After an atrocious result against Millwall – something I wasn’t expecting – there’s no doubt been a little soul-searching over whether this new ethos and regime is right. I suspect that includes Daniel Farke, Stuart Webber and even Delia & Michael.
In terms of off the pitch, under the existing owners I don’t think we have a choice; it’s about finding a sustainable philosophy that allows us to compete against those with greater funds and without TV money. A reality we were always going to have to face at some stage.
On the pitch however we’ve seen a lot of changes in personnel and in style. We all know that the result of this will mean that the first ten games, minimum, will be needed to find our feet. It may take even longer to bed in properly, it may take a couple of seasons, but it does feel that some of the problems could be solved by returning to basics.
Our defence has been lambasted over the first few games, many screaming for new centre-backs to be purchased, others booing our captain. The criticism is perfectly understandable – there have been many mistakes by defenders – and as a result Grant Hanley has come in. A move I welcome.
But I don’t think it’s that simple. The defenders are far from alone in making mistakes.
Teams defend as, well… you know, a team. Last season I felt that our midfielders were mostly good on the ball and going forward, but too lightweight and attack minded, Tettey and Mulumbu aside. The reality is we’ve not addressed that as yet and, in fact, have got more lightweight and more attack minded.
Take the last two away games for example, at Aston Villa the line-up was:
Gunn – a young player in his first season at first team level.
Martin – a senior player and all round nice guy who’s great to have around, but perhaps not in the team as he’s been declining for two or three seasons after over-achieving with the team under Lambert.
Zimmermann – a young player in his first season in English football and indeed first-team football.
Franke – a young player in his first season in English football.
Husband (Substituted for Wildschut at 86 minutes) – a young player in his first full season in the Championship.
Reed – a young player in his first season at first-team level.
Stiepermann – a player in his first season in English football.
Naismith (Substituted for Hoolahan at 73 minutes) – a senior player that’s struggled with form since joining us.
Vrancic – a player in his first season in English football.
Murphy – a young player looking to make his mark.
Jerome (Substituted for Oliveira at 74 minutes) – a seasoned campaigner.
Millwall:
Gunn – see above.
Pinto – a decent attacking right back/wing back.
Martin (Substituted for Zimmermann at 59 minutes) – see above.
Franke – see above.
Husband – see above.
Reed (Substituted for Stiepermann at 59 minutes) – see above.
Hoolahan – a seasoned campaigner.
Maddison (Substituted for Tettey at 75 minutes) – a young player looking to make his mark in his first season at this level.
Vrancic – see above.
Murphy – see above.
Oliveira – a decent goal-scoring striker.
Two things strike me about those two line-ups. Firstly, the lack of experience of football in the league we’re now in, which means they will make mistakes and need time to adjust/learn and secondly, just how attacking and lightweight they are.
Every successful team has a player (sometimes more) that can win the ball back and protect the back line. We’ve tried to use Harrison Reed in this position, but defensively he still has a lot to learn; his stature also means that he will get beaten in the air and knocked off the ball on occasion.
He’s a brilliant prospect and great on the ball as a deep-lying playmaker but as the only defence-minded player in midfield, and still being very forward thinking, the protection our back line gets is next to zero off the ball. He also is often dragged out of position leaving a big hole just in front of the defence.
Look at the rest of the nidfield – at Villa it was Stiepermann, who looks a good all-rounder but needs time to adapt, Naismith, who is a forward now playing in centre midfield, Vrancic, who is great on the ball but attack-minded and needs time to adapt to the English game and Murphy, who just wants to beat players and assist/score goals (and that’s what I want him doing).
For the Millwall game it was Hoolahan, very much an attacking midfielder and slight of frame, Maddison, again a very attack minded player and then Vrancic and Murphy again.
In my opinion it’s this that needs to change. We need players and/or a system that protects the back line far better than we have so far this season or it will not matter who plays in defence. They’ll be simply overloaded (see Arsenal for a great example – and there are other ‘niceness’ and comfort comparisons there with the Gooners too).
It’s also striking that in the only league game we’ve won we didn’t have the most of possession and we didn’t have Martin playing at centre back. Just saying.
Perhaps we’re trying to run before we can walk with the new philosophy and need to go back to basics for a while to help it bed in. We also need to ensure that we have a plan B in terms of style, not just formation.
A midfield three of Tettey, Reed and Trybull with Pinto and Stiepermann out wide feels a lot more solid to me. Three centre backs of Zimmermann Hanley and Klose also feels good. That would allow for Hoolahan and Oliviera up front, Murphy could then come on from the bench when defences are tired – not something they’d enjoy.
We could also try a 3-2-4-1 with Reed and one other, Tettey away, Stiepermann at home perhaps and bring Murphy in.
Ideally, I would have liked to see another defensive midfielder with Championship experience come in, but would also like to see maybe Naismith moved – although he played his part in getting the Hanley deal over the line I’m sure.
The defenders themselves have made mistakes, undoubtedly, but that’s all too easy to do when there’s little protection in front of you.
One thing I am certain about however is that Daniel Farke knows more about this all than any of us, so I’m content to give him the time to sort it out. That may take a couple of seasons though.
Until then it’s going to get bumpy.
Craig – In a couple of seasons time the Club will be almost entirely reliant on income from gate receipts and selling off our best players. But more than half of the rest of the division will be have parachute payments or generous owners. If you think it may get less bumpy in the years ahead – if we’re still in the Championship – you are wrong.
Not expecting the ride off the pitch to be any less bumpy, the opposite in fact.
