I’m frequently accused (by one MFW commenter in particular) of donning the yellow and green-tinted spectacles. Well, even when wearing them, what unfolded in front of us last night was not good.
That walk back to the car was a grim experience. Usually, there are one or two positives to hone in on among the handful of negatives but they were scarce last night.
To summarise…
- Another routine 2-0 defeat
- Bottom of the Premier League
- Bereft of confidence
- Brittle at the back
- Toothless up front
- Out-battled in midfield
If you can read between those lines and find something positive then please let me know. I’d genuinely be grateful.
In some ways, the fact the players gave their all and were 100 per cent committed to the cause makes it all the harder to take. There feels – less than nine hours after the final whistle – nowhere to go.
Hopefully when that nine becomes 24+ perspective will kick in.
But on a night when City so desperately needed an early goal to settle the nerves, they instead gifted one to Watford – the only other team in the whole division with similarly low levels of belief and self-confidence. The boost it gave them and their travelling support was tangible.
Sadly, for a team already struggling to collectively believe they belong, it had the opposite effect on City. The doubts and fears that Daniel Farke and his team had spent the week quelling were unleashed in an instant. Less than two minutes were on the clock.
Emi Buendia will, of course, take the brunt of the blame for attempting a drag-back when a drag back was far too high a risk, but equally the way space opened up in front of Deulofeu as he advanced on our penalty box was not of an ilk normally seen at this level.
Buendia never properly recovered. Nor, in truth, did the whole team.
With a rare lead to hang on to, the Hornets did what they had to do.
Farke referred afterwards to City winning the ‘stats’ game in almost every department but given that Watford had a lead to protect from 76 seconds onwards, they were quite happy to sit tight and take whatever we had to throw at them.
Sanchez Flores is defensive-minded by nature – one of the reasons why he was re-signed by the Pozzos – and so with something to protect, he was quite happy to set his team up to soak up pressure. And let’s be honest, for all our huffing and puffing, Ben Foster had by his standards a comfortable night.
I’m afraid having more shots, more possession and having spent the majority game in the opposition’s half counts for diddly-squat when you still don’t look like scoring. It’s worse still when the opposition know if they sit tight and pick their moment a second goal will inevitably arrive.
It’s horribly predictable.
Right now we’re a joy to play against. Last night felt like the ultimate ‘along come Norwich’ moment.
The general consensus is that this is not a good Watford team. Yet there were spells in last night’s first half when it felt like we playing Barcelona.
Visiting teams have not one iota of fear. They know they will score. When we go away, we’re seen as easing pickings. Our opponents know if they do their jobs properly they will win.
It feels that clear cut and Farke is hamstrung. With only one fit centre-back, however he tries to address the most pertinent issue in the team it leaves a weakness elsewhere.
As a River End neighbour put it, a boat with a hole in its hull still has a hole, whether it’s the size of a 1p coin or the size of a football. The water will still come in and it will eventually sink. And while we’re still having to make do at centre-back, that’s how it feels. We’re sinking.
I look at Alex Tettey and I see Simon Charlton – that’s how makeshift it is. But it’s not Tettey at centre-back that’s the problem in itself, it’s the knock-on effect and how it’s impacted on Farke’s options elsewhere.
Premier League midfields are now dominated by technicians who are also athletes. We just have technicians.
We lose out physically far too often and however we like to carve it up, we’re not athletic enough and we’re not strong enough. We lose too many 50/50s, in fact we lose almost all 50/50s.
For me, this was summed up by an incident late in the first half.
Kenny McLean and Abdoulaye Doucouré were grappling for a loose ball, shoulder-to-shoulder, when the Scot lost out and ended up being flung to the floor like a rag doll. The River End howled as one for a foul, Andre Marriner’s parentage was questioned, but he waved play on.
Marriner was right. It wasn’t a foul. Doucouré was just stronger. It happened (and happens) time and time again. And, for me, for all of the problems we are currently encountering, this one is the biggest.
Our lack of physicality is not permitting us the chance to shift the ball through the thirds as we like to. And it certainly doesn’t allow us to win the ball back when we don’t have it.
It also goes without saying that the intricate passing game we used so effectively last season relies on the players being full of confidence and wanting the ball. Being bereft of confidence and now showing for the ball makes for a slog… and right now now that’s exactly how it appears. The joy has gone.
