Monthly Archives: December 2012
Aston Villa: A light at the end of the tunnel?
Optimism has been in pretty short supply at Aston Villa over the past couple of years.
It seems so long ago now, but Villa actually finished sixth three seasons in a row between 2007/08 and 2009/10. Champions League football was even mentioned in dispatches back then but ultimately the club had to settle for ‘just’ Europa League qualification. The dates and times that these finishes took place do sound vaguely recent, but to Villa fans they must seem like decades ago – perhaps even alongside the club’s European Cup win in 1982. So, so much has changed.
Largely they have changed for the worse, as a season of mediocrity under Gerard Houllier was then followed by a campaign under the disliked Alex McLeish which made Houllier’s look good.
In the summer, Paul Lambert entered a club who had just finished two points and two places above the relegation zone. Had the bounce of a ball here or a shot off the post there been slightly different then the Premier League might now have only six clubs who have been ever-present during its 20 year history and not seven. Villa could have easily gone down.
They could easily go down this season if you believed what many pundits and observers were saying both back in the summer and when Lambert got off to a poor start with only one win in his first nine league games, but things were slowly starting to take a turn for the better before Saturday’s trip to Anfield where they suddenly hit fast forward.
Villa’s young side were excellent at the weekend.
It is no great achievement to soak up the pressure that Liverpool’s frequently toothless side put on you on their home ground, but to combine that with the attacking prowess that Villa showed in scoring three goals showed that things are beginning to come together for Lambert’s men.
Whilst a young back four of Matthew Lowton, Ciaran Clark, Eric Lichaj and Nathan Baker did excellently at one end to shackle Luis Suarez and company, it was left to Andreas Weimann and the brute force of Christian Benteke to flatten Liverpool at the other. This wasn’t a smash and grab, it was far more perfectly executed than that.
And the key thing about it was that it was achieved with such a young team. Take out the goalkeeper Brad Guzan and the average age of Villa’s outfield players was under 23. In a season when we have heard much about Liverpool’s youngsters here were Villa’s flattening the Reds on their own ground.
As with all young teams there will be the bad days as well as the good – with Sunday’s visit to Chelsea hardly one to look forward to – but Villa will take confidence and belief there following a run of five league matches unbeaten since they were hammered 5-0 by Manchester City last month. Throw in a 4-1 Capital One Cup win over an in-form Norwich and suddenly Lambert might be targeting a positive result at Stamford Bridge.
Wins like that can wait though, especially with such a young side, and whilst caution should be urged given that Villa are still just three points off the bottom three and facing Tottenham after they play Chelsea those first flickers of optimism should be returning to supporters’ faces.
This will still be a slow process no matter how many times they can pull off wins like Saturday’s, how many goals Benteke scores or how many blocks their fearless back four can make, but at least Villa fans can acknowledge that it is finally a process. After a couple of years of stagnation things appear to be moving again.
Whether Villa will get to the heights they used to reach remains to be seen, but it promises to be fun watching them try.
GW17 NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!! #FPL
| 15 Dec 12:45 | Newcastle |  |
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| 15 Dec 15:00 | Liverpool |  |
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| 15 Dec 15:00 | Man Utd |  |
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| 15 Dec 15:00 | Norwich |  |
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| 15 Dec 15:00 | QPR |  |
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| 15 Dec 15:00 | Stoke City |  |
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| 16 Dec 13:30 | Tottenham |  |
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| 16 Dec 16:00 | West Brom |  |
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| 17 Dec 20:00 | Reading |  |
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Arsenal |
Walcott
Santi Cazorla (3)
Podolski (2)
Gameweek 17 preview: No Chelsea, no problem?
The Hazard lights are flashing as Fantasy bosses come to terms with the Mata at hand. Chelsea aren’t playing this Gameweek.
Sorry, that was an awful pun-related start to a weekend which looks as though it could offer up quite a lot of points if you stay away from the west Londoners and focus your attention on the red halves of Manchester and Merseyside.
