Thrilled to get up close and personal with SPOTY winner Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish (white HTC shirt) in Bury St
Edmunds last September

Cyclist Mark Cavendish was last night named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in a glittering ceremony in Manchester and I'm delighted with the result.
More than half the votes were for Cav, a true reflection of the widespread appreciation towards the Manx Missile.
Cavendish has had an outstanding year, becoming the world road race champion and Tour de France green jersey winner.
Unlike most of the other top ten, the nature of his sport means that he's watched by millions every year in the flesh - and they don't have to pay.
I was one of those millions for, back in September, Cav and the rest of the Tour of Britain riders came hurtling through my home town of Bury St Edmunds.
In true Sports Junkie style I actually broke off from my regular Saturday morning fitness training with Liberte Fitness to snap the riders as they came past Nowton Park.
They flew past in a matter of seconds, but still it's a great memory to have seen Cav in the flesh in what was such a big year for him.

Is this the greatest goal scored against Norwich?

Making a top five list of the best goals ever scored by a Norwich player is pretty straightforward - the best goal is usually Justin Fashanu's goal against Liverpool. Then there's the Jerry Goss goals at Bayern and Leeds, maybe Mark Bowen's goal against Bayern too. Then you've got to find space for perhaps Darren Huckerby's goal against Birmingham, Robert Fleck v Milwall, Robert Rosario v Southampton or the recent Andrew Crofts goal at Barnsley.
But what's the best goal ever scored against Norwich?
My weekend trip to Everton with my pal Gordon threw up talk of Louis Saha, who led the line for The Toffees on Saturday. We were talking about a game at Craven Cottage in January 2001 when Fulham, who were on their way to the Division One title, beat City 2-0.
Gordon and I went to that game and had recently been to Sheffield Wednesday twice in six weeks for an FA Cup third round game which we lost and a league game in November 2000 at which, possibly the greatest ever goal against Norwich was scored.
Maybe Gianfranco Zola's goal against City or even the recent Sergio Aguero effort are appreciated by some, but for sheer all round brilliance, how about this goal scored at Hillsborough in November 2000 for Paul Jewell's Wednesday.
OK, our defence was rubbish that day probably bogged down by the rain and those heavy old Pony shirts.  And Andy Marshall made little effort to get the ball. But let's not take anything away from, in my opinion, the best ever goal scored against Norwich by  none other than Michele Di Piedi:

Everton 1 Norwich 1 - Ten Things We Now Know

1 Great to finally get to Goodison, 18 years late

Norwich in their now traditional huddle

Poor weather in the North West on Thursday and Friday almost put paid to my first trip to Goodison, but getting there was vital in order to complete a bit of unfinished business. My first game was Norwich v Everton at Carrow Road in November 1984, a season in which The Toffees won the title and had a hand in relegating Norwich when they played a sub-strength team in their final game against Coventry.
Since then a clash between the two teams has been special to me and, back in September 1993 aged 18, I was desperate to go up to Goodison and watch the Premier League game between the teams.
My late pal Jake had just passed his driving test and the plan was to borrow his parents' car and shoot up to Liverpool for the day. Unfortunately his mum had other ideas and told him it was too far for a novice 18-year-old to drive. Worse still, the train was too expensive and Club Canary was full up.
Annoyed but not disheartened and being keen football fans we decided to go to a game on the spare Saturday and scoured Ceefax for somewhere closer to go. We ended up taking the shorter trip to Watford for their Division One clash with Sunderland. It was a dreadful game and ended 0-0. We left the ground for the drive back to Norwich and over the tannoy heard the almost unbelievable score of Everton 1 Norwich 5.

2 Goodison Park rivals Craven Cottage for a rare old bit of tradition in the Premier League.
I love Carrow Road and I love old grounds, but watching modern football is a big mix of grounds that need to be knocked down, grounds that have been knocked down and replaced by ubiquitous bowls, grounds that are a shadow of their former selves and the four blue shoeboxes that make up Loftus Road. Goodison Park is a bit tatty in places, but has a lovely old feel to it, as do the club themselves. After walking across the famous Stanley Park and getting inside the ground it's great sitting in a stand with a wooden floor (I thought they'd actually been banned!), great to see the church in the corner, great to hear the Z Cars theme, and great to see the Toffee Lady throwing sweets into the crowd. Only Craven Cottage has as much old time appeal as Goodison among Premier League grounds I have visited.

3 Tradition aside, Everton are really underperforming this season.

This was my first trip to Goodison

'In Moyes We Trust' read a sign inside the ground. There's a similar sign at The Emirates Stadium and just like Arsenal fans started to doubt The Gunners' long-serving manager earlier this season there must be doubts creeping into Everton fans that perhaps David Moyes can't do much more for the club than he's done over the last seven odd years.
Moyes' Everton side has struggled this season - Tim Cahill hasn't scored for a year, Marouane Fellaini looks a better player than he is and Louis Saha just doesn't have the cutting edge up front. The Toffees top scorer is Apostolos Velios who has only started two games. Home defeats to Stoke and QPR this season plus  two points dropped against Norwich is a poor return for a club that should be beating teams like that on their own patch.

4 The stats didn't lie though, Everton were much the better side.
Everton had 15 shots on target to our one and had 13 corners to our none. Everton dominated everything in the game until City scored, did most of the pressing after that and, although City went close through Grant Holt again in the second half, it was all Everton. But, just like at Liverpool in October, we kept our shape and dug in. Even at half time, myself and my mate Gordon were both convinced Everton would win the game. This game will definitely be classed in the category of fortunate points on the road.

5 When will Grant Holt earn praise from the Match of the Day pundits?

Lovely old tradition - The Toffee Lady hands out sweets

Sitting in the corner of the upper tier of the Bullens Road stand, Grant Holt's goal was about 100 yards away from me and all I really saw of it was the ball slowly creep into the corner of the net.
Later on the telly I took in its full beauty - what a finish!
Yet despite this, Mark Lawrenson described him as a 'battering ram', said the goal was all about Jonny Heitinga's poor defending and found it hard to give any praise to Holt. He's scored seven goals before Christmas, Morison has six. Between them they're only two goals off the totals of QPR and West Brom this season!
Aside from the goal, Holt's best moment was when he chased down a backpass, scared the living daylights out of Tim Howard and won a throw deep in Everton territory. I can't believe a player like Fernando Torres would try that. Holt plays just like he did when we were in League One - and look at the results!

6 I was surprised by the amount of empty seats in the City end.
I sat upstairs and, while the lower tier seemed pretty full, there must have been space for another 700 fans up stairs. Perhaps as it's near Christmas and there's a game at Wolves on Tuesday, but I thought we'd have taken more than we did. Tickets for away games have actually been reasonably easy to come by this season, but when the cost of petrol, ticket, parking and a night in a Travelodge comes to around £100 each, it's easy to see why City fans stayed away.

7 Zak Whitbread and Russell Martin were superb.

Everton had 13 corners, we had none

Plenty was made last week about Newcastle's lack of central defenders, but our central defence at Everton was made up of a right back and a centre half who has been mainly injured this season. Whitbread's played well for the last two games (forget his involvement in Demba Ba's second goal, that was Andrew Surman's fault) and along with Martin they were really strong against Everton's attackers. With Elliot Ward on the way back and hopefully Daniel Ayala too, we've suddenly got some options at the back.

8 But John Ruddy was the man of the match by a mile.
What is it about Ruddy and Merseyside? He was brilliant at Anfield and had the same kind of performance against Everton. Some brilliant saves, the one in the first half where he rushed out at Fellaini's feet was great, as was the parry from Royston Drenthe's curling, swirling missile late on. Great keeper and on the weekend that it was announced no Euro 2012 players would figure in the British Olympic football team, that must throw down the possibility that Ruddy could be in the Olympic team next summer.

Holt and Jagielka get a talking to

9 Surman watch: Still not much going on.
I thought Surman was awful against Newcastle, yet he kept his place against Everton. He got stuck in a bit more, but still looks the one player under-performing for me. David Fox had a good game and Andrew Crofts saw a lot of the ball, but Surman? I just don't get it. Come on Andrew, prove me wrong.

