The Carabao Cup rolls off the tongue only slightly better than the Milk Cup but still it’s a competition in which we have history – and we all love a bit of history in this part of the world.
That City progressed into the next round of said cup by virtue of the 3-2 win over Swindon was of course a good thing – and if we were to embark on a cup run (anything over two games constitutes a run for us doesn’t it?) that too would be a good thing – but when the main talking points were around a player who didn’t play and a goose, it’s perhaps best regarded as just another small step on the path of Project Farke.
Swindon pushing City all the way was not necessarily a bad thing and with our new defence clearly still finding its feet, if given the choice of them wobbling against the Robins in a cup match or against the Black Cats on Sunday then that’s a no-brainer.
Colney will resound this week to the sound of some unequivocal Germanic tones when undertaking the defensive drills for set-pieces, and I’m less concerned than Twitter over it being an obvious continuation of our inability to defend free-kicks and corners.
This is a new team, with new personnel, with a new coaching team; I fail to see how this is more of the same and consider it too early to be tarring them with that same brush.
But if the same thing is regularly occurring in a months time…
Farke’s decision to not make wholesale changes was quite refreshing in itself and indeed made perfect sense. For all of the reasons already mentioned this team is a work-in-progress and to have selected a team from the fringes would have been an opportunity missed.
To gel in the way that Daniel, Christian and Edmund require needs time and that’s one thing that’s rationed in the Championship. Ninety minutes on the Carrow Road turf in a competitive game will have been worth numerous training sessions, and it was the right call even if it did lay bare some of the current areas of weakness.
Thankfully, what it also did was highlight areas of strength, among them the burgeoning on-field connection between the Master and his Apprentice. In an area of the pitch where City are well stocked, even allowing for the injury to Alex Pritchard, the collective creativity of Wes Hoolahan and James Maddison has taken less than 180 minutes to come to the fore – and that bodes well.
The challenge of course is to harness this attacking thrust and spark, so evident in last night’s opening 45, within the new structure while not compromising the defensive solidity needed for a top six push.
Crack that particular riddle and we could be in for some real fun and games over the next ten months.
****
Hopefully the sideshow that is Nelson Oliveira’s goal celebration will soon no longer be a thing. The coach’s method of handling of the situation became evident upon the release of last night’s team sheet and it seems clear that upon reflection he felt a line had been well and truly crossed.
The ball’s now in Oliveira’s court. He apologises and accepts his actions were unbecoming of the team ethic that Farke demands and we all move in with a motivated striker in the pack. He refuses to back down and I suspect Stuart Webber’s list of striking options will come into play and someone else will get themselves a talented but stroppy striker.
I know which option most of us would prefer.
I’m glad we played a strong team – having the Sunderland game delayed helps recovery of course. Falke seems to have made it pretty clear that it’s not just about defending set pieces but also not giving them away unnecessarily in the first place. Quite so.
Re. our Portuguese striker, that the ball’s in Oliveira (and his agent’s) court concerns me. I suspect Falke needs the team to defend from the front – something Jerome is much better at than Oliveira (or Wes, or Maddison, or Murphy, not yet sure about Watkins). So in difficult away games he may not be not first pick and clearly won’t like it.
There have been rumours of bids for him and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wants to go. He doesn’t seem to have stayed anywhere for long. Assuming Wiki is correct the most games he’s played for anybody is 30, and he’s already played 29 for us. So disappointingly I suspect there will be two items at the top of Stuart Webber’s to-do list: 1) Negotiate the best possible price for selling him, and 2) Buy a replacement.
A cup run would be a nice change. As long as it doesn’t turn out to be a wild goose chase.
Someone had to say it Stew… 😀
Oh gawd, it would have been me if I hadn’t been driving. Let’s not get in a flap. And where wasJonny Howson in our hour of need?
Oliviera clearly missed Webber’s memo – ‘Prima Donnas will no longer be tolerated at Norwich City’. Farke has made it clear that it is team before individual, and while Olivieras passion is to be admired, accepting the bosses decision is part of team life. Let’s hope he apologises soon, and makes up for his show of petulance on the field of play!
I love what Farke is trying to create.
Fast interweaving and accurate one touch passing will totally baffle most Championship teams.
But 2 alarm bells sound.
