History repeats itself. I gave the UEA the privilege of my *studying* the subject there way back when and I’m sure that MFW’s Martin MacBlain, who teaches the subject at a high level in Bristol, would agree with me.
No, I haven’t had time to ask him but I’d bet he does.
This time last year it was centre-backs. And now it’s goalkeepers.
At the very end of a largely listless first-half performance against QPR Michael McGovern played an innocuous tap-out to Max Aarons and pulled up in double-quick time. He hung around until the break but it was pretty obvious he would be going down the tunnel not to re-emerge thereafter.
With Tim Krul still unavailable through a thigh injury this left one very young man, junior Welsh international Daniel Barden, to step up to the plate. If Carrow Road had any kind of a crowd in it the young lad [19] would surely have been under more pressure than he was in the empty ground. You know, unrealistic expectations and all that.
As Barden emerged for the restart every single City player back-slapped and fist-bumped him and did all they could to instill confidence into the youthful stopper. He did not let us down in any way. Underworked maybe, but it was quite an impressive if unexpected debut. His first start will doubtless ensue against Barnsley and who the blessed heck will be on the bench I dunno. McCracken?
My favourite Metallica track is Enter Sandman but the second half was more about enter referee.
What an utter muggers buddle Oliver Langford made of the three key decisions.
Todd Cantwell was ostensibly onside as he was not involved in the passage of play that eventually led to him netting from a Teemu Pukki cross. Maybe a case for over-ruling his assistant? Oh yes.
Daniel Farke and his coaches were foaming at the mouth over the incident and maybe gave Mr Langford a bit too much stick afterwards, but I’m prepared to cut them some slack over that. Abysmal decision.
The Cantwell penalty. I wouldn’t have given it, let’s put it that way. Referee’s guilt over the previous cock-up? Probably.
Then just as Alex Tettey was about to come on to shore things up Rangers got a break and Zimbo put his hand on the shoulder of Bright Osayi-Samuel, who gratefully bit the dust.
He was fit enough to covert the spot-kick and although Barden went the right way it was unstoppable. I wouldn’t have fancied Krul against that one either and that’s for sure.
Mario Vrancic has never been the greatest tackler in the squad and lost out in a 50/50 when he could have brought his man down with a thinly-disguised professional foul during the immediate build-up to the incident.
Luckily the along come Norwich moment didn’t appear at the death although it should have done. The aforementioned Osayi-Samuel somehow managed to put a pinpoint cross into the empty River End from about two yards.
So a point is a point. We deserved all three but despite almost total second-half domination we still couldn’t kill the QPR beast. To be fair Mark Warburton’s men put up a decent show and fair play to them.
To end on a slightly sour note I feel sorry for anybody who attempted to watch the game on iFollow like me. Especially if you had to pay for the dubious privilege, which I didn’t.
It cacked out completely twice and after reloading it was like looking at an LS Lowry painting as in slo-mo matchstalk men. No cats, dogs or umbrellas but you’ll know what I mean. I’m really sorry for anyone who paid a tenner for it on the night.
History shows that we’ve got a good record against Barnsley. Let’s hope that this particular slice of history does indeed repeat itself.
And as we can finally put 2020 into the bin I’d like to wish all MFW readers and writers the happiest New Year we can have.
A perfect summing up of a less than perfect display by Mr. Langford Martin.
We’ve heard so much this season about City never hitting top gear; last night (other then the first part of the second half) we appeared like a Fiat 500 towing an articulated lorry of large cement blocks.
For much of the second period Vrancic seemed to be trying to run through treacle – I thought he would have been subbed around 60 minutes, or immediately after we’d scored. Barden did everything asked of him, and if nothing else, his distribution and footwork is more attuned to Farkeball 4 than McGovern, who I hasten to add has let no one down. Once again the opposition targeted our left side and showed that, despite his overall assured displays, Sorenson is not a full back. However, whilst Quintilla is nominally played in that position, he seems to prefer to be further forward (not that I’ve seen him “in the flesh”.
Overall I thought QPR played rather better than their position in the table indicates, but why, oh why did Zimbo put his hand on Osayi-Samuel’s shoulder?? By that time he was actually heading away from goal. And as for the idiot(s) trolling and abusing nsaid QPR player on anti-social media today, I do hope it’s not any of a Canary persuasion (I think he’d make a decent addition to our ranks).
