Brighton vs Norwich

[Costello]

Another home game, another top 8 promotion chaser filling the away end. Bring it on.

Hughton's got us playing some decent attacking football at home, plenty of goals in spite of a shit strike force, and I'd guess he'd be keen to get one over the Canaries.

That said, I can't recall ever seeing us beat them, and despite the occasional hiccup, their form has looked pretty scary of late, so am expecting a very, very tough test.

 

[SUTSS]

'Hughton's got us playing some decent attacking football' - are you sure you've got Hughton as manager?

Think this will end in a draw.

 

[Costello]

Ha, I intentionally snuck that in as I know how Norwich fans feel about his football. Think he's proven he's able to get his sides playing some decent stuff at this level though, albeit it's been exclusive to our home performances of late as we have, admittedly, been served up some real dross on the road.

Think a draw could be a reasonable bet in this one. Though we'll probably receive a thumping now I've said all that. Or a dire 0-0.

 

[Munkiki]

Can't see anything other than a defeat tbh. It's how football works. I can already see the stupid smug tweets from the likes of Linekar. He did shit here but despite that, journalists/pundits still think we've wronged him. Already seen articles about how he bears no ill-feeling and is "not bitter at his Norwich City treatment". What would he have to be bitter about? He was lucky he lasted as long as he did. Got nothing against Hughton, don't even think he's a bad manager - it just didn't work out here, it happens (look at Lambert at Villa) - but it still quite infuriates me that heads are so far up his backside that they still won't admit he did a terrible job here.

 

[SUTSS]

Brighton the better side but can't complain about three points.

 

[PDS]

Norwich will win the league from here. No idea what their run in is like but with their squad in this kind of form I can see them finishing strong

 

[Dazza]

Norwich will win the league from here. No idea what their run in is like but with their squad in this kind of form I can see them finishing strong

The only side they have to play from the top 8 are Middlesbrough at home.All their other fixtures are against mid table sides or ones near the bottom although they have Fulham at home on the last day of the season who they have a shocking record against.Looking good for Norwich.

 

[SUTSS]

We've struggled against teams that have came for a point this season so I wouldn't read too much into our run in. We're much better at exploiting teams when they break shape.

 

[Hooray]

We'll win the league. I'm confident of that.

Looking forward to the side parading the trophy through the streets of Norwich already

 

[Costello]

Hard one to take, that. Feel we were probably worthy of a point, but can't complain too much with the 0-1. Norwich did what they needed to do, and one moment of quality from Redmond made the difference in the end.

For us, on the other hand, it becomes clearer by the game that we're woefully short of the required quality up front. Everything else is there, really. Always competitive but no-one in the slightest bit competent to finish off our chances.

Norwich I can see going up, just had the air of a side who were gonna grind it out one way or another today.

 

[Ciderhead]

How's Baldock done for you lot? From afar it seems like it hasn't really happened for him though I know he's had a few injuries.

 

[Costello]

Out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. Has generally been playing in a withdrawn role on the left which hasn't exactly been getting the best out of him, though he was coming into some decent form under Hughton, chipping in with a reasonable number of goals/assists, before his untimely injury about a month ago. Probably the only striker at the club that fans aren't keen to drive as far away from Brighton as possible.

 

[Ciderhead]

Ah that's a shame. I do think he's got what it takes to be a 15-20 goal a season striker in the Championship if he can find the right club and steer clear of injuries, but he's been unlucky so far. At West Ham he was never going to suit the way Allardyce plays and then he was shoved out when they bought up every striker in the league and then we were just a truly awful team the year we went down - he did well to get 10.

But yeah he's not bested suited out wide. He's often put out there because he's seen to have decent pace but his game's more about his clever movement running off the shoulder of defenders which is much more effective down the middle

 

[Costello]

Definitely, we've seen that at times when he's been allowed to drift into the centre, such as for his goal vs Arsenal in the cup, but not often enough unfortunately. Doesn't possess the size or hold-up play required for a lone striker role so has had to, for this year at least, perform a disciplined job helping out the left-back which has limited his attacking influence. Hopefully next season in a side with greater quality that isn't having to stave off relegation we'll see more of what he bring in terms of movement and goal threat in the area.