Traditionally the raison d’etre of pre-season is to get the squad fit and prepare the players tactically and mentally for the challenges that lie ahead,
For the elite of the English game things are now a little different of course. While they still wish to do all of the above they also find time to lucratively fly to the four corners in order to promote their ‘brand’ and engage with their fans oversees.
I say elite, but a Stoke-supporting friend recently questioned if the Potters had ‘made it’ because they had been invited to play in the Barclays Asia Trophy – during which they locked horns with such luminaries as a Singapore Select XI. So even those of the mid-table obscurity ilk are at it now.
Perhaps one day that will, rather uncomfortably, be us but this time round City’s pre-season has been the type befitting a team managed by one who will leave no stone unturned ahead of his biggest challenge yet.
So, there have been no unwanted or unnecessary distractions, no 22 hour flights and literally everything has been geared towards a win on August 8. The quality of the opposition has been gradually cranked up and, credit to Brentford, yesterday sounds like it was City’s stiffest test of the summer – just as you’d want it.
But I’ve never been an avid ‘watcher’ of pre-season friendlies – two so far has already doubled my summer quota – and as a resident of Lowestoft I’m beyond the realms of Mustard TV, so my view of yesterday’s game is based solely on the club’s official highlights and the oracle that is Twitter.
While as an attacking force City appear in decent shape, there was plenty of online angst around City’s inability to defend while under pressure and when being hit on the counter-attack. On the receiving end, in particular, were the skipper and Steven Whittaker, both of whom were in situ in City’s last relegation campaign.
While Andre Wisdom may, in the weeks ahead, edge himself ahead of the latter – and add some stability to the right side of defence – it seems a new centre-back is not high up on Alex Neil’s shopping list.
Personally, it would have been at the *top* of my list but Alex knows far better than I and if he thinks he can get a tune out of Russ at centre-back in the Premier League then it’s hard to doubt his judgement. All I will say is, this time round team selection will be based only on what is best for Norwich City, with sentiment playing no part.
Besides, the starting XI on opening day is rarely the same as the one that takes the field once things settle down and the leaves start falling off the trees. And I expect this season to be no different.
Certainly in terms of playing style, the summer has seen a continuation of the same pass and move ethos that became a feature of last season’s run-in – typified by the two goals against FC Augsburg – and I expect City to continue with the high-pressing game that also became a feature.
The quality we possess in midfield – which has been enhanced by the arrival of Youssouf Mulumbu and the form of Tony Andreu – should at least ensure we retain possession of the ball more comfortably than we did in the Chris Hughton reign. As ever in the top flight, the trick is to have someone capable of hitting the killer pass when an opening has been created.
Graham Dorrans will therefore have a key role to play and, along with the trickery of Wes, will need to find a way to unlock some stubbborn, almost water-tight Premier league defences. And if Jonny Howson would care to chip in with the odd through ball akin to the one that led to Wessi’s goal yesterday, that also would be good.
With Nathan Redmond seemingly champing at the bit and Robbie Brady – who apparently impressed at left-back yesterday – also able to operate out wide, the midfield looks reasonably well equipped to tackle the rigours of a Premier League season.
The big unknown – at least for now – is City’s ability, or otherwise, to score goals at the top level.
Cameron Jerome has been there and done it, but only to limited effect. His energy and strength will always make him the proverbial handful for defenders – that much we can guarantee – and he’ll chip in with goals. The question is, can he chip in with enough goals?
But at 28-years old he’s at his footballing prime, he’s bursting full of confidence and will be itching to prove wrong the doubters who question his ability to score regularly in the Premier League. This is a big season for him.
Lewis Grabban is different, both in terms of playing style and expectation. His ability to work the channels and intelligent link-up play is certainly to his manager’s liking and, minus a new face, it will be fascinating to see if he gets the nod ahead of Jerome next Saturday. I suspect he will.
But he’s not played at the highest level and will need to improve upon his goals per chances ratio if he is to stake a regular claim.
Alex has vowed that we will be looking to win games rather than not lose them – music to the ears of most – but with that mind-set has to come an acceptance that City will concede. Therefore chances, when they come along, have to be buried. To be clinical, not profligate, in front of goal is key. Our opponents will be.
Where this leaves Gary Hooper, Ricky and Kyle Lafferty remains for now an unknown.
Hooper is the best finisher at the club but was unable to hold down a starting position in the Championship and is not suited to the lone striker role. Equally, with the emergence of Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe he’s dropped down the pecking order for the ‘number 10’ role.
If he is still here on September 2, I suspect he’ll get some game time but it’s hard to see him starting too often.
When, or perhaps if, the manager brings in a new striker – someone in the mould of a Rudy Gestede or a Ricky Lambert (both no longer on said shopping list) – then it’s hard to see Ricky and Lafferty getting too many opportunities.
So, while to me Wembley is still fresh in the mind, we’re on the cusp of another chapter.
One component that’s barely been touched upon, but which is more important than most, is luck. The fixture list was reasonably kind to us (so that was a start) and pre-season has pretty much gone without a hitch – at least it had until Mulumbu picked up that foot injury in the closing stages of yesterday’s game.
