So it’s into (yet) another international break on the back of that most unwanted of hat-tricks: three Championship reverses on the bounce.
Consensus amongst most of us of the yellow and green persuasion is that, for once, this break is welcome, if not only because this depleted squad has been running on vapour ever since the Carabao Cup defeat at the Emirates.
Daniel Farke said afterwards that he never wishes to give a game to any opponent as a present but right now his decision to field a full-strength side at the Emirates is not looking too clever. Extra time and the manner of that defeat can hardly have boosted tired limbs and jaded minds. Derby, Wolves and the minor disaster that was Bolton surely go a long way towards emphasising this.
Farke has also told us many times that there will be blips as we continue our “new approach” under the new structure, but three knockbacks in a row is a bit more than a “blip”.
Of course, there are mitigating factors.
The seemingly never-ending saga of Nelson’s injury complications, which vary from teeth to groin to calf. I’ve been known to acquire all three on a single walk with the dogs, so as frustrating as it is for player, club and fans, it’s quite believable. I’m not sure about the link between his fangs and his fetlocks, but hopefully the Portuguese specialists know more than me and will sort it out right quick. Because…
Cameron Jerome is looking tired, lacking in confidence and frankly is not producing. Two goals in 15 matches in all competitions is simply not enough for even a lone (nominal) striker. He plays the role unselfishly, works tirelessly, runs the channels until he drops… we can all see that. But he rarely looks like scoring.
Marley Watkins remains an enigma to me. In my opinion he is hardly a striker, so a harsh critic right now could justifiably claim we don’t have a fully functioning hitman. And if I know that, so do the Rowetts, Espirito Santos and Parkinsons of this world. Shut down (or kick) Maddison and the toothless yellow and green tiger is tamed.
Alex Tettey is sorely missed. Possibly originally not deemed technically adept enough by Farke because of his lack of close control and passing ability, it is no coincidence that his recall to the side coincided with the excellent run we had in September and beyond. When it comes to breaking up play and laying it off simply, few seem better at this level.
Tettey’s absence seems to have affected Tom Trybull, who is not the force he was a short couple of weeks ago.
And then there is the continuing absence of Alex Pritchard. I don’t believe James Maddison and Wes work too well together, but Maddison and Pritchard may well slot into the same side in a very effective fashion. It is a pity we have not had a chance to see them on the pitch at the same time.
I won’t dwell on the Bolton game (mainly because I wasn’t there and I don’t like to comment on games I haven’t seen in their entirety) but the way Gary Madine got in front of Christoph Zimmermann was far, far too easy. Good anticipation from Madine, so why not equally so from Christoph?
Neither will I remark on the Binners’ result, but it has pushed a few of the regular detractors on social media and elsewhere into a minor frenzy as they temporarily leapfrog us in the table.
So what happens between now and Barnsley – surely something of a “must-win”?
I guess Farke has a fortnight with the remainers (Angus Gunn and Maddison will be England U-21 absentees) to see what improvements he can make. Just as he did after the Millwall debacle.
The thing that concerns me the most is that he only has a tired and largely still-adjusting squad – which is starting to look paper-thin – to work with. Tettey and Pritchard will not be available during this period, and it is highly unlikely Nelson will feature either.
It has been said elsewhere that this is likely to be a season of evaluation, building for the future and hoping for a shot at the play-offs. Whoever said that first is bang on the money.
Do not be surprised to see names such as Matthews, Adams, Phillips, Morris, Godfrey, Fonkeu, Cantwell and others increasingly featuring at the tail-end of what I now believe will be a mid-table finishing season. Most of us agreed patience with this developing set-up is a virtue and I haven’t reneged on that.
We must continue to stick with it because we have no alternative. Downsizing is the future. Again said elsewhere, somebody mentioned we’ve gone from Harrods to Poundland in terms of player shopping. To me it’s more like Waitrose to Aldi (a German store, natch.)
My NCFC radar works reasonably well and has yet to detect a “blip” of willingness to listen to proposals of outside investment from the major shareholders.
So it seems “onwards and upwards” has turned into “let’s keep our heads above the water if we can”
Frustrating, I know.