Finally, I watched on iFollow last night, and for the first time this season had absolutely no problem with buffering or whatever it’s called. It ran like clockwork (unlike the team of officials).
A Happy and points laden New Year to you and all the Penney household, and of course to all MFW writersand commenters.
The site in nothing without input from all sides.
O T B C
Hi John
Oi! lay off Fiat 500s!!! I’ve got a chipped 900cc convertible and it goes like muck off a spade. Not quite as quick as an Arbath but not too much behind it. I liken it to an old Mini Cooper S I had back in the 80s – without the rust.
Seriously the targeting of Sorensen has gone on for far too long and Todd C, bless him, offers very little support down our left. I know Jamal Lewis has his critics, particularly amongst a contingent of Mags fans, but I feel we are missing him. No criticism of Sorensen but a left back he isn’t.
I’ve not heard the detail of the racial racial abuse but whoever is responsible for it should quickly be put in their place. Probably some idiot on Tw*tter who is too scared to post under his or her real name. Football doesn’t need it – and nor does any other walk of life.
Quite why Zimbo put his arm on Osayi-Samuel’s shoulder I will never know.
It’s the first time I’ve encountered an iFollow problem but it sure didn’t work very well in NR3 last night!
Thanks for your kind words about MFW – we appreciate it.
Cheers
Watched on iFollow for the first time ever – no issues with buffering, a little bit jerky at first and then it seemed to settle down. It seems to all come down to what bandwidth you have.
I thought that the referee got the Cantwell penalty decision correct – maybe a 70-80% call. Likewise I thought that Pukki was hauled down in the 1st half.
Yes that Pukki incident in the first half seems to have gone a bit under the radar. iFollow was in full flow at that time and as I saw it that one certainly could have been given.
We’re on the dreaded TalkTalk here in Norwich – Mrs P’s choice, not mine, but I’ve never had a problem at Mundesley with BT.
Other service providers are available 🙂
What was annoying was that the iFollow stream was about 6 minutes behind real time!
MGW – I know!
It’s normally about 2/3 minutes behind when it’s working perfectly but I assume that’s the nature of streaming.
I’d guess we’ll have to cope for quite some time yet though. It’s better than nothing and at least those of us with an ST don’t have to pay for it.
Oh, hang on, I’m still bunging out £43.50 a month to the Club. D’oh.
Actuually I don’t mind that at all but if we can’t go back to Carrow Road en masse in August I’ll have a decision to make, just like very many of us.
Cheers
Hi Martin
An excellent read on a wet yet sunny cold day in Blackpool.
Well I got a message last night from my old QPR friend joyous about their point and hopes it stops us taking the title he says revenge will be sweet.
Lots being said about Osay today and it all resolves around abuse he received after the game just hope they find the culprits, no matter what these platforms do to prevent abuse some muppet will always find away around it, but as some people have said why would any sane person leave themselves so open in this way.
The EDP online commentary was good last night from Connor they are tightening up slightly to stop trolls you now have to put in your email address with every comment not sure that will help unless they check the address exist anyone can put a false one in.
Barden fumbled his 1 good save and dropped to his knee’s to cover the ball so well done to him, As you say history does repeat itself and our keepers position is getting in dire straits so we must hope that Krul can at least take a seat on the bench.
I mentioned the EDP commentary and someone mentioned that this was the Ref’s first in the middle for quite a while after a couple of howlers he has been running 🏃♂️ the line, I don’t think any of the officials covered themselves in glory last night.
QPR proved they are better than the sum of their results show and like every team city will be up against will want to knock us of the top as with Bournemouth and Watford we are there to be shot down and Barnsley with their South Yorkshire grit will prove to be another tough game so would like to see a 3 man CB used with either Tettey or Sorensen along side Skipp.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Stay Healthy 🙏
Happy New Year to everyone and looking forward to a goal feast on Saturday
Hi Alex
As I said to John [above] I don’t know the detail of any racist abuse myself cos I will not do antisocial media. I’d probably get an online kicking every day if I did so no, ta.
I have to be desperate to use the Archant online feed in order to follow a game but the last time I did [a couple of seasons ago] I would agree with you about the trolls.
Dave Freezer [& I’ll take your word about Connor, he’s a good lad] filter out what they can but their job is to follow the game rather than play *spot the eejit*.