Having come through last Sunday’s fixtures clutching 3-2 away wins and in some cases a few scars, Manchester United and Liverpool return to action in home matches that they should take three points from.
United host Sunderland at Old Trafford, and although the Black Cats saw their form dramatically improve in midweek thanks to a 3-0 win over Reading which mercifully featured goals from Steven Fletcher (£7.2m) and Stephane Sessegnon (£7.6m) for those managers who trusted the Black Cats pair during their double Gameweek, this contest looks like being one that the home side will have the upper hand in.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have hit ominous form and with a relatively kind fixture list over the Christmas period their players could be ones to follow as they seek to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Robin van Persie (£13.8m) grabbed the late glory at the Etihad Stadium last weekend, but it was the two goals from Wayne Rooney (£11.9m) which really attracted the attention and has seen his price begin to slowly rise back towards its original £12m.
Rooney tends to score in bursts, and with braces in his last two games he is certainly experiencing one of those now. He has apparently complained of illness in midweek, but he is unlikely to let a little thing like that affect him as he bids to shoot down the Mackems on a Saturday afternoon when his inclusion in your team could prove crucial.
Not far away on Merseyside, Liverpool will be bidding to build on their run of back-to-back league victories as they welcome Aston Villa to Anfield.
Like United they have a somewhat welcoming set of fixtures to negotiate over the Christmas period – albeit without the certainty that Ferguson’s men bring to the table – and whilst most might be looking at selecting Luis Suarez (£10.3m) now that he has returned from the one-match suspension he served at West Ham last weekend, it might pay to look elsewhere especially if Chelsea’s lack of action has left you short in defence and midfield.
Glen Johnson (£6.3m) was on the mark last weekend and Raheem Sterling (up to £5.7m now) has showed terrific promise all season, but if you need a one-week replacement for a Mata or a Hazard then perhaps a move for Steven Gerrard (£9.3m) could pay off.
Gerrard has scored more goals against Villa than any other team, and although he blotted his copybook with an own goal last weekend he’d already chalked up an assist for Johnson’s strike. He has created more chances than any other player in this season’s Premier League bar Leighton Baines, and he’s likely to have opportunities for more against Villa.
Speaking of Baines, his Everton side go to Stoke in what looks to be an uncompromising encounter which could see defenders on top, whilst the opposite is likely to be true of Tottenham’s clash with Swansea on Sunday. Jermain Defoe (£8.4m), Aaron Lennon (£7.0m) and Michu (£8.0m) could all be in the points in a match which should produce goals.
Norwich are finding goals easy to come by at the moment, with defender Sebastien Bassong (£4.9m) proving a recent hit thanks to his three strikes in four games. As they entertain Wigan he’ll be hoping for defensive points too, with Javier Garrido (£4.8m) and Steven Whittaker (£4.3m) other cheap choices who have impressed.
Manchester City go to struggling Newcastle as they bid to get over last weekend’s derby loss, and with Carlos Tevez (£9.4m) failing to complete 90 minutes since his 19 point haul against Aston Villa in Gameweek 12, Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) again looks likely to lead the line.
The Argentine hasn’t scored in four games, and although Dimitar Berbatov (£7.2m) hasn’t netted in five he looked sharp against Newcastle on Monday night and could be worth backing as Fulham go to bottom club QPR.
@Mark_Jones86
Southampton: A not-so scary story
There aren’t any monsters living under your bed, Friday the 13th is just a date like any other and The Exorcist was just a movie. Heads don’t really spin around like that.
In short, you don’t have to be scared. What initially seems unfamiliar and daunting can be overcome and eventually enjoyed if you just allow yourself to be a little braver and take control of the situation.
Southampton are proving that at the moment.
Following early run-ins with the big beasts of the Premier League, the Saints have slowly begun to acclimatise to their surroundings and are now even starting to look comfortable.
Brave losses to both Manchester clubs and a 6-1 hammering at Arsenal was a tough beginning to life at the top level for boss Nigel Adkins, but he and his side have recovered and come up with some eye-catching football in recent weeks. They’ve only lost one of their last six games.
