I speak with authority; I was once a football manager. A real one, not just online.
For some time I was in charge of Capital Canaries, in Division 5 of the West Fulham Sunday League. We even had one heady season in Division 4. Moreover, like Alex Neil at Hamilton, I was player/manager. In the interests of complete accuracy, I was player/treasurer/driver/kit washer/half-time orange bringer/manager.
It’s true that there are differences from the Premier League. A primary concern, for instance, was whether 11 players would show up on the day (hold the jokes about Alex Neil having that problem, please).
A pivotal moment in my career did involve numbers. We had 11 players for a Cup game, while our opponents (appropriately enough, Newcastle Supporters) had only 10. At half-time we were 2-1 up, and I pondered my team-talk. Should I congratulate the boys on being ahead, or lambast them for a sloppy performance?
I decided high standards were the order of the day, and delivered a stirring lecture on the need for improvement and how we’d put the game to bed.
We lost 3-2.
So perhaps my authority to speak about City’s current struggles is limited. My only claim is having marginally greater knowledge than some fans – apparently including the host of Canary Call. I listened on Saturday for as long as I could bear, in which time I counted seven clear factual inaccuracies on the part of callers. The host corrected the most minor one (the league in which Pinto played) while letting whoppers go unchallenged, or calling them ‘great points’.
That mini-rant aside, my view is no more or less valid than anyone else’s. So I’ll add my two-penneth to the mix.
I think Alex Neil was right to change our approach after Newcastle; if he hadn’t, we were heading the way of Ian Holloway’s Blackpool. He was even right, in my view, to change for the Stoke game following the home wins against Villa and Southampton, both of whom have very different styles and strengths to Stoke’s. It was working perfectly until Gary O’Neil’s brainstorm.
So he’s a thoughtful manager prepared to learn and adapt. However, the degree of tinkering has reflected his inexperience and led to problems. One or two players are playing out of their natural positions; there’s a lack of coherence in our play; and the confidence of some, such as Nathan Redmond, has been dented by being in-and-out of the side.
I hope Alex is now taking a deep breath and consulting with his senior players about the challenge. To read some fans’ comments, you’d be forgiven for thinking we were eight points adrift with three games to go. We’re actually one point off safety with 13 games to go.
The big issue is the lack of confidence and conviction in our play, a cycle we have to break. It may require a bit of luck somewhere, the rub of the green – but we have to give ourselves the best chance of getting that bit of luck. The situation is stark: play better or go down.
There seems to be universal agreement among fans that Alex didn’t select the right team at Villa, or in other recent games. So far, so good. Except that there’s absolutely no consensus about what the team should be.
Many fans have taken to social media since Saturday with the team they think – no, the team they’re convinced – we should go with. Being generous, I see some agreement on just under half of the XI. Most want to see Ryan Bennett and Timm Klose as our centre-backs, Alex Tettey and Jonny Howson in midfield, and Steven Naismith somewhere in front of them.
Beyond that, it’s chaos. Rudd or Ruddy? Wisdom, Martin or Pinto at right back? Olsson or Brady at left back? Brady in midfield? Hoolahan in the team? Jarvis? Redmond? Mbokani, Jerome or Bamford as main striker? Or more than one? Everyone’s sure of his selection, but it’s a kaleidoscope of proposals.
The myriad of suggestions surely reflect the fact that we have a lot of players of similar standard. That’s a reasonable situation for a club of our status, and the manager now has to make some calls – including the players he sees as having the character to battle our way out of trouble.
It’s only two games since we outplayed Liverpool for 55 minutes. Of course we’re unhappy after being outclassed by Spurs then capitulating at Villa. But we’re in a fight and we have some fighters, including the manager.
Sunderland and Newcastle – both much better at home than away – still have to come to Carrow Road. We go to West Brom, a team whose home form is a weakness. There’ll be twist and turns, and we’re not even at the beginning of the end. Perhaps – to plagiarise a real leader – it’s the end of the beginning.
Good points well made. I’ve been convinced for some time that Alex Neil puts a lot of store by attitude and I’m sure that in our current situation he he is right to keep doing so, pick the players who are most up for it. I do think that it would benefit us to have a settled back 4 but I’m not sure it is that important who the 4 are. Going forward I think you can change to suit the opposition but at the back we need understanding.
Good points and I think canary call is now only valid as a comedy. Meanwhile I think everyone agrees that Howson and Wes are not wingers and Russ M has a goal-conceding error in him every week so Bennett should play. I saw Whittaker in PetsatHome yesterday and he didn’t look happy either!
My worry is that although we are only 1 point from safety, if we play as poorly as we did this weekend at WBA and Swansea we will lose and will be unlikely to catch either of them. Furthermore, we have Man City, Man United and Chelsea to play at home, which we’re not likely to win (although you never know of course), so assuming we lose all our away games, (which seems likely on current form), we then need to win all 4 of Newcastle, Sunderland, Watford and West Ham, which isn’t going to happen.
Nice Article Stuart and indeed it gets very funny when you read some of the quotes from fans about formations and who should be playing where. For me its obvious the manager is playing some players in areas where they are not at their strongest, but i assume he sees something during the week with the squad that i do not from behind my desk 120 miles away! We all know that we needed strengthening at centreback position in August, but for whatever reason that did not happen and lets hope its not mentioned on a tombstone if we go down in May!