So, where from here?
Well, Team Farke now have two weeks to hopefully get Christoph Zimmermann match-ready if not match-fit and maybe his recall will enable Ibrahim Amadou and/or Tettey to offer us some muscle in an area of the pitch where we are currently powderpuff.
But it’s the mental resilience and belief that also need addressing, and among the daily supplements the players are fed, there, unfortunately, isn’t one that fortifies the bloodstream with confidence. If only.
There is no doubt, we’re also paying the price for a cut-price summer – Farke even alluded to it himself in the week – but as Robin eloquently explained earlier this week, the money simply wasn’t there. It was soaked up by funding substantial new contracts for all of last season’s stars, addressing infrastructure requirements and paying off residual debts.
Under the league’s only self-funding model, good housekeeping is everything, but let’s not kid ourselves this is a bold vision. Under our current ownership, self-funding is a necessity.
But that’s for another day.
It’s going to be a long old two weeks.
Great article. My worry amongst all of this is the long-term effects to our young players. A season that is spiralling out of control which could see us finish bottom with a very low points total will have an effect not only on this season but next. I get that with our financial model that relegation is always a possibility/probability but to go down so meekly would hardly suggest a squad ready to get promoted again. A long way to go indeed but if you look at the points needed and how many winnable games left then you have to say it’s looking a tall order already.
Well at least there is only one way to go from here that is up the table
I am still trusting in us to finish 17th or better at the seasons end
Even with that in mind there we be a lot of disappointing results come to, as well as the
odd surprise result .
Not incisive enough last night. Too many shots without conviction. And why, oh why, does Hernandez take so long to cross the ball? He frustrates so much with his trickery when there just isn’t time.
Perhaps we can get Rhodes for not a lot in the transfer window.
This is pretty much spot on as far as I’m concerned. Especially the physicality point. There was no point getting excited about winning a corner. The Watford team, like most are just bigger. My hope is that if we don’t stay up, we keep enough of the team. Although on current evidence there aren’t many of our team likely to be wanted by anyone else. Which is a blessing of sorts.
An excellent article. Unfortunately unless there is a remarkable turn round soon relegation is inevitable. In fact I’m not sure if its not already too late to turn things around.
Gary and I may not agree on politics, but here(where it really matters) we are in total agreement.
If we don’t get a pair of effective centre backs, and a strong defensive midfield destroyer, ‘Farkeworld’ can’t function.
Unlike several dissenting voices, I still believe that when we get Zimmerman back the structure can be re-built and our wingbacks will flourish again, and with them the attack.
Our fullbacks are spending too much time looking like rabbits in the headlights at the moment!
My one criticism is that Farke is still insisting on playing out slowly from the back, and far too often we are forced to play back to the goalkeeper, or even worse being turned over in our own half.
Playing a more route one approach may result in a high proportion of the balls played out being captured by the opposition defence, but that’s better than losing the ball on our own half, and, more importantly, the balls we do win will set us up for attack more than we are at the moment.
It will also stop the opposition setting up its defensive line in our half..
I do believe we have the skill to turn this round, but if we don’t start before Christmas, time and lack of points will really legislate against our Premiership survival.
Cheers for the comment Bruce. And. as you rightly say, this is what really matters 🙂 Hope you’re well, pal.
The defensive combination from last season shipped over 50 goals! What indications are there that they can do better in this league?
I didn’t think Simon Charlton would get a mention this season, but it brought back chilling memories….
Farke has no plan B, he has made that clear. His players can only play one way, that is how they are trained. Fine when it’s going well, but bad if it’s not. Doesn’t every manager have a Plan B?
This season could be a watershed for the club. The self funding model is well meaning, but if Norwich City wants to be a permanent fixture at the top table, can anyone really see that as a credible plan?
Webber won’t want this going awry if he wants to be seen as big cheese in Continental Europe to further his career, so as long as we are not completely cut adrift in January, it will be interesting what the club does – or does not do.
While there is much of the season to go, the club must not fly the white flag instead of the traditional yellow and green.
I don’t think the self financing is a worthy exercise, it’s a necessity. I for one do not want the club to be beholden to a foreign oligarch. If that means enjoying a promotion followed by relegation a year or two later then so be it. The whole structure of football in England is a nonsense. If businesses aren’t sustainable then that a major problem.
