Norwich v Crystal Palace - 15:00 Sat 8th Aug

[Whitechapel]

Match day chat.

 

[SALTIRE]

Think Norwich will start the campaign with a win.

Norwich 2 - 1 Palace

 

[Munkiki]

Think the last time we started the season with a win dinosaurs still roamed the earth... So there's that, then add in our poor form against Palace (W2 D6 L7) and I've already written this off. As long as it's not a mauling a la Colchester (1-7) or Fulham (0-5), I'll be okay. The meltdown on twitter by our fans after one defeat should be funny so that might ease any disappointment.

Wickham is shit so expect him to score the winner.

 

[Son of Cod]

With Speroni being out, I'm Interested to know if anyone knows who will start in goal for Palace. Seems like Pardew was bringing McCarthy in to pave the way for Hennessey to go to WBA and then Speroni gets injured and the deal goes dead. Is that just coincidence, or did he do a U-turn on Hennessey because he doesn't have confidence in McCarthy yet?

 

[Jackinky]

Norwich 2-1 Palace, expect Palace to start slowly this season and then come alive later on.

 

[ArmchairDiehard]

Difficult start for both teams this.

Norwich 1-1 Palace

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

How does Redmond not start for this lot?

 

[Hooray]

How does Redmond not start for this lot?

He will do. I think a shorter pre-season due to his U21 involvement means he's being eased back into it. Hopefully he'll start next weekend though.

I thought we did alright, but unfortunately we had a lull in the middle section of the game and conceded twice in that period.

Jerome's equalising goal being disallowed really was a very harsh decision, and you have to wonder whether we might have even gone on to score a winner after that. The referee had a bad day.

It was never a 3-1 game. Palace can and will play better than that, so it feels like an opportunity missed. We really do need to get that defence strengthened though. I'd make that even more of a priority than a new striker, as I feel Jerome will score goals this season.

 

[SUTSS]

How does Redmond not start for this lot?

Not ready to start after pre-season according to Alex Neil.

We desperately need a new centre back. If we are relying on Martin and Bassong then we're going to really struggle.

New striker will be in this week unless there is a late snag. (I have it from a very good source that a player was in the final stages of signing yesterday. Not sure who though but I think it's a striker).

RIP The Overhead Kick

 

[Munkiki]

Usually I'd come out and say that if you waste chances and defend the way we did, you don't deserve anything. But when after all of that you score a perfectly good goal to equalise only for the officials to well and truly fuck you over, it stinks.

As frustrating as it is though, any team starting with that defence deserves relegation. It was a problem last season, it was always going to be a nightmare this. The second goal was particularly criminal, how on earth do you leave two players unmarked from a corner? The third was also pretty bad but it was the direct result of us pushing for an equaliser we'd already scored, so scarcely deserved it's not even worth talking about.

The performance overall wasn't bad - just a reminder that when they come, you absolutely have to take your chances. Grabban could/should have put us up 2-0 ourselves before Palace even got into the game. It was only really when Zaha switched sides and had the beating of Whittaker (surprise surprise) that they really looked a threat. And then they gave us a lesson in taking your chances.

It's hard to get to get too down because Palace aren't a bad side and it feels like luck just wasn't on our side rather than us being out of our depth. On another day, Murray walks (how no Palace player got booked yet Tettey did is beyond me). On another day, Grabban taps that sitter in. On another day, Jerome's goal stands. On another day, we get that soft penalty (seen people call it stone-wall, not convinced myself. when you compare it to other free-kicks given in the game, sure but in isolation don't think there was much in it).

Clear weaknesses and need to learn from our mistakes but we should be okay with a couple more additions. Without them, nailed on relegation.