BFTG - Norwich

[John Madejski's Wallet]

For a game with so few chances I quite enjoyed that tbf.

Norwich looked great on the ball, but our back 3 were absolutely immense. I think if we'd had Yiadom overlapping Hoilett we'd have been a couple up in the first half, because Hoilett was class. Midfield was half decent, and Carroll and Ince tried their best against a decent defence. Might be being a bit harsh on the youngster but thought NGW was our weakest player

Lumley won't have an easier game in his career

[PieEater]

I thought that was a great point, despite their prem squad they looked pretty ordinary but you always thought they would nick a goal. As it turned out it was from a corner and against the run of play. We did well to equalise and you have to hand it to Ince to actually use his bench to try to win it. It's been a while since we had that option.

The ref was abysmal, fell for all their tricks and gave us nothing other than some really soft yellow cards.

[andrew1957]

Thought we played really well right through the team against a very good side. We have now equalled the start to Pauno,’s first season after 12 games 7-1-4 and we ended up finishing 7th - but think we are playing much better this season, I really thought we would go down this season, but now I am wondering if we might even have a small chance of a top 6 finish provided we don’t have too many more injuries.

Well done to Ince and Bowen for the summer recruitment and a great start under difficult circumstances.

[bakerlou]

Very enjoyable - I thought that we were going to get a right Sunderlanding after the first 10 minutes but it calmed down - Carroll was immense for the hour that he was on, they gave up challenging him in the air, he was awesome, it just never fell for Tince

Great work from Hoilers, Hendrick (best game of the season from him) and Fornah but Loum was a Titan at CDM and gets my MotM pick, so many of their attacks fell apart once it came to him.

Enjoyed the cameo from the new RB Mbengue too, loved the commitment when he won a cheeky goal kick at the end after a long sprint back.

[Ark Royal]

Enjoyed that. After a passive start I thought we really got at them and were unlucky to go in at half time just level - a superb save from Krul to deny Andy Carroll. Norwich will surely get promotion, but we managed to keep Pukki quiet all night and restricted them to just the one shot on target - unfortunately it went in. Other than that, Lumley could have got his deckchair out. Great early hit by Hendricks to catch out Krul before he could get set, and that was the least we deserved. Holmes MotM for me. I swear I saw him take Pukki out of his pocket at the end.

Thing I took away from the evening was that we looked as if we belonged with Norwich at the top end of the table. Great performance.

[Royal_jimmy]

Good contest and enjoyable game. Quite happy with a draw but a bit disappointed we didn't get 3 points. We didn't deserve to go behind but showed great fight to get back into the game.

Ref was abysmal.

Pathetic attendance tonight, propped up by a brilliant following from Norwich, fair play to them. Great atmosphere around the ground too.

[Snowflake Royal]

Apart from the first 10 and last 20 when we barely saw the ball, I thought the most encouraging thing was that we made good decisions about when to charge, when to play keep ball and crafted plenty of chances to go with it. And when we didn’t have the ball, we defended well. Hutchinson anticipated a hell of a lot.


We may have only had about 34% possession, but we still played good stuff. And against weaker sides than Norwich, so most teams, we should be able to have a more even possession balance.

I just adore how much we run at teams with high tempo. Getting straight at them. It upsets teams, disrupts defences, forces errors. Exactly what I want to see and the polar opposite of the pedestrian possession based crap we've been bored by for so long.

Everyone put a shift in and played well. Hardly an error to be seen. And we look like we have exciting options for the bench too.

For the first time, I could maybe start believing a top 6 finish isn't totally unrealistic. Ince could be building something good here. If he , Bowen and Carey can make some of these loans perm, and build on what they've done so far. We could be a real force next season, with some staying power. Think this one is still going to be a bit of a bridge too far, and before we're ready. But should be fun.

[Royal_jimmy]

I absolutely oxf*rd love Tom Ince!

[Zip]

I thought we were brilliant against a team who I reckon will win promotion.
We started slowly but then had a twenty minute spell when we were all over them and should have scored. The atmosphere in the ground was terrific at this stage.

When Narch scored players heads didn’t drop. Once we equalised they did then take control of the game and Ince was a little slow bringing on subs. Having said that Norwich really didn’t create much. We were very good value for the point. Very encouraging.

In the queue waiting for the bus back to Mereoak I started talking with two gents and we discovered that we all lived in the Cheltenham area. One of the guys asked me if I was a nobber and guessed who I was based upon his browsing on HNA. The conversation took a downward turn when he mentioned he had previously met a certain Ian Royal v Blackpool.. Fortunately he mentioned I was much better looking and for more intelligent than master Royal and considerably taller. I modestly nodded in agreement.

It would be very amusing if we could beat the fakes on Friday night and go top,.

[Stranded]

Well overall that was an excellent display and one where if any team were likely to nick a second it was us. Only critisim you could have is that we didn't score in that 20/25 min spell in the first half, as felt like 1 would lead to 2 very quickly - Norwich were rocking and probably haven't been stretched like that in some time in the Champ.

Carroll was a class above and on that showing you find it hard to believe that no-one better placed than us has taken a chance on him - just hope we are doing well still in Jan and he fancies hanging around for a tilt at promotion rather than take a slightly bigger pay cheque somewhere else. Only thing he didn't manage was a goal and only because of a decent, but fairly regulation save from Krul. Hendrick was also unlucky with a 25 yarder in that spell too that just curled away a few inches too much with Krul stood watching - best performance from him this season as with Hoilett who looks like the player I always hated us playing - incredibly committed and skillful - if he keeps finding space and beating his man like that then Carroll will have a field day.

Looking forward to seeing more of Mbengue but on that short cameo looks like we may have found a gem.

