The boos that sounded upon the final blast of Tim Robinson’s whistle didn’t quite reach cacophony levels yesterday but that they are becoming the Carrow Road norm tells a story all of its own.
I used to get the hump with the booers. I could never really see the point of it – still don’t when it happens during the game – but so scarce are the thrills right now, so meagre the moments of joy, it’s almost forgivable that some choose to unleash their frustration in that way.
Afternoons and evenings at Carrow Road have become joyless and in order for that to change it feels like something has to give. Whether that’s a small, or perhaps not-so-small, tactical change, whether it will just come about organically with the return to fitness of some keys players or whether some of the current crop need to step up I really don’t know – but more of the same is neither good enough or fair on the paying customer.
We’re all City through and through, the love is unconditional, but to be expected to smile and ‘happy clap’ through such average fare is a big ask. Elsewhere there would be rather more than a smattering of boos.
In fairness yesterday was a step up on the Barnsley bore-fest but it was starting from a pretty low base and much of the entertainment was derived from the fiasco of a stricken linesman being replaced by a fourth official who, after an eternity, was himself replaced by dear old Spud. Minus that sideshow, of which Spud was naturally the star, it would have been only a single notch up on the entertainment ladder.
The football in the first half was neat enough and we had enough of the ball to tick Daniel Farke’s ‘dominated possession’ box but when over 100+ minutes, when playing at home to the epitome of an organised mid-table Championship side it says an awful lot when you can vividly recall the two chances created in open play. Two.
As it transpired poor Josh Murphy, for whom I had some sympathy yesterday, proceeded to miss them both, something that happens when your confidence is rock bottom. That brilliant finish at the Emirates seems an eternity ago.
That we are having to lean so heavily on a lad who’s clearly struggling is partly down to the seemingly endless injury crisis of course, but still I would expect more than two solitary opportunities to come our way in a game and for others to get themselves in goal-scoring positions; Wes in fairness going close in what led to Josh’s deflected second half effort.
Part of the problem is that through the intricate passing and rotation of our midfield we simply fail in that most basic objective of getting bodies in the box – Nelson Oliveira invariably being the only target. Therefore when (or if) the cross eventually comes in it has to be so precise to pick out a yellow shirt among three or four defenders it’s nigh impossible.
Another problem – at least it certainly was yesterday – is that Oliveira appears so unwilling to get on the end of stuff; a more petulant, sulky performance you’ll never be likely to see. Just occasionally an ordinary cross can be turned into a decent one if someone in the box is prepared to scrap and fight and hassle – just as Jordan Hugill did for Preston all afternoon – but that was never likely to happen yesterday.
Ditto on the occasions Angus had to kick long. Oliveira was naturally the target but, again, appeared unwilling to challenge, making the defensive header for either centre-back a thing of comfort; something that never once happened for Christoph Zimmermann and Grant Hanley. And let’s not even start on him booting the ball downfield after Preston’s equaliser in a fit of pique.
I may be wrong – and I hope I am – but his body language yesterday was screaming ‘I don’t want to be here’, just as the agents are starting their groundwork for the January window. Cameron Jerome, for all his profligacy in front of goal, offers effort and desire and was well worth a ten minute run-out yesterday. We needed to create pressure. A protruding bottom lip doesn’t do that.
Elsewhere we are also failing right now in another basic football requirement – winning second balls. We just don’t do it. We didn’t against Barnsley and we didn’t again yesterday. I hesitate to say this isn’t happening due to a lack of desire because, for me, there is effort and hunger in most things they do but for whatever reason we come off second best far too often in this regard.
Things don’t get any easier of course and Cardiff away is not the fixture you want when you’re looking to end a six game win-less run but at least away from home Team Farke have a point of reference when it comes to setting up the team to do a job. And it will take a Boro/Sheffield Utd away type effort to bring anything home from South Wales.
Whether a midfield minus the still-injured Alex Tettey can offer an effective shield to our back-four is the big question, especially a back-four that is creaking a little, but it’s only right to highlight that Angus, for all the paucity in front of him, is still hardly being over-worked.
Perhaps that, coupled with the fact we’ve finally seen a promising glimpse of one Alex Pritchard are positives we need to cling onto.
