Norwich City v Southampton (home) Saturday 2nd Jan 2016

[eatonparkboy]

Got to take our chances and surely more will come.

 

[It's Character Forming]

So much easier when you don't gift goals to the other side.

 

[It's Character Forming]

That's 9 from 12 isn't it?

 

[Dubai Mark]

That's three crucial points,  slightly fortunate,  points over performance, I will take that! 

 

[RhythmicTheory]

Dont think it was fortunate, we were always going to be under a lot of pressure as we were counter attacking, probably have Rudd and Ofoe to thank though.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Rudd is growing very calmly into his position as number one.

Very narrow today and allowed their full backs to cross a lot but Bennett in particular met virtually everything and we have destroyed the legend that was Shane Long.

Wish Filberts hadn't missed that penalty.

Now off for a couple of pints of the black to celebrate.

 

[ZLF]

fantastic result that meant so much more than the performance, we never really impressed today; but we were organised, and a little fortunate that soton finished poorly then wanyama studiply got himself sent off;   it was great to see us take advantage.

Subs timely for once;  bertrand was beating martin all ends up until howson sent back to protect him with the VOO sub - tactically a win win as it also introduced VOO and added some attacking threat that was missing before.

Learnt a lot today - poor first

• Rudd continues to grow in stature / confidence;   key saves at key moments;   my motm
• I thought howson was a CAM;  not on todays performance - lead to us being a little disjointed going forward
• linked,  but seperate;  wes is wasted out left;  either play him as the no 10 or not at all
• our defenders must be improved this window;   as well as needing two deep defensive cm to protect the soft CBs (long along tore positionally poor bassong & bennett apart in the first half esp)  we had to protect a poor Russ Martin by moving Howson right (Howson played that role excellently when removed from the CAM spotlight)   We cant have three of 5 midfielders defending because the back 4 isnt good enough
• Mbokani - was great in the air today (won 9 of 15 challenges) but the rest of his contribution was inadequate.   He still has plenty to offer,  just more to learn. 
• Brady was excellent at left back, with nothing from them down that flank,  and offered a better attacking threat than olsson;  but we do need either jarvis or redmond in front of him to balance some attacking threat.
• VOO is finding his feet and becoming a great impact sub - looks a better CAM option than Howson
• We gained 3 very crucial three points - and confirmed my confidence in our chances for survival
• We have great resilience and able to be ruthless when given a sniff - we took it today.

Some rest for key players and new signings for citeh please.

COYY 

 

[Gaffer]

Agree with ZLF except it's not good fortune to have a decent keeper and an opposition player to get deservedly sent off. We were the better team. And we're unlikely to improve our defenders with the budget we have available. It's normal for a team like us to have midfielders protecting the back and we have several who can do that well. We have to get used to the fact that the gung-ho approach has been tried and failed so we're going be more compact from now on, as long as it keeps working.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Oh, and probably their best player being dropped to the bench due to a disciplinary issue? While I am here,  and I have yellow and green tinted specs, but weren't Southampton the better side before they went down to ten men?  Anyway, in fairness,  it was not just down to that, as the substitution bringing on Vadis certainly was a major factor too to exploit the extra space.

 

[ZLF]

Voo on before sending off but we made it count.  Thought it was close before wanyamas whittaker impression but in sotons favour.  Mane issue suggests some internal challenges for koeman to address.  

3 pt the key thing

 

[Killiecanary]

Oh, and probably their best player being dropped to the bench due to a disciplinary issue? While I am here,  and I have yellow and green tinted specs, but weren't Southampton the better side before they went down to ten men?  Anyway, in fairness,  it was not just down to that, as the substitution bringing on Vadis certainly was a major factor too to exploit the extra space.

no, Southampton were not the better side.  Two very evenly matched sides to be honest, but part from Decs great first half save we always looked more likely to score I thought.  Defensively we were really sound and we created the better openings.  Certainly a tight game, and one that ebbed and swung a bit, but a hard fought and vital three points. 

Avoid defeat at Bournemouth and we will be in decent shape for the next home games  against Liverpool and Spuds.  

 

[Din]

Like the Villa game I didn't think we were at our best overall, but defensively once again we were solid and Tettey took his chance brilliantly to give us the win. Stupid from Wanyama to dive into a tackle like that when he had already been booked, as others have said it was heading towards a 0-0 before that, and the red card gave us an enormous boost. Didn't think Southampton played particularly well today. Didn't have any cutting edge going forward, Long often looked isolated up top, and they looked incredibly vulnerable down their right hand side, Brady had the beating of Martina all day long, and had we had another more natural winger out on the left rather than Hoolahan who naturally drifted inside then I felt we really could've taken advantage of that.

I agree with Dion that Bennett was man of the match. His positioning was superb, so often in the right place to cut out balls into the box, and is good with the ball at his feet as well. Bassong looked much more solid next to him as well today. Tettey was excellent. Took his goal really well and in general was really strong in midfield. His use of the ball was pretty good for a change today as well. Howson is in much better form now as well now which is good, that said there was one moment when Hoolahan slipped him in on goal and he chose to try and pass when he really should've shot. Odjidja though was probably the highlight, performance-wise, today. Really strong and powerful and has the ability to carry the ball and beat players. When given the chance so far this season he's looked impressive but today he really stepped it up. He could be like a new signing if he can break into the first team and perform. 