Whether or not he’s able to make next Saturday will perhaps determine if Lady Luck is with us right now. And if she is, perhaps she’d like to hang around.
“On the Ball City…”
Seems a good summary of our status at the end of pre-season, Gary, now waiting for next week’s start. Wonder why though you think that Alex Neil has no CB on his shopping list? He has already said he’d like another 2-3 players, since when Kean has arrived. That leaves two – a CB and a striker. We only have 4 centre backs at the moment, of whom I don’t expect Turner to stay. Neil is not going to be planning on a season in the PL with only Bassong, Martin and Ryan Bennett in that position… He is also not likely just to add a make weight. So I think his problem has been finding someone who will add quality and isn’t hugely expensive. At the moment, Virgil van Dijk has been the only target mentioned, who we’d all love to see but probably rather fanciful. I assume there are others, though, and can’t believe we will get to the end of August without signing someone in that position.
One person you did not mention in your article was Harry Toffolo. I really hope he gets some game time early in the season. He clearly wins the surprise performer of pre-season award and deserves it.
Michael (1) – Fair point re centre-back. Poor wording on my part – meant to say ‘not top’ of shopping list.
Having watched ‘Dick’ van Dijk impress for Celtic yesterday, he’d be a great purchase.
Didn’t take long for the Martin/Whittaker backlash to start did it – preseason to be exact. RM made a mistake, their CF took the chance superbly and we won the game. No big problem. I’d trust AN’s (and Strachan’s) judgement on Martin over that of the armchair fans.
Wes’s goal was outrageously taken. Their keeper was probably MoM and kept the score down as he did last season. Pity if Mulumbu doesn’t make Saturday but we have plenty of options there.
Palace is a tough start but AN will have the boys fired up.
Look forward to seeing Ipswich deal with a lively Brentford side on Saturday.
Good summary of the scene and dramatis personae, as we get ready for the curtain to rise.
Maybe two things to remind ourselves:
. the transfer window is only half way through
. Virgil van Dijk has been mentioned (and I’d love to see him with us), but we don’t know that he’s ‘a target’. The only players we know City have been after are Dorrans, Mulumbu, Brady, Wisdom and Kean.
As far as Russell Martin’s concerned he is much higher rated as a CB by those in the know – several managers and the guys he played against last season – than by the fans. I’ll go with those in the know.
Bassong worries me more than Martin. In the heat of the play-off final it was his lack of composure – a blind mid-air back-heel – that led to our crossbar being rattled. Two inches lower and we would have been behind – and Middlesbrough ahead are a much tougher proposition than when they go behind, as we know and the stats prove.
Every game is a big one in the Premiership; I don’t entirely trust Seb to cope with that pressure.
I think we are in for a much harder season than many anticipate. There are few obviously weak managers around in the league – no Steve Bruce for example, always a relegation waiting to happen.
The Watford guy is the big unknown, and Ranieri at Leicester doesn’t look a good fit for a relegation struggle. I expect both to go down. But who else?
Sunderland don’t appear to have improved their squad, and although they have a decent manager I think they will be in the mix. West Ham, if they survive for a while Europe, may struggle as all distracted by that comp seem to.
I wonder if Swansea may head south too – hard to see how good Monk really is.
And us? For my liking we already had too many players with Premiership relegation history. We’ve just massively overpaid for another specimen. He’s not bad, but £7M? You’ve got to be joking. And if you buy players who are relegated from your division then you are building a relegation team by definition.
That Dorrans and Mulumbu were surplus to requirements with a mediocre WBA also concerns me. Good for Championship level, yes. Premiership, not so sure.
I don’t see a raft of truly hungry players in the squad – as Holt, Snodgrass, Johnson, Howson and Pilkington were in the past. That was so important in our two seasons that we survived last time. Only Redmond really fits that bill now AND has the quality to be picked.
I like the Murphy boys and Toffolo, but it’s hard to see them featuring. Thompson is probably hungry too, but already seems to be back in the U21 squad.
The saving grace is Alex Neil himself. He will presumably get more out of a low-quality squad than either Hughton or Adams could, and possibly more than Lambert. But I do think even that may not be enough to keep us up unless we urgently find a some guile up front. Remember how we couldn’t break down Boro’s defence at Carrow Road? There will be many much tougher than that to face this season.
If we do find ourselves struggling I just hope the Board retain Alex Neil, and take no notice of the message board clamour that will inevitably be demanding his head. (If we are 1-0 down at half-time next Saturday it will start there and then…) We should do as Burnley have done with Sean Dyche and accept that long-term he is going to take us places. It may just take a while.
Sorry to seem gloomy, very much hope I’m wrong, but time will tell.
@Cosmo…. to be fair the criticism of SW and RM hasn’t just started, its been there for a while, because there has been a problem for a while. I’m sure its difficult, but bringing a CB in should have been a priority to give him game time to bed in, its possibly the most difficult position to throw in at the last minute and I fear we may regret not making greater efforts to resolve the problem. We continue to allow teams to hit back quickly. We must tighten up
@ Keith….. and Sherwood at Villa looks like a glassy eyed rabbit in the headlights when things go against him. IMO He’ll struggle badly now the honeymoon is over
Keith (5) – Gloomy, yes, but well-reasoned.
