Pre-Season, Half-Time Report

From listening to Paul Lambert’s interviews and comments regarding City’s early pre-season outings I got one overriding impression. That phase one of pre-season is over, and phase two begins now.

Even the most casual of city fan will be aware of Lambert’s media shyness, but on a pre-season tour where fitness is the primary objective. The boss would be delighted if he was spared interviews, if he didn’t have to explain the choice of opposition, and if he didn’t have to falsify reasons why we should get excited about a 19-0 aggregate tour score. As hungry as fans are for action, the tour wasn’t about wins and losses. It was about bettering the already brilliant fitness levels which have been at the heart of city’s double promotion.

The boys are back at Colney, there are a few knocks but nothing that seems to be causing any serious stress, precaution at worst seems to be the party line. If you want to panic I suppose you can, Adam Drury seems to bruise like a peach these days, whilst James Vaughan, swelling and knee being in the same sentence may be enough for some people to question his durability. The tour had to be intensive, with double sessions each day. If the worst we have is knocks then I for one am not worried.

So now the fitness and sharpness are done we have three away trips this week.CrystalPalacetonight at Selhurst. Southend on Thursday, and a return to the Ricoh on Saturday to take onCoventry. Then next week we’re back to fortress Carrow Road for the glamour ties against Zaragoza andParma, either side of a City XI game against Billericay Town.

I imagine Paul Lambert will be hoping to see some of the class he has bought and nurtured come to fruition in this week’s game. Palace andCoventrytook five points from us last season; it will be easy to be how far we have come since the end of last season, easy for Lambert to judge who has kicked on to that all important next level.

Then come the Carrow Road games against established top level European sides, however they choose to populate their squads they will provide a test. What I envisage they will bring to our preparation is a test of professionalism. If Parma and Zaragoza’s forwards dart into the box before throwing themselves over Ward and Whitbread’s out-stretched legs I think Lambert will be more than happy. This kind of top level gamesmanship and trickery is perhaps what has been missing from City’s new season preparation. John Ruddy needs to know how to dive at Javier Hernandez’s feet without giving him the opportunity to gain a penalty, and avoid getting himself suspended for the next game.

If we get through all these games and we have competed and caused the opposition problems then we are ready for the trip toWigan, and as well we might be, there’s only 19 days to go until it all begins again.

 

Anyone going to Palace or Southend, if you fancy writing a report please get in touch. @LeeCoolahan gained 1,000 hits for his Gorleston report, that could be you!

The Premier League – No Experience Necessary?

The following is a post I have written for a soon to be launch premier league statsitics blog site. I will write more about it when it goes live, and any articles I publish there will also find there way onto this site. For the time being please follow the very hardworking EPLIndex team on twitter as they prepare or launch. You can find them @EPLIndex

With six new signings already in a very pro-active summer break, Canary fans are left wondering who if anyone will be added to make up the final places in Paul Lambert’s 25 man squad.

With all the new signings being from the already well established ‘Lambert Mould’ of hungry young players, eager to test themselves, supporters may worry that Lambert will forgo the temptation to add the one thing to his squad that it seems would calm their worries, Premier League experience.

The Twittering #yellowarmy seem obsessed with it, I myself was undecided on the issue until I put my statistical hat on for EPLIndex and tried to answer the question, When trying to survive in the Premier League how important is experience?

Two teams who fought to the end and near end last season were Blackpool and West Ham. Of the two Blackpool will leave the top flight with the most neutrals singing their praises, as they played with a fearless attacking emphasis. West Ham on the other hand were at times hopeless, despite the influence of the Football Writers Player of the Year Scott Parker they were rightly relegated, with no argument forthcoming from the neutral.

 

What we learned from a rainy afternoon in Gorleston

Pre-season friendlies fall into two categories. The first category is the ‘prestige friendly’, normally against a glamorous-but-not-quite-a-top team from Italy or Spain, at the start of August with the full glare of the blazing summer sun overhead. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of the players gently snoozing before the game even starts. Shortly followed by the slightly more robust mutterings of “I can’t believe I have actually paid to watch this”.

I have vowed to myself I would never attend one of these games again. Or, to be more truthful, I make the same vow every year. Then the inevitable happens and I find myself inside the Jarrold stand (“maybe a change of view will make it worthwhile”, I lie to myself every year), instantly yearning for a refund of my 15 pounds which would be better saved to buy half a hotdog at the Emirates.

The games that fall into the second category are the David against Goliath matches. Of course this category includes lower league teams such as Southend, Posh etc, but the games that – for some bizarre and quite possibly nerdy reason – catch my imagination every year are the ones against local teams, more often than not hosted and attended by very ‘local’ people. Over the years I have been to Dereham, Fakenham, King’s Lynn, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Swaffham and Diss, to name but a few of the renowned beauty spots.

And so this year, inevitably, I found myself in what could only be described as monsoon conditions in Gorleston. Whereas last year I feared heatstroke at Aldiss Park, this year I feared trench foot at Emerald Park. The ‘executive car park’ was a bizarre mixture of sunburned, spiky tufts of grass and deep, brown muddy water. It was like I had stumbled right into the middle of an Everglades exhibition at the Model Village in Yarmouth.

Once inside the ground I was suitably impressed. Think a miniature Loftus Road, but coloured emerald green and black instead of royal blue, and you’ll not be far away. No grass banking here that is normally a key feature of the normal non-league facility, that’s for sure. No, on three sides of the ground were identikit stands, each with two rows of seats and enough leg room for Peter Crouch wearing stilts. The owner of the club walked through all the stands, thanking everyone for coming along. One could get used to this. Roman, the standards have been set.