That defeat came at Anfield at the beginning of the month when some Saints followers felt that their Merseysider boss Adkins showed Liverpool a little too much respect on the way to a 1-0 reverse. And so just when they were in danger of looking intimated by the division again they came up with last weekend’s 1-0 home victory over Reading, possibly their most important result of the season.
It was a win which lifted Saints out of the bottom three and into 15th, a highest position of the season so far.
Of course it is far too early to suggest that this is form that will see them pull away from the relegation zone and enjoy safety in their first top flight season since relegation from the Premier League in 2005 – they subsequently had a spell in the third tier of course – but what it does show is that Adkins and his side aren’t in danger of being completely overwhelmed by the top division, and nor should they be.
There were a few weeks back in August and September when that looked to be the case though, but crucially Southampton have been beating the teams around them this season.
Aston Villa, QPR, Newcastle and Reading are the four sides who Adkins’s men have seen off to pick up 12 points which were as crucial for Saints to claim for themselves as it was to prevent their opponents from taking them.
Given that their weekend fixture with Chelsea has had to be moved into the New Year due to the Blues’ Club World Cup involvement this seems like the perfect time for Southampton to take stock of their campaign and look to move forward again.
A home fixture against Sunderland when they return to action on December 22nd is another opportunity to beat one of those other teams around them, and Adkins will doubtless be looking to prolong the good feeling amongst his players during this gap without a match, a gap which he says will help them given that it provides the chance for captain Adam Lallana to recover from a knee injury without missing a match.
Others such as Rickie Lambert, Jason Puncheon and Nathaniel Clyne – all impressive in recent weeks – won’t be given time off during Southampton’s break but will instead be encouraged to keep working hard and keep proving that they, Adkins and the club have nothing to be scared of as they continue to go through life in the Premier League.
They are still likely to be involved near the foot of the table come May – even the most optimistic of Saints fans would probably agree to that – but any extra confidence they pick up along the way is sure to stand them in good stead when the wins suddenly get more vital and three points can feel like six.
That’s not a situation to be scared of though, and luckily Southampton know that now.
@Mark_Jones86
#FPL GW16: NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS !!
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| 09 Dec 13:30 | Man City | |
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| 09 Dec 15:00 | Everton | |
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| 10 Dec 20:00 | Fulham | |
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GW15 The Review!
Here is the GW15 review from @shots_on_target . For great football Stats and opinion visit http://www.shotsontarget.co.uk
Great performance from Chelsea here, taking full advantage of Chelsea’s current plight. The visitors could have been ahead and in full control of the game by half time though but failed to capitalise on Mata‘s opener, assisted by Torres for his first attacking points for an ages. Andy Carrol looks likely to miss up to 8 weeks of football now in the winter period where West Ham’s direct style of play should prove advantageous. In his absence it will be up to Cole, Nolan and Maiga to find the goals.
This result and performance is the final seal on Everton’s form this season. They are the real deal and Fellaini is a colossal threat to any team. City’s home defence has been goodt this season, one of the league’s best, so Everton’s 4 shots on target is impressive, plus their shape in defence is much improved with Gibosn back in the centre of midfield. Carlos Tevez was City’s busiest attacker but other threats in Silva and Nasri were kept very quiet.
A tremendous all round display by Swansea who bested Arsenal.at their own game. Laudrup’s men showed harmony in attack and defence to wrack up the chances and prevent them at the other end, with Michu once again the man to benefit with another big points haul in the Fantasy Premier League. The Spaniard is now joing top scorer with Van Persie and Suarez. Arsenal’s front three lacks energy and Wegner’s decision to play Gervinho over Giroud back-fired.
Much fancied Liverpool here put in the kind of performance that looks great on paper but does not put the ball in the back of the net. They dominated another game, limiting Southampton to just 1 SoT. Luis Suarez would have been heavily captained this weekend but despite numerous chances reverted to type and only hit the target the once. He did hit the crossbar though,the rebound from which led to the goal. Glen Johnson and Enrique both provide great attacking potential from the full back position to add to their clean sheet appeal.
