We were Warlocked against Boro on Saturday. There’s no other way to describe it really as the old maestro of malice brought out every last card from his battered pack of Tarots to tell us our fortune.
“We’ll start Yannick Bolasie for the first hour to tie them up and give them something to worry about”, the Warlock said to his coaching team while all surrounded their cauldron at Rockliffe Park training centre on Thursday afternoon.
“We know Cantwell and Buendia are their main creatives so we’ll suffocate them – not literally please lads, we’ve standards to live up to after all, even if I did once manage Sheffield United.
“We’ve got Darnell Fisher in from Preston – let’s stick him on Cantwell and make sure the boy with the Alice band doesn’t get a kick in anger. I’m not sure who to stick on Buendia – what do you think, Kevin [Blackwell]?”
“Young Bola could do it boss – and Buendia will cause his own demise as we know he plays with his heart and if we can charm the imp that is referee Keith Stroud into yellowing him, then surely he will see red.
“And we must have the bench-dwelling banshees in the ear of the referee all the time and that way we will surely convince him to make many dubious decisions in our favour.”
The sorcerers around the cauldron decided they were content with their strategy and cackled enthusiastically.
And, c’mon, they were right to feel that way, weren’t they?
Many Norwich City supporters and MFW Readers [including myself] are used to seeing our football played in a certain fashion, or *the Norwich way* as it’s often referenced. Okay, we nicked the phrase from West Ham but I wouldn’t worry about that too much as the same principles apply – unless you’ve ever seen Carl Bradshaw or Julian Dicks in action, of course.
I suppose I’d better address the issue of Emi’s second yellow and subsequent red. Everybody else has by now.
First yellow? Fair enough but that lit the touchpaper and Farke should have been more conscious of the possible consequences than he ostensibly was. Boro played referee Stroud like a violin throughout the match with the banshees on the bench shrieking for everything. When George Saville went down like a sack of spuds and realised it was Emi who had challenged him that was it, we had an on-pitch banshee as well. Back comes Stroud after a failed Boro attack and does a retrospective.
Was the offence worthy of a second yellow? Not to me, no. But to slide in like that as Emi did in his situation was completely irresponsible. I know he tried to slam the anchors on and there was no intent but you could equally argue that he had to go. It all depends on what angle you watch it from. A difficult decision for the referee which Warlock and his baying crones tipped over the edge.
Farke knew that was more than a possibility and could have hooked Emi at half time – we had enough cover on the bench after all. Surely Daniel didn’t expect the Warlock [who’s friends call him Colin] not to make the most of that particular situation?
Anyway because of the rule about two reds in a season Emi will now miss both Millwall and Swansea. And all so avoidable, too.
I guess our Che gets one heck of a battering in most matches and his frustration levels must go through the ionosphere when encountering as weak a referee as Mr Stroud, so I kind of feel sorry for the player more than wanting to criticise him.
Brentford and Swansea were the big winners with that result, especially with the prospect of Millwall and said Swans away coming up for us next sans Buendia.
I can’t find many positives from Saturday’s match except that it was good to see Pepe Placheta and Onel on together at the end which meant we still had a little bit of a threat after our reduction to ten, and if a player can look good in just 10 minutes on the grass that was Adam Idah. And of course we gained what might prove to be a valuable point.
As for our debutant Dimitris Giannoulis, he now knows what the EFL Championship is all about. He was the original curate’s egg, as in good in parts. At least he’ll be well prepared for Millwall.
And while his is another tough old side that struggles to score goals, nobody can accuse Gary Rowett of being a warlock.
I think we had enough of them on Saturday.
I love “the old maestro of malice”, a perfect description. of the “hubble, bubble, toil and trouble” Manager.
Hi MIke
I had thought of going down the Macbeth route but couldn’t think of a third witch to cast beyond Colin & Kevin.
It could have been Keith Stroud I suppose!
Thanks
Good morning Martin on this rather dull start to the week.