It wasn’t all good news though. The club DJ had clearly only brought box one of his vinyl, and so before the game we meandered through the 60s, 70s and 80s with Motown, Abba and The Bangles. We peaked chronologically with the soundtrack from Flashdance.

Before I meander on any more, I must remember this is actually a match report. The proprietor of this blog wanted me to suggest what we could learn from the game today. A task which I know, as a veteran of inaugural games of the season, is absolutely pointless. They mean nothing, they indicate nowt. Gunn’s team took apart Premiership Wigan two years ago, remember, with Simon Whaley looking like David Beckham…

No, it’s just a kick about, a pass and move session, a keep ball presentation. This game was no different in all honesty. Gorleston didn’t have a shot. Not a single one. Not even the usual meaty over-the-top tackle from a hot-headed member of the opposition that gets the visiting Norwich fans spluttering and the home fans proclaiming “huh, they’re playing [insert non-league team name here] now, they don’t like it up ’em”. I could write a match report, but in all honesty its not really worth it, and you’ll have already read the write-ups from the Archant pros in any case. For me, its enough to report, “no injuries, no alarms, job done”.

Of course, the other draw for attending these games is the appearance of the new players. Here, for what it is worth, are my first impressions on them:

Ritchie de Laet – looks a bit like Luke Chadwick on steroids. He looks calm, assured and composed. Appeared to be very comfortable using either foot. Can’t remember his shirt number.

Bradley Johnson – he’s a beast of a player, who loves – and I mean loves – a long shot. Expect to be thrilled / infuriated by that trait over the coming months. He and Crofts were the dual midfield enforcers in the second half 4-4-2. Wore number 4.

Steve Morison – You wouldn’t mess. Nuff said. Wore number 5.

James Vaughan – I like the look of him – he cares. I have never seen a player, whilst warming up on the sidelines for a friendly, jumping up and down in frustration watching the game and berating playing players for ‘missing the run’. Tried very hard when he came on – possibly too hard, as not a lot came off for him, and was guilty of missing a couple of sitters. Wore number 8.

Elliott Bennett – I love a good quick winger, and so I anticipated his appearance the most. And he didn’t disappoint, even after applying the statutory caveat of, “it’s only Gorleston”. He ran the wing like his life depended on it, knocking the ball past the left back on numerous occasions and simply ran round the outside of him effortlessly. Most importantly though perhaps, he appeared to be linking perfectly with the Norfolk Cafu (© me after QPR last season). Beware the overlap Premier league, beware… . Wore number 17.

Anthony Pilkington – didn’t play, but sat down on a seat impeccably.

@LeeCoolahan

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Ah the great British summer. Great for holidays, BBQs, trips to the beach, long light evenings spent in the garden (yours or a pub’s) it’s great isn’t it? No, no it isn’t. The summer is rubbish really isn’t it? Why? Because there’s no football. No weekly fix of The Norwich. Yes, yes every couple of years there’s the World Cup or The European Championships but it’s not the same. Partly because both competitions have lost a bit of their lustre as they bent over for commercialism and partly because England will stink them out and you’ll realise from the way that makes you feel about England and its overpaid ‘stars’ just how much you love and miss The Norwich.

Those long, drawn out summer months with only the occasional snippet of The Norwich related news. The excitement of new signings, a new kit being revealed maybe (perhaps accompanied by a funny video which you watch over, and over and over again), loved or disliked players departing, the season review DVD coming out (which you view over, and over and over again), the fixtures coming out (which you peruse over, and over and over again) although this makes the longing for the season to begin even worse. This seems especially true this year after a season like we’ve just had and with the prospect of playing in ‘The Best League In The World™’ to come.

Then the players report back for training, the first pre-season friendly game comes up. You’ve sworn you’ll never go to another pre-season friendly but you’ve missed it all so much you go to the marquee friendly atCarrow Road, and again regret it and swear you won’t do it again, it’s a poor substitute for the real thing as the atmosphere just isn’t the same.

Then eventually, finally, after what seems like an eternity, crack out the lucky pants (lime green boxer shorts if you’re asking). It arrives. The first day of the season, which may or may not coincide with what I love the most and what will be most familiar to most City fans, the first home game of the season.

It’s like Christmas morning when you were a kid again, the excitement is growing, you have butterflies in your stomach as you rush to get all your jobs done in the morning then click right back into your match-day routine like you’ve never been away. Your little superstitions, your route to the ground, where you meet your mates for a drink beforehand, what time you get to Carrow Road. It’s like the summer never happened.

For the first home game of the season the sun always seems to shine, this may be a trick of the memory but go with it. The walk through riverside and the massed ranks of the Yellow Army resplendent in the August sunshine. Everyone having a few beers in the sun and catching up with friends on the summer news, who we’ve signed, how many games we can win, whether we can we stay up/get promoted. The buzz around the city is palpable.

Then into the ground. The sun glinting off the yellow shirts in the besunglassed lower Barclay, oh how our colours look fantastic on days like this. You chat to the people who sit around you that you haven’t seen for 3 months and have the same conversations you’ve already had with your mates about the prospects for the season. You see the team warming up, they all look tanned, lithe and raring to go. The old heroes you instantly recognise from any angle, the new signings warming up that you’d previously only read about, seen on TV/t’internet or in another team’s shirt and how they look incongruous in the yellow and green at first. Then the players disappear back into the changing rooms and the wait is almost over.

Then it’s here, the instant the season officially starts, that moment when the team comes out in line, the crowd roars, balloons are released, beach balls are sent aloft, torn up paper is thrown into the air around the ground and we’re back. God I’ve missed you, how did I get through without you, I love you.

The game itself is often a massive let down or non-event (with the odd exception) but it doesn’t matter. It’s back. We’re back. The Norwich are back.

I for one can’t wait. See you there.

@twitchut

Guest Columnist