Norwich City vs Bolton (Home) Saturday 24th February.

[morty]

Hopefully a chance to make a bit more ground up in our late charge into the playoffs!

Assuming Nelson and Tettey will be recalled for this.

 

[Number 9]

Yes and no, I'd like to see Benny get some game time, reports from Wolves that he did ok but looked very rusty. His record suggests that he knows how to score a goal, surely if we can get him up to speed then Nelson will have serious competition, got to be a better situation.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Now that Nelson has notched it would be crazy not to start him against Bolton, and then give Benny half an hour. Just hope this is not another home banana skin ...................

 

[morty]

Yep,

Yes and no, I'd like to see Benny get some game time, reports from Wolves that he did ok but looked very rusty. His record suggests that he knows how to score a goal, surely if we can get him up to speed then Nelson will have serious competition, got to be a better situation.

Yep,fair point Sir Benny needs gametime to get him up to speed. No doubt we'll see both in the 90 minutes, perhaps same as Wolves where he starts with Nelson coming on late. Farke knows!

 

[Din]

Bit of a tricky one to know what to do. The 5 at the back has worked well for us in recent weeks, but I would quite like to see us change formation to a 4 at the back when at home to teams lower down the league. Klose probably being out does give us an ideal opportunity to start doing it here, though I am still a bit concerned that Reed may be left a little too exposed, despite the fact he's done well since he started covering at right back. The team I'd probably go for:

Gunn
Reed Hanley Zimmermann Lewis
Tettey Vrancic
Hernandez Maddison Leitner
Oliveira

Subs: McGovern, Raggett, Stiepermann, Hoolahan, Murphy, Watkins, Srbeny
​

Nelson has to start after his goal in the week. I'd like to see Maddison and Leitner in the advanced positions linking up in a similar way to how Maddison and Pritchard did earlier in the season, with Hernandez giving us more of a direct threat. I think this'd be a good game to give him his first proper opportunity, as Murphy has hardly been setting the world alight recently and Watkins doesn't offer us any pace when out wide. That team is assuming Pinto and Klose both miss out, if they're fit then it'll be interesting to see what Farke does. Wouldn't be at all opposed to playing 2 up top with Oliviera and Srbeny.

This is the first of 5 straight games against teams who are in the current bottom 8 of the table. I'm not expecting us to make play-off's but a good set of results to add here could propel us to within touching distance of those spots, so would love to see a win here to kick that run off.

 

[morty]

News from the presser earlier, though didn't see it all, Pinto may get a 30 or 40 minute run out, but not up to a full game yet, and Klose a major doubt with a hamstring, but late call will be made. Saw some interesting comments the other day from Klose about how much he is loving life here, and would be interested in discussing a new contract in the summer.

 

[dj161]

So I fancy us to win today and keep our good form going, though Bolton have been in good form themselves in recent weeks, would much prefer we play the Bolton of 2 months ago than the side we're getting today.

As mentioned above if Klose is out we only really have a couple of choices, either give Raggett a start or switch to four at the back, personally I'd like us to give it a go with 4 at the back and possibly play both of Srbeny and Oli to give the Bolton defence something to think about, surely we're going to dominate possession and Bolton will be happy to come away with a point, so it's up to us to break them down, this is the sort of game where two up top just looks like the right choice.

I'd go with

Gunn
Reed Hanley Zimmermann Lewis
Leitner Tettey Murphy
Maddison
Oli Srbeny​

 

[OldRobert]

Hope for 3 points today. Trust we don't risk Klose's hamstring if there is the slightest doubt. Give Raggett a start. Oliveira to score. OTBC.

 

[dj161]

looks like a 4-2-3-1 to me, Hernandez gets a start

 

[Timm Klose's Boat Analogy]

I'd quite like for us to do a goal in this half.

 

[OldRobert]

Hmm. Disappointing is the best I can come up with atm. Will wait to hear what you guys who went have to say.

