“I wasn’t pleased with the mistakes today and they were the reasons we lost the game.”
Daniel Farke was right. It was two very preventable and careless errors that cost City the game. Of more concern though should be the fact that even taking those two errors out of the equation, at no point did we ever really look like winning it.
Neither did it look as if we believed we could win the game.
Even the most supreme of optimists should allow themselves to feel a little concerned at City failing to find the net for the fourth game in a row. However that’s dressed up and however many stats are used to massage it into something less negative, that has to be a worry.
Unlike some, I’m not unduly bothered by the fact that if Swansea and Brentford win their games in hand we will end up in third place. For me, it’s too early to get bogged down in the ifs and buts because, regardless of what other teams are doing, if City could rediscover their rhythm of November and December then they would finish in the top two.
Alas, right now, that does seem a long time ago, and the rediscovery of that rhythm a long way off..
A couple more stats to ponder:
» Four shots on target in the last four games.
» One win in 16 games when Emi Buendia has been unavailable.
All of which adds up to a long week before Michael O’Neill’s Stoke rock up at the Carra next Saturday.
One of the mitigating factors Farke produced post-match was that last night was City’s third game in six days – a gruelling schedule in anyone’s book – and there’s no doubting it is tough to keep churning out performances against that backdrop, especially against opponents who had no midweek game. But when the shoe was on the other foot, when Middlesbrough arrived having had a midweek tussle compared to our ten-day break, still we stuttered and looked toothless.
Fatigue of mind and body was not an issue as in the late autumn City threatened to accelerate clear of the pack but Farke is right to remind us that they are not robots, and there are plenty of factors at play, all of which tend to work for you when things are going well and not so when you’re in a rut.
But, whatever the reasons for this blip, for things to stay the same will only end in City heading southward. The pack would slowly but surely gobble us up and we’d end up scrapping for a playoff place.
Most definitely not part of the plan.
But the margins have been fine all season. We have marvelled at this more grown-up approach of being able to eke out single-goal wins rather than relying, 2018-19 style, on swashbuckling opponents out of the water, and, of course, it’s a good thing that we now have a defence worthy of the name, but it leaves little wriggle room at either end of the pitch.
Sorry to state the obvious, but if the goals dry up, as they have, you find yourself drawing games IF the defence can still hold firm. If the defences are breached, as they were last night, and the goals still don’t arrive, then you lose.
With 13 of our 16 wins coming by a single goal, any slowdown to the already limited productivity in front of goal was always going to be costly. And that’s where we find ourselves. The two two-goal wins over Bristol City and the 2-0 home win over Cardiff now feel like bona fide goal-fests.
The obvious conclusion is that Teemu Pukki’s reversion to his early 2020 self is the key factor here but that ignores the paucity of clear-cut chances being created on his behalf. And for the whole caboodle to flounder when Pukki is off-colour suggests the caboodle is maybe not quite as robust as we’d like in the first place.
And there’s the Emi factor as mentioned in the earlier bullet point.
The stats don’t lie. One win in 16 games when he has been absent is really quite troubling, especially when said Argentinian has a penchant for falling foul of referees.
Without him, the passing remains neat and tidy but becomes a little formulaic and predictable. Without him, there is no obvious change of rhythm, no subtle tricks, and no moments of the unexpected. We become too easy to defend against, especially when the best defence is the league is doing that defending.
But, to try and end on a positive note, Emi is back for the Stoke game and players now have a full week to re-energise. Hopefully, the return of our most creative spark will have a knock-on effect on our most productive goalscorer and things will start to click again.
And hopefully, to ease the burden on Teemu and Emi, another will emerge from somewhere in the squad, capable of taking this promotion quest by the scruff of the neck. Several heroes stood up when it really mattered in the 2019-19 run-in, and now it is the time for new ones to emerge.
We’ve struggled with being the hunted. Maybe it will take for us to become the hunter again to reignite this season.
Gary, excellently put.
On a miserable Saturday morning, I think that succinctly sums up the state of the Canary nation today.
How different might it have been had we gone for Hourihane in the window rather than him going to Swansea?
As far as NCFC are concerned, he is definitely the new Luis Suarez!
At least from a performance point of view, things can only get better……….please.
O T B C
The biggest difference between the current team and the one of two years ago is the Stiepermann factor. Two years ago he was the one with the strength we could rely on to retain the ball when we quickly hit it to him coming out of defence.
He then had a telepathic relationship with Pukki which quite often lead to a quick through ball and usually a good scoring chance. He could alternatively hold the ball and direct it to rapidly arriving players on the flanks.
Unfortunately he’s not only two years older but injured which leaves us with Dowell who’s on the way back from a long lay off and a totally different type of player.
As a consequence we are so slow in our transfer out of defence that we end up facing two banks of defenders and limited scoring opportunities.
I wonder if Hugill can be converted to act as the strong holding player because we certainly have to try something different to our current approach as we’ve been found out rather than Millwall, with all respect, have become a wonderfully drilled defensive unit.
This will be Farke’s biggest problem since his arrival, I’m glad it’s not mine.
Excellent summary of last night’s events at the Liberty Gary.
It’s beginning to look like the same team that we endured in ‘Project Restart’ and judging from PD’s player ratings, no player had an outstanding performance last night. DF and his coaches now have a full week to rejuvenate his troops and my goodness they certainly seem to need it. I’d be quite happy;y see us having only 30% possession in return for 6 or more shots actually on target, ass quite a lot of the time we have the ball, it is being passed between the CBs waiting for an opportunity to pass the ball forward.
