give us further encouragement for the 2007/08 season.

As sods law would have it Dickson Etuhu has played much better since I criticised his performance against Cardiff in the last edition of Freeze Frame. He finally seems to have found some confidence and is obviously appreciating that he has not been doing the right things and learning from his former-midfield-playing manager.

I sincerely hope he continues to prove his doubters wrong and fulfils the potential that he has shown all too brief flickers of. He has played more games than anyone else for City this season, which is definitely a positive, and if his goal tally was closer to ten I’m sure he’d be the toast of the City!

The close season is looking set to be a busy and hopefully positive one for City and the revolving doors of Colney will hopefully need replacing by the time the transfer window slams shut on August 31^st.

Jurgen Collin appears to have fallen out of favour and I wonder whether Grant would prefer to have a hungry British youngster to compete with Andy Hughes and perhaps a more established and experienced right-back.

Mark Fotheringham is another one who has an uncertain future as his deal runs out at the end of the season. He has shown some good ability on the ball and some creative passing but he has looked very lightweight as well and he must impress employers and supporters further if the club are to give him another year to get his stuttering career back on track.

It is widely expected that Peter Thorne and Paul Mcveigh will join Mathieu Louis-Jean on the way out of Colney and beyond that it is likely that youngsters Ian Henderson and Andrew Fisk will also be looking for new clubs.

All the other contract expiree’s have got a decent shot at staying but goalkeeper Paul Gallacher is clearly not favoured by Grant and should David Marshall or Tony Warner become available permanently, Gally could also be heading out the back door.

Good to see that Norwich Union’s negotiations to restructure Ipswich’s debt are not going well and I would hope that the reaction of our loyal support and the publicity given by the local press has had a major say in what would be a thoroughly unfair kick in the teeth for the people of our fine city.

The Loan Files

Ryan Jarvis – Ryan completed the 90 minutes of Orient’s 2-2 draw against Oldham on Saturday but failed to add to his tally of five in five. The O’s are unbeaten since Ryan joined and City have agreed to let him stay in League One for the rest of the season, with a 24-hour recall option available to Peter Grant.

The Orient rivals.net site gave his performance a 6 out of 10 and described his performance as, “Linked up well enough with Alexander in the first half but failed to hold the ball up well enough once his strike partner was dismissed, resulting in pressure on The O's backline. Hasn't scored in three matches now.

Ian Henderson – Hendo played the full 90 for Rotherham and had a good chance to score when one-on-one with the Brentford goalkeeper but again failed to find the net in The Millers 1-0 win. The News of the World gave him a 7 out of 10.

Rossi Jarvis – Rossi stepped up his development from his spell in League Two with Torquay, after joining Henderson in playing 90 minutes for League One Rotherham on Saturday. He nearly got put through on goal by Hendo in the second half but otherwise had a quiet and solid defensive game at full-back. The News of the World gave him a 6 out of 10.

Andrew Fisk – Andrew played 90 minutes for Kings Lynn in their blustery 0-0 against Mangotsfield and won Keith Webb’s men a dangerous free-kick right at the death but Lewis Blois’s effort was saved by their keeper. Let’s hope Lynn and Fisky can get back on course at bottom of the league Corby on Wednesday night.

Let's get the Green Flag flying high again!!

Does arguing suggest passionate winners or sinking losers?

As a football fan I am very jealous of Rugby Union for many things, opposing crowd’s not straining to kill each other, alcohol being allowed ‘in view of the pitch,’ the crunching of men’s bones against one another, without the amateur dramatics, but mostly for one thing, the un-questioned respect for match officials.

The first-half at Ninian Park was quite frankly, embarrassing, from a Norwich City point of view. How City went in at half time only one goal down, I will never quite be sure and the fact that, but for two fantastic saves from Cardiff keeper Neil Alexander, we could have taken home some points, seems ludicrous.

Beyond the comedic mistakes of some of our players on Saturday was a nasty little side-show that I was unsure of how to take. City appear to have become perennial moaners!

Throughout the game, and especially in the first-half, Youssef Safri, Gary Doherty, Dickson Etuhu, Andy Hughes and Chris Martin were all warned about the way they had aggressively and invariably unjustly, screamed at referee Graham Salisbury for a decision given against them.

In the second-half substitute Paul Mcveigh even had a pop at the linesman for an offside decision that he had given against Chris Martin.

I was sitting almost directly in line with the linesman and the Cardiff defence when the decision was made and Martin was clearly just offside when the ball was played to him.