Excellent article Martin and I’m sure I’m not a lone voice in ‘champing at the bit’ to see the likes of ‘Adams, Phillips, Morris, Godfrey, Fonkeu, Cantwell’ be given their opportunity in the first team and I wish that Farke had used one or more of them in the Arsenal game, but that’s ‘water under the bridge’ and my hope is that Franke and his assistants can now work wonders over the International Break and find a way to convert the chances we create early in matches into goals.
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Thanks Ed. Your last point is spot on: it remains slightly perplexing to me as to exactly why our best chances appear to occur early in matches. It would seem that if we don’t score early on, the opposition quickly realise we don’t have that much in terms of cut and thrust and react accordingly, to our ultimate cost.
Maybe Fonkeu and Abrahams aren’t considered “ready” but a place on the bench and the occasional 20 minutes when we’re chasing a game wouldn’t be a bad idea?
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Hi Martin
I mentioned the same yesterday that trying either or both Abrahams or Fonkeu for the last 10 to 20mins would see them gain experience playing along side CJ and also surprise the opposition but was told if Team Farke wasn’t picking them they weren’t ready how do we know if we don’t try them they might turn up trumps.
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I think that was me who said that! I would expect they’ve made their judgement on training & U23 matches. The stats would indicate Carlton Morris isn’t the answer either.
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I think our slender wins over the likes of Ipswich produced unrealistic expections.
The outcome of most games seemingly has hinged on odd moments and which team scores first. If David McGoldick had scored that easy header at Ipswich we probably would have lost. If Jerome had converted his chance at Bolton we would have won. Small margins ….
By the way, you can get some good quality stuff from Aldi ….
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Ha! and Lidl too…
Small margins that can open into giant chasms imo…
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I’m afraid Nelson is turning out to be exactly what his record shows him to be – a talented but unreliable striker in terms of temperament and injury, missing games more often than not.. In August I suggested we should take the money Reading offered for him (allegedly) in the window and use the cash to get someone like Gayle who is not fitting in at Newcastle but would have done a job for us alongside Jerome who is now showing the results of carrying far too heavy a burden.
We desperately need to freshen the striker department right now.. Am I right in thinking we could still go for the Norwich lad playing so well in the States. Surely we should be trying anything?
Again we have been left exposed by over- generous use of the loan system. Whatever happened to call back clauses? At least that would give us Carlton Morris
in the short term.
Come on Norwich ,show some bottle on young talent. If Middleton is ready why not give him a try – he’s got something to prove, and can’t be worse than Yannick and Watkins who have been serious under achievers to date.
But if Middleton plays we must get someone other than Jerome on the end of his crosses and who better than Peter Crouch who continues to show he is master in the air (and not too bad on the floor either). I know,I know he’s not young but short term he could be just what we need.
Over to you Mr Webber .I have been a big fan so far but we need some decisive steps in the coming weeks.
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I (probably like most of us) saw MotD at the weekend and Crouchy said he wanted to emulate his Stoke manager Mark Hughes by playing until he was 40.
Then came his caveat: “in the Premiership”
We couldn’t pay his wages in a month of Sundays.
A great comment and thank you..
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Saturday started badly all round – the PA man failed to say that the referee’s whistle would start the minute’s silence (as it always does) only that he would end it. So 2 seconds after the end of the Last Post the ref blows, and a load of numbskulls in various parts of the ground think we’ve had a minute’s silence and start cheering 59 secs too early.
Gary Madine, as Martin says, just got in front of Zimmerman – it was the sort of move that we failed to produce often enough. Jerome has lost his sharpness for sure – but you’ve got to get into the wide positions to make that kind of cross work too, so it’s not all down to him. And when 3 players get ahead of the defence and none of them can connect with the best set-piece delivery of the afternoon you just know it’s not your day.
Their second goal, we were a little unlucky – it was an opportunist strike, really well taken, and the guy who laid the ball off to Armstrong effectively shielded him from 2 or 3 defenders.
