Our first half performance against Norwich.

[colinwhite]

I dont know maybe I am just too much of an optimist or after supporting Fulham for so many years am happy at the least bit of good play. Could be. But having listened to Dan Crawford on cottage talk saying we were significantly below par in the saturdays first-half against Norwich and that 2- 0 wouldnt have flattered them at half time , I have to say that was not the game I was watching.
Cottage talk is an excellent  show and I have alot of respect for Dan who does an excellent job on the hammyend blog.

To me we dominated (62pc possession ) most of the first Half ,and that although we didnt threaten too much ,it never felt as though we didnt have proceedings completely under control. They started to come into a bit in the last 10 minutes of the half ,but if they had gone in with a lead it would have flattered them enormously.
I think our game plan was to dominate posssesion and see how things panned out. Keep it tight defensively and wait for the chances to come . Patient and confident. And for me thats exactly what we did.
If you consider the context of the continuing pressure of our unbeaten run (which always gives the players an excuse ,oh well it had to end sometime mentallity) where momentum transformed from surging energy to a lead block round our necksin the second 45 against our local rivals,and that we had so many players away during the international break ,I was relieved to see such an assured first half performance . If we had given that performance against QPR the week before during that strange second half, we would have put them very clearly to the sword IMO.
Against norwich we built a platform to push on from took our chances when they inevitably came and were by far the better side.
Norwich were toothles when it came to the crunch and we looked full of desire to take the three points ,professionally and ruthlessly finishing them off and almost taking the mickey in that last 15 minutes.
Any questions i had about us loosing our bottle in the second half aginst Rangers where very clearly answered by the team.

[Whitesideup]

I have only seen the highlights. It looks as if Norwich played some decent football at times, but we defended well, and on about the 50th minute the save from Betts looks tremendous.

[toshes mate]

Good points as always. 

I also felt the whole performance on Good Friday was more reflective of our better moments in our unbeaten run, and it was good to see a positive reaction to the points dropped against QPR.

[Matt10]

We played very well to possess the ball. They were set up to counter attack the entire time though, and nearly cost us a couple of times. Their defensive game was quite good all things considered, and a lot of that was because of Alexander Tettey, who was an absolute force to get past. It seemed like nothing was going to get past him, and we wouldn't score. If Tettey was a couple years younger, I think he'd be a decent alternative to KMac.

[General]

I feel perhaps those criticizing the level the team played at haven't acknowledged the significance of the fact that quite a few of our players only just got back from international duty, where they had significant game time.

Mcdonald, Cairney, Mitrovic, Sessegnon, Johansen, Kalas all played significant amounts of their respective internationals.. despite that we still beat Norwich. I think we need to give credit where it's due. There is something different to this year, players aren't wavering, they're doing a phenomenal job in getting results despite circumstances and I feel it's because they want to see the club in the premiership.. they want to see themselves with the club in the premiership and that is huge for me.

It'd be great to see this club back in the premiership, not just for the sake of playing against the best and putting, what seems to be, a firmer foundation into place from the khans in the premiership where they seem to be grasping how to run a club.. but also the fact it gives us an opportunity to keep this team, it's best players and key stars together with the bonds they've formed with one another, but also with the manager and club. It feels, if there could be such a thing, that this club really has found a way to express itself hugely through how it is at the moment, as close to seeing it's soul as under Roy's reign with the run to the Europa League final.

With the clubs around us in the playoffs stuttering form wise, it'd almost be just as good if we can continue this and either a) sneak into 2nd place, or win the playoffs I really hope this can be our year and no abhorrent injustices like against Reading last season happen again. My only genuine concern, although the playoffs are unpredictable, would be facing off against Millwall who've been on quite the run and have been better than us on form (wins column)  - although I don't know who've they've played against.