****
Ultimately however it’s just a game of football. We rant about it. We get upset about it. We laugh and cry about it. But’s it’s just a game – and the heartbreaking news yesterday of the untimely passing of Simon Thomas’ wife Gemma puts it all into perspective. Shankley was wrong. Words are futile at times like this but all we can say is our hearts go out to Simon and their dear little boy Ethan at this unbearably difficult time. Our thoughts are with them.
Another home draw, so another two points LOST – would have perhaps been a more appropriate headline Mr Gowers, but, as you say in your summing up, Shankley was entirely wrong, football is NEVER more important than life or death.
I posted the following way back on the 25th Sept:
“Obviously its early days yet and the tightening of the defense has been a much needed and great bit of work. But will we continue to struggle to beat teams and end up drawing half our matches? Looking at his last season with Dortmand II this looks potentially what we can look forward to.
GP W D L GF GA GD Pts Form PPG CS FTS
1 Viktoria Köln 34 23 3 8 91 42 +49 72
2 Dortmund II 34 16 15 3 54 25 +29 63
3 M`gladbach B 34 17 11 6 71 42 +29 62
4 Oberhausen 34 18 5 11 69 50 +19 59
5 Rot Weiss Essen 34 14 13 7 48 35 +13 55
6 FC Köln B 34 15 6 13 59 54 +5 51
7 Aachen 34 16 11 7 51 39 +12 50
8 Wattenscheid 34 14 8 12 51 44 +7 50
9 Bonner SC 34 14 6 14 60 61 -1 48
10 Rödinghausen 34 13 9 12 55 57 -2 48
11 Wuppertaler 34 10 12 12 47 47 0 42
12 Düsseldorf B 34 10 11 13 44 51 -7 41
13 SC Verl 34 9 13 12 37 49 -12 40
14 Wiedenbrück 34 9 12 13 43 52 -9 39
15 Rot Weiss Ahlen 34 8 8 18 43 66 -23 32
16 Schalke 04 B 34 8 6 20 32 48 -16 30
17 Sprockhövel 34 5 9 20 31 73 -42 24
18 Siegen 34 5 6 23 31 82 -51 21
They finished in second which we would obviously be very pleased with replicating, but whilst they had the best defense by a mile with only 0.74 goals per game, they were hardly free scoring with a 1.59 average. The second number is bigger and that I guess is what its all about. but 44% of their matches ended up draws. OK so a 9% loss record is obviously awesome but they seemed to find scoring more than a couple quite tough, especially at home.
Goal margins (at home) 1 2 3 4+
Wins _____________ 5 4 1 0
Defeats ___________1 0 0 0
Goal margins (away) 1 2 3 4+
Wins __________2 0 2 2
Defeats ________2 0 0 0
In 8 home games they scored 1 or less goals and its 10 for the away games, so more than half the season 53%, 1 or less goals scored!
The German Regionalliga West is obviously a very different place to the championship but is a similar pattern already emerging?
So will we have to get used to being excedingly tough to beat but seeing a lot less goals? If it brings a PL return should we care? It certainly would appear a more solid basis for then being able to stay there, but will it be worth watching?
Probably too early to say, but Prichard and Nelson can’t get back to fitness quickly enough!
Bah!”
It’s seeming rather prophetic now, Farke teams do not score many goals and defending at this higher level seems tougher too. With Pritchard nearly back it’s horrible to have to pin so much hope to a young player after a bad injury but if he doesn’t get us creating and scoring then I think Farke will have to be consigned to the failed experiments pile
Bah!