I’m sure Wes will give way to Pritchard, but I feel sorry for Pritchard. Many on here, and doubtless elsewhere, seem to think he is going to just walk in and transform things. Based on last season he may take a while to get fully up to speed. That’s the way it is with some players.
As for all these young players, I believe Godfrey is playing a big part at Shrewsbury, but he’s not what we need right now. We need a top level Championship striker and whilst Morris is doing OK, at Shrewsbury, he’s not really setting League One alight. He’s heading for being a journeyman lower league striker in my view.
It would be great if Middleton, Fonkeu or Abrahams turned out to be a modern Bellamy, in the side on merit at 18 or 19. But have any of them really got that level of talent?
Incidentally one name that seems to be forgotten now is Raggatt. 2 months ago everyone was wondering why the League Two defender was not back at CR in preference to all these German imports “who don’t know English football”. Funny how times change!
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Interesting views, Keith.
You could be right about Carlton Morris: he could become another Loza, Jackson, Cody, even Cureton. However whenever I’ve seen him play (which is quite a few times) he looks a bit of a Jerome clone and thus should be given a chance imo.
And as for Sean Raggett, he will only enter the equation when we sell Timm Klose. Which we doubtless will.
As you say, funny how times change.
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Well, I don’t see the guys as often as you, so I can’t comment on what kind of player Morris is. But the fact is he’s 22 next month.
Jerome scored 20 goals in 2005-06 for Cardiff, who were a mid-table Championship side. He was still a teenager.
And that’s where I’m coming from really. Where attacking players are concerned the genuinely talented, those with a chance of reaching the top of the Championship or the Premier League, tend to show it very early. And in many cases they don’t even have to go out on loan to prove themselves. Or if they do they make a big impact, as Abrahams did at Bristol City last year and is now doing at Swansea.
I know you get a few Grant Holts and Jamie Vardys, but one reason we hear so much about them is that they are rarities.
The nearest to a gem we seem to have at the moment is Middleton; whether there is a role he could play, instead of Josh perhaps, will be interesting to see.
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Ha Keith B – another Middleton fan and I think Josh should be forced to watch the highlights of our Under 23 game V Saints f a few weeks ago and try to emulate Middleton – especially with his crossing and tracking back!!!
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I remember when Jamie Cureton and Adi Akinbiyi were knocking them in for fun for our reserves (as it truly was a genuine reserve side then).
They were the original little ‘n’ large partnership but neither of them cut it when elevated to the first team.
I’ve not seen much of Middleton, but from what I have he certainly doesn’t have the pace of a Murphy – an area in which we are seriously lacking.
I also remember both Ryan Jarvis and Lee Power burning brightly for five minutes, only to fizzle out like a cold chip pan.
What we need is another Foxy, Disco Dale or Darren Eadie. If only.
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Middleton may not have the pace of Murphy, but what he lacks in pace is MORE than compensated for by the fact that he is far harder to knock off the ball, plays much more accurate crosses into the box (resulting in 2 OGs for us when we played Saints under 23s a few weeks ago) and chases and harries when the ball is lost.
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Half Empty or Half Full.
No matter what we think and say Webber and Team Farke will be looking at possible incoming players and I am very surprised that since the transfer window closed they haven’t looked at signing a free agent on a temporary basis till the end of the season.
All over Europe there are players looking to get back into the game wether it be short or long term or just maybe trying to prove they can do a job for someone.
Ex england, liverpool, Southampton striker Lambert was on GOS recently and said he was retiring due to not getting any offers at any level he played with Holty at Bury if I remember and they have stayed friends he also scored goals were ever he has played except Liverpool would he be worth a gamble.
Mr Webber look at players available to fill in temporary gaps agents must be knocking on doors to get their clients back into the game.
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Hi Alex. I don’t think they will go for Lambert or anybody of that ilk; full stop.
It doesn’t fit in with “what they want” – ie no potential resale value for those in their Thirties.
Holty was unique – signed by Bryan Gunn, of all people.
His like will not be seen again at Carrow Road in our lifetime.