10 Proud to say I was there the day Zlatan made his Premier League bow.
Talk in the car on the way up between myself and Gordon was about the ins and outs at Carrow Road in January and the name of Zlatan Wilbrahamovic cropped up. I pointed out that he'd been named on the bench for the past few games and that at some point he would have to make his top flight debut. Sure enough, with City 1-0 up and with ten minutes later, he came on for Steve Morison. He looked a tad thinner than the last time I saw him play, and sure enough, within two minutes, we'd conceded a goal!
It wasn't his fault, but surely we need to boost our options from the bench in January. Other Premier League clubs bring on seasoned internationals to change games - surely we can't go on much longer bringing on players like Wilbraham?

Norwich 4 Newcastle 2 – Ten Things We Now Know

1 Martin Atkinson and Mike Mullarkey had a shocker

I’m not a big fan of slagging off referees after games, it’s often a bit of a cheap shot, but what do you say about Martin Atkinson today and his two assistants today?

In the first half they seemed to miss just about everything. The most obvious incident was the handball from Davide Santon after Kyle Naughton’s cross midway through the first half, which the whole crowd and most of the players saw, but Atkinson and linesman Mike Mullarkey, of 2010 World Cup final fame, didn’t.

World Cups and 4-2 scorelines bring to mind Geoff Hurst’s debatable third goal which crashed off the crossbar in 1966 and came straight down. It’s the same with a handball off the body – if the ball hits the chest or shoulder it bounces out, like when it hits the post. If it hits the underside of the arm it bounces down.

It bounced down from Santon and should have been a penalty.

Later in the second half was the Gutierrez challenge on Naughton, which Atkinson had his back to and Mullarkey didn’t seem interested in.

Before the first goal the sub-standard refereeing threatened to overshadow the game – and it was with a huge slice of irony that Mullarkey decided that Tim Krul had taken the ball over the line to give City a corner, from which Wes Hoolahan scored.

2 We need to talk about Surman

Norwich’s fantastic all round performance against Newcastle was superb and each member of the team did a brilliant job. Err, except one.

Andrew Surman was simply not at the races today, making mistake after mistake in the first half, not tracking back, not getting forward, not knowing where the ball was and not really sure what role he was supposed to play. He reminded me of an awkward man in a lingerie shop looking for a present for his wife late on Christmas Eve.

What are you meant to do when a player has a stinker like Surman? Of course you have to support him, but he was the sole weak link in the City side – and the reaction when he went off from the Carrow Road faithful to be replaced by Bradley Johnson was telling.

Before he went off Surman almost turned the game into Newcastle’s hands on his own – while Zak Whitbread was ultimately dispossessed for Demba Ba’s second goal, it was Surman’s failure to play a simple pass to Marc Tierney that put the American in trouble.

3 Marc Tierney and Gabriel Obertan are two players going in the opposite direction

Tierney’s been superb this season – incredible to think he’s only been at Carrow Road for 11 months - and only Theo Walcott has really shown him up in the top flight this season.

Newcastle’s Obertan is a mysterious player – wafer thin, quick feet and the potential to be an outstanding footballer – but for a Premier League player he has a shocking output in terms of assists and goals.

Both Tierney and Obertan moved clubs this year and are now Premier League regulars, but while Obertan seems to have little influence on games, Tierney is the opposite.

Obertan did one good thing today when he burst through the Norwich defence in the chance that lead to Ba clipping the bar with his right foot volley early in the second half, but apart from that he didn’t get any change out of Tierney who just gets better and better.

Always keen to get forward, keen and competitive, Tierney’s audacious back flick by the Jarrold Stand touchline towards the end, was a cute little touch too.

4 Demba Ba’s first goal was sheer class.

Some things you see at a football ground are missed first time. I was sure that Ba was offside for that first goal, but watching the replay at half-time in the Jarrold Stand concourse I saw for the first time the quality of Yohan Cabaye’s through ball which was as beautiful a chipped pass as David Fox’s Premier League-clinching ball for Simeon Jackson's goal at Fratton Park last May.

Ba’s neat two touches put the ball in the net, but that Cabaye pass was a stunner.

5 The Magpies seem to be have been punching about their weight

A relatively kind run of Premier League fixtures through the autumn has finally ended for Alan Pardew’s men. Throw in some choice injuries and, voila, they start to struggle.

Newcastle’s back four today lacked any centre backs and boy did they find it hard to deal with anything that came into the box. Eleven goals conceded in four games and two red cards as well isn’t good – and while they’ve got a couple of home games against Swansea and West Brom coming up, I think Newcastle and Norwich are not only alphabetical bedfellows in the Premier League, but two teams of about the same standard.

6 Holt and Morison’s goals were Christmas gifts

Well, what do you get if you have players like the two City strikers in the box and give them three free chances to score? Before the game I thought Krul could be a tough keeper to crack – he’s looked so good in the top flight this season – but just like when Swansea’s Michel Vorm came to Carrow Road in October, we suddenly made him look half the man he is. Seven goals past form keepers Krul and Vorm this season is a superb output.

7 Who said Grant Holt couldn’t score in the Premier League?

Before the start of the season I was looking at odds on City players and was astonished to see a quote on the number of goals scored by Holt. The bookies were 10/11 on Holt scoring under or over 5.5 for the season. That was how they rated him – a player who was probably going to score around six goals this season. Given that Holt has started fewer games than many of us thought this campaign – the fact he’s hit half a dozen goals before mid-December is a cracking achievement.

The two goals against Newcastle were unusual in that they weren’t celebrated in the usual way – no tattoo kissing – I guess the Carlisle-born striker has a soft spot for the Magpies?

8 Morison has found his feet and looks every bit the Premier League striker.

I had my doubts in August whether Morison was the real deal – but boy has he improved. If everything Andrew Surman did turned to tripe, everything Morison did came off. His first touch belies his image as a lone, shaven-headed target man – he’s far more than that. He seems to win every header he goes up for, can bring the ball down quickly and knows what to do in every situation. Great to see both Morison and Holt playing together against a team like Newcastle. The Magpies were there for the taking and praise to Paul Lambert who went for the jugular today.

9 Four goals at home in the top flight – remember when that last happened?

Yes it was seven long years ago next month – January 22 2005 when City last hit four at home in the top flight and it was the classic game against Middlesbrough - a game so long ago that Gareth Southgate and Ray Parlour were in the Boro side and Stewart Downing was actually quite good.

The fact that three of City’s goals came in the last ten minutes as they spectacularly clawed back a 4-1 deficit tells you everything about the difference between that Premier League season and this one.

10 No idea what to expect from the next two games

Newcastle at home was the first of three games I thought we could either win or lose and the same goes for the next two games. Everton and Wolves away are big, big games. Six points is possible, as is none. With Spurs and Fulham at home to end December, I’ve no idea what to expect from the remaining four games this year.

Five points would be a fantastic return – but I’ve got a sneaky feeling we’ll beat Everton next Saturday, Fulham and Wolves are beatable and as for Tottenham under the Carrow Road floodlights… you never know!

Three ways Norwich could beat Manchester City on Saturday

Norwich haven't played Manchester City in the league since Delia Smith's famous 'Let's Be 'Avin You' half-time speech when the teams met on the last day of February 2005.
On Saturday they become the latest Premier League team to try and end the unbeaten start of Manchester City - but is there any hope they can actually win?
City have won all six home games this season and are just 2/11 with the bookies to make that seven straight wins.
I'm sure Paul Lambert won't be reading this blog looking for tactical inspiration, but, based on Norwich's three defeats at the hands of big guns Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal, here are three tactics we could deploy in an attempt to get something from a game that nobody gives us a chance of winning.

1. Play with wing backs

Manchester City spread the play out wide and many of their goals come from wide angles. Micah Richards has been outstanding on the right this season and had so much time and space on the ball in City's last win at home in the top flight, against Newcastle, scoring one and winning a penalty.