I had expected Fulham to do well in this game and they started the brighter. The injury to Ruiz has seen Berbatov deployed in a withdrawn role supporting Petric and hence a lack of any shooting chances for the Bulgarian and an overall lack of quality for Fulham. Tottenham showed their superiority here and were very effective in turning this into scoring goals, something which Jermaine Defoe has always pretty good at.
More goals scored in this one than either team are used to although both teams performed below their oppositions average rates. A low overall shot total too, with majority of these coming from set pieces. There’s little to get excited about to be honest. Sessegnon is starting to get himself into shooting chances, Pilkington too, but for their price tags I’d look elsewhere. Sessegnon would be my one week punt for the double gameweek though, if you are so inclined.
Alex Ferguson’s men rarely fail to create headlines, whether it’s getting beat by an underdog or putting out crazy scorelines like this one. Looking at the shot totals both teams put in average overall performances, doing particlarly well at hitting the target, and then even better at scoring. Two of Reading’s three came from Nicky Shorey corners with Rooney‘s first from the spot resuting from a foul after a corner. Van Persie notched his 10th league goal this season, had another wrongly ruled out, and was United’s focal point in attack again.
Redknapp’s much sought after first win of the season for QPR did not materialise here, partly due to a stout pefromance from Villa and goalkeeper Brad Guzan, but also a lack of quality at the cutting edge of the home team’s attack. They created enough chances but the likes of Park, Taarabt and SWP are not goal scorers at this level. Aston Villa settled for a point and offered very little going forward, fair enough.
West Brom perhaps desereved a point out of this game with Dorrans providing goal threat and creativity in good measure but the Baggies don’t have have enough attacking flair or the style of play to pick apart a defence as solid and as organised as Stoke’s. Steve Clarke’s team have excelled on the counter-attack many times this season but that’s not a strategy that’s going to work against a team like Stoke who don’t attack in numbers. This should not diminish West Brom’s appeal this season but does add futher value to the Stoke defence.
Fantasy Yirma – Main League Update #FPL
The official Fantasy Yirma league, is ticking along nicely with the top 10 in our league all within the top 2000 in the game.
In first place – Rocky Ogle is in 34th place following GW15 – some achievement when you consider there are more than 2.5m entries in the overall main game !!
The league is free to enter and as with previous years there is a prize of £50 to the winner.
To Join the FY league CLICK http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/138818/join/?autojoin-code=44397-138818
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1 | Rocky’s X1 | Rocky Ogle | 55 | 922 |
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2 | TerrorToon | joe p | 54 | 908 |
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3 | Roderick’s X1 | Fantasy Stalwart | 72 | 889 |
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4 | Vinny’s Vandals | Vinny Goodfield | 77 | 880 |
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5 | Fluorescent Lampards | Eli Lourie | 73 | 879 |
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6 | real kaka krakers | mell hyzam | 54 | 879 |
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7 | Nortei Nortey | Chris Galloway | 62 | 874 |
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8 | MaushiChiGaand | Pawrush Elavia | 58 | 872 |
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9 | Colbert Nation | Tom Kingscott | 59 | 872 |
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10 | Jonespipe Toon | Mark Jones | 89 | 869 |
Fantasy Yirma H2H league update
Since 2007 more than 2000 people have had a go on YIRMA.
The NIFFTY LEAGUE (Northern Ireland Fantasy Football Through Yirma) started in January 2012 as an invitational Head to Head version of the main game.
Reset and raring to go for the new season NIFFTY is back!
Capped this year at 38 people we have a great mixture of Northern Ireland legends, current Internationals, local radio personalities and the 20th most influencial man in Northern Ireland…
We feel the NIFFTY League has an impressive line up!! Keith Gillespie, Warren Feeney, Grant McCann and Michael O’Connor have almost 200 International Caps for Northern Ireland and much is expected of their teams!