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Blimey Martin. A whole mornings work with neither me or my son mentioning Norwich city had improved my mood somewhat, only for you to bring me crashing down over a sandwich and cup of tea,
“Downsizing is the future” ??? What an appalling state of affairs if that is the case. As for “onwards and upwards”. A more pertinent phrase is “race to the bottom”.
We know this season is our last realistic chance of promotion. You and others have written it off and accepted the decline as irreversible and without any remedy.
The bean counter stone has already warned of the impending vandalism this summer is bringing.
It was hoped that the appointment of Webber would improve the squad and our competitiveness, that he was brought in to make the team work. The alternative view was that between him and stone the remit is to balance the books by means of savage cost cutting in order to enable smith to continue in control of a club she can patently no longer afford to run.
This Lidl shopping, this downsizing you mention Martin, who is the beneficiary? Is it the support watching good players haemorrhage from the club to be replaced by brellier, Louis Jean, theoklitos and other Sunday league footballers? Is it the staff losing their jobs in the race to spend less and less? Is it the local economy, bolstered by premier league football? Of course it isn’t. We all know the instigators of this surrender, effectively giving up on the clubs future.
The German experiment that my heart told me was going to introduce the best practices into the club and new methods which put thengermans at the pinnacle of world football is in fact a smokescreen. The coaching has improved, yes and the manager is more personable and knowledgeable than his predecessor. He cannot however turn water into wine, base metal into gold.
in truth, most of us suspected our season was doomed after a thirty minute spell in cambridge when a couple of non league dustbin men clogged two of our best out of the equation. Add nelsons chronic pain syndrome and the other injuries and total losses of form and it seems we are cursed,
Your radar may well be correct in its assumption that the smiths are content to drag the club down into their scope of affordability, Martin. In fact I’m sure that’s the plan.
I suspect that this is not on the agenda of many supporters who have a more positive image of their club and somewhat loftier ambitions than simply being owned by a cook. Unless there is a change in fortunes, direction or, preferably both, this is going to end in some very bitter tears.
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Hi Chris
No one can knock the Smiths for saving the club after the South/Chase years but now there are past the sell by / use date.
We will not get any investors till it is announced that the club is interested and the stupid conditions of being a city supporter and coming from the local area, there aren’t too msny cliubs these days that have local ownership and don’t know of any with enought money to buy them out possibly Folger who is already on the board and their best friend
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I agree Alex, the conditions are impossible to meet.
I believe most supporters are desperate for City to compete. Under the smith regime we will stagnate and wither,
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“We know this season is our last realistic chance of promotion”
I’m pretty tolerant of other people’s views but if there is one sentiment that always frustrates, indeed angers, me it’s the notion that teams cannot get promoted without parachute payments. On average 2 out of 3 promoted clubs do exactly that, and whilst the current leaders are being bankrolled by the Chinese that isn’t how most clubs get there.
Parachute payments are not there to get you promoted – they are there to try to avoid financial meltdown after relegation. I think only 2 clubs above us in the table have actually got them.
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While these clubs might get promoted without parachute payments, the shortfall is almost always made up by a stiff dose of investment by the owners. That’s REALLY frustrating and angering.
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You’ve got your numbers wrong.
The 2/3rds number is whether they go straight back up. Parachute payments last three years. I wonder how many do it over that period.
Also, the 1/3 chance of of going straight back up is far greater odds than the 2/21 odds for those who hadn’t been relegated.
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Sorry Chris, I accept that parachute payments are useful, but it’s not true that this is our ‘last realistic chance of promotion’. Two clubs got promoted without those payments last year. If I could be bothered to do the research I’m sure that we’d see a number of teams in recent years do the same.
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As I said above Dave, Brighton in particular were the beneficiaries of some investment, Huddersfield are an anomaly. We are basically hoping that lightning strikes twice. Parachute payments or investment are needed. We have neither.
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Now I want someone to do the research on clubs promoted without parachute payments & whether or not they had significant investment!
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“The remit is to balance the books by means of savage cost cutting in order to enable Smith to continue in control of a club she can patently no longer afford to run”.
Yes mate, spot on. If we do anything on the field under Daniel Farke it will be a very unexpected bonus for the supporters, whilst equally being extremely uncomfortable for the Smiths, their acolytes and their camp followers. They do not want PL. None of them.