With James Milner, Adam Johnson and David Silva possibly on the pitch too Man City will seek to exlpoit the flanks.
The answer could be a back five, which Paul Lambert deployed at Chelsea in August. I'd suggest it consists of Russell Martin, Leon Barnett and Kyle Naughton in the middle unless Zak Whitbread or Daniel Ayala are rushed back after their appearances against Dereham in the Norfolk Senior Cup. I'd put Marc Tierney on the left to have a go at Micah Richards and play Elliott Bennett on the right - he's quick and has impressed me more in his defensive work than any other aspect of his game.

WHERE WE'VE SEEN THIS WORK: Chelsea away. Sure we were 1-0 down after five minutes, but we got back on level terms and matched Chelsea stride for stride while both sides had 11 players on the pitch.

2. Keep five across the middle

While wing backs would give The Canaries extra width, another option is to pack the midfield and, to coin a footballing phrase, park the bus. I can't see Wes Hoolahan not playing against Man City if we hope to get anything out of the game, but would think Fox, Johnson, Crofts and even someone like Simon Lappin could form a fairly solid, if unspectacular midfield in front of the back four. Five across midfield was deployed at Old Trafford where Steve Morison found little joy in the first half, yet it contributed to a superb defensive performance.

I don't think we'll see both Anthony Pilkington and Hoolahan start against the league leaders - in my view they are both luxury players in this sort of game.

WHERE WE'VE SEEN THIS WORK: Arsenal at home. We were never really in the game once Arsenal equalised, but restricted their midfield movement with five across the middle. When Wes Hoolahan was taken off and replaced by Grant Holt, we lost our shape and our four in the middle handed The Gunners a big advantage with more space to operate.

3. Play with no striker

Not starting with an out-and-out striker is unlikely, but a combination of plans one and two is to play four at the back, three defensive midfielders and three players in front of them. Morison did his best work at Old Trafford out on the right and rather than having him miles up front chasing knock downs that may end up with the ball simply back in Manchester City's possession, it might be an idea to play him as an attacking midfielder on the right with, say, Hoolahan in the middle and a pacey outlet in Simeon Jackson on the left.

That way we might win more corners, which is out most likely source of a goal on Saturday in my opinion. Norwich have scored a high percentage of goals from headers this season and the leaders tend to leak a goal a game at the moment.

WHERE WE'VE SEEN THIS WORK: Manchester United away. We didn't do much in the first half at Old Trafford with Morison chasing elusive knockdowns, but could have taken the lead in the second half when he moved to the right. A similar approach against Man City might be our best hope of both frustrating the hosts and nicking something on the break.

Making sense of the Gary Speed tragedy

Gary Speed's suicide at the age of 42 is a shocking tragedy.

A retired professional sportsman with a young family, with no financial worries and with a promising career as an international manager apparently taking his life just four weeks before Christmas at his family home is simply awful.

We can only sympathise with his family, his friends, colleagues and the many people in the football world who he has left behind.

And his death is all the more shocking for the fact he was on Football Focus yesterday lunchtime, seemingly happy and talking positively about his future.

Making sense of the death is all the harder because it is appears it was suicide.

I don't know Gary Speed and I don't know what was in his mind this morning when he apparently took his own life.

But I lost my uncle in exactly the same way nine years ago and fully understand the mess of unanswered questions this kind of act leaves behind.

Bizarrely, in Norwich City circles, my uncle Alan took his life in May 2002, the Monday after Norwich had lost the play-off final to Birmingham.

I'll say at this point that he wasn't a Norwich fan and his death had nothing to do with football.

I'd driven to the game in Cardiff with my girlfriend at the time and a friend and, as depressed as we were after a long drive back to Norfolk having lost to Birmingham on penalties, those feelings were soon put into perspective the following day.

After I'd been at work I came home to a phone call from my mum telling me my uncle had hanged himself a few hours earlier. He was 63.

Suddenly my family looked for questions and answers.

I'd heard from my mum that he'd been "depressed" for a few weeks, but that was it. He'd been out on the Sunday with my auntie and they'd had Sunday lunch.

Tellingly, my auntie recalled after the suicide that she remembered seeing a length of rope in the back of his car on the Sunday.

A day later she came home from work and found that length of rope around my uncle's neck.

At the funeral, she was a mess. Everyone was a mess. It seemed so wrong that we'd all taken time to gather for a funeral for someone who actually wanted to be dead.

All that feeling of love for him was tainted by the complete shambles he'd left behind in a split second decision. He'd left behind a wife, his mother, his children, grandchildren and potential retirement in a year or two when all that hard work would have paid off and he would have perhaps had time to get help.

People talked about him being selfish and that is what suicide is, but it's an illness, a condition, a decline into a world were rational becomes irrational and that can happen at an alarmingly strict pace.

My uncle had worked in a technical industry for many many years and was good at his job, but in the light of changing technology he felt under immense pressure to learn new skills and to make changes to his working life.

And, for whatever reason, he felt he couldn't handle it.

We knew he had a form of depression, but we didn't know the extent of it. And that is what suicide is. A slow-burning lingering sense of doubts that can gather at great pace until time, circumstance and conditions mean there is no other way. Rationality vanishes and a black fog covers all other options. What may have been a laughable possible option suddenly becomes the only option.

I feel for Gary Speed. I feel for whoever found him this morning. My auntie never got over that sight and although she has a new partner, I am sure she sees her husband's lifeless body in her head every day.

We can only try and appreciate what was going on in Gary Speed's head this morning and try and understand what he was going through. But in my experience of dealing with a family suicide, you never really know the extent of it.

The only positive thing is that Gary is at peace now. He's got there in a violent and shocking way and he will be missed by thousands and thousands of people, but tonight he's finally in the place he wants to be in.

Rest in peace

Gary Speed

1969-2011

Norwich 2 QPR 1 - Ten Things We Now Know

1 That was probably the most important game we’ll win this autumn
Just like beating Swansea in October at home was vital, beating fellow promoted side QPR in the last game of November was absolutely vital. Whatever happens this season we now know that we won’t lose out to our fellow promoted sides in terms of points which is key if we hope to stay up.
Both the wins against Swansea and QPR were hardly convincing but a win is a win, and given that Rangers won at Stoke last week, it kind of puts are hard-fought 2-1 win into perspective.
Despite beating both Swansea and QPR at home, I’ve got little hope that we’ll do anything other than lose to both sides when we face them on their own patch

2 Lambert mixed it up, but the new faces did little to suggest they’ll stick around
Big news today – a different starting line up for the first time in ages. Out went Kyle Naughton, David Fox and Wes Hoolahan with Ritchie De Laet, Andrew Surman and Simeon Jackson coming in.
While all three players did little wrong, neither of the trio did anything to suggest they’ll be starting any games in any Premier League any time soon.
I think it’s good that these three got a game, but they are squad players, not starters. De Laet didn’t have any real presence to his game, didn’t get forward and didn’t really get involved. Surman seemed hesitant too, he had a couple of chances to do things but seemed a little off the pace and then there was Jackson.
I really want to like him and really want him to have the same kind of impact he had towards the end of last season, but he still has the first touch from his Gillingham days, which may be OK against Shrewsbury, but won’t cut the mustard against Man City.

3 Holt and Morison are starting to get selfish
I’ve touched on this before, that when Holt invariably comes off the bench for the last 20-25 minutes, there seems to be a bit of a rivalry between himself and Morison.
Today, it was perhaps the best example. Morison has hit four goals this season and Holt had three before he came on. Holt soon scored what turned out to be the winner, putting him on four too. But after that, Morison had a chance when it would have been easier to pass to Holt and vice versa. When Holt didn’t pass to Morison there was a heated exchange between the two. I noted that they seem to make up at the final whistle, but it was definitely noticeable that there is big competition between the two of them up front.

4 We’ve started sacrificing creativity and flair in midfield
Against Swansea six weeks ago we started with a midfield that included David Fox, Wes Hoolahan, Elliott Bennett – all creative players in their own right. Against Swansea, neither of that trio started, with Jackson replacing Hoolahan and midfield hod-carriers Andrew Crofts and Andrew Surman starting. Along with Bradley Johnson, this trio has little creativity about them and turned the game into a Championship-style kickabout.