Yet, Peter Grant, and subsequently Mcveigh, took it upon themselves to yell at the poor linesman about how wrong he was and how they hope God pours scorn on their children, ridiculous!

How Grant can react by storming up the touchline until he is restrained by the 4^th official, for the second time in two games (he did so against Derby on Tuesday as well), about a decision that he is some 30 to 40 yards away from, is beyond me.

How can he see better than the linesman that Martin was onside from his technical area?

He simply can’t and would be surprised if he is not fined and maybe even given a touchline ban by the FA for the two incidents.

I apologise if what I have written so far seems very negative, as regular readers of Freeze Frame will realise that I’m a big fan of our Scottish leader, but it was how uncomfortable the actions of manager and players made me feel that got me thinking.

Can the way that our players and manager acted be considered as passion to the cause that we can both relate to and be proud of, or is it detrimental, negative, unjust frustration?

From a neutral point of view I despise the way that footballers treat referees and believe that the powers that be could be doing a lot more to support officials, who already have a virtually impossible job to do.

Referees are assaulted all over the country every weekend in local football and until these problems can be sorted, starting at the top, the FA will continue to struggle to recruit referees.

Through yellow and green tinted spectacles though, I can at least take some comfort in the fact that the insolence shown by City on Saturday shows that the players and coaches care about winning, they are passionate about their cause, they want to fight for their ever-loving and loyal supporters and that, it has certainly never done Manchester United any harm. However wrong it may be, success is all that matters.

The game in Wales was to be honest, a bit of a stinker!

The football certainly did not have the supporters at Ninian Park salivating but the News of The World’s Soccer Angels cheerleading squad certainly did at half time.

Gary Doherty looked pretty solid in the air against a lively and strong Steve Thompson, unfortunately he was as awful and panic ridden when the ball was on the floor as we have quickly come to realise this season.

Doherty continued to just put his foot through the ball when under little pressure and he was not alone. Both full-backs, Adam Drury and Andy Hughes, had decided that they had the passing range of Steven Gerrard and kept attempting huge, difficult to bring under control, diagonal cross-field balls to our wide-men.

It was as if all the recent progress had been forgotten again and after careless mistake followed by careless mistake, the confidence was visibly draining from supposedly in-form players, on a good pitch and in perfect footballing weather conditions.

Etuhu put himself about well and tried to out muscle the Cardiff players but very rarely actually gained possession from his efforts. He appears to lack the vital footballing brain of a central-midfield player that allows him to predict play and take up an early attacking or defensive position, he just reacts when the ball is near him.

Once Darren Huckerby had moved out wide, allowing him to run at players like he does best, City looked much better. Safri was winning balls and spraying the ball out to Huckerby and Simon Lappin much more often and it was because of Huckerby that Dion Dublin managed to force Alexander into an outstanding save, that he had a goal disallowed for a narrow offside and that we had a late penalty appeal.

Birmingham is going to be another tough game that we may struggle to get anything from but if City can try and play simpler football and do the basics better, Huckerby will always cause team’s problem in this division, as long as he doesn’t have his back to goal.

I think I’m going to start calling Peter Grant the ‘Chess-Master,’ for the way our poor gaffer desperately tries to move the players around mid-game like they are pawns on his proverbial yellow and green chessboard.

How the players can decipher what he means is beyond me because his hands move quicker and point in more directions than the poor sign language narrator on Sunday’s Hollyoaks omnibus!

The loan files – Ryan Jarvis played the whole game in Leyton Orient’s 1-0 away win against Chesterfield on Saturday. Although he didn’t score, the Orient Official website says he played a key part in their winner, saying “Jarvis was heavily involved, chesting Wayne Corden’s pass into Tudor’s path, and the winger showed a cool head in front of goal.”

The Orient rivals.net site described Ryan’s performance as: “Ryan Jarvis - 7 - Was the O's main goal threat, making intelligent runs. Came close in the first half with a low left footed shot but in a game of few chances that was as good as it got.”

Ian Henderson played the whole of Rotherham’s painful 5-1 home defeat to Port Vale but according to the Millers’ Official website Hendo had two shots well saved, hit the crossbar and had a hand in setting up the goal for Delroy Facey.

With former City and Man Utd striker Mark Robbins now in charge of League One’s bottom team, hopefully he can impart some goal-scoring wisdom on Hendo as it is looking increasingly likely that the youngster will be leaving Carrow Road this summer.