What i will say is that the constant shifting around of players in a squad which is struggling for confidence and points does seem odd. I am all for squad rotation in a mid-table “lets see if we can do any better” way…but the current rotation does give all the wrong messages to fans and some players alike.
As for your management of that nightmare cup game against the Magpies in the early eighties, I think you are being hard on yourself as I remember our goalie Doug dislocated his finger in that game (as he often did) and we were the subject of a dodgy penalty and hit the woodwork numerous times..in the time honoured Canaries tradition..”we go again” were probably your words at the end..but I cannot say for sure!
“I think Alex Neil was right to change our approach after Newcastle; if he hadn’t, we were heading the way of Ian Holloway’s Blackpool” – But that’s exactly where we are headed, but conceding even more goals.
It must be a nightmare for some of the players, too.
You mention Redmond, but what about Howson (DM one week, right sided AM another) Wes, (‘in the hole’ one week, LM another week?!)
Fluid, interchangeable midfields are fine, A la Barcelona(?)…but the players need a few games in one position for the required movement and understanding to form.
An established back 4 will develop an understanding far, far quicker than one that changes literally every week 🙁
Stuart your comment “the fact that we have a lot of players of similar standard”
I think is a polite way of saying we have mediocrity in depth. Yes we’ve got some new faces but we have no outstanding player who can be relied on week after week. This contributes to the varying selections but varying the team does not have to equate to playing out of position and this I feel must contribute to some unhappy players eg whoever is replaced at RB by Russell Martin can feel aggrieved as RM claim CB is his best position (god help us) and he is only just average there when at his very best.
After Saturday I did wonder if I could put Leicester and Swansea tickets on ebay.
Certainly parallels with Holloway at Blackpool – once a fans target for manager – as AN doesn’t seem to lead off the pitch and doesn’t have one on the pitch.
Norwich are yet again paying for naivelty as their summer transfer window was shocking and playing catch up in January with players that aren’t used to mixing it can only lead to disaster.
You get what you deserve in life and Norwich are getting theirs too.
Good points Stuart. The club’s philosophy in recent transfer windows was to supposedly bring in players better than what we already had, but apart from Brady and maybe Naismith that has not been the case.
The Villa game worrying gave us the feeling that all of our competitors at the bottom have more fight and spirit than us. The relegation of 2013-14 is still an all too painful recent memory for players and fans alike and may not do us any favours when facing a difficult time now.
To follow on from Timm Klose’s comment we certainly know what a relegation destined club smells like and are getting the unmistaken whiffs of it again right now.
I hope you gave your team a right bollocking for that 2nd half performance.
The constant whining about the lack of summer transfer activity is a red herring of ever increasing pong. The fact that the players we wanted either chose to go to other clubs (many) or weren’t allowed to leave at the time (Afobe/Naismith) was unfortunate but hardly can be blamed at our board. It would have been great to get Klose in the summer but no doubt Wolfsburg weren’t ready to let him go.
Bournemouth brought in a few new players but it’s the core of their lower leagues squad who have done the business for them. We were fine up to the turn of the year (some poor results but some very good ones) with our ‘core’.
If Alex goes back to an attacking mode with key players in their natural positions, I’m sure we can do enough to survive and thrive next season.
So here we are again. Endless conjecture about the type of club we are/aren’t, comparison v other teams, transfer/spending policy, claims by fans who know exactly what’s going on behind the scenes, why other players go to other clubs (it’s all our fault, nothing to do with the player’s needs and circumstances) etc etc.
David (1) is spot on and it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that – pick a settled back 5 – any back 5 – and our not untalented front 6 (permed from a decent 7 or 8 players) can attack and defend with, at the very least, confidence that they know what to expect from their back men.
That said, AN blew it by deciding to stick with RM and SB before the season even started.
Cosmo P – Alex Neil said a couple of weeks ago that the reason we signed so many players in January instead of last summer was because we did not have a “player recruitment team” in place pre-season – so who is at fault for that? And McNally admitted in the autumn that the club did not have have a European scouting network.
Thanks for everyone’s comments.
A pessimistic mood is hard to avoid after Saturday, but over the past year we’ve seen plenty in these players – and this manager – to know we have the capability of surviving. I think we’ll see a more obviously committed performance against West Ham.
Without excusing the lack of tangible recruitment in the summer, it’s genuinely tough for Norwich for add players of better quality than we have. Naismith, like others we’ve targetted, was on a very large contract at Everton – not easy to persuade him to up sticks and come to newly-promoted Norwich. Clubs like Stoke may not sound glamorous to us, but they’re established in the top flight and have much larger wage bills than we can currently afford.
Jason (4) – thanks for your kind comments. It was a long time ago, but I’d be surprised if my words at the end weren’t “let’s get down to the pub”.
However bad the recent form has been a little calm is in order. We need to finish 17th minimum and all of us would have taken that at season start (most grudgingly i will concede). Currently we are one place and 1 point behind that target. So, all is not lost yet. Current form is the concern. Having watched most games the ability to keep hold of possession is glaringly apparent. I still believe our largest flaw is a “midfield general” type and a leader. Controls posession, dictates our play, drives us forward when needed, organises defence when required. Tettey is no more than solid, O’Neil is a journeyman player, Howsen is a worker but not a vocal one, Mulumbo hasn’t seemingly settled but again, is not that leader. Just feels that there is a gaping hole in the middle of the park for other teams good players to exploit, and that they are doing too well at present. But let’s keep going, we can survive and we only need to survive by finishing 17th.