Alan Simpson Vs Stephen Clements is the NI radio grudge match – battle of the airwaves!! I imagine a forfeit for the loser of this pairing could be quite entertaining….
With several fantasy football enthusiasts and of course the Fantasy Yirma Admin team of @ryano83 @mark_jones86 and @pedro_lamb this league promises to throw up some good matches and produce some questionable banter on twitter.
*@ryano83
Follow us on @fantasyyirma for #NIFFTY updates
NIFFTY League players:
League Top 10 following GW15
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1 | hotspurs | 12 | 1 | 2 | 821 | 37 |
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2 | Haven’t Got a Kalou | 12 | 0 | 3 | 817 | 36 |
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3 | Ninja Kagawa | 11 | 0 | 4 | 853 | 33 |
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4 | Werder Beertent? | 11 | 0 | 4 | 791 | 33 |
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5 | Wilkos newco | 11 | 0 | 4 | 765 | 33 |
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6 | Lamb County | 11 | 0 | 4 | 763 | 33 |
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7 | Summer’s Shooters | 10 | 2 | 3 | 695 | 32 |
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8 | Cricklewood NW2 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 816 | 27 |
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9 | Phil Dowd’s Shroud | 9 | 0 | 6 | 808 | 27 |
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10 | FC Bull Mtn. | 9 | 0 | 6 | 759 | 27 |
Gameweek 16
Gameweek 16 preview: Will Black Cats bring good luck?
If a team is playing badly then can Fantasy bosses trust their players on a double Gameweek? We’re about to find out.
Sunderland have won just one of their last nine games, a run which has seen them slide down the table and now sit just one point and one place above the relegation zone.
It is hardly stellar form and they are results which have cast serious doubt of the future of boss Martin O’Neill, who will be desperate to pick up at least one positive result in the days ahead as his team face two very different challenges.
First up is Chelsea on Saturday, and with Rafael Benitez struggling to adapt to the very peculiar demands of the Stamford Bridge hotseat – in the Premier League at least – then the Black Cats are likely to fancy their chances ahead of that and their second game of the week against Reading on Tuesday.
Fantasy bosses who are playing the long game will have had Steven Fletcher (£7.2m) in mind for this Gameweek for as long as Sunderland’s game against the Royals was called off due to excessive rain in the north east in August – a common occurrence there – but with the Scot struggling with an ankle injury then it might pay to switch those sights to Stephane Sessegnon (£7.4m) now.
This season the Benin international might not have hit the heights that he regularly found during his last campaign when he registered seven goals and 12 assists, but there have been signs that he’s returning to form recently and whatever Sunderland do over their next 180 minutes is likely to heavily involve him.
Fletcher, Adam Johnson (£6.8m), Craig Gardner (£4.9m), Carlos Cuellar (£4.6m) and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet (£5.1m) are others to keep an eye during Sunderland’s heavy workload, but it is next Tuesday’s opponents Reading who might offer the greater value for your Fantasy cash.
A Saturday match at fellow strugglers Southampton is followed by that Sunderland meeting next week for Brian McDermott’s men, and with forward Adam Le Fondre (£4.9m) forcing himself to the front of Reading’s queue of forwards in recent weeks the 26-year-old could be seen as an inexpensive gamble.
Reading will fancy their chances of finding the net against their two red and white striped opponents, with Le Fondre, Jason Roberts (£4.5m), Jobi McAnuff (£5.1m) and Hal Robson-Kanu (£4.3m) all offering the chance of cheap thrills for your side. At the back, defender Sean Morrison (£4.0m) has come into the team in recent weeks and showed an eye for goal.
With neither of the teams involved in the double Gameweek looking particularly convincing, you might be tempted to look at the teams playing in the regulation one, with the biggest one of those coming at the Etihad Stadium.
The Manchester derby is probably even tougher to call than the usual big name Premier League tussles, but with Wayne Rooney (£11.7m) finally finding his goalscoring form at Reading last week then he’ll be one to watch. Sergio Aguero (£11.0m) started Manchester City’s last two games on the bench and so will surely be turned to from the beginning for the hosts.
