When it comes to music I’m a hard-rock loving, progressive metal adoring ex-longhair with a soft spot for The Faces, David Bowie and Manic Street Preachers. One genre I cannot abide is American soft rock, with one exception: the 6:30 of sheer beauty that is the Eagles’ Hotel California. After the Bolton match a line from that song stuck in my head:
They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast.
Well that surely sums up our performance on Saturday. We were slick, committed and had the Trotters shaking for the whole opening 45. We were a bit over-elaborate but totally in command.
Chances were admittedly few and far between, although only Moritz Leitner will know how he shot wide when offered the clearest site of goal he will ever see.
James Maddison hit a marvellous effort that hit the right-hand post and then set up Nelson Oliveira for a strike but ex-Canary loanee keeper Ben Alnwick was equal to it.
Half time in the Upper Barclay bar was interesting. We could have split into two groups and charged at each other with the verbal equivalent of clubs and sticks. Half of us were happy with what we’d seen, the other half wanted to see the round thing banged forward at seemingly every opportunity. All very civilised of course and the same conversation was going on everywhere. No middle ground to be heard!
Keith, my sounding board for over 30 years, was so convinced Bolton were going to mug us late on that it was difficult to persuade him that would not be in the script.
Unfortunately, our “steely knives” were considerably blunter in the second period and eventually the patient “pass them to death” approach started to grate on me and I began to think the milder of the “hoof it up” brigade might have had a little bit of a point. I hate hoofball but it became increasingly obvious as the clock ticked down that we were not going to break them down with our style.
In fact, for once it was the opposition who came on stronger in the second half. They might have created hardly anything, but they were certainly well organised and dealt with our increasingly limited pressure really well and fair play to them. I’m not making excuses, but the extra day’s rest may have benefited Bolton in that respect.
There was time for a solo performance of “Who’s A Naughty Boy Then” from one Daniel Farke, who was told to leave his technical area and seek somewhere else to hang out by the often-infuriating figure of referee Keith Stroud. C’mon Daniel, that’s not really how to return the ball to the opposition after a foul throw, now is it?
The mood on the way out verged on the sombre in many quarters. It is indeed frustrating that we seem unable to dispose of the bottom-rung bus-parkers at home, but I have faith that this issue will be one of many suitably addressed in the summer.
If anyone deserved the Man of the Match it was certainly big Zimbo and there was a decent debut from Onel Hernandez until he understandably faded later on.
So, February has seen us accumulate more draws than Furnitureland but I’m by no means giving up on the style Farke is imposing, particularly as unlike some I don’t find it boring. It’s the final third of the final third (do your own maths) where we are lacking.
Hotel California also, if inadvertently, reminded me of how I feel every time I ascend the Barclay stairs:
I was thinking to myself this could be heaven, or this could be hell.
I doubt that feeling will ever go away.
********
All the very best to Stephen Fry in his dealings with prostate cancer, an evil the whole football family is only too aware of.
There’s no doubt that another 0-0 draw at home is disappointing. However, a bigger disappointment is how quickly we need to debate the merits of the coach each time we get a less than positive result. We knew this season was going to be a transition year and it is certainly that. But for me and presumably the many commenters who have complained over years about us being a soft touch and poor defensively, there is clear progress. It’s probably easier for me to accept as I am more or less exclusively an away fan where our style is more suited – we certainly need to do something different at home but I back Farke to find a solution to this ‘topic’.
Thanks Dave
I am the exact opposite of you in that I never miss at home but only go away about three times a season – you are definitely correct when you say we need to do something different at home.
Maybe the answer lies with the front three: the antics of the team within a team that is Liverpool’s Saleh, Firmino and Mane comes to mind!
Seriously, they’ve got from now until August to sort it out and as you say we’ve improved immensely at the back. It’s glass half full still for me.
I agree with pretty much all of that. Interesting how the mood changes so quickly with some City supporters, from the euphoric celebrations of the draws with Ipswich and Wolves to the players being roundly booed after the draw on Saturday ‘……it’s a funny old game’!!
DF swapped Klose for Hernandez giving us an extra offensive player and Leitner given licence to rome all over the pitch to get on the ball, for me don’t see what more he could have done. It boils down to three guilt edged chances in the 1st half that were not put away.
Bolton changed things a bit in the 2nd half and it was very difficult for us to break through their stubborn defence, even the mighty Man City could not break down an ultra resilient Wigan who also ‘parked the bus’.
Whether it would have been worth trying to play early balls into the box, this might have caused Bolton a different type of problem defensively. Hindsight is a precise science…….!
Hi John
Early balls into the box? I’m not too sure who would have been on the end of them to be honest.