5 QPR were really poor
That’s not to say we were much better, but I was massively disappointed by Rangers. That win against Stoke last week was awesome, and they’ve recently put in some great performances. Today they offered little in midfield and really missed Joey Barton. The good news for Norwich is that there are certainly three teams worse than us in this division. I'm not sure QPR are bad enough to go down, but they didn't seem to have much about them today.

6 Mark Clattenburg didn’t do much wrong

Mark Clattenburg, love him or hate him, but I think he had a decent game today. Dozens of fans around me in the middle of the Jarrold Stand were beside themselves with rage everytime he stopped play, calling him a joke. I just don't get the beef with Clattenburg. Sure he's a matter-of-fact referee which I can see gets on people's nerves, but for me he's one of the best in the top flight.

7 QPR need to shore up their defence

Steve Morison was simply all over Danny Gabbidon in this game and Anton Ferdinand was also pretty anonymous. Against better teams, they will get hammered this season. If Fulham and Bolton can put a combined ten goals past them in two games, then they need to get it sorted. Today Norwich were pretty poor and scored two weak goals that any manager would hate to see his team concede

8 Norwich's defence is showing serious signs of creaking too

First the good news: Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread are on their way back and fingers crossed Elliott Ward isn't too far off as well. City's defence is getting weaker and weaker. While Russell Martin made up for his Arsenal error, I'm getting seriously concerned about Leon Barnett, have no confidence in Ritchie De Laet and am worried that Marc Tierney suddenly looks like he's lacking in confidence.

Barnett in particular seems to have taken a big nosedive in form over the last month and in a month when we face Spurs, Newcastle and Man City, he will get found out.

9 Shaun Wright-Phillips looks a shadow of his old self

Six-and-a-half years since Wright-Phillips last played at Carrow Road in the 'Let's be 'Avin You' game for Manchester City and boy has he gone backwards. While brother Bradley has found his level in League One, SWP seems to have lost everything that made him a dynamic Premier League player a decade ago.

The Rangers Number 32 turned 30 last month and should be, excuse the pun, at the height of his game. I personally think he'll be playing in the Championship next season.

10 It's the end of November and four players have really stood out this season

It's the spine of our team who I've been most impressed with. Quite simply it's John Ruddy, Russell Martin, Wes Hoolahan and Steve Morison who've stood out this season, and they're the four players that must start every game. Bringing Grant Holt on as a sub for the last 20 minutes does have an impact. Not starting Wes Hoolahan does nothing but hand an advantage to our opponents.

Simply in awe of Robin van Persie

Norwich host Arsenal on Saturday and I can't wait to get up close and personal with probably my favourite non-Canary in the Premier League.

Yes despite a decade of watching football in Holland and countless games in England, I've never managed to watch Robin van Persie in the flesh.

That should change at Carrow Road at 12.45pm on Saturday as Norwich welcome the current Premier League top scorer on something of a hot streak.

Van Persie's value to Arsenal has never been greater than this season - after the loss of Cesc Fabregas, the shocking start to the season and the doubts over manager Arsene Wenger's capability, it's van Persie who has carried the Arsenal fight on his own.

And it's van Persie who I am most excited about seeing on Saturday, even if I know the odds are pretty high that he'll destroy Norwich.

So why van Persie? Well I've got Dutch blood running through my veins, my grandmother was born in Amsterdam and I've always, well, since Euro '88 when I first saw the Dutch in a major football tournament, has a soft spot for all things Oranje.

Trips to Holland in my late 20s - to grounds at Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord and Utrecht have helped build upon that love, and Dutch players have become some of my favourite players of the last two decades.

While Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten were TV stars, it was the players of the early 2000s that I loved watching in the flesh - players like Richard Knopper, Jesper Gronkaer (I know he's Danish!), Dirk Kuyt and a very, very young Arjen Robben starring for PSV in 2003 that caught my eye on trips to Holland.

But it's van Persie, of all the players who've emerged from Holland in the last ten years who has thrilled me most. In his seven years at Arsenal he's scored some cracking goals, but the one goal that first made me sit up and take notice was this stunning goal against Charlton back in September 2006. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_6yBB47bE

There aren't many players who I'd stand up and cheer a similar goal scored against Norwich, but when van Persie and his Arsenal side come to the city, I don't expect us to get anything out of it.

We've done well to get into the Premier League, but there are some games we've understandably written off before they're played. I believe there's no harm in that whatsoever. Games against Arsenal won't decide if we stay up, games against QPR will.

So let's sit back and appreciate just how good Arsenal are - and if their Dutch master smashes in a goal half as good as this, I for one, will be thrilled to see it.

Norwich 3 Blackburn 3 - Then Things We Now Know

1 It was a throwback to 2004/05
We go to Old Trafford and lose to two late goals, conceede one at Anfield and then ship three at home to Blackburn - yes this was a real throwback to those dark days of winter 2004/05 when we couldn't defend to save our lives. Chris Samba's goal was probably the worst we've conceeded this season, quite how he had so much space in the box to nod home a cross that nobody was anywhere near intercepting I don't know

2 Good to see Holt and Morison playing together for once
Steve Morison is our first choice striker and Grant Holt comes off the bench when we need him. That's been the story of October 2011 up front for Norwich City but today we actually had them both up front for the last 28 minutes. Credit to Paul Lambert, he knows when to bring Holty on, but there can't be a City fan in the land who thinks we'd benefit so much more from playing two up front. For some reason in the modern game, two big players can't play together - or so that's the current thinking. Surely City should start with two up front against teams like Blackburn at home, rather than waiting until we're two goals behind

3 Arsenal could help themselves to a hatful against us in our next home game
Watching this game a few minutes after catching the end of Arsenal's awesome 5-3 win over Chelsea made me shudder to think of the damage that Arsene Wenger's side can cause on November 19 in City's next home game. Of all the teams in the top flight capable of giving is a good old thrashing, it's Arsenal who cause the biggest danger. We couldn't handle Yakubu at times today and with Robin van Persie playing out of his skin right now, it could be six or seven. Theo Walcott will give Marc Tierney plenty to think about and then there's Ramsey, Arshavin, Gervinho....

4 Elliott Bennett continues to do his best work in defence
I thought Bennett would be a winger in the mould of Dale Gordon when we signed him, but apart from setting up Leon Barnett's goal against Sunderland, his best work in front of the home defence has been as a kind of deep-lying wing back ahead of Kyle Naughton on the right. After his stupendous tackle against Leon Britton against Swansea, he followed it up with another couple of great tackles again today. He adds plenty of stability on that side, but the jury's out on whether he actually possesses a major goal threat.

5 Physically massive Blackburn should be far more solid
I've seen Blackburn on the telly, but it's not until you see them in the flesh that you realise just how big the side is. The Carrow Road crowd seemed to bust into spontaneous laughter early on when Wes Hoolahan went up for a header against the man mountain that is Samba, he is huge. Throw in 6ft 5ins Steven Nzonzi and the size of both Yakubu and sub David Dunn's arse in those not-so-flattering white shorts and you've got a physically huge side. For some reason though, Blackburn don't have the same fear factor as someone like Stoke which is surprising.

6 Junior Hoillett scored one of the goals of the season on Saturday
Maybe it was the sun in John Ruddy's eyes, maybe it was the fact half time was fast approaching but the neat run and finish from Canadian Hoillett was far and away the best goal Carrow Road has seen so far in the Premier League. Hoillett was the best player on the pitch today and although Steve Morison’s goal was well-taken, Hoilett’s goal was the standout for me. Don’t be surprised to see it in Match of the Day’s goals of the season come May.

7 We finally got a bit of luck back from those first four games.
Remember how unlucky the start of the season was? We let in a late goal at home to Stoke, had Leon Barnett and John Ruddy sent off, gave away harsh penalties, were unlucky not to get something from Chelsea and should have had a penalty against West Brom. That bad luck seemed to have been bottled up and turned into some kind of magic potion that was sprinkled around the Barclay goal for the last ten minutes. Both Bradley Johnson’s goal and the penalty decision relied on huge slices of luck.