 

[GJP]

Great first half. Should have been comfortably ahead.

Second half too many players either got lazy or ran out of steam. Or were just sh*t.

Leitner's football brain is a delight and his work rate sets a standard - a standard others need to take a look at.

 

[dj161]

was thinking exactly the same about Leitner, really does have a great footballing brain, reminds me a lot of Jack Wilshere

First have we should of been ahead, Leitner missed a great chance and we dominated the half, Bolton clearly setup to come away with a point though they got a bit more adventurous in the second half, where as we got a bit lackluster in the second half and could of played until april and still wouldn't of scored, still a very outside chance of making the playoffs, but four draws in a row is not the run of results we need right now if thats the target, even though the points on the road to Derby and Wolves are excellent results.

Plus the more I think about the more I realise just how bad a promotion would be right now, we're probably 4 or 5 players short of challenging for the top 6 of the championship, so how many are we short of being able to play in the premiership without being embarrassed every week?

 

[GJP]

Promotion can never come too soon.

I'd take it right now. As would all the players, Farke and Webber.

 

[dj161]

Don't get me wrong so would I, but we'd basically be going from a rebuilding season into another rebuilding season, but instead of playing Bolton and Preston, we'd be trying to rebuild whilst trying to not get humiliated by Liverpool and Man City

 

[GJP]

Fine by me.

 

[Din]

Undoubtedly 2 points dropped that. First half we should have scored at least once and had we done that we would've gone into the 2nd half in control. A mixture of being unlucky (Maddison hitting the post, the save from Oliveira's shot) and being wasteful (Leitner's one on one) meant that we didn't have a half-time lead though and 2nd half we really struggled to break an organised Bolton defence down. They contained us at the start of the half and from that point on we just couldn't get our rhythm back that we had in the first half. It's a shame as well because first half we were excellent. We moved the ball really well and I was thinking it was a case of 'when' we scored rather than 'if'. All in all it was a really frustrating afternoon.

Zimmermann merited his man of the match. Leitner also continues to look very classy, and was linking up with Maddison really well. Oliviera first half was fantastic I thought, much more like the player we saw at the start of the season and was unlucky not to score when Alnwick made a great save from his shot. 2nd half though he wasn't anything like as involved. Not much to say about the rest really. Hernandez looked a bit rusty but certainly has some promise. He worked really hard as well defensively down that right hand side. Josh Murphy though on the other wing really needs to pull his finger out. Shocking today and off the top of my head the last time I remember him having a good game was Birmingham away on Boxing day.

Final thing to say was the referee was appalling. Refused to let the game flow and barely punished Bolton's blatant time-wasting even though they were doing it practically all game. Every 50/50 he seemed to give a free-kick one way or the other, rather than just accepting that two players can go for the same ball and it doesn't have to be a foul. He's not the reason we lost but his constant stopping of play really helped Bolton's cause. Bolton had nothing today and although they were organised 2nd half we should've won that game in the first. Next up is Barnsley away another very winnable game so let's hope we can shake off the frustration from this one in time for then. Also, will Farke be banned for kicking the ball away at the end, or simply given a slap on the wrist?

 

[dj161]

Also, will Farke be banned for kicking the ball away at the end, or simply given a slap on the wrist?

surely its just a slap on the wrist, kicking the ball away isnt a red card offense if done by a player, so should be no different if done by a member of the coaching team

 

[gerryinromania]

Thanks for report Din.Always like to read them..Returned to the snowy Romania on Thursday, after some good performances,and thinking maybe we'd get a decent win today. Wass goun ornn? oh well, back to the sipping lotion. Well it is cold after all

 

[morty]

Disappointing, but its the hope that kills you, as they say!

More disappointing is reports of booing at full time, and seeing the old "Right, thats it, I'm not renewing my season ticket" being trotted out again.

Some of our fans really are a wee bit pathetic.