In that increasingly poor second period the odd Maddison or Oliveira missile might have paid off but it simply didn’t happen.
When Bolton reshuffled and put that guy on the left it snuffed us out really – fair play to Phil Parkinson and his beleaguered warriors – or Wanderers?
As you say we had the first half chances, didn’t capitalise on them so 0-0 it was.
We are not going up and I very much doubt that they will be going down.
Hi Martin,
You are right on the basis of the way we played on Saturday. As you say Bolton snuffed us out (credit to Phil Parkinson), All I am suggesting is that in this league sometimes you need to have a ‘plan-b’ and that would have to come from the training pitch. Eg. early balls in the box and bodies there to capitalise on the mayhem they can (sometimes) cause. Maybe that’s a bit old school for our head coach!!
DF has to find another way of breaking down very resilient teams like Bolton (2nd half) and Burton, Given the progress the team has made so far I would like to think a solution will be in place by August.
Enjoyable read as usual, thanks.
Thanks John.
I do think that even with further reduced revenue we can do something next season as long as Delia butts out and lets Farke and Webber use their soon-come miniscule funding to the best of their ability.
Don’t forget that when Madders goes for twentyM, there will be a maximum of twoM set loose by Delia to spend and then anyone we bring in will be on a max of £8k a week – monkey nuts in football terms.
Let’s just hope for the best, hey?
In reply to your last comment on this thread Martin you may be right about the sale of Maddison although I’m clinging on to the hope that we negotiate a loan back deal for next season.
Also teams put together for monkey nuts have been competitive this season, Cardiff Bristol Preston…..so why can’t we do the same?
There’s always a ‘New Kid In Town’ and we”ll just have to hope it’s not all been Wasted Time’ ?
The fundamental issue for me is that we don’t seem to get in the box any more. All our shots are from outside the box these days and no one seems to venture any further forward. When was the last time that we scored from a shot within the box other than from a set piece? A few years ago in the PL we had a similar issue noted by the lack of penalties that we were being awarded. At the time it was a case of unless you are in the box you can’t be fouled to get a penalty. I am not looking for these specifically but it would be nice to find a way to get into the box to take a shot. there is a reason our top goal scorer only seems to have scored great goals and that is he hasn’t been in a position to score easier ones, and that goes for the whole team.
I’d have agreed with you before Saturday’s first half. But we finally seemed to crack the challenge of turning home possession to penetration and creation of real chances. Second half an anti-climax, but surely genuine signs of potential. Hernandez could be a big player for us next year.
Thank you Laurence and I totally agree with you.
Hence my sarky comment in the article about the last third of the last third. This is the place where we have nothing to offer. Balls rarely come into that area in any case.
Sometimes it’s like we’re trying to score the perfect goal – with nobody wanting to hit it. I’m no coach but this aspect of our game baffles me.
And as for the short corner routine it looks like it’s one for the dustbin to me.
I agree with that Martin and don’t get me started on short corners….drives me completely nuts!!
Short corners/free kicks are fine if it’s part of a variation. The issue comes when we more or less do the same thing each time..
It did amuse me at Wolves in the second half when there had been a lot of complaints about the short stuff – next free kick was a simple catch for the keeper. No-one seemed to mind that despite it being the worst set piece of the lot!
I said to a dear friend just the other day, after Ipswich, the problem we face is not the clinical nature of our finishing but more the mixing it up of tactics to deal with the cloggers of this league. Farke seems so reluctant to hoof it up or get crosses into the box. It doesn’t have to be right away maybe AFTER we’ve drained the opposition with our passing style. We seem so one dimensional and you know teams like Bolton, Burton and Ipswich will come to Carrow, sit there, frustrate, get a dodgy free kick and try and score from it. But every time we go straight down the middle, picking a lock with a toothpick which only works against teams wanting to play football and who open up. Hanley’s long ball in to Klose’s head, and a free kick aimed to Zimmermann’s noggin at Wolves is evidence for this. I like the beautiful passing game but we’re not in the Premier League and we won’t be unless we put the likes of Bolton to the sword. Unless Farke can swallow his pride and start mixing it up then wins against teams wallowing in the bottom of the table will elude us. You only have to look at how well Cardiff are doing to understand the direct, brute approach with long ball stylistics proves effective against most of the opposition in this league.
Thank you Hillary.
You make an interesting point re Cardiff – they have the Colin stamp all over them and are prospering because of it.
I wouldn’t want to watch them every week but that approach sure works in this wretched league that is so difficult to get out of by “playing football”.
We may, and I stress may, have to face up to a 2018-2019 with no Pritchard (obviously), no Wes, no Leitner and no Maddison.
The way Farke sets out his stall that doesn’t look good to me.