8. Great to see a drop ball contested for once
Before the goals started to fly in the best moment of the first half for me was the drop ball incident close to the touchline in the corner of the City stand/N&P stand. City were on the attack and after the ball had been cleared from the box Blackburn skipper Samba went down in the box on his own and stayed there. With the ball about to be sent back in from the City right, the ref stopped play. When it restarted with a dropball Steve Morison was clearly urged by the Blackburn defence to knock the ball back to Paul Robinson, instead he urged his fellow City players forward to contest the dropball. It wish this happened more in football these days, especially when a team who seemed to fall at the slightest knock tried to use the situation to their advantage.

9. Never, ever leave a game early at Carrow Road
We saw it last season and while this season all you’ve missed if you’ve left ten minutes early is Kenwyne Jones goal and James Vaughan’ssmack in the face, those early leavers missed a trick today. Two women who sit near me decided to up sticks a minute before Bradley Johnson’s goal which was just crazy – there was always going to be four or five minutes added time. I don’t want to be sexist but these two women continue to baffle me – they sit and chat through the whole game and smirked in a Carry On-style manner when Blackburn sub David Goodwillie came on. Best of all though, the subject of the 12.45pm kick off against Arsenal in our next home game cropped up with one asking the other what time the game would finish. They couldn’t work it out.

10. It’s the end of October and we’re sitting pretty in eighth place.
Premier League – we’re having a laught, right?

Carrow Road Memories: Norwich v Blackburn in the Premier League and my Jarrold Stand debut

Seven years ago next week Norwich faced tomorrow's opponents Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League for the last time.
It was November 6, 2004 and, incredibly by this season's standards, they had yet to register a single victory in any of their opening 11 games before the visit of Rovers.
I remember the game well. Work commitments meant I couldn't get to any Saturday games that season apart from this one and it was a freezing cold day.
Back in the 2004/05 season, City put a number of tickets on sale on the morning of each game with the ticket office open from 9am. Demand was such that around 300 were on sale and you had to get in the queue pretty damn early to secure a £30 ticket for the then new Jarrold Stand.
Fearful of demand outweighing supply I got in the queue at 6am and shuffled around for a couple of hours until the doors of the ticket office opened and I got a ticket.
I was thrilled to be making my Premier League debut for that season in the new stand and with six hours to kill in Norwich before kick off, I bizarrely went and purchased a new car.
I was turning 30 a few months later and decided to snap up a new VW Polo from Robinsons.
I went along to the showroom and got chatting to a pretty salesgirl who clearly wanted to get out of the office on a dull Saturday.
I took her for a test drive for miles - we practically went to Cromer and back before I decided to buy the car.
I then recall backing Rovers' Barry Ferguson to score the opening goal before taking my seat in a chilly new Jarrold Stand with 23,383 other fans.
The game was pretty forgettable - Matt Svenson gave City the lead early in the second half, jay Bothroyd got sent off for kicking a City player in the corner of the River End and Jarrold Stand and any hopes of a first Premier League win were ended by Paul Dickov four minutes from time.
As I left the Jarrold Stand, which is now my bi-weekly home, for the first time, City's record after the first week of November was P 12 W 0 D 7 L 5.
A week later City were thumped 4-0 at Charlton (!) before finally getting that first win at the 14th attempt at home to Southampton.
My only other games that season were slightly more memorable - the Man City Monday night home game featuring Delia's rousing half-time speech and Craven Cottage on the final Sunday. Enough said.

Norwich 3 Swansea 1 - Ten things we now know

1 That was a good advert for er, Championship football

When two promoted teams clash in the top flight they’re always greeted by condescending niceties from the national media and the same was true of Saturday. Great to have Football Focus doing their entire show from a gloriously sunny Carrow Road and great that both City and Swansea, the two most attractive sides in the Championsip have lost none of their swagger.
This was a game between the sides sitting in 9^th and 10^th in the top flight and fantastic entertainment but it wasn’t really a typical Premier League game. Both sides had so much time on the ball, both defences stood off and both sides made plenty of silly mistakes.

2 The photo on the programme cover was possibly the ugliest I’ve ever seen

Blimey! That’s some photo! A grimacing Phil Jones going for the ball with a gurning Steve Morison on the cover of Saturday’s programme put me off my pre-match sweets! Seriously though, a word on the quality of our matchday programme – it’s really good this year and actually a really good read. They got it spot on this week with profiles of goalscorers Russell Martin and a Q&A with Anthony Pilkington – and if you’ve got the programme – check out who asked the first question!

3 Pilks didn’t take long to get over his Old Trafford miss

I touched on this in the hours after the Old Trafford performance and thought it wouldn’t be too long before he rectified his miss against Manchester United – and wow, it was under a minute! A brilliantly taken goal, that as Alan Shearer said on Match of the Day probably came to him so quickly that he had no time than to do anything else than just rely on his instinct and smash it pass Michel Vorm. Great goal and it certainly got Carrow Road rocking.

4 Elliott Bennett just shaded it as my man of the match

A couple of contenders today, Pilks for his brace and Morison too, but for me the best player in a City shirt was Elliott Bennett. I’ve not been massively impressed with him so far, he’s had flashes of brilliance, but on Saturday he really caught my eye. He seemed to spend most of the game as a right wing back and didn’t really get forward on the right in the same way that Pilks did on the left, but he was a key player against Swansea.
He set up the first goal with that deep cross that found Morison, he hit the bar with a similar cross later in the first half and kept the ball in play brilliantly in front of the Swansea fans when it seemed certain it would go out for a Swansea throw.
Best bit?
His stunning tackle on Leon Britton early in the second half. Britton burst away over the halfway line towards the Barclay and Bennett matched him stride for stride until leaping in from behind and winning the ball. Had he got it wrong he could have been sent off. But he didn’t and put in a superb tackle.

5 Morison and Holt – the gap is getting wider and wider

Let’s hear it for Morison – he got the man of the match in the ground and I can see why. He was brilliant against Swansea, everything he tried came off, his cushioned header set up the first goal, he was a constant threat to Swansea’s defence and had a couple of decent chances to score for himself, but only wayward shooting let him down.
He’s pretty quick for a big man and the contrast between him and Grant Holt, who replaced the Welshman when he picked up a second half knock was marked.
Holt had a decent shot that Michel Vorm parried and looked keen to prove a point, but the gap between Morison and Holt just seems to get bigger and bigger.
I feel for Holt, but Morison is now a certain starter for City each week and, with the first fifth of our Premier League season now over, he is our main striker.

6 David Fox had a stinker – especially in the first half

OK so it was his free-kick that Russell Martin headed home for an early 2-0 lead, but David Fox seemed well off the pace against Swansea, particularly early on. He seemed sluggish and off the pace to me and a couple of times appeared to not want to challenge for the ball. I realise that Bradley Johnson has been drafted in as our midfield muscle as a compliment to Fox, but at times on Saturday, Fox was chasing shadows while Johnson was chasing players.

7 Marc Tierney - give him the ball and things happen

I’ve said in the past couple of columns when City have played at Carrow Road this season that Tierney going forward is a brilliant outlet and yet again he was involved in a City goal. Last season we had Russell Martin and Tierney bombing down each flank, yesterday, with Martin playing on the left side of the central defence partnership with Leon Barnett, we had a brilliant break in the second half that saw Martin and Tierney both head down the left. Martin’s pass to Tierney won City a corner from which we scored our third. Two of the last four City goals have involved Tierney and we have to use him down the left when he gets past the half way line

8 Swansea have enough about them to survive

Going forward I was impressed with the Swans, even though they didn’t give John Ruddy much to do. Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair are great players to have in your side away from home where Swansea have struggled this season, largely due to the quality of teams they’ve faced. Sinclair’s involvement in the first goal was excellent, cutting between two City players, going down in the box but still having the nous to flick the ball into the danger area. Britton is a class player too, a little bit like Wes Hoolahan, in that in doesn’t seem to get forward much, but is the player the Swans players look to when they want to get things doing. Ashley Williams is a powerful centre half and Vorm, although he had a poor start, looks like a decent keeper. Perhaps they just need a couple of fast full backs like City!

9 Danny Graham looks like the real deal

He shined in Watford’s win that started last season at Carrow Road and got another on Saturday, but goals aside, Graham looks a much better player than last year. He’s exactly the sort of striker I think City need. Strong, mobile and quick, he’d have a field day partnered with Morison.

