Sunday lunchtime - Norwich at the DW | Page 2 | Vital Football

Sunday lunchtime - Norwich at the DW

Victor Moses ;) said:
Before driving home, quick comment on today's game.

Thought we played very well up to the point when we made subs and changed the shape.

Dunkley could of covered Pukki better for their goal, he's a very good player. Excellent touch, link up play and movement off the ball. Wasted quite a few chances but certainly showed his quality throughout the game.

Clarke had a very good game, seem's he's willing to put a shift in when others around him do as well. When he's alone with no press he doesn't look interested. But today he won the ball back quite a bit and helped setup counter attacks.

Lee Evans played well behind Clarke, held the ball using his frame throughout the game and put a good shift in covering the danger area of where Norwich wanted to play through to build their attacks.

Windass came on and was awful, wasted the ball and didn't work hard without it. Also the shape change gave them the space they wanted and it helped them create more openings. Still a very useful point for us and they worked hard against a team who play out very confidently from the back. Shame Clarke missed that 1v1. Good effort though all round.
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You didn't mention Powell who offered less than Windass and let their players run past him, something Massey was doing!
To me he has mentally already left the club and should be left out for the rest of the season!
Besides that thought we were excellent with the booboy targets Naismith and Clarke showing that they really are Championship players!!
 
Kenny Morris said:
You were saying ????
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They obvs found the marbles and I'm very happy to be wrong. Well done all round today even Cook and Kal....!
Thats the commitment and application levels required in this league pity it's been missing for months as we wouldn't be in our current position.
As for the offside Clarke effort - don't think a liner would be flagging it for Leeds at Elland Rd !
 
James, Clarke and Robinson our best players today. Robinson is improving after a very shaky comeback from injury.

While the "tactics" it is still just pointless longball after longball the counterattacking looked way improved.

Clarke was offside for the second goal but it was very tight.
 
exiled tic said:
You didn't mention Powell who offered less than Windass and let their players run past him, something Massey was doing!
To me he has mentally already left the club and should be left out for the rest of the season!
Besides that thought we were excellent with the booboy targets Naismith and Clarke showing that they really are Championship players!!
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Did I hear people booing the fact that he was taking Naismith off? I thought so. The lad has grown and grown as the season has gone on, his confidence and his general game. He made some lively runs at them and was inches away from scoring in the first half.
Windass didnt do himself any favours when he came on, and it was he who lost the ball when they ended up scoring, albeit we had enough opportunity to intervene before they did. Pukki took the chance well, but we gave him too much room.

I also question how much effort Powell is putting in. His body language is shocking. If he shapes himself, he can have a very good career. But at the moment, he will end up a lower league journeyman with about 12 clubs. Come on Nick, lad! Its a short career. Get your finger out and make the most of your obvious talent. When your 34 you can retire and smoke cigars all day, drinking cocktails whilst sat on a Thai beach, or wherever. But until then, why not give it your all and make the best you can of your career.
 
Very impressed with the team today, considering they have no fight in them and should hang their heads in shame. Clarke MOM for me, but there were several stand out performances. Pity our injuries took their toll, there's no way we'd have ended up with Powell and Windass on the wings if Jacobs, Pilkington or McManaman were available, unfortunately I think he had to replace Naismith and Massey as they were both flagging after putting a phenomenal amount of work in. Hope the Fox injury isn't too serious as without him things will look a lot bleaker at the back. Final mention to Morsy, well done for avoiding a booking for the 7th consecutive game. He's on 13 (I think) and 2 more will result in a 3 match ban, which is the last thing we need in the run in.
 
A truly incredible performance today. I take back everything I said yesterday about the team having no fight; if we can just play like that for the last 3 games I have no doubt whatsoever that we'll stay up. Naismith was absolutely immense today, it was one of the performances of the season in my book. That moment where he ran about 30 yards and then played a perfectly weighted ball to Clarke took me aback; it was amazing and created a great chance out of absolutely nowhere. I couldn't believe it when Cook substituted him after 70 minutes and brought the inept Windass on; I think that changed the game to be honest as Windass was completely ineffective, and up until that point we were looking very comfortable.

I'm not going to criticise Cook too much, though. It was a very attacking-minded change, and it isn't the manager's fault that Windass played poorly. If we can replicate this performance for the next few games I will have seen enough to believe that Cook is the man to take us forward. It's really important to maintain this now, and carry the momentum from the display in this game right through to the end of the last day. Really looking forward to Leeds now.

Clarke also had a really good game and his effort in the one and one wasn't bad at all, Krul just did well in closing him down, and it was unlucky that the ball didn't fall an inch to the left otherwise we'd have been two-nil up and probably won the game. Fox was fantastic, Walton put in a good performance, Byrne was impressive and Reece James was brilliant as always. Special mention for Morsy and Evans, who won most battles and generally kept the midfield strong, as well as Antonee Robinson who really impressed me with his pace and speed in changing direction (although I think he himself would admit he doesn't have the best right foot;)). Dunkley was solid at the back along with Fox, except for that one lapse of concentration that led to Pukki's goal. That can happen to the best of defenders, though, especially against a team like Norwich.

Today genuinely went a significant way in reinstalling some of the pride I have previously felt to be a Wigan fan. It really is a brilliant club to support when the players give it their all, and we often tend to pull off unexpectedly spirited performances when I least expect us to. Very well done to players and manager.

Also, special mentions to the so-called 'clappers' who kept their faith in the team's ability to fight; the match today has made me seriously reevaluate and reconsider how easily I dismiss the team's character.
 