Exactly what evidence is there that our current model is sustainable?
David, I would suggest the recent accounts are proof that “self financing” is totally unsustainable.
Totally agree Chris. With our current owners and back in the championship debt will mount year on year until we end up like our friends down the road.
Very good read Gary and I agree with the points raised. We lack the strength and athleticism to compete in this league. I think it is fair to say that half of last nights team are not premier league standard. I feel sorry for the two full backs and Godfrey as I believe they can thrive in the premier league but in this team their development is going backwards.
What did people expect when we spent £7 million which doesn’t buy one decent premier league player.
The big weakness in this club, apart from owners who are out of their depth, is the fans who still believe we are good enough to avoid relegation!!!!
All that is left is to congratulate Delia who on the fourth opportunity has managed to relegate us in record time.
Farke’s solution to poor performances appears to be to quote selected stats to cover up the problem and then field the same team with the same tactics. Perhaps he feels too safe in his job? I don’t want a change but perhaps a reminder from above that results are what count ,not stats, might just engage minds!
What an utterly depressing evening that was, which has already put me a massive downer for the rest of the weekend – so much so even the wife and cat have walked out on me!
It’s hard to analyse a performance where yet again we give away a goal that would make a pub team blush. Emi’s mistake was terrible but why did nobody then sense danger and foul their player – he still had 30 / 40 yards to run in to.
I see Hernandez thought we ‘dominated the game’ and sure the stats point to that, but as you say Gary conceding so early meant Watford were happy to sit back and soak it up.
We did to be fair, have a go at them in the first half but aside from that I can’t really think of any positives to take really.
The second goal is a good finish from Gray, but the cross goes into too easily – disappointingly we got into similar positions as this, but couldn’t deliver similar quality.
Think I might comfort myself by watching replays of the Man City game today, which begs the question how can a team go from looking so good to so abject in the space of six weeks?
Gary, your commentary on last night’s abysmal performance are spot on. Physicality in midfield is clearly a very big issue, far bigger than most supporters may have realised at the start of this campaign. As for the stats maybe they should be divided with how much possession we had in our half and how much in the opposing half. I think we can all guess at the split. At this moment in the season I would hazard a guess that everyone would like to play us for an easy three points. We hold no fear for anyone and that has to change. How do Sheffield United manage to get it nearly right when our team get it so wrong!
I really worry where the solutions are coming from. Other than dropping youth in favour of age and experience and unleashing our £9m player to his more accustomed defensive midfield role what is there left to turn to? Yes these same players got us to the Prem but are they truly able to keep us there? Maybe time will tell but how long before the sand runs out? Reasons to be positive – help?.
Hi Gary
An excellent read after last nights game and describes how many supporters will be feeling today.
The Sky panel all agreed that city looked a side that doesn’t believe they should be in the Premiership, then said panel agreed the defence needs to be more solid but not one mentioned the amount of injuries we gave had this season.
Buendia got a lot of stick for trying to be to clever and Farke saying nursery mistakes but my question is why is he floating all over the field he hasn’t a defensive bone in his body and being on the opposite side of the field left his own postion open to attack so 2 errors not just one.
It is all hands to the pump at present and surely Webber and Farke must realise that till the TW opens they need to give the CB’s a try from the U23 even for the last 20mins of a game to see if they can step up, square pegs in round holes are not working.
We all want our best defenders back but are we are putting too much expectations on them to be the solution to us staying in this league.
Neville’s interview with the Smiths and their reply to the club being sold left few in doubt with the single word NEVER
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Well summed up. a couple of things have started to irk me . I love Emi but again he should be playing he is clearly struggling, it is one position we do have cover, Roberts and yet an inconsistent Cantwell gets the bench spot ahead of him. It is darn well silly to me, I can see him asking to leave soon.
Another is Farke insistence to keep things the same, we clearly need something done but it is the same every game, I posted on twitter that I would watch City struggle against a team that were meant to be worse than us. I gave up watching after the second went in. We could still be out there and not score.
The club may have their plan and I dare even suggest they knew some of this was going to happen, but the fans bought into it fully shades of other seasons only without the “Prudence With Ambition” call.