Alec Neil’s attacking formation pushed all aside for the first few games last seasons, then opposing managers caught on, set up 10 man defences and let us dance our pretty dances in the centre third, knocking over our notorieous porus defence in killer breakaways
I think that Farke will be cuter than Neil in that respect.
The 2nd point is overall our team looks too small to successfully defend set pieces against 6ft + opposition.
That was nearly our downfall last night against Swindon.
My final negative, is that Russell Martins brief cameo demonstrated that he isn’t up to being a member of this fast moving clever squad.
He was reduced to shadowing and the occasional ‘wall pass’.
Finally CamJam. He can run a back 4 ragged, he is everything you would want in a lone striker….. Except his conversion rate is not quite up to it.
Farke is right. Let CamJam run the opposition back 4 ragged, then bring on Oliviera to administer the coup-de-grace.
Can’t the arm chair pundits recognise that?
The positives are massive and exciting. I just sat open mouthed at the beauty of Norwich’s football last night.
I can see why we build from the back though. We are basically not big enough to compete with massive opposition players when a long kick 50/50 drops out of the sky!
I love ‘Project Farke’!
“Let CamJam run the opposition back 4 ragged, then bring on Oliviera to administer the coup-de-grace.
Can’t the arm chair pundits recognise that?”
I think most armchair pundits can recognise that Bruce. Oliveira’s agent won’t though.
It is worrying that some of the best new players are small or slight in stature. We have seen City struggle last season against big physical teams. Reed for Tettey may improve the level of passing but it removes a big and powerful presence from defence of set pieces.
This perceived weakness may also partly explain why Jerome is preferred to Oliveira. Why the critics alight yet again on Russell Martin in circumstances where others have fallen short is a mystery to me. Whatever he does, someone will find fault.
Clearly in a physical league it will be difficult to play Hoolahan, Maddison and Pritchard – and Reed too. Combinations are important and it will be interesting to see which players Farke prefers.
All last season we demanded passion from players a la Bradley Johnson. Passion by its very nature being unpredictable and slightly out of control. Nelson shows just that and now he’s the problem child.
Totally agree with your comments Gary; this is “work in progress” squad. Mistakes will be made along the way, it’s about the players and management’s response. A long way to go with new players coming in and injured personnel to return. Definitely interesting times! I suspect you and your colleagues won’t be short of editorial subjects over the coming weeks.
I watched the whole game today ( with no commentary) on iFollow with the ability to rewind, play bits in slow motion etc and thought the movement and interaction between Wes and Maddison was superb. Vrancic looks a bit out of it at the moment and the defense lacked the compactness and solidity I think we need. Husband and Pinto look good going forward but don’t seem able to prevent the crosses coming in. Young Gunn made a couple of good saves but I thought he should have done better with the second goal. The interesting thing was that for both goals our defenders all ended up facing their own goal at the moment the scorer made contact with the ball. Cameron Jerome linked up with passing and movement better than I would have expected but on a number of occasions Murphy and others got to the by-line to cross and there was no-one there to take advantage. This sounds a bit picky I guess but I am still optimistic about the methods and very enthusiastic about Maddison.
My first view of “our team” for this season, and mixed feelings.
For me, Zimmerman looks the central defender we’ve been lacking for a couple of years (or more??), whilst Gunn seems a very capable ‘keeper. On last night’s performance, just how did Messrs Neil and to a lesser extent Irvine, manage not to see the potential in Maddison?? Reed looks an astute acquisition, but for all the lovely and intricate play, still our final ball leaves something to be desired.
I applaud Mr Farke for his handling of the Oliveira situation, and sincerely hope that Nelson (and more particularly his “advisors”), realise that the new Norwich incarnation is very much a team effort with the whole end product bigger than any individual component.
(And does anyone else think that Husband’s stance; heading and general demeanour (not necessarily ability at this stage) remind them of a previous City left-back – a certain Mr Mark Bowen???)
Onwards to Sunday.
O T B C
Great article and a good lot of responses plus all talking sence.
Would hate to see N-O leave and read that as Tuesday was his birthday he possibly was given the night of to celebrate it ha ha to that.
A cheap option would be Omar Boggle, Wildshut replacement at Wigan who has just been told he can leave scored lots of goals for Grimsby before going to Wigan