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Norwich City vs Derby County (away) Saturday 26th November 3pm.

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ZLF

ZLF

Well-Known Member
Is it?  I think the brentford game will be the key one tbh

but i respect your opinion to think so.

Derby have not conceded at home since Sept,  but if pinto is back to restore balance I think we could have a nerve shredding final 65 mins as we try and hold on...

Unless some one else has an olsson-esque brain fart at the start of the game
 
Canaryboy

Canaryboy

Well-Known Member
I can just see us getting thrashed and creating a toxic atmosphere at the next home game to be honest. Derby are looking very good again under McClaren.

The flip side of that is of course is that beating an in form team away from home would do Alex Neil's reputation a lot of good and could be a turning point?
 
G

GJP

Well-Known Member
We don't look like beating anyone at the moment. There's no guts in the team.

But it's a funny ol' game. 
 
dj161

dj161

Well-Known Member
you never know, cant see us winning this and certainly wont be putting any money on us to do so, I'll happily take a point here and hope for 3 at home to Brentford
 
morty

morty

Moderator
Staff member
No Pinto, no Olsson, Dorrans suspended.

Team sheet will be interesting...
 
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G

GJP

Well-Known Member
Dorrans has been playing in the comfort zone recently so I'm not sure how much of a loss he is apart from a lack of numbers.

Pinto has been sorely missed. Probably going to miss Olsson too even though he's got a f*ck up in him.
 
ZLF

ZLF

Well-Known Member
Ruddy

Martin  ?Bennett Klose. Brady

        Tettey.  Mulumbu

Jacob.  Naismith.  Pritchard

              Nelson

Personally would start with klose bassong cb pairing or go three at the back and Jerome up front but who knows.

At least they should all be fresh, no one has put in 90 mins for a month...
 
Gaffer

Gaffer

Active Member
BJ scoring had a grim inevitability about it and now where down to 7th - the same position we were in when AN took over. Neil out!
 
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Keckers

Keckers

New Member
This has to stop. AN clearly not effective in any way. Time for him to go now please Delia / Ed. 

Failure to act now is admission of lack of ambition. Seems we only really had ambition under Bowkett and McNally. 
 
Canaryboy

Canaryboy

Well-Known Member
I just don't see a way out of this for Alex Neil.

As simple as that really, we need to try and salvage our season before its too late. 
 
Canaryboy

Canaryboy

Well-Known Member
The problem I have with fans turning on individual players and picking scapegoats, even if some of them deserve it, is that these are the same players the next manager will need to try and get working together. We have seen individuals improve after a managerial change, even if only for the short term. 

And the buck stops with the manager, the one who has handed both Russell Martin and Steven Whittaker new contracts since arriving. As well as Bassong. 

The moment they get handed new contracts they become Alex Neil's players in my opinion. This is very much his squad, doesn't get that "not his squad" or "needs his own players" pass card that managers benefit from for their first couple of transfer windows if they have a patchy start.

The buck has to stop at Alex Neil. 
 
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ZLF

ZLF

Well-Known Member
that is the crux of the problem for me; its easy enough to drop Neil,  but the core of this squad have failed to defend & failed respond to defensive coaching under 3 consecutive managers,  the same players that have downed tool for the same 3 managers.  At some stage we have to accept that these players are limited and are a significant part of the problem.

Manager change is pointless without removing most of those players who have been here more than 3 seasons.  

Given the lack of attractive managerial options its probably preferable to change the players rather than the manager;  however that point has long since passed.  
 
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morty

morty

Moderator
Staff member
I have been saying this all along, the players have to accept a massive part of whats happening right now, also the board.

Contracting mistakes, and circumstances too, have meant that we have been left with too many bang average players on our books, without the financial clout to be able to clear them all out at once. Too many players that have been relegated, twice in some cases. The ideal answer is to do what Newcastle did, obviously with huge amounts of money, and just clear the lot out.

I think the board recognise this, and I think there plan was likely to offload Brady after we were relegated, for circa 15 million, for which we could have seriously upgraded at least two or three players. Fresh players who are keen to do well, not jaded ones. And I'm looking at you Bassong, Bennett and Martin.
 
Din

Din

Well-Known Member
Whilst I do think errors have been made in the transfer market, with the squad we have there is no way we should be doing this badly. A back four of Pinto, Bennett, Klose and Olsson is easily good enough to gain promotion from this league, so even if the likes of Martin and Brady would have to fill in it would hardly be the end of the world. The players should be performing better, yes, but it's become clear this season that Alex Neil has absolutely no idea how to make them start performing better, which is ultimately his job.

However glaring mistakes were made in the summer transfer window. It was perfectly obvious to anyone that we needed someone to partner Klose at centre back, as well as a quality striker to back-up Jerome. We didn't end up with a centre back, spent £4m on Oliveira who is now even behind Lafferty in the pecking order, and spent £8m on Pritchard. Don't get me wrong he's a very good player who I'm happy we signed, even if he's yet to prove it here, but we already had Hoolahan and Naismith who can play in that position. If we wanted Pritchard we should've sold Naismith and contributed that money to try and get Pritchard. I think in all honesty he was a panic buy as we just missed out on McCormack and heard Pritchard was going to Brighton so thought we may as well nick in there to try and get at least one quality player in. A Brady sale was probably the plan however the board didn't seem to have any sort of plan or strategy in place for if we weren't able to sell him.

I think Neil will be given quite a few more games yet. We have 6 games in December, so not a lot of time for a new manager to get to know his players off the pitch before games, so I think the board will likely stick with Neil throughout all of this run. You have to wonder though at what point they will sack him if we lose every game we play from now on.
 
Canaryboy

Canaryboy

Well-Known Member
I think Neil will be given quite a few more games yet. We have 6 games in December, so not a lot of time for a new manager to get to know his players off the pitch before games, 
Remember that we can simply appoint a caretaker manager until we've worked out who to appoint.

Gary Holt is unemployed, knows most of the players? 
 
ZLF

ZLF

Well-Known Member
Remember that we can simply appoint a caretaker manager until we've worked out who to appoint.

Gary Holt is unemployed, knows most of the players? 
With Ricky Martins growing influence not sure holt is likely;   although replacing him with irvine hasnt exactly improved things has it
 
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