It still boils down to being not good enough for premier league but perhaps too good for championship. But I fear that might not be the case next season. with Godfrey, Lewis, Aarons and Pukki gone but will have the money from those sales and parachute money to help build again. A risky business trying to be yoyo . the string can break or knot anytime.
I am not that confident Zimmo or Klose will make that much difference . they leaked goals last season. it has to be better or change the system . which Farke will not do and until something gives expect more of the same … Hope to god I am wrong I really would love to be
The only hope we have is if the whole north of England is reclaimed by the sea.
Wow, what a lot of pessimism on here today.
I don’t fully agree with Gary but he is spot on about the physicality and athleticism of the other teams. We are too easy to play against currently.
However, Amadou will soon be in his favoured position and we will have some actual Centre Backs fit as well. That will give us more of a platform to play.
I saw a lot of “nearly” stuff last night, we just need a break in front of goal. What I didn’t see, fortunately, was any lack of heart or desire. So ,long as they remain, we have a chance. And there are still 28 games to go. We would hammer them if they gave up now, quite rightly, so why should we?
As for those that booed, shame on you. That should be reserved for players who don’t put the effort in.
Nice comment Derek… now the dust has settled, I wholly endorse your view that with Amadou in his proper position and two actual, bonafide centre-backs, we will be harder to play against. We can all agree that right now it’s too easy and we appear a soft touch.
Maybe, with a more solid platform, the passing can start to at least start to part-resemble the style of last season.
I also echo your views on the booing – it should indeed be saved for those who wear the yellow shirt but don’t give 100% to the cause. This current group are giving it their all, no question, but are just coming up short.
I concur with all of your comments Gary as do the other contributors to this post. With Zimmerman returning soon, although he will take time to bed in we will at least have a leader on the pitch. The second benefit will be to put some muscle into the defensive midfield shield as Amadou and Tettey can be released to their natural positions. The reemergence of Vrancic should help with midfield options as Buendia, Trybull and Leitner are not to performing to the standard required currently. Jamal Lewis should be given a rest as he looks devoid of confidence and energy and I would suggest that Sam Byram should be given a run. Daniel Farke doesn’t need to be told this he is a very good coach and will have his own thoughts as to what needs to be done. This international break is vital for our season and I would suggest in the best Alex Ferguson traditions that all of our international call ups mysteriously develop very light muscle strains that will heal simultaneously with the end of the international break.
We seem to have entered an era where we are becoming extremely skilled at being spectacularly useless. Emi Buendia, good god man have you gone stark raving mad ? , you won’t get a place on Strictly with those sort of turns. An image of Sir Henry at Rawlinson end looms, leaning on his blunderbuss he lets out a yelp as he accidentally blows his foot off, screaming ‘ No one told me the blighter was loaded’! Ye gods we are becoming the laughing stock, what the hell will happen when we play Leicester , ten nil ? If this continues, I might move to Tasmania or perhaps the Pitcairn islands, anywhere with a temperate climate, I hear La La land is very nice. To my mind its the board that gum up the works, they are the personification of constipation and, without intending to try and be clever, I’d say it’s impacting on the rest of the club, in short, there is no movement, not even on the damn pitch sometimes. Continuing this theme, it does look like nothing will move forward until the cook makes way. It doesn’t matter how good a cook you are, if the only ingredients you have are ale, flour and water, you,re going to end up with gruel. Pass the marmite will you dear.
Hi Dave
Although my bit is up tomorrow [my thoughts are in alignment with Gary’s and just about every commenter] you’ve actually managed to make me smile today.
The personification of constipation – I’ve not heard that one before and I love it!
If Zimmo and Hanley are fit after the break I would like to see Farke install them in the CB positions, this could leave Godfrey free to play as a 3rd CB or to be moved into midfield along with Amadou. This would give us far more physicality and allow the full backs to be more adventurous like last season. Godfrey is a fine footballer and a real athlete but I am not convinced he is a ready to play CB in the premier. His awareness and positioning at CB is a bit suspect at this level. We need a solid spine to the team to allow the creative players up front to thrive and until this happens we will continue to be cannon fodder.
