It was disappointing – let’s not pretend otherwise – but yesterday’s 3-1 defeat at Kenilworth Road will hopefully have little bearing on what happens in six days’ time in Huddersfield.
*Hopefully*
That’s not to say it wouldn’t have given us all a much-needed boost. To have had 17 players unavailable is quite the mitigation, but the record books care not one jot and will show that City have lost 12 competitive games on the spin.
A club record.
And let’s not sugar coat it. That’s a problem.
We’ve yet to win a game in an empty stadium. ‘Behind-closed-doors’ and Norwich City are not happy bedfellows.
But it has to change.
Daniel Farke was quick, post-Luton, to play down talk of City being among the favourites for promotion, and I wouldn’t expect him to publicly say anything else, but he knows differently.
While the Little Norwich card is one that can be played ad nauseam in the Premier League, to try and use it in the Championship after winning that very same title 16 months ago and having been backed over this summer to the tune of eleven new players just isn’t going to wash.
Farke’s a smart guy. He knows expectation levels are now on a different level to anything he’s experienced in his time here, and he also knows the longer this horrid run of defeats continues, the more the pressure will build.
Defeat at Luton with the equivalent of a whole team and six subs missing is one thing – only the most negative could use that as a stick with which to beat Farke – but to lose at the John Smith’s Stadium with a full squad would be different.
In the great scheme of things, it would just be a loss at an away ground that’s notoriously tricky, but in the here and now it would represent a continuation of that run that I’m of tired of writing about.
The creation of a feelgood factor just a matter of weeks after suffering one of the club’s greatest humiliations has been quite the achievement – helped of course by eleven said additions – and can probably be added to Stuart Webber’s growing list of miracles, but once the action begins for real it could be undone very quickly.
If handled properly – and I’m sure it will be – the negative effect on morale by losing at Luton will be limited, but it was still a missed opportunity to inject some belief and confidence.
It was also a missed opportunity for those on the fringes who still had an outside chance of making next Saturday’s starting XI, albeit with a couple of notable exceptions.
At 18-years-old, Bali Mumba’s best City years may be further down the track, but in the midst of yesterday’s ordinary team performance he shone, and in the space of 90 minutes showed precisely why Webber made a beeline for Wearside when it became clear there was a chance of signing him.
Mumba admitted in an interview in the week that part of his challenge is learning quickly how to play in a Farkeball style, but yesterday’s display bore all the hallmarks of a quick learner; one who will be a very able deputy or, maybe, even a replacement for Max Aarons.
Early days of course but as competitive debuts go, that was right up there.
Kieran Dowell too did his chances of a start next Saturday no harm at all, particularly given the dearth of goals from midfield last season. While his overall display may have been hindered by the staccato nature of the performance, his goal was that of a classy finisher.
Whether his style would be better suited to the 10 role, meaning the Stiepi/Pukki axis would need to be broken up, is one for Team Farke to ponder but it’s clear Dowell is in the frame for a start in West Yorkshire.
What won’t have been lost on Farke and co, is the more-of-the-same approach to conceding soft goals. Regardless of the circumstances, to have shipped three – each of them laced with sloppiness – was a massive disappointment and also a reminder that however well you beef up the shield in front of the back four, the central defenders still have to defend.
Ben Gibson needs to get match-fit and quickly, but it’s a big turnaround that’s needed, and to rest it solely on the shoulders of a player who’s barely played in two seasons is a little unfair.
As those three quick-fire Luton goals flew in, painful memories of 2019/20 came flooding back. And they’re still raw. Lessons clearly haven’t been learned.
As I said above, the shield in front of the back-four looks to have undergone a significant upgrade, but the system still requires the defenders to do their jobs well. At the moment, that element is still missing.
News that Jamal Lewis is, apparently, Tyneside bound is yet to be confirmed by either club but is one that appears to have legs (and is also one that’s triggered Liverpool fans).
Given the recruitment in that area of the pitch, this is one departure for which the club is prepared and at least Jamal would get regular game time at St James’ Park, unlike Anfield. While Newcastle wouldn’t necessarily be my destination of choice if I were in the player’s shoes, if he’s keen on the move then we should all wish him well.
With still over a month to go before the transfer window closes, there’s still ample time for others to head for the Colney exit, and I get the feeling that once one departs, this may in turn hasten the departure of one or two others.
We have to prepare ourselves, although I also suspect there’ll be some eleventh hour bids coming in as Jim White girds his loins.
In terms of incoming, we must surely be done, so given the dearth of creativity yesterday, these next few weeks must include honing Farkeball so it can still operate without the maverick element provided by Emi Buendia.