I ‘doff my cap’ to both you and Gary. The headline was superb, only to be outdone by your opening ‘salvo’ and I’m sure many readers can visualise Colin and his henchmen around a cauldron plotting how to prevent us from winning. I can hear him chanting – ‘Double double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble’ as they devised devious ways in which to stop us playing our usual game. Sadly, it worked!! 🙁
I’ve witnessed some poor refereeing this season, but Mr Stroud’s display was pretty much on a par with Mr England’s a few months ago. What did they have in common you might ask?? At Luton, they had some fans in and had a smattering on all 4 sides of the ground haranguing the officials and on Saturday they had Colin and his assistants – need I say more??
As for the referee at the Brentford game and awarding THAT penalty …….
Anyway, getting back on track.
I feel Vrancic should have at least tested their keeper early on, but alas it was not to be.
How good was Howson on Saturday – he seemed to be everywhere?? I don’t remember him doing very much when we last met!!
Lots of voices (including DF’s) saying how harsh Emi’s 2nd yellow/red and sadly we’re seeing more and more players screaming as though they’ve been shot, when in fact they’ve hardly been touched and the officials are reacting to the yelps of perceived pain, rather than what they actually see. 🙁
I’m with you on taking Emi off at half time (many fans saying the same!!) and there was more than enough cover on the bench. The $64,000 question – who replaces him??
My vote goes to Idah (pronounced Eedah), as he must be ‘chomping at the bit’ to get back into action.
Rupp and Skipp seemed to be operating much further forward than usual and gave Boro opportunities to get forward when they did have the ball. I wonder if we’ll see a change for our visit to the Den/Liberty??
Giannoulis showed some promise, especial in attack, but I hope he can defend as well, as I’m sure we’ll be under more sustained attack for our game on Friday.
Bring on Millwall.
On this occasion, we have Martin to thank for the headline too, Ed 🙂
Which was surpassed by the editor’s choice of illustration – the expression on Kevin Blackwell’s face is something else.
That must be him yelling “stay down Sav” after the Emi “non-tackle”!
That’s been widely reported but I didn’t actually catch it in realtime.
I don’t think Saville needed to be told, merely reminded 🙂
Morning Ed
The weather is indeed dull in the City just now but we’re in for a lively week of football with deadline day [expect Nyland in to be the only NCFC development], MIllwall and Swansea all featuring over the next few days.
I totally agree with you about Howson who more or less bossed the second half and was, fortunately for us, just as wasteful as Vrancic from a similar position in a game of very few chances.
You cannot replace Emi on a like-for-like basis. I guess the closest we have is young Josh Martin who didn’t make the bench on Saturday but my money would be on Onel.
We’ll have to wait for Daniel Farke’s press conference at dinner time to maybe pick up some pointers, although he never gives much away for obvious reasons.
I’d think the Mayor might well be in for Rupp alongside Ollie Skipp and let’s hope Max Aarons is okay but at least we have cover at RB in Rupp and Bali Mumba. Or indeed Sorensen.
Cheers
Excellent Martin.
For all the criticisms and witticisms, I have to say that Colin got his tactics pretty much spot-on, plus he was helped enormously by Emi’s (relatively) early first – and deserved – yellow.
But how on earth did Mr Stroud and his assistants continue to miss some blatant blocking challenges, particularly on Cantwell?? Mr Stroud often stopped play to give us a free kick, but then proceeded to take no further action. He cretainly is a strange one!
What was really surprising was that even up against 10 men, ‘Boro still did not appear to want to win the game.
Onwards to The Den tomorrow; another tough ask in a relentless season, and then Swansea on Friday when they don’t even play earlier in the week……someone doesn’t like us!!!
O T B C
Hi John
I don’t normally pick up on typos because I make enough of my own as Gary would tell you but your word cretainly is quite apposite in the case of Keith Stroud. Take out the letter *a* and we’re not that far away from the referee’s abysmal performance.
With Boro I’d proffer that it was more a case of not knowing how to win the game rather than not wanting to, but seeing Colin’s face at the final whistle and hearing his *I’m Mr Sunshine and Light* interview on Quest I would guess he was very well pleased with his point.
The only reason we’re playing tomorrow is that it’s a reset date from the original fixture on January 23 when Millwall and ourselves were on Cup duty – some you win, etc
Cheers
I think we can claim ‘the Norwich way’ phrase as our own, Wetsham don’t need it since the appointment of Moyes.