In Sunday’s other matches it can’t have escaped Fantasy players’ notice that Tottenham are likely to be missing Gareth Bale for their trip to Everton whilst Luis Suarez (£10.5m) is banned for Liverpool’s visit to West Ham, a state of affairs which could see midfielder Jonjo Shelvey (£5.2m) start upfront and Jose Enrique (£6.0m) pushed up to the left wing again.
A day earlier and up in North London, Arsenal will want to emerge from their latest crisis at home to West Brom and can do if forward Olivier Giroud (£8.5m) is handed a start.
The Frenchman had scored three goals in his previous two home games before being left on the bench for last weekend’s loss to Swansea – Michu is now up to £7.8m ahead of their game at home to Norwich by the way – and if Arsene Wenger turns to his summer signing then he could find that his team gain a bit of luck in front of goal.
Luck which should be on everyone’s wish list this weekend and beyond.
Norwich: Standing on the shoulders of giants
Norwich City have beaten Arsenal and Manchester United this season and are currently on the same amount of points as Liverpool. They haven’t so much snuck up on the Premier League’s big boys as gatecrashed their party entirely.
It wasn’t always like this of course. There was genuine concern in Norfolk at the end of September and beginning of October when Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres and Eden Hazard cut Chris Hughton’s side apart as Liverpool and Chelsea beat them 5-2 and 4-1 respectively.
They were results which left the Canaries second to bottom of the Premier League with three points from seven matches, still winless and still licking their wounds from a 5-0 loss at Fulham on the opening day. A long, uncomfortable campaign beckoned for Hughton in his first season in the Carrow Road hotseat.
Yet the transformation since then has been nothing short of remarkable.
It started with the home win over Arsenal in mid-October, finally a first three points of the campaign and what looked a pretty decent platform to build upon. It’s proved to be the most solid.
The victory over the Gunners was the start of an eight-match unbeaten league run – nine if you count the Capital One Cup win over Tottenham – which has seen the Canaries concede only four goals. As QPR and Reading – their partners in the relegation zone in those uncomfortable early weeks – have failed to escape the bottom three, Norwich have soared up the table with the talk in Norfolk now concerning just whether Hughton can deliver a top half finish.
The most memorable of those eight unbeaten games surely came against Manchester United last month, when Anthony Pilkington’s winner underlined the quality within a squad which has largely been drawn from players in the lower leagues.
Pilkington, Bradley Johnson, Robert Snodgrass, Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt have all served their apprenticeships away from the limelight – literally in the case of Holt who had spells at Workington, Halifax, Barrow and Singaporean club Sengkang Marine during his early years as a footballer, years in which he subsidised his income by working in a factory.
It’s been a long road to the top for him and for Norwich, who often impressed under Paul Lambert last season of course as their back-to-back promotions were topped off with a campaign which never saw them in serious relegation trouble.
Yet when Lambert went to Aston Villa there were concerns that Hughton would struggle with what is still largely the Scot’s team, with those concerns playing out on the pitch in the opening months of the season.
Things still aren’t perfect of course. The win over Sunderland on Sunday was only the second time all season after that Liverpool loss that the Canaries had scored two goals in a league game, whilst they are still to record a win away from home – something that they’ll be looking to put right at Swansea on Saturday.
It is their fine home form which is driving things forward at the moment though, with that Sunderland win opening up a seven point gap between them and the relegation zone. More importantly, there are only seven points between them and third-placed Chelsea.
Such heights might have to remain in the ‘dizzying’ category for some time of course, but there is no sense that Norwich are trying to run before they can walk as their impressive campaign continues.
Just where it will take them remains to be seen, but you get the sense that the club’s fans are more than happy to just enjoy the ride at the moment. Relegation fears shouldn’t be completely dismissed just yet, but they can surely be forgotten about over the busy Christmas period.
Their last two fixtures of a 2012 which has shown that they are not afraid of the big boys are at home to Chelsea and Manchester City.
The pair have been warned.
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 