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Oh yeah, i was speed reading I think that the OP is getting a little carried away, but i get his way of thinking. Yesterday was like being served up a morrisons ready meal curry after years of eating dry stale bread, and it was the 1st game of the season. It goes to show how poor the standard of play had become, more than anything else.
That Villa game is my all time favourite. Loved that game. John Terry ripping his shirt off in anger as he left the park. Sun shining. Unicorns. Free pots of gold under every rainbow flag. The orchestra. Choir. Even Bartley Bluebird celebrating with the players. I kid you not.
I think it's unfair to tag all our football over the past decade as lacking flair and excitement - this game is a case in point. Our promotion season under Warnock wasn't bad - the problem really set in after relegation. For two and a half seasons we really did get dull football and mostly players who could best be described as 'workmanlike'. I suppose it's bit like folk after the war tasting their 1st banana for 6 years !!
The second half of the promotion season was a lot about grinding results out and I think it was character more than anything else which kept us above Fulham, but we played a lot of good stuff before that - Sheffield United, Villa, Wolves, Leeds, Brentford and Norwich were all very good performances in the first half of 17/18.
Although City look really weak in the final third, the defending was pretty decent and the ball retention was much better throughout the side. Also, the pace of the play was much improved, nowhere near as ponderous as recent seasons. And there was a good deal of commitment on display. All of the new signings looked eager to impress.
I'm not sure about Norwich this season, though. Earlier in this thread, Monkfish described them as having a Premier League squad of players. I don't think they have anything of the sort. They finished rock bottom of the top flight last season, sixteen points behind the team who finished fourth bottom. Pukki is another year older and they don't have Buendia, who was superb for them when they were last at this level. They'll probably be in and around the play-offs, but I'll be surprised if they are automatic promotion candidates this time around.
Norwich’s record in the last two seasons they’ve been in the Premier League has been pathetic - far worse than ours in the two seasons we were there - I don’t think Farke got the credit he deserved in 20/21 for getting a squad which had a very good goal scorer, probably the best player in the division that season and an excellent right back, but not too much else that was of title winning standard to win the title by quite a large margin.