As for South Yorkshire grit Todd is one of our own. Without googling it I wouldn’t say too many of the Barnsley squad were born very close to Oakwell.
Cheers mate
A very fair summary of last night’s proceedings Martin.
Interesting that the same official who allowed the QPR player to play on when he was clearly offside, was the same one who denied TC his goal!! I rest my case m’lud!! 😀
I have to say that I really think DF left it too late to bring subs on against QPR. He has been excellent in bringing on subs so that they have enough time to make an influence on the game, but for some reason, not so last night. However, I can’t criticise him too much, as he has done wonders with the number of players who were out injured at times over the last few weeks and months.
According to the stats, we had 9 shots on target, plus 9 blocked shots, including one cleared off the line. I was reading on another article that some posters are advocating a change of tactics from DF –WHY?? Yes, ideally, we need to more clinical in our goal attempts, but otherwise, we are doing everything right.
I see that Barnsley have won 5 out of their last 6 games – let’s just hope we can make it 2 out of 7 on Saturday.
PS – If at all possible, can DF please NOT include Vrancic in the starting 11?
Interesting article. Referees are above the law, almost to the point of either inept or corrupt.
My gripe with IFollow is the use of action replays. whilst the game is being played. Is it run by amateur broadcasters? There’s plenty of time for action replays during half time .
I’m concerned that our bubble has burst and we now have the distraction of the transfer window.
OTBC
Whilst the IFollow picture was fine for me last night (it’s hit and miss sometimes but generally decent) you are right about the replays. They ran a couple last night which meant a couple of near misses were…well, missed! That’s not the first match that has happened. Ironically when we really did need a replay (of the Cantwell offside/onside goal) we got one quick screening and then nothing more.
Otherwise, it’s decent enough.
Hi Kingpike
I could write an entire article about the possible corruption of referees but I can’t because I have no proof and outside of South America nor does anybody else!
I have only reffed school matches as a favour for a teacher mate years ago but tbh that was bad enough. The dogs abuse from a couple of *competitive dads* on the sidelines was really verging on the out of order. Every time. And the kids were 11-y-olds.
Is the bubble about to burst? Ask me in May.
Thanks!
Hi Ed
Yes, I think Vrancic was blowing chunks around the hour mark. As I’ve said several times before [and others on MFW have too] he doesn’t seem to have 90 minutes in him and if he plays the deep midfield role his defensive attributes are questionable.
I’m not disparaging Farke’s sub timing myself – he was ready to bring on Tettey immediately before this particular disaster struck.
Will DF change his tactics? I can fairly confidently say that I don’t think so!
Cheers
I love Mario but I thought early on last night that he wasn’t looking particularly effective, and that rotten first half chance he spurned didn’t help (no idea what he was trying to do with it). It was surprising to me that he wasn’t withdrawn, at least around the hour mark as you suggest when he was really flagging.
I feel more disappointed with last night than the Watford game, even though we didn’t lose.. I’m trying to be positive and say it is still a point on the board plus that we’re no worse off after 22 games than we were in 2018-19, but it does feel like a missed opportunity.. A win against Barnsley will give us a lift again, but with their current form, that’s looking a much tougher prospect than earlier in the season.
Hi Jason
Yes it was a missed opportunity – back in the old days it would have been called a *home banker*.
Barnsley are indeed one of the form teams right now as you say and from what little I’ve seen of them they play really attractive football but with Brentford et al breathing down our necks we could do with all three points!
Thanks
“Todd Cantwell was ostensibly onside as he was not involved in the passage of play that eventually led to him netting from a Teemu Pukki cross.”
Agree with the first half of that but it looks to me that at the point Pukki crossed for him both were clear of the 3 defenders and Todd, as far as I can see, was not behind the ball – certainly not the yard that Farke was claiming at the end.
In the end we once again had masses of possession which we didn’t make count. We should have been out of sight long before Zimbo’s lapse, referee or no referee.
I’ve paid for iFollow a few times and only once had a problem when it dropped out at half time. I agree with the comment above about action replays though. Hats off to Chris Goreham and Simon Lappin who I thought were excellent – and for anyone following from Shepherd’s Bush I doubt if they sounded too biased. They seemed to know their stuff about the visitors and gave them credit where credit’s due.