To put a more optimistic case, though:
1. Many of our squad have relegation history – but also promotion history. The baggage of that relegation season – including the poisonous relationship between club and fans – is a thing of the past. We won’t turn against Alex Neil in the way we did against Hughton.
2. The players looked pretty hungry in the second half of last season. Enough of them are desperate to prove themselves in the Premier League that we shouldn’t be found wanting in the hunger department. And was Pilkington really hungrier than Jerome or Grabban?
3. From what I’ve seen of Dorrans and Mulumbu, I’m inclined to agree with their former teammates: these guys look good enough for the Premier League to me. And both are keen to show it.
4. The fact that a player has been relegated (as you point out about Brady) doesn’t mean he has a losing mentality. After we went down, I’d still want Bradley Johnson, or indeed Snodgrass – just not Fer.
5. Alex Neil is a fast learner – as he showed between April 17 (City 0, Boro 1) and May 25 (City 2 Boro 0).
Hi Flicky, good point, I think you are right about him as a manager. I think he’s acquired enough quality to survive though – Richards has a point to prove in particular. But they are relying on imports to settle quickly and come good, and that’s far from certain tom happen, as we know ourselves.
By the way, I saw the highlights of yesterday and one thing struck me about the goal we conceded. Martin was caught in possession and will get all the flack, some of which he deserves. He wasn’t alone though. It was an overhit pass from Brady (I think) to Bassong that initially put us in trouble, and Bassong himself could have bust more of a gut to take control of the ball instead of trusting Russell to deal with it. But of course by the time the ball’s in the net everyone’s forgotten how it started. Alex Neil won’t.
We will have to wait a little while before we see what places need to be strengthened.Only games will answer that one.If this is to be a survival fight we might think that covering most positions would be the most sensible thing to do.We all know what a difficult season this might be and looking at the money splashed about by sides likely to struggle city may have to do something similar.A positive start though will ease a few worries.
As we enter the final furlong, everyone is likely to be a bit on edge, questioning whether we have the right players, should we have spent more etc. etc.
I think our saving grace is that there are no “Hooray Henrys” or “Champagne Charlies”. If you asked the majority of Premier League Club supporters to name any of the NCFC squad, they may get as far as “….um Ruddy, Wes somebody and that Brady fella from Hull that Steve Bruce was whining about and err…..um I think that’s about it”
The great thing about that – as when we went up with Lambert – is that each member of the team know they are not the most well known of individuals and that their unique strength, and thereby advantage, lies in the collective team.
That group mentality and togetherness will make each individual excel – for the good of the team – with a little bit of help from Mr Motivator!
Hi Stewart, re “4. The fact that a player has been relegated (as you point out about Brady) doesn’t mean he has a losing mentality.”
I accept that, but it does question whether he really has the quality to play at Premiership level. It’s one thing to look good in a poor team, and Brady clearly did, another to look good in a decent one. Only QPR wanted Fer and Caulker last season, only Hull wanted Snodgrass (I don’t believe had he stayed fit it would have made any difference to Hull’s relegation). Only NCFC have gone in for Brady. Why, if he’s better than bottom 3 standard? Saints signing of Caulker raises an eyebrow too, maybe they (with Europe also to distract) could be a surprise struggler.
My gloom is partly fuelled by the lack of obvious alternative candidates for the drop. When we last went up Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves were all accidents waiting to happen, as were Wigan the year after.
I think that’s what Leicester and Sunderland are now, and Villa might be. But I don’t think there are as many weak teams around as there were a couple of years back. But we’ll see – there could be some surprises…
Good article and also some good stuff from #Keith B, with whom I largely agree. Watford look dodgy for a variety of reasons and I could see Bournemouth heads dropping if they get off to a bad start. Please buy that CB -and soon (that’s a positive plea, not an anti-Cafu sentiment as such)!
Keith B, are you baiting me with these constant references to the “Premiership”?! Alex Neil may have come from there, but down south it’s called the Premier League.
Criticism of the defence seems harsh to me. Every player makes mistakes. You only have to look at City’s goals against record before and after Bassong’s re-emergence to know he’s a major asset. Consistency over time is the measure, not single incidents.
I’m sure we will sign a replacement for Turner though.
Keith,
The most realistic post I’ve seen on City’s chances. You have signed a few players now and are being linked with others, however your concerns over the recruitment quality is right to be questioned with yourself having the same reservations as a Watford supporter.
Our problem is certainly not quality but integration. If the last three seasons is anything to go by then the majority will shine. The club always integrate players off the field as well which is important that their families and children are happy. Happy families mean a happy player to our owners which leads to performances.
We are quietly confident but do realise that this season is going to be a struggle winning games. In some ways it’s nice that you are all writing off our chances because we have gone foreign like every other Prem club apart from yourselves and Bournemouth.
Mick (15) – so, to be clear… the only post on this whole site you consider realistic of City’s chances is one that confesses to be of a ‘gloomy’ outlook. I admire your stamina in the continuation of the ‘you’re crap, we’re great’ mantra.
Only time will tell …