Plod57. I would lay money on Godfrey never being played anywhere else other CB Farke amongst many many fine points does appear to be bloody stubborn. We play this way and no other. that continues we will beat Derby’s lowest point score
I would be happy to see Byram and Heise brought in and move Aarons & Lewis up into midfield shielding the defence plus have the ability to break. Full back stay roughly back denying the prairie sized space . waiting tumbleweed
I have to say that as a fully signed up “pant wetter “ I rarely agree with the overly positive analysis that you usually produce Gary, so it’s probably a sign of the times that on this occasion I find myself agreeing with almost all of your comments! The only things I would disagree with are the helplessness of the CB injury situation and the necessity of the self funding model. For the former, Farke has insisted on playing square pegs in the round hole next to Godfrey rather that playing Hanley (before his 2nd injury) or Famewo more recently. Yes the latter would have been a risk (though he’s not a young kid at 21) but maybe a lesser one than playing Amadou or Tettey there because he understands the position and plays as a CB should. It would also have allowed Amadou and Tettey to move to midfield, helping with the physicality issues you so rightly highlighted. With the self funding issue, I’m unconvinced that it was as essential as were all being told. I understand the “sins of the past” stuff and no-one wants another Naismith situation but the approach we’ve taken has been to much of a reaction to all that. Our last promotion was wasted because of under investment (and then panicked Jan purchases) and this one looks like it’s going the same way. Surely, surely we should have learnt from that and leveraged the premier league future earnings to finance even a moderate expenditure on some proven premier league experience without putting the club into unrecoverable debt? I’m sure my “pant wetter” comments are endorsed by many (if not by you Gary) but we do seem to be in “victim” mode over both injuries and money and we need to get real on both!
You’ll probably be surprised to learn I disagree with little of that C 🙂
Totally agree with Gary, the major issues are confidence and lack of physicality . As for the ownership debate , it’s irrelevant, it’s not going to change , move on . What fickle fans we are . How the negatives about board and management are flowing only 6 months on from “ best team/ style / manager we’ve ever had .” Did we not listen to the warnings ?
Treat every game as a new start and move forward. It’s a game we love .
We all know the quotes :
“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same; “
OTBC , Never mind the danger !
Can’t disagree with any of what’s been said before.
What was most galling for me was that even when they went down to 10 men we still did not create one chance worthy of the name.
Whilst we had more sights of goal than in previous games, we never really tested Foster in the Watford goal and that HAS to be a worry. However, whenever Watford broke forward they looked like scoring.
I guess that’s the difference between having a defence experienced in the Prem with one that is having to make do and mend whilst learning on the job.
Biggest surprise of the night was surely not the result, but the fact that after the Brighton defeat we again named an unchanged starting eleven.
There is still time to turn this around, but confidence appears shot to pieces.
Keep the faith!
O T B C
Well at least Naismith has scored today, oh look, there’s another straw, another 600 should do it !
Unfortunately, the agents of our young players will all be looking to move them on to mid level prem club next season as relegation now seems inevitable already. Heads will drop, and new blood in January will stay away.
Do we have the smallest/lightest squad in the Premiership?
I suspect the answer to that is yes … could be wrong. There’ll be a stat out there somewhere.
Summed up my thoughts on us and last night.
It is difficult to have a plan B with our squad. We can’t play direct as we are too small and not strong enough. We can only play the ball on the ground.
I can’t understand why Amadou wasn’t paired with Trybull. Amadou would have given a physical presence.
Whilst I am naturally positive I’m also realistic and I can’t see us getting anywhere near 35 points which might give us a chance in getting 17th, particularly when we would be paying over the odds to get players in in January.
My perception is that most teams that come up from the Championship that are successful have tall players and play direct. Stoke did it for years.
I agree with Gary’s analysis and yes, we’ve had bad luck with injuries. But I’m not convinced by the self-funding model. We could have spent more this summer and I felt that we needed another centre back and, slightly more tricky, another striker (where would we be if Pukki was injured?) I know that this wouldn’t guarantee survival but it would have shown a little more ambition. I wonder if Cahill was approached or if his wage demands were too much – I’m not a huge fan of his but his experience and leadership could have been very useful.