Colin got exactly what he wanted out of the game. Most of us could have had a pretty good stab at writing a match report for this game about 3 weeks ago. Colin was absolutely delighted in the post match interview-you could have been forgiven for thinking his team had won 2-0 at a Wembley play off final rather than failing to score against us for the 6th consecutive time.
On to a couple of tough games this week without Emi. The squad looks as though it should be more than good enough to cope, but I do worry that the non regulars haven’t been very impressive when they’ve been given a chance very often this season.
Hi Don
Yes it was all a bit too predictable I would agree.
I think the *Norwich way* was also desecrated by the likes of Grant, Roedent and Hughton but I take your point about Moyes although he’s performed a minor miracle to push them towards the top six.
Agree totally about our *squad players* but I suppose ring rust plays a role.
Cheers
Morning Martin,
Love the headline!! There’s nothing I can add really! I agree with most people’s opinion on the Boro’ game. They certainly did a number on us at the hands of our old foe, Colin, who exacted his revenge on us for (unjustly in his opinion) taking the points at the Riverside!!
However, the only positive I can find is, I never felt Boro’ really put our goal under serious pressure even after we went down to 10 men. They just didn’t have the fire power, TK didn’t have any big saves to make and out defence looked solid apart from the one rick by Hanley which they failed to capitalised on. Notwithstanding, I thought Hanley was our best player…..again.
Now the negative, we’ll have to see what we’ve got offensively in the next two games. But, in the 2018 season I don’t think we won a game without Emi on the pitch?!!
Cheers
John
Hi John
Yes we do struggle to unlock the masters of the dark arts and oh my Gawd we’re up against Millwall tomorrow 🙁
It would have been complete injustice if Hanley’s ricket had led to Boro scoring but Jonny H blew it and despite of Farke’s post match vibes he did admit that gaining the point will have given us some confidence for tomorrow.
Cheers
Yes indeed.
Listened to some of Colin’s post match interview and I got the impression that he was very happy about getting a draw and had no real expectation of getting any more than that.
On to Millwall.
Cheers
I have to equate Colin’s interview on Quest with the first time I was confronted with a sponge biscuit alongside some ice cream back in the 1960s.
It was hard to enjoy initially but I got along with it in the end.
But I never sampled another one!
The most striking thing for me about Neil Warnock is the incredible amount of teeth he has.
Vampires are pretty well stocked in the dental department, Andy 😉
So I make it 9+ hours of football since Boro scored against us and I thought they could have played another 9 and still not got past the mighty Krul.
I suppose we should be grateful that not every manager sees the game the way that Colin does! I can only assume he was nutmeged by a classy midfielder when a child and has never got over it.
Hi Bruce
I must admit I can’t recall Colin as a player but I’m sure you could be right.
Just out of interest I wonder if he eats anything garlic based or has any mirrors on the walls in his Cornish hideaway?
Thanks
Come on guys face the facts! We were out thought and out played by a side set up to negate our style of play and Daniel had no answer. We played Placheta and Hernandez against Barnsley and that was a complete failure. So – Emi gets sent off and our response is to remove our remaining two creative midfielders and replace them with the two players who were so poor in the previous game.
This game showed up Daniel’s Achilles heel – the inability to use his squad to change a game when plan A is not working. I love the manager ‘s philosophy and we play some delightful football but like Mr Warnock you have to be able to use your skills to counteract those of the opposition. The sending off and the shouts from the dugout are just noise being used to cover up a poor performance on and off the field.
Hi Cyprus
I reckon that’s just a tad harsh. Todd Cantwell had a subtle battering ignored by Stroud and sensibly Daniel F took him off to ensure we didn’t finish with nine men.
Some wag elsewhere said that when Todd was subbed off he was surprised that Darnell Fisher didn’t run off to sit next to him on the bench with his arms around his shoulders.
If flair players such as Cantwell get no protection from a referee it’s quite a conundrum for the head coach to resolve during the game itself.
Thanks – good comment.
‘Mr Cross’ & Blackwell certainly tried to a job on us as expected but 0-0 was a decent point gained.
We missed the physical presence of Jordan Hugill plus I felt sorry for Jacob Sorensen on Saturday, very un Farke like to start with a new player although he looked better as the game progressed.
Two tricky away games ahead on heavy pitches, I’ll be happy if we don’t get beat tbh.