Whether or not we agree with DF is irrelevant, we’re stuck with him now. At least until summer. Perhaps we all expected too much too soon but with so much hope delivered in the summer why not? Especially after such a Jekyll Hyde 16/17. Thus far we’ve been treated to dour performances, 4-0 thrashing’s at Millwall, and a dead duck atmosphere at CR I’ve not known being a relatively young fan. The proof in the pudding will be the second half of this season post Xmas and the start of next season if Farke is the right man a decent HC would have grasped the Championship by then to at least address some of the failings he’s encountered thus far. The word ‘Time’ is bandied around and I appreciate that Team Farke needs this but from that dire beginning, to the turn around of 9 games unbeaten to now this patch, there is enough evidence to suggest he’s a fish out of water. How else would you explain going from one extreme to another to the. another – there seems no basis to consistency and the players look dulled compared to the scalpel sharp instruments of last season? Farke talks about youth policy, and granted, this is where our money now lies. Polishing our family diamonds and hoping for investment. In doing so our best aim for the long term as Farke states has now become a finish of 8-6th as a sustainable Championship outfit though I suspect those words about looking at the long term are Webber’s and not his own. Which is their get out of jail card if viewed cynically, on one hand the first team failings can be brushed aside in the view his (Webber’s) is a long term project which will have stutters. On the other though poor first team performances shy away even the hardiest of NCFC fans as the Carrow Road atmosphere dwindles taking too the potential for younger fans interest – Who wants to see your local club play boring football, lose without breaking a sweat only then to float around mid table with the premise we’re stable financially as all your would be stars are commodities anyway, sold on to fund the treading of water. Sounds like a club I know down in Suffolk? From an socio-economic point of view this makes interesting viewing, from a football fans eyes though, a sad indictment of the times of money, investment and to an extent, the desperation to remain relevant when the time has long passed. Farke is merely a symptom of a longer term problem. If he turns it around then fair play to the man but as it stands I can’t see it, the stats above point to his tactical nous and I’m afraid draws and low scores are now fettle at the table, an ode to Hughton a man that now finds his current club mid table in the Premier League. Someone call a priest, there’s a curse hanging around Carrow Road and it needs exorcising.
It’s hard to comment on exactly what’s wrong at City, because clearly there are many things. Lack of identity in the style of play, lack of leaders on the pitch, lack of fight, commitment, togetherness when the chips are down. Our players collectively just aren’t good enough, and the coach can’t get the best out of them either.
The fear is that the club as a whole is dangerously on the slide. Barring a miracle we won’t go up this season, and will fail to hold on to the players of reasonable quality that we currently have, and we’ll become just another also-ran in a league of has-beens.
It happens. What’s unforgivable is that we’re seemingly letting it happen without a fight.
I believe you could have changed a few things, Maddison’s flyer, introduction of Pritchard and Spud’s cameo. The rest could have been from the previous game.. Not being able to attend so many games as once did, due to illness, I wasn’t surprised to hear that spaces are starting to show in the terraces, I had a battle to even turn the wireless on never mind hunting for a dodgy stream on the webby thing.
I have listened to pundit after pundit sitting alongside Chris Goreham , Darren Eadie drew the short straw yesterday, he said what I had heard before from other pundits this season. Of being to narrow, no width, big gaps in midfield, attackers pushing up and denying the play out from defence. and so on.
Now seeing the stats from the General (above) I am hardly surprised to see us struggling. I see a change from the coach is desperately needed before things will change. We moaned about Alex Neil being a one trick tactician, yet he had it sissed
I have not seen a lot of moaning about Oliveria around the net, (apart from above) well not as much as Jerome draws. Yet our prized striker can be found coming up short , acting like a spoilt child, trying absolutely crazy things in stupid areas., not even bothering to challenge giving defenders an easy ride, something Jerome does not do. Yet Jerome gets slated, but he works his socks off game after game. while both are expected to feed of the scraps .
Concisely summed up as always Gary.
I too feel that the Oliviera attitude was completely wrong for the place we now find ourselves. That said though, who is going to want a player like that in January when supposedly prices are inflated.
On yesterday’s performance we definitely need a left back, and (sorry folks), I think Wes’s best days are well behind him, with more passes going astray than to a team mate. Vrancic remains a nonentity although seemingly one of the first names on the team sheet which it totally baffling, and Murphy’s confidence is lower than rock bottom.
Other than that, all is well in the green and yellow world.
As you also said, the tragic news regarding Gemma Thomas really puts our current supposed woes into perspective. Not being a social media junkie this is my only chance to say how deeply sorry I feel for Simon and his son. Having been there myself, stay strong Simon; time is a great healer.
