Holmes_and_Watson

I thought the rule was that only one clone was allowed on a match thread at a time, to stop the duplicate posts? 🙂

I'm too busy watching to see if the Archer(s) gets another goal.

This thread is at a Crossroads. Will it be puns or football commentary?

McCarthy alert to keep that one out through the bodies at the corner.

Fraser just got caught a little there, in getting the pass away. Decent move though.

It was going through my mind too. There's an inevitability to it, and the Norwich fans are only too aware of it. 🙂

Pluses:- Having 2 attackers capable in the centre, actually allows us to create and score. Who knew? Fraser worked hard for a spell, but isn't doing that all game. Mads looked decent, but needs to bed in to see he can raise us and we don't drag him down. I saw Downes pass it forward! I did! Downes and Charles are too similar in the middle. It did begin to look as though it was Downes staying back with Charles moving forward. So that's progress I suppose. I see a fair bit of Norwich. For all our ridiculous defending, they are even worse, and have been for years. We worked hard to be as defensively useless for quite a while tonight, before their mess ups allowed us more control of the game, and a goal. Being one up against them is not fantastic. We were a mess at the back, and all those transfers in are still needed. Stewart did well for the assist, and has very nearly got on the end of a few. Not sure if the deliveries just haven;t been quite there, or it's a bit of sharpness from him too. But every green shoot is to be nurtured, when it comes to our attack.

Give us a chance to train all that skill out of him, and bring him down to our level. 🙂 Suga looked a lot better in his first couple of games.

Charles did seem to take a step too long to pass it.

Gah! Stewart not able to put in Charles' pass.

But the risk of losing possession! The risk! >faint< 🙂

Yay! Archer showing that striker's instinct we all knew he had ready to pounce. 🙂 Mind you, it took a trademark Norwich Comedy calamity to give us enough chances.

'Tis but a scratch of incompetence! Come back here and watch our defenders collide into each other again! 🙂

If his brothers could play on the wing, they'd be starting.

Norwich mess. But a perfect ball for an AA effort. But it's Archer, so....

Nope. No DM (it's never Charles) No creative attacking midfielder. Just some central midfielders to move the ball about, in Downes (invariably backwards), Charles (usually sideways) and Smallbone (5 yards distance, but across the pitch). Like our attacking width, every player we have is really going for 1 position.

Wood & Edwards in each others way. They became sheepish after that, allowing Norwich in for a decent effort. Wood hurt from it too. Just shout!

Sargent scored from blocking a 'keepers kick. He had turned his body so that the rebound went towards goal. Something for Stewart to work on. 🙂

Stephens, no doubt.

Wood rescuing a free kick for Norwich there. Well done.

Good from Fraser there. No one on the end of it.

A combination of them finding out a ball bounces and the alien territory of it being near the opponents goal.

Really good of McCarthy playing with a pub team for charity.

With the window shutting on 1st September, here's a quick comparison of where we are compared to SR's takeover season (the minimum to stay in the PL) and our last promotion season. Goalkeepers: Despite it being a torrid time in goal, both Forster and McCarthy were better all round 'keepers than Bazunu. With Ramsdale on loan, we have much the same as when we last went up. Except McCarthy isn’t considered as reliable as even then, and only a hope that Baz has improved his shot stopping. Full-Backs: We're without KWP, so we're automatically weaker than in both our SR takeover year, and our last promotion year. In the takeover year, we also had Tino on the right, allowing KWP to be our left back, with Perraud (unceremoniously dumped by Martin) filling in when needed. When we last went up, we were fine with KWP, Manning and Bree for the season. However, with Roerslev, Bree, Manning and Welington (the others looking likely to go), we do have better depth here. Central Defence: Bednerak was our best centre back so weaker here. Another area, where we all thought we'd naturally improve on, only for him to remain our best defender. As a partner, Salisu had more talent than anything we've seen since (with ABK's personality ruling him out). We can hope THB puts last season behind him, and that Edwards builds on his loan move. Like our full back positions, we do have some decent, settled depth here. After seasons of having none, to having a glut of players not working out. Midfield: SR's Takeover season was mainly Romeu, Ward-Prowse and Stu, covering distinct roles in the midfield. When Stu wasn't fit, we had the likes of Ely and Diallo (who we thought we'd improve on). SR basically pushed Romeu out for Lavia, without planning for counting on the ups and downs of having a talented youngster's form and fitness. That was when we were crying out for someone to join Romeu, not as a replacement. When Martin took over, for the promotion season, JWP left early on, and he didn't rate Charles or Alcaraz. But we did have MVP Downes, a much-developed Will, and a fit again Stu (and a fit again Aribo too as cover). Now Charles is back and isn't a DM, Downes is stuck in MartinBall mode and Fernandes is left to do a lot of work. We're a mile off our promotion season and much, much further from SR's takeover year. Attacking Midfielders/ Wide Players: Another area where we can’t move forward (literally, it seems). SR took over with AA, Elyounoussi, Redmond and Tella getting the most games here. It was an area where SR really needed to give Ralph some support. We last went up with AA, Sule, Edozie, Fraser and Brooks (with an early impressive Tella cameo). Our best two options here are AA and Fraser, much as the promotion season, even if they’re not in those positions currently. Centre Forward/ Striker: In SR's first summer window, they smugly dismissed concerns about our front line, looking to offload Adams, for replacements that never arrived. That was when Adams needed to have an Ings like player to work with. We did get Broja's purple patch, that really helped, and was more than could have been expected of him. In our last promotion campaign, we still had Adams. As Martin found out last season, and as we face this one, Adams would walk back into the side. Even after all the windows when SR looked to upgrade. We have much more depth up front than before. But SR have wasted it on targets that were some way down their list, after windows of counting on first choices, while tempting them with SR wages. A lot of them have good Championship scoring records. None of them look capable of recreating those times. We can hope we just need the support players. Where 50% would be keeping the same side: % against SR Takeover season: 9% (AA still in the side, if not position yet, and Fraser being about as decent as Redmond. Weaker everywhere else. And this is being kind.. Fraser's champ form vanished for long spells and didn't do much last season, while Redmond was often just frustrated with RalphBall. AA did nothing in the PL, and Ely actually played more games. So this could easily have been 0% on another day.) % against Last promotion season: 34% (Baz, Manning, THB, Downes, AA and Fraser still in the team. Weaker everywhere else, but have some full back and centre back cover). Still is going to need a very busy, and beneficial week from the recruitment team, to have a chance of implementing a successful system. SR's determination to lower that individual wage bill, trade on up and coming talent and take hopeful punts on others has left us with a bloated squad, still lacking in key first team positions and roles.

Wishing him all the best for a successful career. We benefited financially from his return from Chelsea, and also in watching him in the first half of last season. it reflects well on the club, and it's development of youngsters, to see another talent move on. That said, it's disappointing that his development couldn't continue with us at a higher level, before moving on to an even bigger destination.