If I can’t get on iFollow because it’s not available when we are on proper TV I follow the Pink’Un stuff. It’s not too bad when David Freezer’s in charge, but Connor is awful, both there and in his articles. For someone still in journalistic nappies he seems to think he knows the game like a veteran. Neither are helped much by some of the comments that are made, but if they’re not going to pre-moderate that’s the risk they take allowing people to offer their thoughts on a live match, in many cases on a game they can’t even see.
Hi Keith
As Jason M says [above] replays of this incident are in pretty short supply so I suppose I’ll have to stick with my instinct on this one but I’m quite prepared to admit that I might have got it wrong of course.
I really like Chris Goreham, which is why I will sometimes choose iFollow over Sky if the game is on both, or perhaps I should simply watch Sky with the radio on like I used to do when the cricket was on terrestrial TV and I listened to the TMS crowd. And hopefully we’ll hear more from the King of Spain – I’d never heard him on air before but he was up there with Rivo and my personal favourite Mark Walton.
As I said to Alex [above] the Pink ‘Un *Live* coverage is not for me.
Cheers
The comment from John above that Vrancic was “running through treacle” sums it up perfectly. I’d add that he had a sack of spuds tied to each leg. I think that as he gets physically tired, his mental processes slow down as well, and that’s why he didn’t make the 50/50 (more of a 60/40 in his favour I think). I’d said to my wife that he needed to be subbed about ten minutes before that incident.
As for iFollow, I’ve not had a problem with it for any of the games I’ve watched. That’s probably jinxed me for the next one! Part of the problem might be that a) there are more people working from home and b) there are plenty of people playing on-line games at the moment, both kids and adults. All of this reduces the bandwidth on the internet, and slows it down.
Happy New Year to all at MFW, and all it’s readers and commenters.
Hi Jim
Since I wrote this I’ve seen the Vrancic tackle labelled a 60:40 twice elsewhere so you’ve just given me a hat-trick!
I dunno about the treacle but poor old Mario couldn’t have outpaced a geriatric sloth in the second half. He’s never been the quickest, but blimey.
One of those games really, just as was Derby. But this time at least we got a point.
HNY To you too.
Great assessment of the game Martin.
I thought Todd’s penalty was more of one than QPR’s but you are right they were both soft.
I checked the ruling regarding Todd’s disallowed goal, and it definitely should have stood.
However we really must start putting our chances away, particularly at home.
With covid now claiming so many matches we need to be 1st or 2nd in points per game just in case the league has to be abandoned.
Two years ago we gave QPR a football lesson, we were so clinical. That has to return or we may well miss out on the top two.
I also wonder why so many games are being lost to covid, have some clubs got careless or is it just this new strain ?
I also wonder why some games are called off while other games go ahead despite covid cases. Is it a number of cases before a match can be called off ?
Surely no chances can be taken.
Finally on referee’s, I think with VAR we would have another 5-6 points however after seeing some more ridiculous decisions in the Premier League I’m still pleased we don’t have it.
A ref can make mistakes it’s part of the game but how are some of the VAR refs cocking up so badly ?
Hi Tim
Yes I think the Covid situation has been bubbling under in the football world for at least a couple of weeks now. I have precious little idea about the medical realities of the whole thing and why some clubs carry symptomatic players and staff more than others.
No we’re not clinical enough in front of goal at the moment and that’s for sure.
But even after Tuesday night I’m still glad VAR isn’t involved in the Championship – I think we all had enough of that last season and with the possible exception of LIverpool supporters of all the PL Teams would continue to agree.
Good comment – thanks.
Good article Martin.
The main problem DF has to solve is the shot conversion rate. We are making a lot of chances and having lots of shots but few goals. Otherwise the team are playing well enough to win the majority of games.
We have had a fair chunk of luck in games so the Cantwell non-goal goes some way to even things up. That said the officials had a poor game.
We are still in a decent position with points in the bank. There seems to be a suggestion that a firebreak is needed in football as lots of players are catching Covid. If that happens then the fixture congestion will get even worse, which may play into our hands. I suspect we may have to face the possibility that the season may not be completed, so points per game will be important. Professional sports people should have no additional priority for the vaccine than any one else.
Good wishes to everyone involved in MFW. Stay safe and let’s hope that 2021 will bring some cheer.