Some truth in that, Pab. But the league history (including last season) tells us that parachute payments aren’t a panacea; many clubs without them do better than clubs receiving them. In part, that’s because many clubs come down from the Premier League with huge debts and/or commitments (Bolton, QPR etc) – Norwich an honourable exception, of course
Some excellent points, Craig.
As a detail, I’m not sure your description of James Husband is quite right. He’s played 100 previous league games: 35 in the Championship, 61 in League One and a couple in the Premier League. He’s still getting up to speed after serious injury last year, but he does have considerably more experience (as your piece highlights) than most of our current team.
Probably fair comment, I was feeling protective of him due to the level of negativity, mostly league one experience, however.
He’s also a lot younger than many think and dare I say it, he looks!
I totally agree about defending as a team. One reason that Jerome may get the nod more than Oliveira is exactly that. He is much better at harrassing defenders, without conceding too many cheap free kicks, than many strikers. See his play-off final goal,
I do think many people are giving too much emphasis to the issue of “experience in the Championship” or in “English football” . I certainly don’t buy into the idea seen in some places that Raggatt, from the fifth tier, should be higher in the pecking order than the German imports, simply because he’s been playing in England.
OK, our game is allowed to be a bit more physical than in many European countries but the basics are the same – control it, pass it, shoot on target etc. And many continental teams are just as capable of pressing high and worriting defenders to death, or of packing the midfield, picjing up anything loose, and counter-attacking. There may be fewer Morrisons or Murphys (the Daryl version) on the continent but not everyone here relies on players like that. What we do have here is a lot of strength in depth in our divisions, and that’s particularly so in the Championship this year.
It does though take time for a team to get to know each other. Not all the recruits will shine. One or two may simply not adapt to life in a foreign country. But if they are good enough quality – that’s the big if of course – it doesn’t matter where thay’ve come from, they will in time blend together and develop that kind of sixth sense about each other’s game that many successful teams have.
I always have a wry smile at phrases like “we need a plan B”. I’d sooner have a well-oiled and successful plan A! But it takes a lot longer to achieve than people realise.
It is still all very new, and at this stage if DF and co believe in their methods for the long-term I’m not surprised if they don’t want to abandon them 2/3 of the way through a match. Yes, there are times when you need to tweak things, but at the moment they must be trying to achieve a consistent style and working out who are the players best able to produce it.
At the moment I have yet to see our new side in action, so I suppose not having suffered the Villa or Milwall no-shows my patience hasn’t really been tested. But I’m looking forward to a trip to the east to see the next two home games – if they too turn into disasters I might be feeling a bit less tolerant in 10 days time!
Pab, you are absolutely correct! We must purchase a magic wand immediately.
Abracadabra! Ahrrrr . . . . that’s better.
When you look at that lack of experience it certainly gives it the feel of a longer term project. The trouble being that assuming we don’t get promoted, anyone who does excel this year will be cherry picked by those in the Championship or PL of greater financial means.
We appear damned what ever we do. A short term marmite appointment like Warnock may well have guaranteed a competitive run at promotion but at what price? If promoted, a price worth paying, all those millions make development of a good team much easier.
But longer term we need to be sustainable and this is where the current plan is taking us, but it can only work if the team performs and whilst Hanley’s greater experience is welcomed, I can’t help but think if there was any thought to getting promoted this season, the recruitment policy was very naive.
Bah!
Hi Craig a very well though out article.
You mentioned an experienced defensive midfielder and as I suggested a couple of days ago why not try Martins in that position he has proved over the years he can adapt he never was a CB but gave his all to play that position and as an RB again lend from the front.
They say that an aging forward can drop back into midfield so why can an aging defender move forward into a holding position his championship experience and previous CB roll just might help him adapt to the position and when the other CB are under pressure he could help out till they get to know the league better.
Martin has never been my favourite player but you have to respect what he has achieved with limited natural ability and no matter what stick he gets always turns up and puts in an error strune shift.
I’ve got lots of respect for Martin, I’d fear for him though, imagine if he had a bad game there, they’d be riots I the streets haha
Agree with most points.That team v Millwall was too lightweight.Why Farke could not see that as he must have known what Millwall were all about,if not he is not doing his job properly.IWould like to see two defensive midfielders start every game protecting a back three,then at home if we are not in front take one off for a more attacking player.Rather see a more defensive style winning 1.0 than all out attack winning the occasional game.On the board and owners,if they don’t want to sell up or throw some money into the playing squad then we will get left behind and never ever have a chance of top six championship,let alone the premiership.
The overriding issue with Norwich City is lack of finance. Our present owners have proven that they cannot afford to compete in the Championship let alone ever establishing us in the Premiership.
It is pointless talking systems and players if we lack wealthy owners. A change at the top is urgently needed.
Craig your analysis of the problem concurs with many others on here. Put a bit of steel in the middle of the park to help out the defense. The point about going back to basics is what I like. We have a new group of players and a coach who wants to play with a new philosophy. Good, I like the way he wants to play BUT first of all in his mind must be getting some results and that means more work on the training field before introducing new techniques on the playing field. Bring in the new philosophy gradually and be prepared to “slum it” for a while to keep in touch with the leaders. Keep in mind where you want to go but have a more progressive approach. Pab is correct that we don’t have the luxury of plenty of time because without a top six finish many of our better players will be top targets for those with the cash.
Can someone just pick Naismith in one position and leave him there? Alex Neil arsed about with him and his policy of ‘one bad game & you’re dropped’ was disastrous for him. Just stick him behind the striker and be done with it. He’d come good. Irvine could see it.
He’s sort of struggled with that throughout his career. I’m. inclined to agree, the problem we have is we have at least 4 players that want to play centrally behind a striker.