Wonderful opening paragraph Martin and a great read to welcome in February. The weather may be a little warmer by mid Feb when Emi returns, that may cheer him and us up!
Hi Colin
Your Crosse & Blackwell comment was full of beans [groan].
As for heavy pitches Millwall’s Nick Hart compares the New Den to Flanders fields in our MFW preview – it’s on the home page just now – and that is what we’ll have to face in the short term as even Carrow Road itself doesn’t look too good from what we’ve seen on TV.
Football psychology tells me that Farke will not drop Giannoulis after just one match but like you I feel sorry for Sorensen who has done everything right and nothing wrong.
Cheers
Marty, for me and from now on Colin will forever be Warlock, nice one. What troubles me is that we all knew what to expect, you could have written your piece last week. They’d park the bus, scream and shout at every perceived foul, rough it up and hopefully get you know who sent off, we all knew, except Danny. He had no tactical answer, it was naive, hopefully he’ll broaden his management skill but at the moment he’s a one trick pony and seldom has a plan B. But if he were better he wouldn’t be here and we could have worse, Warlock? No thanks.
Hiya Cutty
I actually did recently write the first seven pars of an article the night before the game had kicked off and didn’t need to change a single one of them afterwards.
Barnsley in the FA Cup last month since you ask [don’t tell Gary].
Roughing it up is a Warlock trademark but a stronger, more streetwise referee than Stroud would not have buckled to pressure and seen right through it.
Stroud has entered Simon Hooper territory to my mind.
Cheers pal
Hi Martin
Great read while seeing the transfer window slow 🐌 to close.
City have announced the not so unexpected Keeper in Ojdan Nylan so will we see anymore before 11pm maybe a couple of academy prospects.
Stroud might have been hounded into sending if Emi but I wonder what the fool at Wycombe had to give a penalty to Brentford how that was a one I will never know and it killed them off, Ainsworth kept his power dry and I think he must have had a problem doing that.
Colin mentioned Emi in his after match comments so you know he was targeted from the off.
We now have 2 games in a short period so all will be listening with bated breath on DF pre match squad announcements for possibly injuries or return to fitness.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and keep healthy 🙏
Hi Alex
Yeah we expected the arrival of Nyland which is okay by me but in his own words he won’t be ready for a fortnight.
So it’s down to Krul and Barden for a while then.
The striker situation isn’t that good while Hugill is out.
Something tells me February is a month we must somehow battle through.
Cheers mate
I have impossible to understand fans reactions, its all the time from best to worst reactions. Buendia didnt play well, in other 2 last games I saw him playing he didnt play well on those either. To him its likely best that he does not have to play and can rest couple of games. Middlesbrough won midfield battle and Norwich let midfield become as battle field. Same way in premier league worst teams are playing, by that they isolate Pukki and basically Pukki looked like defender to get ball at least sometimes. That thing is exactly what Drmic complained when playing Norwich. Norwich midfield is lightweight, other attacking options are headless high speed runners which Norwich also tried at end. Because Boro had 0 attacking quality game ended 0-0, that where it comes difference to premier league worst teams besides especially Sheffield U which attacking quality is very low. Top 6 teams in championship and last 3 teams in premier league have already been sealed, also very difficult to believe that Manchester City would not win premier league again this season. 3 teams which got promoted to premier league, only Leeds have offered something.
Hi 1×2
Yes I think your point about us being a bit lightweight in midfield going forward is a valid one but tomorrow might be different if Kenny McLean is back for Lukas Rupp.
But to balance that somebody like Buendia or Cantwell can flip a defender on his ar$e and slip in Pukki, although that’s not happened that often this season.
I don’t think too many of us here in Norwich care too much for the complaints of Josip Drmic as whenever he had his chance he did not take it and he would never look for the ball as Pukki does.
Norwich City supporters have no love for Leeds but I agree with you that they are the only promoted side from last season to have offered anything in the current PL.
kiitos tavalliseen tapaan
Credit where its due, Colin ( can’t remember his surname) put a plan into action and it worked.
Its up to Daniel and the coaching team to find ways to combat man marking and a solid 5 man defence .
Expect young Todd is getting man marking training avoidance even as I type.
Ha!
Hope Todd’s getting his coaching from Tetts 🙂