AndyM3000

Norwich should try having a shot at goal, usually how you score.

Blackburn!

Albrighton lad an OG right now would be decent.

That's twice the Norwich CB has kicked a long ball forward under no pressure and sliced it out of play. 

If you were watching these teams for the first time you'd have no clue which one was in a relegation fight.

Norwich will get hammered by Leeds, they need to go for this. Hull can't overtake them, what am I missing?

Norwich are dreadful. If these lot come up they will finish bottom.

3 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Well seeing it sold out in an hour and every seat is still sold out (even singles) with no returns showing, I think it’ll be a good atmosphere in a full ground.

Only meant for the lap of honour. 

2 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said:

Hopefully we get a repeat of that atmosphere v Liverpool and we get a lap of honour

Last home game of the season being put on a Monday night is a disgrace and should never happen.

Combination of transport and it being very late on a Monday likely means the stadium is half empty.

2 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

Looked scared to make a forward pass for a while, was always looking for the simple pass to Dougie. Did improve in that slightly after bursting forward, but if he wants to start games he needs to be more decisive 

It has to be the hardest position on the pitch to play IMO. You have pressure from all sides, can't afford to lose the ball.

We have a lot of players out but the team doesn't flow as well when we play Bailey, Diaby, Watkins and Rogers in there. I don't know what it is but if you swap a couple of them and add in Tielemans, Buendia, McGinn, Ramsey I feel like there's more passing options in them pockets. Also think this is slightly why Luiz is struggling. Nothing against the first 4 players, I just think it needs a better balance overall.

9 hours ago, T-Dog said:

Mistake for the goal, but a menace going forward. I said to my mate, he seems to be one of those players that plays better when it's a more intimidating atmosphere, whereas some of the others seem to shrink away from it.

Problem is our RB isn't suppose to get forward much. If he was a LB he'd be similar to Moreno and a very good option. 

2 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Hasn't Unai said that the prem is his priority?

He said that at the start of the season and I don't have a problem with that approach but we are at the business end now. We aren't resting him to help him get through the season.

I don't know how serious some of these injuries are but we have a handful of games left, I expect them to play through the pain barrier at this stage and get the job done. If he's fit enough for the bench he should be starting and worst case bring him off at HT if he's not comfortable. 

1 minute ago, avfc1982am said:

I think this is the problem... Put Tim in there and we massively improve. Playing McGinn and Luiz on their own just doesn't work imo. 

Thought McGinn was very good in that RM slot protecting Konsa and moving into the pockets when we had the ball. He also knows he's only got one way to play from that RM slot, it's easier for him to use his body to battle and turn into space. He can't be doing that in front of our own CBs, it's way too risky.

Likewise I haven't seen Luiz get into the box since Kamara was injured, he used to arrive on the edge and even attack the 6 yard box before and get some goals. Hasn't done that for ages.

Can't be sitting out a European semi final if you are serious about trying to win it.

Both him and McGinn have dropped off since Kamara got injured. They are both having to do different roles to what we want them doing and this is what happens. We are hampering two players now, it's not worth it IMO. Slot Tim in next to Luiz and see if it improves.

Not a CM. Play him as one of the wide midfielders or behind Watkins but doesn't have the ability to play that role in CM, too busy trying to battle and play the man when that job is more about positioning and passing ability.

Good when he started bombing forward but we don't do that very often with the RB in this system. He was the one player who was suited to the way Gerrard played, a lot of running up and town and arrive in the box, getting to the byline and crossing. He's not a 3rd CB, why do we keep trying to do it? Play Konsa RB and Carlos CB. 

Why is he not playing? I don't get it. Konsa RB, Carlos CB has looked much more solid than anything else all season. 

No matter what you think about VAR we absolutely need the VAR offside check with how we play. 

Heskey was on the Peter Crouch Podcast last week talking about some of his Villa days. Said if they won on a Sat Gabby and co would try and get extra days off and they regularly didn't come back to training until the Thursday.

Everyone thought the players were worn out from playing the same team all the time but sounds like their fitness levels were likely horrendous from not training most the week. Starts 39:18 below.

1 hour ago, abdulaziz1 said:

The stats are not accurate as it doesn’t show the fact that he started twice at Etihad (which he conceded 7 goals in two games), those are in a small proportion of games. 
Don’t get me wrong, I’m worried about him starting for 3 things:

1-Distribution

2-Players low confidence of him

3-Not being able to play as a 5th defender (which most keepers don’t)

In terms of stopping shots he’s fine generally. Add to that, we’re currently short in players which will not help controlling games either.

I agree he's a decent keeper but just not for how we play. We are so close to getting over the line I just don't see a reason to stick with the logic that the players have to adapt and learn. If he was a young keeper, middle of the season sure but he's probably gone in the summer and we just need to make sure we don't do something stupid.

We hardly have any players left, stick Duran up top with Watkins and let Olsen kick it long if he has to as Duran wins his fair share of headers anyway. He was only on the pitch for half a game and played a very risky pass to McGinn that almost cost us and then caused Carlos to make that panic clearance. 

Need to get rid of the ego players like Jackson, Madueke and Sterling in order to become an actual team. The penalty issue the other week sums them up, very selfish players that want the spot light, unless they turn into the next coming of Ronaldo it will only hinder the team. Nkunku and Lavia coming back will be huge for them and I think Poch will get it right eventually but he's got so much deadwood to shift. 

That's the offside method they do everytime. The assistant VAR who does the tech draws the lines and asks the official ref in the VAR room if they are happy with it. This was aired months ago and there's been a number of shows since going through VAR decisions so I'm not sure why this has now gained so much traction again.

The way they do the offside is still subjective, which is why it annoys me a lot when you hear the commentators and pundits go "It's a matter of fact" when its still not. I am convinced that Cov goal in the FA Cup wasn't done correctly and different set of VAR crew might have ended up with it being onside.

None of this really matter though now with automated VAR coming in next season. AI will pick the point on the players based on set tracking points and there is a sensor in the ball so they can tell when it's been kicked. Even if this makes errors somehow they will be consistent and there's no bias attached to it.

3 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

What’s our analysis of the role tielemans and McGinn played against arsenal? One of them as Kamara and one of them as Luiz presumably. Either way they did a decent job of it 

They did, which I think was helped by Carlos playing in what was a solid 3 at the back in possession. I'd rather we put Konsa RB and Carlos CB every game, I think we look a lot more composed in our structure with this set up. Not blaming Cash but games just feel way more chaotic when he's involved.

As a collective I've never seen so many players with such poor first touches and misplaced passes as I have tonight. Number of them turned straight into trouble in the centre of the park and a lot of them not playing the ball but worrying too much about the man.

Good job we were clinical with what we did create that point could be huge. The players are nackered and we are running out of stream.

For me Carlos has to play and Konsa needs to be at RB. The way they control the possession allows us to slow the game down and save energy, perhaps its not the best set up against a team that plays out and out wingers but it impacts our overall build up so much.