Andrew Fisk came on as a sub in the second-half of Kings Lynn’s first game in two weeks. The 2-1 win over Northwood at The Walks keeps Keith Webb’s men in the hunt for promotion but Fisk needs to be starring in the Southern League Premier Division if he is to earn himself a real chance with Norwich.

Bring on the Ram's!!

Three games, seven points, nine for and seven against. Combine that sort of form with a better defensive record and a difficult and disappointing season could well finish in a cloud of yellow and green optimism.

Two weeks ago Steve Claridge was co-commentating on Five Live for City’s game at Stamford Bridge and last Saturday he was again co-commentating on the Charlton against West Ham relegation dog fight.

A few minutes before half time John Inverdale read out that Coventry had taken the lead against City and Claridge’s reaction filled me with as much frustration as it did pride. He said “Norwich played fantastic last week against Chelsea, I’d of never put them where they are!”

We hear it all the time but to hear it from someone outside of the club just made me feel perhaps things aren’t as bad as it seems.

Of course our new hero Chrissy Martin gave us reason for hope that day against Coventry and with two wins away from home on the trot; we might be able to quietly start to believe that Norwich City’s stock might just be back on the rise.

Martin has impressed massively, not just through his performances on the pitch but through appearing to have a brain off it as well. Our academy youngsters receive media training now-a-days and I was concerned that this would just produce a conveyer belt of PR robots but Martin seems to very much have a voice of his own.

Speaking through his fairly strong ‘bootiful’ Norfolk accent, not something you hear from many Norwich City players these days, he told Canaries World, “I think that’s my personality really, to keep my feet on the ground, not to get too excited about things, ‘cos I know it’s only the start of my career sort of thing and I know there’s a lot more hard work to come to get more success.”

He proved that this wasn’t just part of the PR speech when he went on to talk about still attending College on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s saying that it was a “release” from the pressure of first-team football and that it made him appreciate how lucky he is to be getting his chance with his boyhood club.

Let’s hope he carries on taking his chances and can further help connect club and fans again, as he is sure to have a great rapport with the fans if he keeps playing the way he has been.

Our other home grown talent Jason Shackell has been performing excellently recently as well and it is getting the goal difference looking healthier that must be the most important thing to Peter Grant over the rest of the season.

Shackell should be captain next season as far as I’m concerned but we need a solid and experienced defender to rely on as well if we are to stop leaking goals. I have a feeling Dion won’t stay on next season as I think he is giving it his all this season in the same way that Shane Warne did for Australia this winter.

We must remember he is 38 years-old and his recent knock shows that his body is tiring, quickly. He has been fantastic for Norwich City this year but we need a solid central defensive partnership, not a stop-gap.

Grant took a significant step to trying to shore up our defence this week by pulling off what could be a peach of a signing in Fulham’s Tony Warner. At 6ft 4in Warner should certainly bring the aerial presence that Gallacher lacks and his experience of this division could prove invaluable.

We need a definite number one goalkeeper for the start of next season, to prevent the de-stabilising merry-go-round that can hardly be helping to form a solid defensive unit. If Warner can do the business for the rest of the season then that number one shirt could well be his for keeps.

With Derby demolishing Colchester on Friday night, the Ram’s visit to Norfolk on Tuesday night looked daunting before Saturday’s result in Yorkshire, but it could well be a blessing in disguise.

Had City have had a game against another also ran, a Hull or a QPR, the players may have once again believed their own hype and taken their eye off the ball slightly. With the league leaders coming to town Grant and his men will know that they need to re-double their efforts and successes of the past week to stand toe-to-toe with Billy Davies team.

We always seem to play better against better teams and if we can play as well as we have shown in patches recently, we are more than capable of getting three points. With an optimistic and excited crowd behind them, thoughts of unhelpful protests erased and players starting to perform, Carrow Road can once again be the twelfth man that has been missing from our team-sheet. All together now, KICK IT OFF……

Things that have made me chuckle this week…..

Matthew Upson – Swapped a highly possible promotion and hero status, while recovering from his long-term injury, to find his fitness and form, while having a bit of fun in the Championship with Birmingham for relegation with West ‘Am. Greedy sod.

Paul Scholes vision – Clearly it’s becoming blurred again, awful punch, stupid decision, that could have ended up costing Utd dear, but when it’s your year, it’s just your year, as we found out in 2003/04, Phil Mulryne’s deflected shot against Reading on Easter Monday 2004 anybody?