Mad that we can go top on Friday with a negative goal difference but sure we'd all take the draw at this point in what will be one of the toughest away trips this season.

[Greatwesternline]

Bemused at the comments that the ref was abysmal. I read them every week and rarely watch a match. I watched this one on sky sports arena, who knew?

The ref was completely unremarkable, giving players yellows when deserved, and not giving them when not deserved. What more could you ask for?

If that is an abysmal refereeing performance, what is an ordinary one?

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Holmes had an absolute belter of a game as did Hoilett. Carroll was unplayable just a shame we couldn't get Ince to link up effectively with him until late on. You could see that Norwich had class throughout the team but we had them at arms length for large sections of the game bar a few near misses. Think the subs came on right on time as they gathered momentum after their changes.
Was refreshing to see players like Joao and Ejaria continue with the pressing when they came on. Both i thought were very disciplined positionally.

It feels weird saying how amazing we played yet only drew

[Stranded]

Bemused at the comments that the ref was abysmal. I read them every week and rarely watch a match. I watched this one on sky sports arena, who knew?

The ref was completely unremarkable, giving players yellows when deserved, and not giving them when not deserved. What more could you ask for?

If that is an abysmal refereeing performance, what is an ordinary one?

He was fine however, he did miss an absolutely massive handball in Norwich's goal. Ball was directed to Hanley via the arm of Sargent and the lino didn't flag Pukki for offside even though he was standing between Hanley and Lumley. Ref had a clear line of sight on the handball too but it happens.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Was a strong performance in the main, don't think anybody had a bad game, subs included. Everyone did their jobs, just switched off once from a corner where we were probably a tad unlucky to have a couple of decisions go against us. But definitely deserved a point minimum and the only real criticism overall bar the goal would have been a lack of ruthlessness with the few that we created, but it happens and it will come.

Definitely a platform to continue pushing on from, hopefully that continues Friday because we will turn QPR over playing like that.

Hendrick's had his best 2 games for us, Carroll was class and our 2 wing backs were really good. Nice to see Loum put in a good display as well after looking a bit sloppy recently in the main.

[Hound]

It felt like a lot of 50/50s went their way at the ground but obvs we don’t see the close ups. Think he certainly missed a few fouls that should have gone our way but he wasn’t an absolute shocker

Anyway team played great for 70m. Really enjoyable performance and as said we looked like a top 7 team.

No poor performances, but Carroll, Hendrick (who is improving nicely), Loum, Hoilett, Hutch and Holmes stood out. Actually that’s about half the team

Thought NGW was very good. His superb cross led to our goal and is a cracking player going forward. Would love to see us extend his contract asap

Not that much more to add. Norwich a bit disappointing but came home feeling pretty good about things

Would be great if we could add Hector as back up. Really hope we can sort something there and then I don’t see many gaps

[Hendo]

Very enjoyable game last night, first half was excellent, second half was always going to be more of a challenge. Did well to come back from a goal down to get a point, previous seasons we may have crumbled and gone on to concede a second and a third quickly.

Thought the whole team were very decent with no one really playing poorly, shout out to big AC though - what a guy. Thought NGW had another very good game and kept the dangerous Aarons in check. Great goal from Hendrick as well. Mbengue is going to win a lot of fans if he keeps putting in cameo performances like that last night

Thought the ref was fine, a few 50/50s could've gone our way, didn't see their goal until after but it should 100% have been ruled out.

7 points from Wigan, Huddersfield and Norwich - you'd 100% take that.

[Royal_jimmy]

I thought we were brilliant against a team who I reckon will win promotion.
We started slowly but then had a twenty minute spell when we were all over them and should have scored. The atmosphere in the ground was terrific at this stage.

When Narch scored players heads didn’t drop. Once we equalised they did then take control of the game and Ince was a little slow bringing on subs. Having said that Norwich really didn’t create much. We were very good value for the point. Very encouraging.

In the queue waiting for the bus back to Mereoak I started talking with two gents and we discovered that we all lived in the Cheltenham area. One of the guys asked me if I was a nobber and guessed who I was based upon his browsing on HNA. The conversation took a downward turn when he mentioned he had previously met a certain Ian Royal v Blackpool.. Fortunately he mentioned I was much better looking and for more intelligent than master Royal and considerably taller. I modestly nodded in agreement.

It would be very amusing if we could beat the fakes on Friday night and go top,.

brilliant!

[Franchise FC]

Third and already played 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th & 10th
I don't think we can claim fake third at this point



For the time being I'm still happy to simply survive the restrictions but enjoy the ride
I'm still expecting a rollercoaster

[Zip]

I thought we were brilliant against a team who I reckon will win promotion.
We started slowly but then had a twenty minute spell when we were all over them and should have scored. The atmosphere in the ground was terrific at this stage.

When Narch scored players heads didn’t drop. Once we equalised they did then take control of the game and Ince was a little slow bringing on subs. Having said that Norwich really didn’t create much. We were very good value for the point. Very encouraging.

In the queue waiting for the bus back to Mereoak I started talking with two gents and we discovered that we all lived in the Cheltenham area. One of the guys asked me if I was a nobber and guessed who I was based upon his browsing on HNA. The conversation took a downward turn when he mentioned he had previously met a certain Ian Royal v Blackpool.. Fortunately he mentioned I was much better looking and for more intelligent than master Royal and considerably taller. I modestly nodded in agreement.

It would be very amusing if we could beat the fakes on Friday night and go top,.

brilliant!

Genuinely met these guys and the one guessed my user name straight away. He also mentioned Country Royal and Glos Royal from our part of the world too. He has also met Ian. I may have made up the bit about being better looking etc just to annoy master Royal.

[leon]

Thought the ref was fine, a few 50/50s could've gone our way, didn't see their goal until after but it should 100% have been ruled out

WTAF?