This week I spoke to Norwich fan Gary Gowers above our upcoming home on Saturday.
Norwich made a last minute dash for a loan deal for Matt Jarvis on deadline day. Desperation or inspiration? What do you make of him as far?
Early days of course but he’s had a good couple of games so far. Alex Neil had clearly identified the need for a wide left-sided player of Premier League quality early on in the window but Jarvis’ arrival in the closing minutes of said transfer window did come a bit out of left field. There appeared a fair bit of ill will heading his way from the East End upon his arrival but he’s a player I’ve always liked and he does offer something different to our current group. A goal on his City debut will have done his confidence no harm.
Where do you think Norwich can finish in the league this season?
Despite all and sundry predicting that we’ll disappear whence we came before you can say ‘parachute payment’, we’re actually quietly confident we can steer clear of the relegation scrum. While we’d end up content with anything from 17th upwards, the aim is for mid-table obscurity and Alex Neil has made clear we’re not setting our stall out just to avoid the bottom three. In the words of a former City manager, we’re going to ‘give it a right good go’, be fearless in our approach and see where it takes us.
Which three teams do you tip for relegation this season?
Again, early days of course but…
Aston Villa, Sunderland and Watford
How do you rate West Ham’s manager Slaven Bilic and his terrific start to the season?
Following on from the unsophisticated style of Allardyce, it seems that Bilic’s approach has headed you back towards the old ‘West Ham way’ and so far it’s worked. He’s put together a team full of pace and dynamism which is set up perfectly to hit sides on the break – and so far the away wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City suggest it’s working perfectly. After a couple of early hiccups at Upton Park, the win against Newcastle suggests he may now have cracked the home form too.
West Ham sit in third place after six games but what league position can West Ham realistically achieve this season under Bilic?
I honestly reckon, if you can keep your big names fit, that you can gate-crash the top six. The aforementioned dynamism has added a certain something that was always missing from the Allardyce iteration and should ensure this season’s good start doesn’t just fizzle out in the second half of the season as it did last time round. If not top six, then top half.
If you could have any current West Ham player in your team who would you choose?
Easy… Dimitri Payet. His blistering start to the season has been well documented and, from what I have seen, he appears almost unplayable at times – a real class act.
Which Norwich player should we include in our Fantasy dream team?
I’d suggest you include Wes Hoolahan. At 33, Wes is now playing the best football of his career and, while it’s taken him the best part of 17 years to perfect it, he’s now consistently producing an end product, be they goals or assists.
14 Supporters’ Trusts recently came together to petition the Government for a public inquiry about West Ham’s occupancy of the Olympic Stadium. Norwich City’s Canaries Trust was among those supporters’ trusts to support the petition but does the fact that West Ham got a good deal bother you personally as a football fan?
If I’m honest it does stick in the craw a bit that West Ham have managed to acquire the use of a brand new state-of-the-art facility – that’s called the ‘Olympic Stadium’ for god’s sake – for what in today’s footballing terms amounts to almost a peppercorn rent but it’s most certainly not the fault of the club – and good luck to them! The fault lies with those who constructed the deal in the first place. If the shoe were on the other foot and City were getting a new 54,000-seater stadium for an initial outlay of £15m and an annual rent of £2.5m I’d not be complaining!
How do you expect Norwich City to setup against West Ham on Saturday/ Team/formation prediction?
It’s always hard to second guess an Alex Neil starting XI as he invariably adopts a horses for courses approach but, aside from Matt Jarvis being unavailable on Saturday, I wouldn’t expect too many changes from the side that drew at Anfield. Therefore…
Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Redmond, Tettey, Dorrans, Howson; Hoolahan; Jerome
West Ham have lost two and won one at Home. What is your score Prediction for Saturday?
If I allow my heart to rule my head I reckon we can snatch a point. I’ll go 1-1
My thanks to Gary for answering my questions:
Twitter: @gary_gowers Editor of NorwichCity.MyFootballWriter.com