Well, that was horrible. At least that first-half performance was.
Minus any sugar-coating, we were left with 45 minutes of struggle and toil that was exceptionally hard on the eye. I wasn’t at the New Den to witness the infamous 4-0 mauling in the early months of the Farke era, but I’m reliably informed this showing, before the interval, was on a similar level.
All the traits that go together to make a really rotten performance were prevalent throughout that opening 45, but the one that hurt most of all was lack of concentration from set-pieces.
Okay, so they were lacking in cohesion, energy and looked toothless going forward, but on the premise of limping through to half-time without conceding I could have lived with that – especially away from home in the Premier League. It’d have given Team Farke the chance to tweak and re-assess.
What they couldn’t afford was two moments of defending so abject they would incur the wrath of Sunday morning managers in the 37th tier of the pyramid. Given that we don’t look ever likely to win from a losing position at the moment, at 1-0 it felt almost game over. At 2-0 it was.
Many have pointed the finger at zonal marking, and after last night it’s a tricky one to argue against, but for me the issue was (and is) not zonal marking per se, but how it’s delivered. Done properly it works. But it wasn’t last night and cost us a point.
Of course, when you’re trailing, every other weakness and misfiring element gets exposed, and so it was laid bare to those at St Mary’s and the watching audience on Amazon Prime just how slow and laboured City’s passing was and how, as a result, they carried so little threat in the final third.
The redeeming features and plus points were non-existent. Amazon’s ‘Opta win probability’ graphic had City at 1%. Some suggested even this was generous.
Farke had to make changes. It was just a question of how he would re-shuffle his pack. With no shortage of options, Ibrahim Amadou and Tom Trybull were the sacrificial lambs – as a defensive shield and instigators of attacks, neither had their finest hour – with Alex Tettey slotting into the base of the midfield alongside Kenny McLean, whose 10 role was handed to Marco Stiepermann.
It worked to a degree, and the second-half iteration of City was infinitely better than the first, but they were just left with too much to do. Tettey was outstanding, breaking up attacks but also finding the right angles to be able to receive the ball from Zimmermann and Godfrey, and also managed to his first-ever slide-rule pass to set Pukki free for the goal.
If those knees hold up, he’s played himself into the starting XI on Sunday.
That City dominated the closing stages said much for an improved second-half performance but also that Saints were happy to hold onto what they had. Chances came and went – both Emi Buendia and Sam Byram both had more than presentable opportunities to level it – but it was not to be. Ralf Hasenhüttl’s clenched fist upon the final whistle summed up how huge the win was for his team.
So it’s Southampton, not City, who now put clear water between themselves and the bottom three, and the momentum we spoke of after beating Everton and then nearly beating Arsenal has taken a hit.
But we’re not down. It’s still too early for white flags. But we do have to prove ourselves more resilient, and defeats by Watford and Southampton when “six-pointer” was being bandied around by some are not what’s needed when in the midst of a survival battle.
Good performances against teams who are happy to let you play is one thing – and we’ve proven ourselves fairly adept in those circumstances – but those who press us and set out to stop us playing are having far too much success far too regularly. In those types of games, we still look a soft touch.
And I don’t expect Wilder’s Blades to sit back and watch us weave our pretty passing patterns.
I suspect by 4pm on Sunday afternoon we’ll know a little bit more about our chances of survival.
Aston Villa £120 million, Sheffield United £40 million, Norwich City £1-5 million.
Easy to see where the problem is.
Still next year in the championship we’ll be able to appreciate being a community club by paying premiership prices for championship football.
Worst 45 mins of the season .Not helped by Farkes insistence that they had prepared well for Southampton’s press .. Sorry didn’t look like it. Rabbits in headlights in the first half . Tettey proved things but , it left me with the question , fit enough to play, fit enough to start. His experience would have been , could have been the difference in that first 45.
Hi Gary.
Very hard to disagree with any of that – as fair a synopsis as can be written.
Unlike you I do not like zonal marking full stop, but that’s my only difference and I will agree with you that we are simply not very adept at it.
