Norwich City (A) League 1 Saturday 5/9/09.

[Banksy]

Sounds like the beast has been immense!

[Banksy]

Parkin on for Deeney, did anyone else here the boos from the travelling fans? i dont rate him at all but dont agree with booing a player as hes coming on as sub isnt going to do anybody any good!

[Jolly Johnny]

Parkin on for Deeney, did anyone else here the boos from the travelling fans? i dont rate him at all but dont agree with booing a player as hes coming on as sub isnt going to do anybody any good!

Certainly don't agree with booing him as he comes on - hardly going to boost his confidence to get into the game.

Maybe they were booing the bench's decision to bring him on and not bring Jones or Nicholls on for Till yet! :wink:

[1933]

0-0

Happy with that - defence certainly looks decent and glad for Gilmartin that we've kepy another clean sheet.

Now we just need to learn to score....

[Louise]

The main booing was from the Home Fans which proves we did a job on them.
Clayton by all accounts was immense and lets hope we can keep him for a longer term.
Solid at the back, just need to score goals.

[tape66]

Surprised at a point, quite happy really.
I wonder if we will be able to score at Tranmere?

[bleed_red_n_white]

We scored and it should of stood apparently

[Neuromantic]

Good result! As I sit in the bar here in Menorca with some Geordies and a happy scotsman!

Good to see the defence has been solid again, but goals win you games.

[windowman]

sounds like smith or beast for mannie of the match

[ShyTallKnight]

That is the worst Walsall side I have seen on paper in a long, long time...

Berk

[philthesaddler]

good result, but the lack of goals is very worrying. If you dont score, you dont win games, and if you dont win games you dont stay up, no matter how many battling points you get away from home.

[Jorge14]

good result, but the lack of goals is very worrying. If you dont score, you dont win games, and if you dont win games you dont stay up, no matter how many battling points you get away from home.

I agree. However, it sounds from Kearns that Deeney and Byfield were unlucky not to score at least once each. Good to see that we are actually crafting something in front of goal.

Would like to see Jones starting instead of Till. Good result though, and it should breed some confidence. We might even have scored by the time I next see Walsall at Hartlepool.

[ShyTallKnight]

Slow night for armchair negative posters?

[Hednesfordred]

If anyone had been offered a point at the start of the game, they would have snapped the hand off. I agree about the lack of goals, but i also agree that it appears we have created more today than the rest of the season put together.
There are not many sides who will go to Carrow Road and stop them scoring i think.
Still think that Nicholls should be given a little more than 5 minutes to show what he might bring to the party though !!!

[Norfolk_Saddler]

i just got back from the game. First time i've seen us this year but we looked solid at the back - McDonald was awesome, and the man of the match. Richards was terrible, but this may be due to the fact he was pushed out wide. Byfield and Deeney ran their socks off but had no service. Byfield heading over from 8 yards was our only real chance and he should have buried it.

Having said that, they had one shot on target - straight at Rene - and really struggled to do anythng. We also created zilch which was worrying. On todays performance, we wont get hammered by anyone but there is absolutely no creativity. Till was anonymous, and Richards on the other wing gave the ball away far too much, twice almost leading to a goal. Mattis and Taundry workmalike, but about no creativity.

Today we were crying out for some form of distrtibution from anywhere. Somebody please explain why Jones was left out.

[Magic Man Fan]

Better. Hutchings is god.

[BathSaddler]

Pleasantly surprised by that and seems like we could have even scored :wink: .

Well done lads.

[scott_powell]

Great result !

Shame we've only got mcDonald for a month :(

[1933]

Nicholls and Jones in for Till and Richards and everything will be sorted, right? :D

[aaaae]

Fantastic result, well done the lads!!

I think that having a solid defence is the first step to creating a great team and shows that Hutch has got his priorities right.

[bangsection]

Well, that was a surprise!

We created two pretty good chances to Norwich's, er, none. Byfield headed over from a decent position in the first half and he really should have scored after the break when he turned his marker brilliantly only to screw the ball horribly wide with only the keeper to beat - classic Byfield! Very impressed with McDonald. On that showing there can't be two better centre halves in the division than him and Smith. Somebody needs to get on to Mark Hughes and beg him for a season long loan. As usual our problems are in midfield. Mattis and Taundry are perfectly adequate as defensive midfielders but offer precious little going forward - we're crying out for the Mark Bradley of two seasons ago. Too often today our front two looked horribly isolated. I have no idea why Jones - our most creative player - was on the bench today but Till and Richards didn't contribute a lot - Till in particular looks really short of confidence.

Luckily Norwich were even less creative than we were. All the talk on BBC Norfolk before the game was about how Lambert has completely turned them around and how the game would be a formality. They were awful and on that showing will soon be settling comfortably into the Leeds/Forest role for a few seasons. Crap pies too - Delia you should be ashamed of yourself.