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On the Morsy booking issue, has he not passed a ‘deadline’ (there used to be one) where he’s not automatically incurring another ban., maybe they’ve ditched that rule?
Thought Byrne cost us the goal charging out of position to go for a ball he has no chance of winning and then left a hole behind him.
Offside was harsh but to balance that so was the penalty.Having seen it since the ball strikes his hip and bounces up to his arm .... definitely ball to hand for me.
Really good overall performance though and a good point I think.

They really have to target the PNE game now....pity their manager has now committed to them as they really looked to be drifting
 
96Tav said:
Did I hear people booing the fact that he was taking Naismith off? I thought so. The lad has grown and grown as the season has gone on, his confidence and his general game. He made some lively runs at them and was inches away from scoring in the first half.
Windass didnt do himself any favours when he came on, and it was he who lost the ball when they ended up scoring, albeit we had enough opportunity to intervene before they did. Pukki took the chance well, but we gave him too much room.

I also question how much effort Powell is putting in. His body language is shocking. If he shapes himself, he can have a very good career. But at the moment, he will end up a lower league journeyman with about 12 clubs. Come on Nick, lad! Its a short career. Get your finger out and make the most of your obvious talent. When your 34 you can retire and smoke cigars all day, drinking cocktails whilst sat on a Thai beach, or wherever. But until then, why not give it your all and make the best you can of your career.
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Agree Tav to me he is literally going through the motions hoping for a glory moment, imagine if he put in the effort of Morsy or James, he would be a superstar! Totally wasting his talents!!
 
exiled tic said:
You didn't mention Powell who offered less than Windass and let their players run past him, something Massey was doing!
To me he has mentally already left the club and should be left out for the rest of the season!
Besides that thought we were excellent with the booboy targets Naismith and Clarke showing that they really are Championship players!!
Click to expand...

Powell put a shift in when he came on. Neither of them are wide players, so shouldn't be be expected to fulfill their roles correctly when its not a position they're experienced in. But unlike Windass he covered some ground.

Your right about Massey though, worked hard and had just earned us a free kick on the edge of the box. Terrible decision to bring him off as he still had energy. Naismith's and Evan's tanks were empty at that point though. The shape change certainly helped them more then it did us though.
 
My mate keeps meticulous stats from all our games and the one that's the most striking is that when Windass has come on as a sub the opposition have scored every time. He offered nothing again when he came on apart from keeping my mate's stat true to form.
Great energy and fight from the team today. Morsy led the team really well, Clarke was amazing and Reece James gets better and better with every match he plays. I was pessimistic we could get anything out of the match and was glad to be so wrong.
 
Thought we'd get beat, so a point is probably a bonus, though deflated we let another two slip through the net.

Probably owe Leon fucking Clarke an apology as he moved more today and put in more effort than he has combined since he came back. In fact the whole team put in a decent shift today so can't fault the fight or effort today - just a pity it goes missing everytime they play away. I hope Fox's injury isn't bad as it's clear he's the best defender we have.

Maybe wrong but I thought there was some indecision about who was to take the penalty. No surprise to see James take on that responsibility and put it away when the pressure was on. Another feather in the cap for the lad for doing so. Cooks game management was once again disappointing.

Good point or bad point I guess time will tell. We're very unlikely to get owt at Leeds so personally I wouldn't be risking any players or adding fatigue to any key ones. Take the medicine and concentrate on the 3 that are left. Show the same fight and we'll have a chance, if we revert to type then we won't.
 
Hanging in there by the skin of our teeth, ready to fight on to the bitter end (hopefully). Impressed with the teams commitment, giving everything they had. I just hope this is not a one off, for we will need to repeat this in the coming fixtures if we want to get to the Milwall game still in with a chance of staying up.
that young player James what a talent.
 
Wh
Victor Moses ;) said:
Powell put a shift in when he came on. Neither of them are wide players, so shouldn't be be expected to fulfill their roles correctly when its not a position they're experienced in. But unlike Windass he covered some ground.

Your right about Massey though, worked hard and had just earned us a free kick on the edge of the box. Terrible decision to bring him off as he still had energy. Naismith's and Evan's tanks were empty at that point though. The shape change certainly helped them more then it did us though.
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Why are their tanks empty three quarters through a game?
 
Before the game I'd have taken a point but at full time I was disappointed we hadn't taken all 3 as it was nothing short of what we deserved. Great to see the hard working, high pressing game giving Norwich little time on the ball & stifling to an extent their quick pass n move game. Naismith was my MOM & was gutted to see him subbed (don't think he looked too impressed to be subbed either). Just a shame we couldn't have put away 1 of our near misses to claim all 3 points. Good turn out from Delia's boys n girls & it was good that our footy kept them quiet for long periods. Can we have more of the same for the rest of the season Mr Cook????
 
DWDan........ Massey was injured.... He hobbled off.

MIW...... Clarke was the same at Hull..... Until he let their mon in for the winner. He should have scored his one on one today.

Jeff........ Evans was knackered cos he covered every blade of grass on the pitch.

Great performance from everyone....... except Windass. That was shockingly "can't be arsed". Powell bollocked him at one point for not overlapping when a great opening was on.

Keep that up lads and we'll be OK.
 
jeffs right said:
Wh

Why are their tanks empty three quarters through a game?
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Already mentioned above, neither were match sharp. They may of been match fit, but usually takes two games for a player to be match sharp.

It was a very back and forth game. We pressed from the front, the tempo and pace of the game was good. They also had excellent control and composure on the ball at the back and we had to apply several layers of the press to get after them.

Although when Evans was removed from the attacking central area their control with the ball was much better, it caused us problems at the end. He seems to know how to plug the gaps at the right moments without needing to burst around every where and shut down the important passing lanes further up the pitch.

Hopefully fox is okay, we need him for the rest of the season.
 
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