Things that have made me sad this week…..

Sky Sports News Dissapearing – Or ‘Old Sky Sports Snooze’ as Virgin/NTL has called it since Sky tore it away from the majority of the country that can’t afford the Sky Sports package.

Millwall Investment – How do they get £5 million+ invested in them instead of Norwich City or dare I say it… Ipswich Town, crazy!

The Loan Files

Ryan Jarvis played 80 minutes in Leyton Orient’s 0-0 draw away to play-off hopefuls Swansea in a quiet game of few chances.

Ian Henderson played 90 minutes in Rotherham’s 2-1 defeat to Swansea and another 90 minutes in the Miller’s 4-1 win against Bradford on Saturday but he has yet to find the net in his seven games in League One despite playing as a striker throughout. However, he was given 8 out of 10 for his performance against Bradford in Sunday’s News of the World.

Rossi Jarvis and Matty Halliday have both returned to Norfolk after a fairly unsuccessful month with bottom of League Two Torquay, knowing that they have a lot of work to do if they want to avoid dropping back down to the less glamorous end of football.

Andrew Fisk has been short of a game this week with Kings Lynn having both of their games postponed, leaving them with four games in hand on the majority of their promotion rivals.

Let’s get the Green Flag flying high again!

Eadie Losing his marbles?

I was tickled by Darren Eadie's claim's this week that, “every Saturday I always look at Norwich's opposing team and I always fancy City to beat them. I would take Norwich's team over every team in the division."

After wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes I decided to try and empty Mr Eadie's 'half-full' glass by pointing out the obvious. He is wrong.

How can our inconsistent, chuffed with a 4-0 loss, 'battered' them but still lost, mainly in-experienced and un-successful, small squad possibly be considered as good as Derby's, West Brom's, Birmingham's or Southampton's?

The fact that we go into this weekend's clash against Ian Dowie's 'honeymoon period' Coventry side, knowing full well that we are far from garunteed a result proves that this view is just fanciful.

Okay, our performances in the last few week's have been encouraging and Peter Grant is obviously doing all that he can to push those sprightly buds of improvement into those infamous sought after 'three point' flowers (three-points-please-iniums) this spring but safety from relegation is still far from secured.

If City continue at current form, 8 points taken from the last 30 available, we are in for a nail-biting end to the season. However, if Grant's men can find the strength, concentration and determination to go with their recent good play, then hopefully we can consign the last few months as our 'bad spell' and Norwich City can start showing what they're going to be about next season.

If we are to do this our well documented defensive frailties at set-pieces must be eliminated. The unfortunate thing is that the defence has been playing well but poor lapses in concentration are costing us time and time again. The man who could, somewhat surprisingly, be the key to fixing this could be, Andy Hughes.

For all Jurgen Collin's improvement to his game this year he cannot match Hughes' vocal presence, leadership or experience in this division. He may not have what it takes to be a Norwich City midfielder but he is always well thought of for the effort and determination that he will always show for the team.

His best games for City have undoubtedly come at full-back and with Hughes there to help Dion Dublin organise things at the back, his experience could be vital.

I have also spoken in recent weeks of Jason Shackell playing a lot better with Dion alongside him but he must not become reliant on him, he must learn from him and try to replicate Dion's best qualities. If he loses his way this weekend, where Dion is unlikely to feature, he will be doing himself a massive injustice and will demonstrate that he will perhaps not be able to fulfil the talent that is not too far from reach for him.

At least he finally got his first goal from a set-piece on Tuesday, let's hope it's the first of many.

We're so close to turning the corner and there is plenty to be positive about so let's just hope lady-luck can give us a helping hand.

Rabbit's feet and three-leaved clover's at the ready on Saturday then!

The Loan Files

Congratulations to Ryan Jarvis on his hat-trick for Leyton Orient on Tuesday night. What a way to endear yourself to your new supporters, a hat-trick away to their local rivals Millwall, to drag them out of the relegation zone, having conceded ten goals in their last three games.

If he continue's that kind of form through to his return to Carrow Road, he may still have a chance of making it with his boyhood club.

The chance to get that glorious goalscorers feeling regularly and the memory of his brilliant goal against Liverpool in the Premiership, must act as a giant carrot for Ryan to chase.

Not such a good night for Ian Henderson after getting sent off for Rotherham but Ryan's exploits must show him he has to keep working and believing in himself or his dreams are going to be torn from his fingertips.