In contrast though Redmond was disappointing. Nothing he tried paid off and he just didn't seem to be working as hard as he could, hence why the crowd were getting frustrated with him. O'Neil didn't have his best game for us yet as well. He's an important player in terms of retaining the ball, but at times, particularly in the first half, he just tried to do a bit too much. Didn't think he was bad overall though. Wasn't overly convinced by Martin again today, who is certainly the weak link in our defence, and Southampton realised that as practically every attack came through Bertrand on their left. Mbokani didn't really get the same sort of service that he got against Villa, and he worked hard but didn't have a lot of luck.

One thing I don't really understand is the way we set up. Hoolahan, Howson and Redmond were clearly all told to interchange, but it often left us with no options out wide as all 3 were in central positions. Brady had to do practically everything down the left as he had no real support out there (which tbf Brady is capable of doing, and he was excellent again). I just think if you're going to include Wes you've got to play him through the middle, so I think it's strange that Howson got the nod ahead of him there. That said ultimately we won the game so I can't really complain about the tactics.

We're now 6 points ahead of the bottom 3, with 2 away games coming up against Stoke and Bournemouth. I don't think targeting 4 points from those 2 games is unrealistic, and should we get that then I'd feel very optimistic about our chances of survival, especially with a couple of new players likely to come in this month. Hats off to Neil again, 3 wins out 4 games now, and 2 consecutive clean sheets as well. 

 

[morty]

Just finished takeaway after getting home from pub, post game.

Stunningly clever and professional game today, extremely intelligent game management from Alex.

And Voo, absolutely sublime, looking like the player we all hoped he was. The way he glides past players, given his size, was a pleasure to watch.

 

[GJP]

• I thought howson was a CAM;  not on todays performance - lead to us being a little disjointed going forward

Ever since his Leeds days I've seen him as a CM, more than an AM. But I heard elsewhere that he had a good game today.

Also heard good things about VOO.

 

[Gaffer]

I agree with Dion that Bennett was man of the match. His positioning was superb, so often in the right place to cut out balls into the box, and is good with the ball at his feet as well. Bassong looked much more solid next to him as well today. Tettey was excellent. Took his goal really well and in general was really strong in midfield. His use of the ball was pretty good for a change today as well. Howson is in much better form now as well now which is good, that said there was one moment when Hoolahan slipped him in on goal and he chose to try and pass when he really should've shot. Odjidja though was probably the highlight, performance-wise, today. Really strong and powerful and has the ability to carry the ball and beat players. When given the chance so far this season he's looked impressive but today he really stepped it up. He could be like a new signing if he can break into the first team and perform. 

Just finished takeaway after getting home from pub, post game.

Stunningly clever and professional game today, extremely intelligent game management from Alex.

And Voo, absolutely sublime, looking like the player we all hoped he was. The way he glides past players, given his size, was a pleasure to watch.

These two comments reflect my own reading of the game so it's good to hear them coming from people who were actually there. Not every player was at his best but we showed more quality than they did and our tactics were spot on. I don't understand all the earlier comments about us being 'fortunate'. We were the best team and were able to exploit whatever discipline problems they have.

 

[Fimbo]

Afraid I was at the panto in Bristol during this one. Clean sheet, 3/points, and tettey showing what a great striker he is (!). Brilliant stuff. Also very excited at comments on voo. He can skin his defender, look up and deliver a great final ball. And also thought he showed great composure with that shaped shot against spurs. As they say on this board, nice! 

 

[eatonparkboy]

It was important the VOO came on. The Saints player who probably saw most of the ball was Bertrand. Redmond just never followed him back and one in the first half was almost comical as Redmond berated Martin from distance and then realised he was the one who should be chasing Bertrand.

As soon as VOO came on, and until those last silly minutes when we surrendered the ball to ten men?, they were pinned back.

He did look sublime as twice in the same move he left players for dead.

I would love to see him start against ManC and if he looks as good then sub him and put him in against Bournemouth. The Cherries will look to play the possession game and the cup game will be a good practise run.

 

[Lavanche]

The reason why we played quite narrow and even Redmond cutted in is that AN clearly wanted to win midfield and it worked quite well. Our CBs are both good in the air, but not so good runners and we dont want those central 1 vs 1 situations.

Same reason is why Brady is used as LB over Olsson as we sacrifice lot of attacking potential by playing narrow and tight we have to use better delivery at wide areas. Martin thought is not best crosser, but he had quite much open ticket to go forward and sometimes he was just side of Mbokani.

AN knew what he was doing by playing Hoolahan on left. Conservative, but working game plan against teams whose thrat comes mostly from midfielders. 

 

[eatonparkboy]

The reason why we played quite narrow and even Redmond cutted in is that AN clearly wanted to win midfield and it worked quite well. Our CBs are both good in the air, but not so good runners and we dont want those central 1 vs 1 situations.

Same reason is why Brady is used as LB over Olsson as we sacrifice lot of attacking potential by playing narrow and tight we have to use better delivery at wide areas. Martin thought is not best crosser, but he had quite much open ticket to go forward and sometimes he was just side of Mbokani.

AN knew what he was doing by playing Hoolahan on left. Conservative, but working game plan against teams whose thrat comes mostly from midfielders. 

Looking at the stats I'm not sure we won midfield, not that it matters overall. In fact, we are unlikely to win midfield in most games. I think we are tending to forget the first half could have been 5-5 with some better finishing.