He’ll be missing through suspension next week, but if he is to depart he will be the one to leave the biggest void. Yesterday highlighted that.
So, still work to be done but let’s first of all hope that those away on international duty return with limbs and spirit intact. That’d be a start. And let’s also hope the injury picked up by Timm Klose yesterday is of the minor, short-term variety.
And then all eyes turn to Huddersfield.
*gulp*
I thought there was enough on display yesterday to do a job, some prem experience and a couple who know this standard. The same old mistakes at the back, entering Farke’s 4th season the defence is still the biggest problem that has not been successfully dealt with. Gibson is the first signing in that area since Hanley over 3 years ago. Is there a message in there somewhere.
I agree nothing must get in the way of the league, but Farke himself has always stressed the cups are important too, yesterdays could be a little more important, getting a positive result would have ended a dismal run and give a little boost of confidence, through the dressing room.
I was surprised that these players, suggested as fringe players, did not appear to show the fight that was needed to say “Hey Boss” I am here. perhaps some of them know they won’t get that chance, not sure there was any player thinking I am already assured.
Disappointing at the manner, not so much the result, then to give up watch the national side not a good day for the beautiful game
Cheers for your comment, mate. Always appreciated.
I too was surprised that those with a sniff of a chance of a start next Saturday didn’t appear to ‘bust a gut’ to claim it. That there were more who did their chances harm than good was a disappointment, and it ended up being one of those days where it was a good thing not to be part of it!
I didn’t get round to mentioning it in the piece, but we’re yet to adapt our style to get the best out of Hugill. Seems we’re expecting him (at the moment) to replicate the movement of Pukki, which is simply not going to happen.
There are only 3 competitions and to go out of 1 of them in our first competitive game of the season is very disappointing. It does though mean that in the weeks when the next couple of rounds will be played Farke at least gets a chance to work with his squad rather than have mid-week games.
That 15 players were away yesterday, and still are, is more a concern for the process of building a new team than the effect on one specific match.
Having said that, reading the Archant report of the whole match, rather than just the last 15 minutes, it sounds as though we played far better for far longer than the headline final score suggests and created a number of good chances. And when the goals against did come we were down to our customary one genuine centre back on the pitch.
There’s a lot of talk about having a new squad, and yes we do. The key word is squad. But not necessarily a new team.
For all the changes over the summer Farke can still field all but one of the last team to represent us in the Championship, winning at Villa on 5th May 2019. The missing man of course would be Buendia, Klose, Cantwell and Tettey were all on the bench that day too.
Of course in a week from now it’s likely to be one less – Steve Bruce waving £15m around for Lewis instinctively sounds credible. Spending other people’s money well has never been one of Bruce’s strengths. Have a look back at his Birmingham, Hull and Sunderland days. It appears to me that he’s an expert at building the overpaid nucleus of a team which, when he’s relieved of his duties, his successors struggle to keep in the division.
Spurs reportedly paid Wolves £13m for the properly established PL level full back Doherty. I personally didn’t consider Liverpool’s original offer for Lewis “derisory” but because people like Bruce are around Webber was spot on in the way he dealt with it. If we can agree the kind of deal that’s been reported we’ll have done very well.
IMO, a win yesterday would have been a great way to restore some much-needed confidence, prior to our trip to the John Smith stadium next Saturday, but alas it was not to be.
We created more chances and had more shots on goal, but Shea was up to stopping most of what headed his way. Burden on the other hand – 3 shots on target = 3 goals. This is not pointing the finger at our rookie keeper, but as you said in your article Gary, he needs more protection from those in front of him.
Yes, the rumour certainly is that Lewis is off to SJP and for considerably less than was being quoted, albeit with ‘add-ons’ goes up to £20M. As Jake Humphries said in a tweet – they’re getting an exceptional player with OODLES of potential.
Hi Gary
A good summary up and yesterday wasn’t a good day for football supporters whether it be club or international.
The Luton manager said city had a good side out yesterday and should stop looking for the 15 that couldn’t play due to international duty.
He also said that his team had more control over the full 90mins, that maybe so but much of his team have been a constant for at least a full season not cobbled together from new recruits and U23’s.
We now have to wait for the prognosis of the Klose injury but injury prone at the start of each season since he has been here not a good record so Tettey covered in defence and that disruption seem to start the panic in the defence.
I am not sure whether the fact that the Tettey shield was no longer there or he was a CB caused the problem but something changed.
Hanley, Zimmerman and Gibson would be my choice as a back 3 with Godfrey and the new Dane as a shield with either able to fall back into CB mode if one got injured.