Matty Halliday and Rossi Jarvis are certainly seeing the tough end of English football with Torquay seven points adrift at the bottom of League Two and without a win in five matches.

Rossi is back at Carrow Road having some physio work on a back problem according to the Torquay website and Matty was taken off at half time on Tuesday night by manager Keith Curle in a tactical decision.

With the Devon club's fans finally getting their wish of chairman Chris Roberts' resignation this week there will be renewed hope at Plainmoor and we'll just have to hope Matty and Rossi can be part of a revival.

With Andrew Cave-Brown now back at Carrow Road, you can only presume Peter Grant feels he has a chance of being involved in the first-team squad to bring him back from regular first-team football, it leaves Andrew Fisk to continue his good form for Lynn.

Good luck to all the lads again this weekend.

Lets get the Green Flag flying high again!

A star is born?

Tuesday night's match was one of the most dramatic seen at Carrow Road for a while, forgetting the first hour, and it was thoroughly satisfying to see one of our academy products make some headlines. 18 year-old Chris Martin made a huge impact against Blackpool after coming off the bench to allow Darren Huckerby to move to the left-wing and Lee Croft to the right.

As well as hitting the bar, having a seemingly legitimate goal ruled out and scoring the dramatic extra-time winning goal to send us to Stamford Bridge, Martin's pace, bustling energy and link-up play with Chris Brown turned the game on it's head. Let's hope his rapid development continues so that he becomes an important part of the first team. The confidence and enjoyment that the Beccles lad will have got could be the difference between him becoming a fixture or a lingering also-ran that Ryan Jarvis appears to have become.

If he has the talent and the determination then hopefully he will give the Gaffer no choice but to pick him, in the same way that a young Craig Bellamy did, good luck to him.

There's something about having a local boy do well that is just that much more satisfying isn't there?

Undoubtedly our hero was once again the messiah, Darren Huckerby, two fantastic goals and Neil Adams summed it up perfectly on Radio Norfolk after the first wonder strike when he said, "where would Norwich City be without Darren Huckerby?" Best not to think about that is it?

We've scraped our way through to the last-16 of the world's oldest cup competition then and you just never know with the FA Cup. With no pressure or expectation on our shoulders and with Chelski having the first leg of their Champions League tie away to Porto on the following Wednesday and then the Carling Cup Final against Arsenal at Cardiff next Sunday to think about, we may just stand a chance.

The likes of Drogba, Lampard and Essien could well be rested meaning not neccesarily match fit or sharp players such as Jon Obi Mikel, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Geremi could well get their chance. The game could well represent a big chance for Lee Croft as well though due to both Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge being injured and Jose Mourinho not having an established left-back as cover. I would think that John Terry and Andriy Shevchenko will be likely to play though, to try and get the England captain match fit and the £30 million Ukranian striker back on the goal trail.

With the six-point gap to be made up on Manchester United to be taken into consideration the game could be an uncertain one for Jose and his men and with us having nothing to lose the tie begins to look more attractive to me the more I think about it. The bookies must feel we are in with a chance as well, with Coral offering reasonably low odds of 14/1 for a City win and 5/1 for us to bring the Champions back to Norfolk for a replay.

If City managed to pull it off it could be a major boost for both the clubs finances and confidence, here's dreaming for Ipswich in the sixth-round!

We've got Lappin and Fotheringham to return on Saturday, giving the Gaffer some real selection posers. Does he stick with a 4-4-2 that has Simon Lappin on the left and Hux up top with Fozzy and Martin on the bench or does he revert to an attacking 4-5-1 with Hux and Croft joining Chris Brown in attack when possible and Fozzy joining Etuhu and Youssef in the middle, leaving Martin champing at the bit, desperate to repeat his goalscoring heroics of mid-week?

Grant has some big decisions to make before he tests his managerial abilities against one of the best but it's far better to have these options than to having little choice with who to pick, such has been the case for most of his tenure with the club. I'm sure he'll be adventurous and strong with his decisions, in an attempt to continue his love affair with the FA Cup.

Fellow Pink 'Un message board user Canary Boy has kindly compiled our goals from Tuesday night in a short video which he published on 'YouTube.' Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alJT6fVLSjI to see them, cheers Canary Boy!

The Loan Files

Andrew Cave-Brown came home victorious with the Scottish under-19's a couple of weeks ago, after captaining the young Scot's to victory in the La Manga tournement in Spain. More good experience for the youngster as he continues to look towards the under-19 World Cup in Canada this summer and tries to catch the attention of Peter Grant while on loan at Kings Lynn.

