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.