Loan out McCallum to Coventry for a season to get experienced at this level if Lewis stays or Bryam gets fit that could be on PAPER a solid back line.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and stay healthy
I haven’t watched any of yesterday’s game, so I can’t really comment on the performance. I’m guessing the result looked worse than it was, with the third goal being in the 95th minute, so I presume we were pressing for an equaliser, and got caught out on a counter-attack. The worrying thing for me is the second goal, coming straight after we had equalised the penalty. it’s that lack of concentration, when we should be focussed on not doing anything stupid, and keeping the ball until the euphoria has died down. It seems to be a bit of a trait with City teams, and not just under Farke.
Pleased to hear Bali Mumba had a good game, and the fact he is only 18 isn’t too relevant. Max Aarons was around the same age when he broke through (ironically, after a good performance in the cup). I see that PSG are apparently showing an interest in him, so we might lose both of our promotion team full backs. At least we seem to have prepared ourselves for that eventuality.
Listened to the Radio Norfolk commentary and have not seen any of the action so it is difficult to comment too much.
Up until the first goal we had plenty of possession so it seems the new players are settling into Farkeball.
When Klose went off we were under pressure to clear our area to the extent we conceded three goals. One of which was a sloppy tackle by Vrancic.
Mumba seems to be in the Aarons mould. Willing and able to get forward and take on a shot.
Dowell took his goal well.
Luton goalie made some great saves at 0-0.
It will be very interesting, who Farke selects next Saturday.
Republic of Ireland v Finland could see Idah v Pukki.
Despite the Luton result I am still optimistic.
It was our third team – there were 22 first team level players who were not selected. Never seen anything like that (isn’t that some kind of record?) so one should not read much into it. But I think the real problem for Farke is who does he pick? For the 2018-9 season the team picked itself – changes were made when someone was injured and the team carried on winning, But this time it feels like he will really have to earn his corn as what is our best eleven now? It is far less obvious.
Back already Gary, pity it’s the same old story!
The positives, as such, to take from yesterday’s offering were the debut performances of Mumba and Dowell. elsewhere, cheer is in short supply.
The defending, if we can call it that, which followed the departure of Klose should serve as a stark warning that never, ever, should we countenance going into any game with Tettey in central defence. Conceding three goals to a bog standard championship bottom feeder like Luton is poor, no matter how many regulars are missing from the roster. The timidity and general lack of care taken in the concession of the three goals was nothing short of a disgrace. Pathetic.
Young Barden and McCallum performed decently enough but as for the rest….
It would seem fair to say that Martin may well benefit from a loan spell as he was way off the pace, Stiepermann and Rupp will be bench warmers at best and Hugill made one of the most underwhelming debuts I can recall from a centre forward.
Zimmermann, himself nowhere near his best looks likely to start next week, hopefully alongside a proper centre half. Of Gibson can head and kick a football with some authority and get himself within half a yard of n opponent in the penalty area he will be a massive improvement on the last three years.
The disappointment stems from the fact that this was a chance for claims to be staked, markers to be set. The insipid nature of the performance screams apathy and poor attitude,
Twelve straight defeats is a disgraceful record, one that is almost unprecedented in the modern game. Fingers at all levels need to be pulled out and pretty quickly to arrest this slump with immediate effect as there will be questions to answer if it continues a minute longer. Losing is seriously starting to boil my pi55.
We cannot get too pessimistic after yesterday’s game Gary.
It was however very disappointing result. I watched the low lights on Youtube and we should have been 2-0 up before they scored.
The same old story, way on top do not take our chances and then let in breakaways.
As you know i am a massive Daniel Farke fan but in his 3 years here we have conceded 192 goals in 130 matches. Which is nearly 1.5 goals per game. No ifs or buts the defence must be improved markedly this season. We cannot keep out scoring teams.
While I have said on here last week that we must be patient with all these new players it did worry me that Daniel said in an interview on Canarycall yesterday that we won’t be at our best until after the next international break.
I understand this to a point but we are on 12 straight defeats which is deeply embarrassing, this cannot go on for another month surely.
One other thing Gary I have just read Nathan Jones comments post match, basically saying it didn’t make a lot of difference Norwich having 15 plus players unavailable !!!
Sometimes these managers do not realise how stupid they sound.
OTBC
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1045728758?-11057:808
After reading what the NI manager has said I ask the question
Is Bruce a better manager than Farke to take Lewis to the next level, how many clubs has he managed and most of his teams have been tried and trusted transfers who was the last great prospect he developed