He and Andrew Fisk took part in both of Lynn's games this past week, a credible 1-1 draw with league leaders Bath City and the tight 1-0 loss to Rugby Town in the Southern League Cup and both appear to have become important players for Lynn but will need to make some more headlines in Lynn's drive to catch up leaders Bath over the rest of the season if they are to get a chance at Carrow Road.

Matty Halliday played 90 minutes at centre-back for Torquay and Rossi Jarvis 80 minutes in their 1-0 loss to Lincoln last weekend and Halliday will be the only fit centre-back available for the Football League's bottom club when 2nd in League Two Hartlepool come to town

Rotherham's match against Blackpool fell foul of the weather last weekend but Ian Henderson will be hoping to get on the scoresheet in a tough match against second in League One Scunthorpe United this weekend.

Let's get the Green Flag flying high again!

Got To Love That Winning Feeling

It was nice to see the back of a torrid January and start February in the right way. Unlike the Wolves game the City players managed to get the tables to turn and, largely thanks to Mr Huckerby, we got the win we deserved.

There are plenty of positives to be taken from the game for Peter Grant, notably the performances of our two new Scots and the showing of togetherness from a new Norwich City team that Grant is beginning to mould to a hard working and determined Championship outfit.

It is vital for next season that these new beginnings start to grow at a rapid rate, to go into next season with a strong group who are ready to give their all to push towards the play-offs. Those positions are now very much beyond City for this season, even Crystal Palace’s dramatic late surge up the Division One table in the 2003/04 season under Ian Dowie, was four points better off at this stage of the season.

From the lowly depths that we have so nearly sunk to, a top-half finish would be a good achievement but whether that happens will surely depend on if the ‘bit’ can remain well and truly between Darren Huckerby’s teeth for the rest of the season.

Hucks has been on fire recently and has really taken on the role of talisman since Earnie’s injury. Losing our top-scorer has given the squad the kick from behind that they have badly needed and will hopefully have brought them together and formed a camaraderie that has perhaps not been present at Colney for quite a while.

Next Saturday’s trip to Luton represents our first chance to do the double over a team this season, after we beat the Hatters 3-2 at Carrow Road in August. With Mike Newell’s men also at the wrong end of the Championship table and only five points behind us, it would be a great three points that are very much within our capabilities.

Monday’s draw away to Chelsea probably represents the end of our FA Cup adventure for this season but with the pressure off and the glamour tie available, the Blackpool match offers a nice piece of respite and a good opportunity to carry on our improvements, especially if we beat Luton next week.

Who knows though, with the pressure off us and very much on Jose’s men, we might just be able to muster some FA Cup magic, let’s show Blackpool what we’re made of first though!

Peter Grant’s two signings this week have given the Gaffer a lot of credit in my eye’s, as he has shown he has listened to the fans and brought in players that will hopefully tick the right boxes and all on a shoe-string budget.

Lappin will hopefully not only just improve our strength on the left-side of the pitch but give us a threat from set-pieces, something we have all moaned that City have been very poor at in recent years.

In bringing Fotheringham in and allowing Robinson to leave Grant has also shown that he is building for the future and that he agreed that we needed a different type of midfielder, one who actually does something on the pitch and can create with attacking passing.

Let’s hope they both become as popular successes and shrewd signings as our last unknown signing from north of the border, Gary Holt.

Rossi Jarvis played his first 90 minutes for Torquay yesterday and according to Torquay’s message boards he was all the rave of the Radio Devon commentators and some of the comments I read were “pretty good actually, contender for man of the match, he is a clever player” and “nothing wrong with someone trying to actually win the ball for once!” All of which sounds very encouraging and Rossi will be playing for England’s Under-19’s against Poland at Bournemouth on Tuesday, so let’s hope Rossi continues to develop.

Another loan star is Andrew Fisk, who scored for the second game in a row for Keith Webb’s seemingly back on track Kings Lynn team and seems to have cemented a starting place in the team, as he well should of if he is to have a future in the game.

Andrew Cave-Brown was on duty for the Scotland Under 19’s in a tournament in Spain where he will take on Austria tonight (Sunday) and Ian Henderson played 90 minutes of Rotherham’s 0-0 draw against Brighton, thanks to a defence ‘well marshalled’ by Craig Fleming.

Let’s get the Green flag flying high again!!!