Danny Ings getting in between for the first was bad enough, but the Saints second was even worse imo.
Absolutely nobody picked up Ryan Bertrand as he peeled away at the back stick for the second to meet Shane Long’s flick on. There he was a yard or so out, unmarked and enjoyed unwrapping his early Christmas present.
Your point about Sunday Morning sides and tier 37 has never been better illustrated than by that incident.
Our momentum [I wouldn’t want to use that word with a capital ‘M’ just right now] has gone.
The one side we do not need to facing on Sunday are the Wilderbeests. Our Chris had our cards well and truly marked last season and I expect more of the same this time around.
I think it was a case of experience versus naivety both on and off the field. The way to beat city is to constantly hustle them and stop them playing. In that eventuality you have to have a plan B. Zonal marking has been our Achilles heel ever since Farke took over. Long balls forward require a big centre forward to hold the play up and you can’t expect Pukki to do that so every time we played that ball we handed possession away. If we are to survive then players and more importantly the manager have to open their eyes to what we are doing wrong. As you rightly say we will get more of the same at the weekend.
Hi Gary
Good analysis of the game. Whilst we didn’t deserve a point we had two decent chances to equalise at the end.
The only plus point is that Pukki put his chance away very well.
We need to get at least 10 more points before the New Year to have a chance of getting out the bottom three as the teams above us are picking up points every now and again.
It’s about time Sheffield United lost on the road. Our turn to benefit from statistics?
I’m not keen on zonal marking. We should have enough numbers back to mark man to man and have two players spare for the posts and one or two to mark key areas. Most teams leave at least three players outside the box for defensive duties and to be on the edge of the box.
OTBC
Lots of downs and maybe enough ups to come, I still perhaps naively believe we can stay up. Since Zimmermanns return at least we look solid enough in open play. If we can just sort out set peices then we could very well pull clear of the drop zone.
Bloody big IF! How can we sort out our achilles heel? Will we be any better off trying to switch to man marking? Mid-season would be tough. I prefer it as a system. but are we ultimately damned there too? Neither of Zimmermann or Godfrey are exactly great in the air. Look at Zimmermann for the Arse penalty! Neither are greatly commanding presences in the air.
We seem to be such a small and weak side. so is any change just shuffling chairs on the titanic deck? Where we are with this squad I just don’t know what we can do?
An eleven of:
Krul, Byram, Zimmerman Godfrey (Hanley or Klose if they ever get fit) Lewis, Tettey, McLean, Steiperman, Cantwell, Vrancic and Pukki is as big as we might get, might it be able to keep set pieces at bay?
Bah!
An absolutely abject and embarrassing performance. Following two good displays normal service has been well and truly resumed.
The pre match chatter surrounded southamptons ability at set pieces and how cheap free kicks were t be avoided at all costs. Step forward cantwell.
The amateurish defending, or as Gary calls it 37 th tier defending from the resultant free kick was as predictable as it was pathetic. Godfrey may have many good attributes as a footballer, but a centre half who is practically a liability when defending routine set pieces will not hold Spurs interest for long.
The midfield non existent, walking around spraying sloppy passes about with monotonous regularity. Shocking.
In short, we appeared lazy, lacking in desire, effort and application. Until the intervention of the only two players to emerge with any credit we stank the place out, all this against a side barely capable of threatening in open play. For the want of a decent centre half we could have escaped with a point in spite of ourselves.
The writing is now firmly on the wall. A coup,e more defeats and we will be all but flushed away before the queens speech.
Unhappy, nary and very bloody grumpy this morning.
Fact – it’s not the games against the big teams that decide your fate in the Premier League, but those against the teams around you. Whilst an early win over Newcastle and that surprise win at Everton have kept us in contention, defeats to Burnley, Brighton, West Ham, Villa, Southampton and Watford have shown that we don’t have enough in this league. We now face the real prospect of zero points in December with Sheff Utd, Leicester, Wolves, Spurs and even Villa all wetting themselves in anticipation of taking us on. Press us high, rough us up a bit, put 2 defenders on Teemu and hang around at the back post at corners (Aubameyang-esque) and you beat us, simples! So whilst the white flags aren’t up, and in our hearts we still hope, in our heads we know that the lack of any investment, the shortage of premier league experience and the rigidity of Farke’s style and formation have all contributed to the inevitability that is another relegation in May.