O T B C
Mid table fare served up yesterday. As you say Gary, Murphy is a delicate flower and starved of confidence, Oliviera looks like a striker going through the motions and Farke is victim of a crippling injury list. All these are factors that make the transition of the team that much more difficult. I think it’s been said many times that this season is one of development and those folk who cling onto the dream of promotion are going to be disappointed. Another transfer window looms and I believe the second phase of transition will continue.
Regarding yesterday’s performance Harrison Reeds early retirement played quite a significant role. Continuing on the midfield theme there are no runners getting beyond the striker.
A final thought could Todd Cantwell do worse than Murphy Or Adam Smith do less the Vrancic.
Hi Gary
Another great article and excellent read.
Yes city are in a bad form and not too pleasing to the eye but I am old enought to remember and watching city playing under Ron Saunder.
On the Pinkun yesterday there was a lot of calls to sack Team Farke so if that happen do we sack his mentor Webber and who will replace them.
Yes we need to improve but at what cost to the finances Team Farke at a rough count is about 6 German personnel and Webber plus all the Academy personnel he has brought to the club and at this time of the season we will not be getting the first choice ina manager unless he came from an existing job then that would be more outlay plus how many of the current players would he want to keep.
I would say lets see the project out till the end of the season then look at it again or convince Webber that he needs to bring in an experienced championship coach to help him understand this league.
No one wants city to fail and at the moment we are still only 9 points from the play offs and 2 behind Ispshite, Farke is confident he can turn it round and someone said the other day Dortmund don’t have bad coaches? ???
Dull as dishwater game, par for the course. Webber wanted an identity, a style for which Norwich city is known, he’s got that alright.
Aided by some error ridden defending by Preston, city appeared to be gaining the upper hand and took the lead through some brilliance by Madison. I’m sure he enjoyed making a point to Neil, who ignored him last season.
Bizarrely, far from spurring on the hosts and improving the confidence we appeared to go into our shells. Stupid lax defending almost cost us the lead before the break as sloppiness took hold.
Preston, aided by yet another purple clad prat with a whistle barged fouled, dived and elbowed their way back into contention, appearing to target both Zimmermann and pinto for red card challenges. Most of these went unpunished by the officials, the high point of refereeing incompetence came when Murphy was apparently penalised for offside and Robinson insisted the resulting free kick was taken ten yards inside our own half, we knew than that the afternoon wasn’t going to be ours.
Oliveira appears broken, hastening the calls from the short sighted to cash in in January. Quite what they expect will be spent on replacing him isn’t quite clear. Suffice to say we will suffer yet another drop in quality,
Equally the return of Pritchard is a double edged sword. A fit Pritchard is an asset ripe for stripping if he is up and running by January as project Delia reaches a crescendo.
Empty seats aplenty, booing, boredom, cheap tickets for non attenders over Christmas. All indicative of the total incompetence from top to bottom infecting the club. #sortitorsellit
The current regime is seeing the club slowly but inevitably slip back into division one.
At the end of this season our better players will have been sold so that Delia can desperately hang on to ownership for as long as possible.
Some of our recent signings will struggle in the lower leagues.
It has never been more obvious to everybody, apart from the board, that the club needs substantial new investment to remain as a championship side and any thoughts of promotion are at this juncture pie in the sky.
Can nobody persuade Delia to take a reality check before it’s too late!
The football and results this season mirror the worst excesses of the last twenty or so years. We are now one home defeat away from disquiet becoming serious unrest.
Play like this at Cardiff and Leeds and Farkes last stand will be imminent. He is working to save his career in England this week. Forget projects and patience, when smith feels the heat, heads roll.
All well and good but who trusts this shower to pick anyone decent to replace him? That’s if any self respecting manager will work under Webber and be part of the webberlution.
Torn between the devil and the deep, do they bunker down for another winter of discontent? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Head coach at Shrewsbury. Maybe not now but in the summer. You read it here first.
Darren Eadie had it right on CC. Our current predicament is from years of mismanagement.
If I had to pinpoint it to one issue it’s that Delia and Co. have no respect for experience and are not willing to pay for it. I’ve seen it in my work life, if you don’t understand the roles you’re trying to fill you believe anyone can do the job.
I bet Delia doesn’t take the same chances with her catering staff!