And yes, I'm sad to say that Parkin did get booed by some Walsall fans when he came on. Don't get that - especially when Hutch seems to have twigged that Deeney is actually a better target man. The worry has to be that we are a team that look most comfortable when defending - we just don't have the guile to take teams on, especially at home. Byfield and Deeney could be good enough to keep us up but we're still a goalscoring midfielder away from midtable mediocrity yet. Let's hope Jones's omission was purely tactical today and that he (or a rejuvenated Bradley) can be that player.

[geoffwhiting]

A very unexpected but extremely pleasing result. Seems we have a more than adequate defence, and it's to be hoped that Hutch can persuade Mark Hughes to extend Clayton McDonald's loan when the initial month expires, as he's clearly added some solidity. Having said that, reports from those that were there suggest that Norwich offered little going forward today.

One thing is for sure, we can't go on relying on the defence to keep clean sheets, and in any event 0-0 draws won't keep us out of trouble.

It's to be hoped that Hutch and Martin can find a combination of midfielders and forwards from the players at his disposal, to give us some bite going forward and give us some hope of winning games, which is clearly lacking at present.

But that's for another day, because regardless of any earlier performances, this has to be seen as a good result by any standards, surely the best result of the season to date.

[Chomper]

Good stuff, a step in the right direction.

Not too worried about not scoring at Norwich - I'd have taken 0-0 at the start.

Byfield is still finding his fitness and also Deeney/Parkin and Byfield are still working each other out. I'll be giving them at least a month.

The creaive midfielder may be needed. Not sure about Bradders but I have no idea what O Keefe has to offer. I thought he was attacking minded?

Clean sheets breed confidence and a team spirit, which is really pleasing.

[Pedagogue]

Parkin on for Deeney, did anyone else here the boos from the travelling fans? I don't rate him at all but I don't agree with booing a player as he's coming on as sub isn't going to do anybody any good!

I would have thought that the booing would have come from the Norwich fans - aimed at Richards and Parkin as ex-Ipswich players. Surely they had some "Tractor Boy Reject" calls? :D

[Stu]

We scored and it should of stood apparently

No, it was they who scored from a corner, but it was ruled out for a foul apparently, although they didnt think anything happened.

[Cheesebag]

OK....First time i've seen us since Rotherham friendly due to holls so here goes with no pre judgmental views.

Clayton Mcdonald = awesome....super confident, nothing too rushed you can tell this guy has the potential to go far.

Byfield and Deeney.... Good hard working combination up front. Byfield should really have scored with his header and Deeney ran his socks off. Shows potential.

Defence and forward line to me seen OK, The only problem I had today was with the midfield. How Till gets a game in front of Nicholls on the right is beyond me. He either ran into people or got the ball and passed backwards.

Mattis did OK in the middle, Richards seemed a little "out of it".

Parkin, to be fair when he came on did OK...Yep people laughed and even booed, which was a little embarrasing but he did OK... I can only call it as I saw it! :)

To sum it up, Hard working and Satisfactory.. Could have really won, Norwich, apart from about a 10 minute spell in each half were pretty average.

[PT]

Just back - thank goodness it's Tranmere next week!

Really pleasing performance. I thought the back 5 (inc Rene) were superb and thwarted every Norwich attack with a guile that belied the youth of three of he back four. Deeney and Byfield looks like a promising combination. We created the best chances through their link up play and I'm sure Hutch will stick with them both in forthcoming fixtures.

As others have said the disappointment lies in midfield where there was a load of hard work and effort but we just lack an individual with the vision to find half a second and deliver a killer pass - a Bukran, Samways or a Preece. Like I say, all four put the hard yards in today and covered every blade but very often were rushed or wasteful in possession.

But, really good point and the least we deserved. My motm would have to be shared by the two centre-backs - they were magnificent.

[Exile]

Good result!

Good to see the defence has been solid again, but goals win you games.

I agree.

[Duke]

Parkin on for Deeney, did anyone else here the boos from the travelling fans? i dont rate him at all but dont agree with booing a player as hes coming on as sub isnt going to do anybody any good!

Totally agree booing our own will achieve nothing.

Much better result hopefuly a confidence building result .
Listening to reports on Sky yesterday the second half was a none event , but in the first we did creating a couple of chances.

[Wyrley_saddler]

What a well earned point which could have easily been 3! Byfield was superb for us and his partnership with Deeney is slowly growing. If Byfield was 'match sharp' he would have scored today.

Our main problem was the wingers. We kept turning back every time we got it out wide. We should play Nicholls & Jones on the wings as they will run at the defenders instead of turning their backs to them.

At the back, Manny and McDonald were superb together. We should try and keep McDonald for longer than the month if we can.

As for Norwich, I thought they were poor compared to what I expected. Never realy got going imo.