I concur. A general mixing of things would be good; and that includes players. Too often, we see substitutions being made late in the game, with no material change in set up coming from it.
The days of big target men in a Norwich City shirt are over and so we must await the arrival of a fluid front three which surely can’t accommodate a Nelson Oliviera or a Josh Murphy. At that point I believe we will see the team that Daniel Farke has in mind. The current team is very much in transition and has further to go. Then I think the benefits of possession based football will become apparent to the doubters although there will always be people who can only appreciate kick and rush football of the playground variety. A final point about Saturdays fare. There are always two teams in a football match and if one of those teams have no intentions of doing anything other than spoil block defend and time waste then it is nigh on impossible to break down unless of course you are Manchester City and can buy the best players in the world.
Even Man City failed against Wigan only a short while away, to be fresh.
Great comment Andy.
I think this style will work when we get a front three that can get to grips with it. THAT remains the work in progress.
Unlike some of us I don’t find the style boring in the slightest and kick and rush has never appealed to me. We don’t currently have the pace to accommodate that style anyway, especially with an out of sorts Josh.
I’m happy to stick with Farke. Let’s see what he and Webber come up with over the summer.
Such is our form at the moment that I am tempted to back us for 1-0 wins for the remainder of our away games, maybe adding Maddison in as scorer. And 0-0 for our remaining home games. I’m not blind, I can see that we are better defensively, we are moving the ball better, but I still don’t see enough good oportunities. Our current brighter spots generally originate from Maddison, Lietner looks good too, but where will they be next season? If we cannot score enough goals with them in the team, what hope with new players trying to adjust next? I don’t blame Nelson or Jerome before him, both capable strikers at this level let down by a system that leaves them precisious little opportunity.
Saturday’s first half may have yielded some good football and Lietners chance, but it was mostly then longer range pot shots again. The second half, my head grew heavy and sight grew dim as I lapsed into a coma from our dire efforts to open up poor but obstinant opposition,
Where is plan B to counter these tactics? Can Farke not afford to try plan B, in case it highlights the failings of plan A? Surely some of our recent goals have highlighted that getting someone in the box and crossing early can undo even the most resolute defence?
Lets not kid ourselves, recent results have not been brilliant, Derby are in suspect form and we got a decent draw, Wolves are wobbling even so a good point, but Ipswich and Bolton were both very poor and we couldn’t beat them. I’ve been banging this drum for a while, but where is it that people get this optimism that a Farke side will score goals? His BDII side didn’t, this City side don’t look much like doing so. And I only see that getting worse as the talent drain continues in the summer.
Bah!
Spot on General. Pretty passing wins nothing without a cutting edge.
Hard to argue with any of that.
As I said somewhere above apart from Josh (who has been frankly awful lately imo) we have zero pace where it matters. Hernandez might look quick but he needs the ball to his feet to achieve anything.
As he is an ex striker Farke continues to confound me with his ideology, but he surely deserves next season to see if his philosophy, topics and situations can be tied into our winning more duels. If anybody had used his buzzwords even as recently as three years ago people would have been dumbfounded by them.
The (genuinely) charming Jeurgen Klopp has a lot to be responsible for!
The talent drain
Last line should read: the talent drain we can only evaluate when we see what’s gone down the plughole. (Oops!)
My only hope is that a part of the problem remains that neither Nelson or CJ suit his system and plans are in place to get players in who do. You would hope Srbeny was bought with that in mind, So with the playoffs looking nothing more than a pipe dream now (although we actually reduced the gap to 6th to 7pts) Let’s prioritise those who need minutes for next season.
Bah!
Great piece as always Martin.
As I posted yesterday, I thought Maddison got particularly petulant on Saturday when things were not going his way. Murphy is really going nowhere at the moment, but Hernandez definitely looked to be the sort to put some pressure on him to raise his game or else!
Still a work in progress, but the first half on Saturday really did give me hope. Plus, if Messrs Farke and Webber can find us a forward in the lower leagues anywhere, who can have a similar impact to Herr Zimmerman then we really could be going places.
Unlike you I really like the American soft rock genre, and THAT track in particular.
Given how we we Canary fans always stick by the club/team, surely it’s summed up by:-
“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”……
O T B C
Ha!
I tried to work the outro vocal line into the article but couldn’t find a way of doing it.
Take It Easy, Life in the Fast Lane and Lyin’ Eyes I found impossible as well.
Strangely one of my favourite pop hits (which I generally tend to dislike by my own definition) was the truly wonderful Boys of Summer by Eagles’ drummer-singer Don Henley.
I sometimes dwell too much on musical themes so guess I should give Gary a break from them until at least the end of the season:-)
Don’t you dare Mr … love the musical themed stuff. Keep them coming.