OTBC
Hi Colin
You’re certainly right about the shot conversion rate but it’s probably the most difficult *topic* for a head coach to address 🙂
It’s surely only a matter of time before the Covid curtains fall on the season and I quite agree with you on the vaccination front, notwithstanding the fact that even a bench warmer for Slagheap Rovers could afford a private jab if he wanted one, albeit against the spirit [and probably letter] of the law.
Thanks for the good wishes – appreciated.
To me this was another example of our worst statistic — inability to convert chances into goals. Surely we can’t afford the luxury of three creative midfielders (Vrancic, Buendia and Cantwell) at the expense of giving Pukki a partner up front. As has been said many times you can’t win a football match on style points. If we hadn’t got a penalty would we have scored at all? Two very important points dropped me thinks.
Hi Cyprus
I can’t disagree with any of that so I won’t 🙂
Hi martin enjoyed your piece noticed one or two people asking for quintilla to replace sorrenson because he’s out of position just to remind people he can actually defend which quintilla struggled to do good on the front foot yes and set pieces yes but we need a defender not attacker so until we get better in,rather sorrenson stayed there all the best for new year mate
Hi Kev
Yes Xavi does tend to divide folks. Sorensen has done a terrific job under the circumstances but I am worried that other teams have sussed him and know, like we all do, that he doesn’t really have a left foot.
He’s certainly more physical than Quintilla with a much better aerial presence when defending set pieces.
We’ll meet again some sunny day – probably in 2022 the way things are looking.
Cheers mate
Haha. Thanks for name drop, Martin! Only getting to this article today as spent yesterday looking at new kitchens – certainly something that wouldn’t have appealed to me the last time we suffered a GK injury crisis…. 27th December 1994 and a different 19 year old taking the field; Andy Marshall.
I’m certainly hoping that history does not choose to repeat itself on this occasion and that we spectacularly implode…. at least Krul and McGovern are not season-Enders.
By sheer coincidence I was watching a YouTube podcast with Andy Marshall about 30 minutes before reading this, in which he states ‘looking back now, as a GK coach, I was nowhere near ready to be playing adult football at that age, either mentally or technically.’
So it will be interesting to see if FARKE sticks with Barden, or dips his toe into the loan market, should the injuries to the other two be a bit longer.
HI Martin
That’s an interesting take from Andy Marshall which I hadn’t heard before. I remember his debut against Newcastle which we won 2-1 despite a Ruel Fox penalty – for Newcastle!
He stopped everything they chucked at him but couldn’t reach half way with a drop kick let alone a placed one. A most unlikely GK coach I would have thought but obviously that’s not proved to be the case.
Farke could have easily have picked up Lee Camp or AN Other on a free but chose to trust McGovern and my guess would be that he will stick with Barden until Krul returns which is pencilled in for the Coventry Cup game.
I don’t know the time limit on McGovern’s hamstring, but I’m sure we’ll find out before Saturday’s match.
Cheers
Hi Martin. I didn’t think it was a hamstring for McGovern, from where he was holding himself, it looked more like his groin, but I haven’t heard the official position.
If DF did want to bring in another experienced keeper, I see Brighton are willing to let Ryan go in January for a small fee. Might be worth a punt.
Ryan’s pretty good and he might well be worth a punt as you say. Whether he’d want a short term deal is another matter but McGovern isn’t getting any younger so you never know.
No-one’s yet heard the official McGovern prognosis of course!
It could be groin rather than hamstring which was a bit of a guess from myself to be honest – it looked like the latter to me but I’m prepared to admit I could be wrong – and that wouldn’t be for the first time!
“Micky felt something after playing a pass. We don’t know if it is a muscle issue or maybe a nerve in his lower back,” said Farke.
DF: Major injury to McGovern on his hamstring. It’s not decided if he needs surgery but he will be out for probably 12 to 16 weeks, so three or four months.
One of those times you really don’t want to be right 🙁
Not a great fan of iFollow, but as a City fan born & brought up in Reading, it has been nice to hear Radio Norfolk during the games for the first time ever. It is amazing what a difference hearing a commentary team who actually know something about the team they are commentating on makes.
Or perhaps it is amazing how poor Sky allows the likes of Don Goodman and David Prutton to be and still collect a salary for watching the Championship day-in-day out.
Hi Will
Many of us would agree that Chris Goreham is an excellent commentator and with no disrespect I think he’s a considerable upgrade on the late, much-loved Roy Waller.
Different styles and different times I guess 🙂
Thanks