10 We are really enjoying this Premier League season

Remember how low you felt on the afternoon of September 11 after defeat at Carrow Road by West Brom. Two points from the first four points and we were in danger of hitting the bottom of the table had we lost at Bolton. We’ve taken 9 points from 12 since then and put in a unanimously creditable performance at Old Trafford – who’d a thought it would be this good?

Book review - 32 Programmes by Dave Roberts

Seven game in to this season and, with at least one FA Cup game to come, Norwich fans have 32 programmes left to get a complete set.
And, by coincidence, 32 Programmes, by Dave Roberts is a great book that I finished reading this morning and it’s a cracking read that I’m sure will be enjoyed by City fans.
Norwich don’t get a mention in the book, which, simply put, is one man looking back on the games that shaped his football-watching CV linked of course to the match day programmes he picked up along the way.
The reason for the book’s title is because author Roberts had been set a challenge by his second wife to cull over a thousand programmes down to just one box for a move to the USA, and this is the story of why he chose the ones he did, each triggering a memory from part of his life.
Football fans will strike a chord with loads of feelings and emotions that jump out in this book – there’s the games of Roberts’ youth when he first purchased a programme, tales of going round to Denis Law’s house to get an autograph, trying to impress girls and one of the best chapters is when he went all the way to Nottingham Forest just to get a programme for the school bully.
As Robert’s gets older women, drink and random decisions figure more and more – not to excess by any means, but as regular themes on why this fan who doesn’t support one league club, ends up at different grounds.
Certain teams get more mention than others, and even though most of the action in the book is a generation before my own, the nostalgic references to World Cups and Cup finals are great. Some of the recall is brilliant and at times it really feels like you actually know Roberts, such is the depth he goes into.
The one shame is that the book is so detailed in the early stages with two or three games a season and you really get a sense of Roberts’ change from boy to youth to man, with 18 years covering the first 29 programmes.
Then there are just a couple of entries for the 1980s as we learn that Roberts’ life took a major downturn in the 1990s. The last chapter is all about the 32^nd programme, and without giving away, the reader learns it is the most important one of all, and I admit, I could feel my eyes welling up reading the last chapter.

Manchester United 2 Norwich City 0: Ten Things We Now Know

1 Old Trafford – WOW!
This was my first visit to the home of Manchester United in 19 years and wow, the place has changed. Only Ryan Giggs remains from the last time I came, there was no Stretford end then and the stand at the other end is now twice as big.
I went to the game with my mate Mike, a big United fan, who I’ve not seen for well over a decade and it was great to chew the cud during the game, even if I sat in the United end high up behind the goal in the East Stand.

2 For a massive ground, Old Trafford is pretty quiet.
Maybe it was a hangover from the Basel game in the Champions League, but the United crowd were so, so quiet, only coming alive in the last 20 minutes when Anderson and Danny Welbeck scored their goals. The City fans were in fine voice, however, and did themselves proud with the predictable ditty: “We’re Norwich City, we’ve come for our scarves.”

3 Norwich didn’t score but we’ve come on leaps and bounds since Chelsea.
Games against Bolton and Wigan on the road are one thing, games against Chelsea and Man United are another. The only game we can really compare this one to was Chelsea away five weeks ago, and even though we didn’t score, we were so much more organised. The back four were immense, five across the middle worked and we created plenty of chances. Away at Old Trafford, what more can you ask? As I said to Mike in the first half, we were more than a match for United, we just needed two strikers up front to give us a chance of winning the game!
But considering this was pretty much the biggest games in the careers of most of the Norwich players, we put in a great performance.

4 Steve Morison had his best game in a Norwich shirt.
I touched on how improved he looked against Sunderland on Monday, today his performance seemed to go up a notch. It’s never easy being in a team like Norwich when you visit the Champions and, as the lone man up front, it was always going to be a long hot afternoon for the Welsh international. But, to his credit, he had a good game. In the first half he didn’t get that much joy out of the United back four, he would have had a tap in had Elliott Bennett found him early on, but in the second he was awesome. Time and time again he found space, won the ball for fun and should have done better to set up Wes Hoolahan in the second half.

5 Marc Tierney and Bradley Johnson are the heartbeat of this Norwich team.
Boy oh boy did Tierney and Johnson get stuck in today. Both were awesome and, aside from perhaps Bennett who had a great game, they were my star performers. Sitting in with the United fans gave me a renewed perspective of the impact of Tierney – the chap behind me was consistently moaning about “That fookin’ number 23”. He was everywhere at Old Trafford, getting forward, defending with finesse and keeping Wayne Rooney at bay. Johnson too was great, sitting with David Fox in front of the back four. Last time he played at Old Trafford for Leeds he was a winner, and today, he was unlucky not to have left the ground with something too.

6 Anthony Pilkington’s miss was a massive chance, but he’ll get over it.
My first thoughts after watching Pilkington’s missed chance on 65 minutes was the famous Gordon Smith chance to win the 1983 FA Cup final for Brighton against United. It wasn’t quite in the same league as that, or indeed Fernando Torres’ chance against United last month.
But Pilks will certainly know he should have scored after Johnson’s through ball sent him through and Antonio Valencia made a hash of things.
He did everything right apart and from hit the back of the net, but the fact he had the pace and power to get into that position in the first place was great. Pilks has taken to the Premier League with ease and looks really comfortable out there on the left. It won’t be long before he scores his second top flight goal – I reckon it will come against Swansea in two weeks.

7 Jonny Evans and Phil Jones are poles apart.
United’s two central defenders are currently standing in for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic and while Jones just seems to get better and better, Evans was dreadful today.
Evans was ‘done’ by Steve Morison on a number of occasions, particularly the chance he should have squared to Hoolahan and the reason that ball never came across was down to Jones.

It was Jones again who snuffed out the Bennett cross that Morison could have tapped in to an unguarded net. Evans had little confidence and if he can’t keep someone like Morison in his pocket, god knows how he’ll get on against the more illustrious strikers in the Premier League. Jones, on the other hand, is a really exciting prospect and has a natural desire to steam forward at any opportunity.

8 Stuart Atwell actually had a good game.
Norwich’s first game with the controversial Mr Atwell in the top flight and when I saw his name on the programme I was worried there would be a big controversial moment. There was one in the first half when a United player went down and Marc Tierney put the ball into touch and it never came back to City, but apart from that, Atwell had a good game. There was only one booking in the game and it was never the sort of game that was going to get out of hand.

9 Rooney and Hernandez had an off day.
They were both doubts earlier in the week and even though both started, they were pretty ineffective. It can’t be easy trying to find space when there are eight, nine or ten yellow shirts blocking the path to goal and the two United strikers seemed pretty frustrated. When you think that five weeks ago Arsenal conceded eight, Norwich had plenty more about them at the back, and that obviously made it really tough for Rooney and Hernandez.

10. Boy was it hot!
Manchester. In October. In shorts! This was certainly one of those games I’ll be filing under those bizarre weather games in recent Norwich City history. Off the top of my head that list will include the Herenveen friendly in August 2000 when the players ran off the pitch to avoid a hail storm, Yeovil away in 2009 when the blinding sun meant I could hardly watch any of the first half and Huddersfield at home a few weeks after that when it was absolutely freezing.

Catch 22 - the reason why Norwich can beat Manchester United on Saturday

Norwich City are a huge 20/1 with some bookies to win at Old Trafford on Saturday and, while it may seem a tall order, history is on the Canaries' side.

Paul Lambert's City side are chasing a superb third win on a row in the Premier League, while United have had a pretty poor week judging by their incredibly high standards.

They've dropped Premier League points for the first time at Stoke, let a 2-0 lead go at home to Basle and lost the services of Wayne Rooney and probably Javier Hernandez for the game.

Sure it's going to take one of the most amazing performances in Norwich City's history to return from Old Trafford with all three points, but it can happen.

Norwich have won at Old Trafford four times before and the first of those came 22 years after the end of the Second World War.

In February 1967 City pulled off a famous 2-1 win at Old Trafford in the fifth round of the FA Cup, the first time the teams had met since a rather more famous City v United cup clash in 1959.

