Made hard work of it but Norwich have won 15 games this season, 13 by a one goal margin. Need to grind it out
A fairly dull 1-0. Never looked like conceading but our finishing is shocking. Pretty much every chance we created came from Sarr too. Sarr and Sierralta the best two on the pitch by some distance. The rest ranged from average to poor. I don't really see any great change in play style/performance since Ivic was in charge. Zinckernagel looked encouraging when he played but Sema and Sarr are our only two attackers who create so I don't know who drops out for him.
Enjoyable game that. Barnsley were energetic and felt dangerous but didn’t really create any real chances. Think we showed a lot of character and personality, something which has been lacking for much of the season. Having Hughes back is a huge lift, let’s hope we can keep him fit for the season. Sarr looked positive, almost as if he was threatening to enjoy himself. Gray can’t finish for toffee, but showed improvement. 3 points off automatics and 7 clear of 7th now. A lot to smile about now.
A positive performance generally despite only one goal and we know why that is. Bachmann did his job when called upon and generally we looked solid at the back again. Hughes, Sarr, Sema and Phil Z looked good in attack whilst Deeney put in a shift.
Job done. Would have been nice if Sarr, Pedro or Gray could have put the game to bed but luckily Deeney got them out of jail again. Sierralta was great again, one rogue header aside. Our defence is solid. A bit more creativity and a striker would be nice. Zinkernagel could be the answer to our lack of creativity though, he looked good. Pedro is turning into a proper striker with the aggression, arrogance and attitude to match.
I'm convinced TD deliberately played for that penalty by kicking the ball at the defenders outstretched hand on purpose.
Sierralta doing well aside from one brainfart. Replace TE with Wilmot to improve distribution from the back. Sarr, Hughes, Pedro and Zinckernagel and once again Kiko have that spark of creativity, speed and ability. Need to get them together more often. Gray was as usual bloody awful. Sarr must be depressed inside when he looks up and sees what his options are and sees his work wasted AGAIN. The sooner Perica is fit the better. This division is truly terrible. Need to sort the away form out on Friday and a promotion push despite everything is back on. Muff stumbling, Swans getting fortunate and a congested fixture list all helps.
Certainly ticks the big box. Did okay today but has to offer more still. Substitute role would suit him better.
Enjoyable win. We made a healthy number of chances and weren't overly threatened by them. Their best chance came from Sierralta who had his weakest game but still did decently. WTE was assured as usual. Femenia cementing his early PotS while Masina was dependable. Hughes is a game changer with his ability to keep it on the floor when under pressure allowing us to utilise Sarr, Sema and Zinckernagel a lot more effectively.
I enjoyed it, sitting on the edge of my seat convinced they were going to score 3 points Clean sheer I assume we are playing Gray on the hope he scores and gets some confidence , he was getting into the right area but just can’t finish, we can’t keep giving him chances , if JP had been on the pitch earlier I’m sure he would have got one of those. we made more chances than normal which was good. most of the players looked like they were giving it at least 90% which is an improvement. great save from Bachman, but what the **** was serialta doing.
That was like an advanced Ivic performance, pretty solid defensively but not mind-numbingly boring. Decent watch, especially first half. Sierralta brilliant, one sliding block was fantastic. Probably 1st choice CB now so credit to him for that. Femenia great again, what a difference a level down makes! Sarr a constant threat, what he lacks in decision making he certainly makes up for in being an utter pest for the opposition. Hughes is too good for The Championship. Masina solid too, everyone was really apart from Gray. Zinc definitely has nice feet, a good touch and a speed of thought that is going to be very useful IMO. Love the fight in Pedro & Sarr too, wasn't easy to see the game out but they were jumping for headers, getting barged and with their age & body figures that's good to see. Great subs from Xisco too. Lots to improve on but happy with that.
Gray’s movement has never been the issue. His finishing is. And that isn’t going to suddenly improve. I’m not going to praise him for once again failing to do what he’s paid handsomely to do, even less so when he misses a great chance to actually do that job. Another win under the belt without being spectacular - could and should have been more comfortable mind you. Zinckernagel very impressive off the bench and showed a willingness to carry the ball centrally which no other player does. Kiko continued his POTS campaign and Sierralta continues to be a bit of a revelation at CB. And Sarr had his best game for a long, long time. Masina gives the team some balance thats been missing for quite a while too.
Also, I think we have the best home record in England this season. The one season in history we can't bloody be there! Amazing.
Some fantastic displays there. Hughes and Masina are "like a new signing". Excellent performances from both.
Should have won by more, still concerned at how wasteful we are in attack. We saw from the Ivic era that if you can't consistently score goals, the results will eventually catch up with you On the whole, thought we were better today than against Hudds. Hughes made a big difference in the middle, the strikers were slightly better and Sarr and Zinckernegel both looked dangerous in wide areas
Similar story, grinding out a win at home, solid defensively. Creating a few decent chances again (@leighton buzzard horn ) which we remain incapable of putting away. Now for another chance to see if we can finally turn our vital away form around.
Hughes is incredibly important to this side - he has to start, but then we knew that anyway. Was exciting to see Zinckernagel and he looks like he could contribute so much, to the enjoyment of watching for the fans as much as anything else. Gray - no more can or need be said, really. Not a footballer. The second half kind of seemed like a Jose performance, really. I suppose that makes sense when you look at the relative context of our defence in this division. An away match is the next rubicon - if we can avoid embarrassing ourselves there, with Muff having lost, perhaps we'll be onto something.
Thought we were pretty good. They're somehow an upwardly mobile mid table team and they created absolutely nothing. We on the other hand had two one on ones with Gray, hit the post with Hughes, the big chance with Troost-Ekong as well as numerous other situations where we were putting in dangerous crosses or just a touch away from being through one on one. We absolutely battered them and 4-0 wouldn't have flattered us.
Sierralta is a bully. He also farkin' loves heading the ball. Convinced his header on goal was because he couldn't resist
Still not the finished article, but we looked far more interested in attacking and had some nice exchanges at times. Another positive stride forward, and I think we'll continue to improve as the new tactical methods bed in. Zinc was good after a nervous first minute or so; he looks like a good add. Sierralta was excellent, bizarre almost-own-goal aside. Sarr looking more like the player we know he is. Hughes did quite well, and should improve from an already good showing. Decent performance from Deeney, and I'd argue we looked worse after he went off. Gray though....eh. I think it's all been said at this point.
Hughes, Sarr and Sierraalta very good indeed. Zinky looked good. Deeney in fairness did a lot of running around and hassling, but he’s still a waste of a spot as a better player could do the same and add a lot more. The less said about Gray the better.
I love that although JP is just 19 he’s got such a fighters attitude, defending his teammates and pushing older players than him around lol. Defensively solid again, should’ve put the game to bed though, thought pz7 looked good when he came on and had some nice touches, gray was also surprisingly decent and was unlucky not to score albeit some poor finishing on his part.
For me the most enjoyable game of the season, I have zero gripes tonight, not even with Deeney or Gray. In fact in this type of division with so many games, why not use D&G to take the sting out of the game before bringing on the "finishers" who lately have got us looking great in the last half hour.? We are actually looking like a team at last, and they worked so hard for each other. Kiko sublime again, Massina and Sema looking decent on the left. I'm a happy Orn tonight, maybe we've turned that corner..... (crikey if Sarr had a left foot and learned to cut inside on occasion he could really score some goals!)