I was also surprised by the £38m loss after the pruning exercises when Weber arrived. Are we ‘saving’ the rest of the £100m for relegation with a Burnley like plan to get back and establish ourselves in the PL? Is that even possible? Is there no way that a wealthier partner could be tempted to the club with a less than 50% initial stake with the possibility of buying a majority stake if the arrangement works over a couple of years or more?
It has been fun being a yoyo club – the highs and lows of promotion and relegation over the past 11 years have given us huge pride and pleasure – particularly last season when the football was sumptuous and exciting with a squad costing so little – we probably all felt proud for doing it the right way (I know I did). After last night I felt quite pessimistic. Part of me wants to stay up and try and establish ourselves there for more than one or two seasons. Then I think about it and wonder if I just want to see constant relegation battles with the odd high here and there when we beat a club in the top 6 (we’ll not forget the Man City game in a hurry).
I’ve always felt a certain ambivalence to the PL. I know spending money guarantees nothing but…..somehow we never seem to have shown quite enough ambition and I’ve a feeling that we’re about to waste another opportunity. If we could establish ourselves we could expand the ground and so on there’s a massive hinterland of potential and actual support and more revenue. But of course it’s not my money and not my risk and there are plenty of examples of clubs that were bought by multi millionaires where it all went wrong. Is the idea of an element of partnership in club ownership a non-starter (at least at the beginning? It might bring in new ideas, more money and a better chance of establishing the club in the PL. In some ways we don’t have enough money to survive as a self-financing club in the championship – another reason that last season was so glorious. Only Delia and Michael can answer that, I guess or are we always destined to be cinderelas yo yoing about? Perhaps our fortunes and luck will change when Zimmerman comes back – perhaps we can move to 3 at the back then as games dictate. But remember, he has no PL experience. If I’m not too late with this post I hope I’ll see some replies re getting more investors in and whether this is practical. OTBC and I hope that Farke and this young and inexperienced squad can give us all a bit more optimism by the new year.
My view on the ownership model is fairly simple:
I believe that we are the only club in the division that operates under an almost feudal family ownership.
In Premiership terms we are funded with pence, not pounds.
Ask yourself why hithertoo ‘no hope journeyman’ clubs like Watford, Brighton, Bournemouth and even Leicester have prospered in recent years?
They have all been taken over by fabulously wealthy foreign investors who have poured millions if not billions into the clubs.
So the answer is simple to me.
We all love Delia and Michael, but under their ownership we will only ever be a Championship club that punches above its weight, and flirts with the Premiership every other season or so.
If Norwich wants to do a Leicester or a Bournemouth, there is actually only one answer…. but I don’t think any of us in Norfolk really wants to bite that bullet!
This has to stop Bruce … that’s two days running we’ve agreed 😉
If you look at the goals being scored yesterday – crosses to target men – then it is fairly obvious why we are where we are given the nature of our squad and style of play.
Sorry Gary but this is just ramblings from what you profess to lament every week: River End reaction. This is Outcome Bias at its worst. We lost so you consider all worst parameters. We played lots of good football, restricted Watford (‘Barcelona’? That’s nonsense) and if we keep doing what we do with a full squad we’ll be ok. There are so many things that have hit us to where we are but look at the games we’ve won and they haven’t been Hughton—style backs to the wall.
Some things we need to sort out:
-Make fouls earlier up the pitch, stop getting ourselves into trouble (we have committed the 5th least fouls in the league but been fouled the fourth most times); re-watch the Leeds away game (1-3) where we were disciplined and sorted under pressure; just believe. We CAN do this.
Like your passion and belief, Cityfan, and I confess it was penned in the gloomy aftermath of defeat, but at that time I could genuinely see few positives, other than the return of a fit centre-back that would permit Amadou or Tettey to add some muscle to our lightweight midfield.
Outcome bias though? No… my personal musings. Ramblings? … probably (as always).
I agree we need to be more ‘professional’, Deulofeu’s early run being the perfect example.
Cheers, as ever.
Always respect your writings Gary – just trying to keep our chins up. Maybe I was a bit disappointed because of all the match reviews out there yours is normally the one we can rely on for some hope!
Ha! That’s a nice thing to say. It came from the heart and I had just ran out of hope at that time. But… having reluctantly watched the highlights since, I had overlooked two great saves from Ben Foster from Lewis and McLean!
Let’s get Amadou at the base of that midfield and see where it takes us. 🙂