It was 22 years later that City won for the last time at Old Trafford and that came early in the season with City winning 2-0 in a game that Gary Pallister made his United debut.

United started that 1989/90 season with an impressive 4-1 win over Arsenal (it was the game when potential new owner Michael Knighton juggled the ball on the pitch).

That was actually Norwich's third win in four league games against United, they also won in 1986/87 and 1988/89.

So, Norwich won at Old Trafford in 1967 and 22 years later in 1989. Add on another 22 years and here we are in 2011.

It might not happen, it could be a comfortable home win, but history says, we are due to win at United this year - and that means Saturday.

Norwich 2 Sunderland 1 – Ten Things We Now Know

1 Carrow Road is as good a venue as any other for Monday Night Football
Tonight felt special from the minute I saw the Goodyear Blimp hovering over the city and to be the star turn on a Monday night was brilliant. The last time we played in front of the TV cameras in the top flight on a Monday night was February 2005 when Delia made herself infamous at half-time.
Let’s just take a step back and look at how far we’ve come. Two years last month we were 23^rd in League One, now we’re six games into the Premier League and in the top ten.

2 We don’t seem to know what to do when we get a throw in near the box
Marc Tierney, Kyle Naughton, Elliott Bennett take note – you don’t have the throwing ability of Rory Delap to hurl a bomb into the box. Particularly in the first half we didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on whenever we got a throw in deep into Sunderland territory. Other Premier League teams make a big fuss of throw ins and get results. I think its something we could really work on.

3 Leon Barnett was immense tonight
OK, so let’s not talk about that bizarre backpass in the last minute or so that gifted Sunderland a corner. Thankfully it lead to nothing and didn’t spoil the shift the former West Brom man put in. Nicklas Bendtner may have his critics, but he’s no mug – he’s been around a bit, is a starter for his country and didn’t get any change out of Leon tonight. The goal too was a special moment for one of the most likeable City players.

4 Our negative formation actually worked out pretty positive
I was a tad surprised that Paul Lambert kind of picked six defensive-minded players, two wingers, Wes and one striker to start a home game, but City were on top from the first minute. David Fox and Bradley Johnson snuffed out the progress of Craig Gardener and David Vaughan and Russell Martin did a great job marshalling the defence. I don’t think many City fans would have expected us to be starting Premier League games with one lone striker, especially at home, but credit to Paul Lambert, tonight it worked.

5 It must mean something that we’ve scored seven goals and they’ve all come from different players
Seven goals, seven different scorers. OK, so Lambert’s tinkered with his line-ups far more this season but the fact that as many goals have come from defenders as they have from strikers certainly tells us that while we’ve probably got issues up front, we’ve got a pretty adventurous defence – Barnett scored one, Tierney had an assist and Martin made a storming run into the box towards the end.

6 Steve Morison actually looks more of a handful than Grant Holt
A year ago the thought of a fit Grant Holt not starting a home game for Norwich would have been unthinkable but I’m finally coming around to Lambert’s thinking. I’m a big fan of Holt, but Morison tonight has finally impressed me in a City shirt. He seemed far more mobile, he made more runs and looked a bit of a handful. Certainly compared to the impact Grant Holt made when he came on, Morison looks like he could actually get into double figures for the season in the top flight whereas Holt just looked like he wanted to get himself involved in a scrap.

7 Wes Hoolahan CAN cut the mustard in the Premier League
This was the first home game in the top flight that Wes has started and the skipper for the night was immense. He was involved in everything as usual but tonight we saw him chase the ball when he didn’t have it more than ever. When Sunderland mounted a couple of minutes of pressure just before half-time, Hoolahan harried and hassled the Black Cats’ midfield to the extent that the play went from the edge of the City box all the way back to Titus Bramble at the back. He has to start every game possible when he’s fit.

8 City are really warming to the Premier League challenge
Sure, sometimes our defending is like a car crash waiting to happen, but let’s be honest, did we really expect us to start keeping clean sheet after clean sheet? I mean what would you rather – we were like Fulham and sitting on five points with five draws and a defeat? We’ve got eight points, we’ve drawn our first two, lost two and then won two on the spin against decent teams. Sunderland’s last game was a 4-0 romp over Stoke – a team who this weekend held Manchester United. Liverpool couldn’t beat Sunderland at home and we could. I know football doesn’t work like that but in the space of nine days we’ve gone from two points to eight. Another 30 in the remaining 32 games and we’ll probably stay up.

9 Sunderland seem to be a team full of individuals who may well struggle this season
The Black Cats midfield is awesome – Seb Larsson, Craig Gardner, Keiran Richardson and David Vaughan would be welcomed with open arms at Carrow Road if I was City boss but you’ve got to sense that all is not quite right at Sunderland.
They’ve not had the greatest of starts to the season and the loss of Asamoah Gyan could be crucial. I don’t think they’ve got much up front in Bendtner and as good as Connor Wickham is supposed to be, he didn’t make much of an impact tonight. I thought they’d be a good outside shot for a Europa League spot this season, but after tonight they seem to be full of individual talent, but without much cutting edge.

10 We can get a result at Old Trafford
We’ve got two wins on the bounce and Man United are suddenly picking up injuries ahead of Saturday’s big game. Throw in the fact that they’ve got a Champions League game this week too and suddenly a home win isn’t the banker it may seem. City will certainly go 4-5-1 again with Morison on his own upfront. I don’t think we’ll get a win, but I’ll tell you what – that 15/2 on the draw doesn’t half look tempting.

Norwich and Sunderland set to renew fabulous friendship

When anyone says to me the names Norwich City and Sunderland in the same sentence I'm automatically thrown back to the spring of 1985 and the magical month of March.

Of course City won the Milk Cup in that month as the two teams met at Wembley and a week earlier I was a ball boy on my 10th birthday when the teams clashed in the league - a game that ended 3-1 to Sunderland.

That season is probably my favourite ever - it really did have everything including an opening day thriller at home to Liverpool, the fire burning down a stand at Carrow Road, Norwich's 4-2 home win against eventual champions Everton, the stunning Milk Cup run including Steve Bruce's semi-final, the Milk Cup win, qualifying for Europe, getting stitched up by Coventry and being sent down and then Heysel and an end to the European dreams.

And all that was achieved while Norwich wore their gorgeous Hummel kit that really was groundbreaking as the likes of Coventry, Aston Villa and Southampton didn't cotton on to the Danish brand until after the 1986 World Cup.

For me the two games with Sunderland in March 1985 leap out in the memory bank and it's amazing that the two teams haven't met in the top flight since 1991.

Bruce brings his Sunderland side to Carrow Road on Monday night two years after he last came to the City when his second string top flight team beat Lambert's League One strugglers 4-1 in the Carling Cup.

Monday's game promises to be full of memories for me as the last time I saw these two sides clash in the top flight I was just ten and more concerned with getting home to play on my ZX Spectrum and hoping to complete the last few pages of Panini's Football '85.

I'm hoping it will be a cracking game under the Carrow Road floodlights, and with sought-after Premier League points at stake, I'm sure it will be a cracker.

My Ten Things We Now Know from the Norwich v Sunderland game will be on here on Monday night.

Norwich 0 WBA 1 – Ten things we now know

1 Perfectly observed minute’s silence was a credit to both sets of fans
Some heated debate on online message boards in the run up to the game over whether or not we should have held any kind of tribute to 9/11 and thankfully the debate is now over. Black armbands and a minute’s silence was spot on and perfectly observed. The game was played at the exact time of the attacks ten years ago and I think the club acted correctly in holding it.

2 Manchester clubs have shown the way forward
If Saturday was all about Manchester United and Manchester City’s effortless attacking football, Sunday wasn’t. Both Manchester clubs are going to battle out the title between them and the sheer pace, movement and energy the clubs have, particularly in the final third, is something the other 18 teams just can’t match.
United and City are playing football in a different league to the rest of the top six, let alone the rest of the league. Norwich are going to be torn apart when the two sides meet on October 1.