Hi Gary
Reading the in game comments last night vua the Pinkun a couple suggested it was time Farke left for a possible postion in Germany as Dortmund might sack the present manager shortly, seem that the the moaners are out abd about again.
It was always going to be a hard game last night if city didn’t come out fighting from the kickoff, and after a good result on Sunday it got the hopes up that we would get a point from this game at least.
It was always going to be after the lord mayirs show and Amadou got a lot of stick for not being Tettey, he needs to build up a reporte with Trybull or who ever he is playing with and that will only start if they are picked more often as a duo.
There will be more twists and turns before tge eeason ends and city are not set a drift at present so lots to hope for.
Kammy said last night it seemed that city’s Zonal marking lacked movement and no one new what they were doing, just maybe the Zimmermann effect has gone already.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Dortmund?? Not a chance.
This was on 90min site about 2 days ago
Norwich City boss Daniel Farke has been tipped to become Lucien Favre’s successor at Borussia Dortmund, with the pressure continuing to mount on the 62-year-old Swiss coach.
After a string of poor results in recent weeks, it’s understood that Favre is hanging by a thread at Signal Iduna Park. BVB were humiliated in Der Klassiker by a ruthless Bayern side – losing 4-0 – before being forced to come back from three goals down to draw at home to Paderborn last time out in the Bundesliga.
If Farke wants to be a Premiership manager either with us, or another club in the future, he is going to have find a way of getting points out of the league’s ‘lesser lights’.
Our performances at Soton, Brighton, Burnley, Palace and the awful Watford at home were all lacking in tempo, belief and nous.
Yes these teams have more Prem experience than us, but we’re perfectly capable of getting results in these sort of games. However, either the set up has been wrong, we’ve been overpowered, out-thought by the opposition or woeful defensively.
At the moment, is Farke demonstrating that he is any better than Neil at this level? I don’t think he is and this needs to change fast.
The good news is that despite the defeat, the gap to safety only grew by 1pt.
Apart from the set piece debacles, I thought we weren’t Milllwall terrible. We were just lethargic. Had we played as we did in the last 15 the result would have been very different. So I still have hope.
My only real criticism of Farke is his lack of boldness in team selection. He lacks imagination at times and needs to rotate a bit more to ensure high levels of performance. Amadou must have been tired after Sunday’s game and Tettey is a like for like replacement who was fresh and eager to play. A couple of other players could possibly have been rested too with another big game coming up on Sunday. A few more defeats like this and things will start to get a bit desperate.
A very commendable 2nd half performance. Albeit the confusing need to over play it in the last 3rd! Pukki looked great but I just wish our wide players moved the ball far more quickly to him. Keep going lads OTBC NCFC
Reading too many of these comments…. Were we relegated last night? Didn’t we win the Championship in May? Isn’t there a wee transition to be made between the two leagues? Havent sides who’ve been up for a few seasons now (Eg Palace) had access to vast cash sums simply by being there – so even the lesser Premiership clubs are a challenge for us as newbies. Go & moan about something which merits it.
Wee transition? ? Tell that to Sheffield United on Sunday.
Yes; but they did have rather more money available than NCFC, and spent it wisely.
Thank the Lord for self funding.
I felt uncomfortable about the first half lack of energy but games in this division are intensely difficult and close together games do not suit a small squad. Refereeing attitudes make a difference as well. Against Southampton we had a ref who allowed a very un-premier league like level of contact from behind, similar to the one at Burnley. I lost count of the number of times our starts to counter attacks were broken up by Soton players illegally crowding in from behind to cramp the ability of our player to get the ball out of their feet and effect a sharp pass. This borderline fouling seems to be something that teams have realised works against us. Sheff United will be no different and we quickly need to find a solution.
OTBC