Ten tips for the City boss

Goat or Glory. Feast or Famine and any other two extremes you care to mention. That's what it feels like to follow Norwich City at present for some supporters.

I've never known a season like it and we are only six league and two cup games into the campaign. The hysteria after one game was so great that an EDP journalist even bet £10 on us winning the league. I've decided to leave my cash in the Northern Rock instead; it is much safer there.

Although I'm a fan of Peter Grant, the team selection at Charlton puzzled me, and the tactics employed almost certainly tested the patience of even the saintliest of Norwich fans. From a personal point of view, I think he's doing ok after the mess he inherited a year ago, and given time will prove to be an excellent appointment. The Board will no doubt give him time, but what worries me most is whether the fans will.

I'm sure Grant reads the Capital Canaries column each week and will appreciate this advice. It's not that I think he's doing a bad job for Norwich City at present; far from it.

All I want to ensure is that at he does an even better job for us over the coming season than he is doing now.

So having suffered through ninety minutes at the Valley, and seen a few things that we need to improve on, here are my ten tips for Peter Grant : -

1) Please get a new centre back. If you don't our season may well be over before it has even started. I can see what the problem is from Block N of the Jarrold Stand. I'm just curious now to find out if the view of our defence is any different from the dugout.

2) Play four-four-two, get the players used to the formation, and each other and don't over complicate things. Playing four-five-one, with the "one" alternating between Huckerby and Brown, and the wide players swapping round against Charlton, was not clever, and confused the players. It confused the crowd. It didn't confuse Charlton though.

3) Find an eleven in which both Simon Lappin and Darren Huckerby can both play in. If it means dropping Adam Drury, so be it. But please don't change the formation to accommodate them both.

4) Admit you made a mistake in selecting Chris Brown. Yes, I know he works hard, puts himself about and generally makes life difficult for opposing centre backs, but a centre forward is judged on whether he makes life difficult for opposing keepers, and to date, he's not done that at all.

5) Feed some of the pies that Lee Croft used to eat to Luke Chadwick to build him up. And then get Chadwick on the weights and make him do shuttle runs until he begs for mercy. And when he's fitter and stronger, he can fight for Lee Croft's place at right midfield. Chadwick is a decent player, but he needs to toughen up if he is to make an impact this season.

6) Whatever pre-season training Chris Martin did or didn't do in summer, I'm sure he will have done it by now. Bury the hatchet with the boy, be his friend again and get him back in the team. We need Super Chris back. Pronto.

7) In Simon Lappin, we have one of the best strikers of a dead ball in the division, so get the team practising those set pieces. When they have finished practising them, tell them to have another go.

8) Don't forget that man missing on the near post when we defend corners has already cost us a goal this season. Once could be considered an accident. Twice might be considered bad tactics.

9) Don't be afraid to make substitutions. Huckerby was not having his best game against Charlton, and Brown looked tired and unlikely to score, yet they both stayed on the pitch. And when Charlton scored from that late penalty the players on the sideline didn't even look ready to come on.

10) And finally, if you didn't know by now, at least 75 points are required to get into the playoffs. As a rule of thumb, that means more than 50 points at home and a minimum of 25 away. To get those away points we need to win at least seven games on the road, which will never happen if we continue play as we did on Tuesday at Charlton.