I have given the Board much credit for the breath of fresh air they have recently supplied. However it is increasingly looking like fancy handbags and porcine lugs.
They’ve let off some very effective smoke bombs around the mirrors, but (stuff January) we will realise the truth in May when the last players of any value will be sold off.
And we’ll still be stuck with Jarvis and Naismith.
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Some smashing debate on this one Martin, you really lit the blue touch paper, well done.
I attended the pre season q and a with Farke, Stone and Webber in August. I felt that Farke was by far the most impressive of the three and I feel genuinely sorry for him as I think, under the right conditions he would thrive. Suffice to say, he will never encounter such conditions at Norwich.
I honestly believe some supporters care not one jot about the standing or performance of the team as long as the smith family are prominently seated at the front of the directors box. Just yesterday and elderly season ticket holder informed me that “we do t want Chinese people running the club like wolves”. He had no answer to the question of whether he would want a team like wolves of course.
The storm clouds are gathering, the club is in trouble and some of the clubs support are sticking their fingers in their ears and singing, out of tune at that.
Robert chase would have been lynched had he overseen the monstrous fire sale that has unfolded since January. Particularly given the backdrop of parachute payments and 26k crowds and the slashing of the wage bill. Despite all this the club is still skint. Well run? As the kids say, LOL.
The times article told everyone what they need to know. The distaste smith reveals for the premier league and the bizarre double standards regarding treating supporters as kings before sticking them with the highest ticket price for any third round FA cup tie within a few days of the interview being published, the casual xenophobia give an overall impression of a total disconnect.
The fact is, pretty soon we are going to be predated on by the
likes of Bournemouth or some such. By the way, they were promoted without the aid of parachute payments, it was the heavy investment that did the trick for them. That such an unattractive poorly supported and irrelevant club can garner such investment makes a mockery of the claim that we could never obtain some investment for ourselves and on good terms.
What I’m wishing for isn’t even something on that scale. Simply to maintain competitiveness and the ability to keep the players we currently own and are developing for long enough to do us some good would be nice, just to prevent lesser clubs wading in and poaching them. We aren’t going to build a team while every player carries a barcode on his jersey,
All this virtuous, swimming against the tide halo polishing while losing guff seems to go,down well with some but I loathe and detest it. Set Norwich city free to allow it to become what it can without the restraints.
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I’m unsure whether the fans you speak of are pro-Smiths or anti-foreign owners. I’m neither. I’d like us to progress but I’m wary of a Blackburn type situation. However, I take the point that not acting could take us to Blackburn’a situation anyway…
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Yeah, good comment Chris.
Maybe if you wanted to do something for MFW in your “own write” our illustrious Editor Gary might be pleased to hear from you?
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Not sure if I’m quite up to the standard required Martin! You can all guess what “topic” I might discuss. ?
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Go for it Chris … there’s a guest blog slot there with your name on it 😉
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I’m sorely tempted Gary. I might stir up,a bit of a hornets nest though mate,
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And the problem with that is ……? 😉
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Good point Gary and well made.
I’ll give it a go if you think it will entertain and give a few points for people,to mull over.
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Chris, I’d be keen to read your extended thoughts. I’ve respectfully disagreed with you in the past, but still enjoyed your points & partially changed my mind over time. Your own article may completely bring me round!
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Hi Chris
Just go for it I was a ST holder during the South/Chase/Jones era and it astounded me how we lasted so long 9 years I think with selling all the top players off all the time.
Sutton
Fox
Gordon
Woods
Fashanu
Bruce
Watson
Drinkell
Plus a few other
Smith never keeps her word she promised to sell the club if Bellamy left then a couple of weeks later £6m to Coventry
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Go on Chris! I loved your comments. Thoroughly vitriolic and apt and makes a break from the usual sitting on the fence, reflective observations other guest bloggers make on here – which is fine of course but it’s nice to have some other opinion to read!
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Thankyou everybody for,your kind comments, the cut and thrust on here is both intelligent and thought provoking. I’ll definitely have a go.
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