3 Soft referee decisions cost us yet again.
Did James Vaughan get a smack in the face? Was Steve Morison hauled down unfairly? Was Steven Reid’s stumble in the box a bit soft? Well yes to all three if you’re wearing Canary-shaded goggles. Four penalties in four games is a shocking statistic – whatever we need to do, we need to do fast. We’ve got to stop giving away needless free-kicks around the box, and of course committing one serious foul in the box per game. Perhaps in the Championship we were able to get away with being more physical.

4 Wes Hoolahan must start every game
He didn’t figure against Stoke and came on after an hour against West Brom but had more about him in 30 minutes than Andrew Surman did in 60. When Wes is on the pitch things happen and that’s why he is needed more than ever. Players around him know he wants the ball and his quick passing and quick feet are unique to the Paul Lambert’s squad. I hope he starts against Bolton.

5 Tierney and Naughton really impressed going forwards
OK so I sit in the Jarrold Stand half way between the River End goal and the half way line and see plenty of each full back in each half. The number of times I counted Marc Tierney in acres of space in the first half was probably at least five – and on each time the play went down the right. On the occasions that Andrew Surman did look up and spot the former Colchester man running down the flank things happened. We’ve got to use them both more often – just look at Gael Clichy, Micah Richards, Phil Jones and Patrice Evra. The top teams use full backs like wingers and we’ve got to start doing the same.

6 Andrew Surman had a poor game
I touched on Surman earlier and thought he was really poor against West Brom. I’d like to see him dropped to the bench for a bit.

7 Grant Holt and Chris Martin lack pace – so where’s Simeon?
Simeon Jackson is arguably out fastest striker but still Lambert insists on starting with Chris Martin alongside the hardly speedy Grant Holt. I think it’s time Jackson is given a run out, certainly in the last 20 minutes of a game to give the opposition something else to think about. Against West Brom Holt and Martin were replaced by Morison and Vaughan, and the result was just lots of high balls. With the pace of Tierney and Naughton on the flanks, Jackson and Hoolahan could be the quick answer to an attack that is clearly struggling for goals.

8 Ritchie De Laet seems to make one massive mistake every game
He gave away the penalty at Wigan, gifted Mata Chelsea’s third and was at fault for Peter Odemwingie’s opener. I am convinced he is Gary Doherty in disguise. Nice bit of skill before the goal with a pass on the instep of his foot and he was otherwise not too bad on Sunday. But he just need to cut out the silly mistakes.

9 Peter Odemwingie had us in his pocket all afternoon.
Shane Long seemed to spend most of his time pulling out wide, but Odemwingie had the run of the Norwich defence for the whole game. We backed off him every time and he probably should have had at least two more goals. Credit to Declan Rudd for the brilliant penalty save, but when you couple in Graeme Dorrans’ shot that hit the post and the other chances the Baggies had, I think the 1-0 away win was a more than fair reflection of the game. We probably had more possession and chances, but apart from the late Morison header and Bradley Johnson’s long range drive we didn’t really look like scoring all afternoon.

10 Sunderland is a massive, massive game.
I don’t expect much from Bolton next Saturday, not Manchester United on October 1, but in between those games is the Monday night visit of Steve Bruce’s Sunderland. The Black Cats have had a nightmare start to the season and the loan of Asamoah Gyan behind Bruce’s back seems to be a massive smack in the teeth. There’s never been a better time to play a team like Sunderland and under the Carrow Road floodlights it will be our best chance to win a game to avoid a run of no wins in our first seven games.

Chelsea 3 Norwich 1: Ten things we now know

1 That was the most expensive game of football involving Norwich I’ve ever been to

I sat, well stood, in the Shed Lower and paid £47. Only the 11 minutes of added time at the end of the game for Didier Drogba’s injury took the average cost of the game under 50p a minute. I haven’t been that concerned at paying that kind of fee per minute since ringing those 0898 numbers in my teens!

2 Chelsea’s team won’t win the title with their tired old squad.
While Florent Malouda started well and Jose Bosingwa scored a cracking early opener, the rest of the Chelsea players were really poor. In particular Drogba, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard and John Terry were shockingly average. Romelu Lukaku, a player I’ve seen in the flesh for Anderlecht a couple of times and Juan Mata did more to impress in their brief time on the pitch than Torres and Drogba. The Ivory Coast striker hit a couple of early free-kicks well over the bar, but as for Torres? He was simply not even a threat.

3 Chelsea’s fans really are a letdown
All the atmosphere today came from the 3,000 odd Canaries. Chelsea, despite their lovely stadium, awesome footballers and mega bucks really have some funny old supporters. They contributed nothing in terms of songs or banter during the game and I never realised Stamford Bridge was so quiet. Their fans certainly thought they had to just turn up to beat City today and from the ones I spoke to one the way out, they seemed really impressed by us and, in particular, Grant Holt. A trip to Chelsea is a bit of a culture shock, I did smile to myself when I saw a stretch limo parked next to one of the Cabbage coaches on the Fulham Road on the way out!

4 Grant Holt is gaining quite a reputation
Pat Nevin singled him out in the match programme, some of the Chelsea fans on the way home were asking who that ‘big striker was’ and Match of the Day viewers will see Grant Holt score a Premier League goal on the telly tonight.
He put in a fantastic shift today, he looks trimmer, fitter and faster than ever before and the desire he shows in a City shirt is both totally awesome and totally appreciated. Brilliant goal, great celebration and I’m really thrilled for him that he scored today.

5 Steve Morison is strong and physical, but I just can’t see him scoring
I want to give big Steve the benefit of the doubt but I just don’t have the same faith when he’s on the ball as I do with Holty. He put himself about a bit when he came on and had a couple of good chances to break. He probably should have done better when he and John Terry ran through on goal together but the England skipper nicked the ball off him with relative ease. I can see why he came on but given Chelsea’s speed at the back, I think I’d far rather have seen Simeon Jackson given a run out.

6 Bradley Johnson and Andrew Crofts were immense once again.
Paul Lambert opted to start with these two in midfield with Wes Hoolahan pushed further and Kyle Naughton out on the right. Johnson , in particular, was everywhere again and he’s doing well to keep David Fox out of the team. When you look at Chelsea’s midfield with the hatchet man that is Ramires, I think City have got their own version in Johnson. Lambert is quickly learning the importance of players like this in the Premier League and both Crofts and Johnson were solid.

7 Our defence can keep teams in their pocket – but only for so long
OK, forget the early Bosingwa goal. Apart from that and until John Ruddy was sent off, out back four were really strong, with Ritchie De Laet really standing out as a composed and measured defender. Drogba and Torres didn’t get a sniff in the whole game and De Laet really does seem to be a solid defender. He communicates well with Ruddy and the rest of the back four and has a good burst of pace. I’m starting to become a big fan.

8 Two red cards in two games – how many are we going to rack up this season?
Same old story as Stoke really. We were genuinely in with a shout of taking something big from a game and then a red card turned it against us. Against Stoke we played most of the second half with ten men and same again today. As soon as Ruddy went, it was always going to be a struggle. So what’s the answer? Well I don’t think there is one. Things are supposed to even themselves out in football, but we’ve had precious little luck from the referees so far.

9 We’re still giving silly fouls away around the edge and in the box
Three games and three penalties conceded and it doesn’t take a genius to see a trend developing, but there were other free kicks, particularly early on that Chelsea seemed to win that could have cost us. Thankfully for us Drogba was on the other end of them and most of them sailed well over the bar. Premier League players go down with just the slightest of touches and Chelsea’s players know just how to win them. The Blues could have benefited from them, as could Stoke last Sunday. Better teams than Stoke, and indeed Chelsea, will really punish us if we keep giving away cheap free-kicks

10 But we’re also starting to win them too
Holt , in particular, seems to be picking up the knack of winning decisions that in reality are simply 50/50 calls. Mark Hughes was a master at this 20 years ago and Holt, with his back to goal, is managing to get the rub of the green. Against Stoke and Chelsea it seemed that early on referees didn’t want to award anything to Holt, but as the games both got to the later stages, he seemed to win more. Perhaps referees are giving defenders a couple of fouls before clamping down. It’ll be interesting to see how Holt gets on at West Brom. I’ll be watching with interest to see just how many times he can get us into a decent position around the box by winning a cheap decision.