Let’s hope that ‘normal service’ can be resumed a week today!! 🙂
In some ways yesterday was an improvement on the previous 3 games. In the first half I noticed that if we lost the ball there would be someone in position to win it back. This is something that was lacking in the previous 3 matches and seeing it yesterday made the absence in those 3 games more apparent. Whether this is physical or mental fatigue or a loss in confidence is for debate. In isolation a decent performance in defeat at Swansea is something we can bounce back from (like defeats at Watford and Bournemouth) but the previous 3 matches are more of a concern. It seems we can not express this concern and have to join those whose reaction to the Middlesbrough draw was that we would beat Millwall and Swansea or those who deemed the Cup defeat a good thing. The run in is always tough, it is a slog where every point dropped matters (2015 and 2018 are examples of the relentless need for 3 points rather than 1). I am not sure what was behind Farke’s rant to the press but in answer to one of his questions. I have seen us win the second tier title 4 times, we have won promotion from it another 4 times, we have avoided relegation from the top tier about 18 times so roughly 50% of my supporting life has been as good or better than this season. I really can not understand the point he was making
The straw I’m clinging to is that we tend to come back strongly after breaks but there is no doubt we have lost our momentum. Stoke will be doing their utmost to needle Emi so I hope he will keep his discipline. I can’t help thinking that not bringing in an experienced striker to get us over the line will come back to bite us in the long run. Pukki loses his mojo from time to time, Idah probably needs a year on loan somewhere and Hugill is currently injured. I wouldn’t fancy our chances in the playoffs. To me there is a lack of balance in the team. Rupp is a tidy player but most of our so so performances have been with him in the team.
In the first half, Cantwell had a fair bit of time and space to bring the ball forward but seemed reluctant to have a pop at goal. Do the players get fined for taking a shot from outside the box? 🤣
Fair assesment Gary but can you tell me why mclean was still on pitch after halftime with so many aimless passes in first half then look what happened every team doin ok will have a five game blip in a season Swansea and brentford,got theres to come you’ll see 😊
A good summary Gary of a very poor performance,only Grant Hanley came out of it with any credit.Ithink we’ve been getting away with it for most of the season with a lot of odd goal wins. It seems to me the old problem of when the better teams and coach’s work out how to stop us ( prevent our fullbacks getting forward, high press and mark our midfield 3 closely,or something along those lines) then we have no real alternative plan B,C, or D.
Last night Farke brought on three subs but very little changed in the way we played only the personal, We were beaten by the better team and coach on the night, to be honest it was not only a poor performance but boring to watch as well…..the players seemed to be slow passing the ball and the constant turning back and pointless sideways passes across the field infront of the Swansea defence was not a good watch …..we didn’t try something different ,how about getting to the byline and pulling the ball back…surely Hernandez or Placheta have the pace and ability to do that now and again therfore making the Swansea defence turn and face their own goal, give Pukki at least a fighting chance of scoring.
Hi Gary
A good summary of last night’s game and follow up replies.
Firstly Simon Cooper isn’t a good Ref at this level and possible when the 2 CB grabbed hold of Pukki shirt at a corner a possible penalty but he just smiled at Pukki as he got to his feet.
Citues record without Emi in the team is a complete disaster
Played 16
Won 1
Lost 9
Drawn 6
Yet without Pukki we have faired much better but I haven’t seen the breakdown.
Swansea like most teams have worked out a plan to stop city last night Cantwell, Pukki, Aaron’s had to markers at them as soon as they got the ball even Hanley was surrounded when he tried to break from midfield.
At this moment in time we are not a surprise to any team.
Both goals were from defensive error why Krul tried to push through a crowded penalty area I do not understand he must have known if he didn’t get the ball he couldn’t get back.
Now we must look forward to a home game v Stoke while Swansea gave a midweek FA Cup game that will give Cooper something to shout about with fixtures after saying that no club gets a break they had 6days between games city had 2 after the Millwall draw.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Keep Healthy 🙏
Some very good points Alex. Nobody has mentioned the clear penalty at nil nil. Perhaps hooper was evening the score when he ignored gibsons foul.
Kruls faux pas was incredible. Weak goalkeeping from the most reliable of custodians.
I’m sure swanseas manager will be crying about the schedule as you say.
Based on transfermarkt stats without Buendia Norwich has in championship 1 win, 8 draws and 5 lost. In those 5 games Norwich have lost to West Bromwich, Sheffield U, Derby, Bournemouth, Swansea.
I can understand importance of Buendia for Norwich, but this is quite small sample and as we can see opponents which Norwich has lost are good teams in championship. In premier league Norwich was last and lost so many games but its possible that there is player who didnt lost any game and that shows the problem with few games samples. I would say that Norwich has had obvious problems to win without Buendia.
First of all, Swansea was not better than Norwich. Fair result would have been 0-0, Tim Krul made mistake and this time opponent used their scoring chance. Game after game Norwich defence has got away from couple of bad mistakes, because opponents scoring quality has been awful. Lack of goals and scoring chances is because against Norwich all teams are playing ultra-defensively. Against bus is difficult to score and every team seems to have same tactics when they play Norwich. Overall championhip is very defensive minded league, but against Norwich it goes to extreme. So I would not be so sure that Norwich defence is now better than before, there is no teams who even tries to put them under pressure.
I of course happened to look Pukkis playing closely. He played good game he looks to be in good form, basically all his passes and link plays were good but of course he is no Messi who has ability to make individual goal. He was able to open some of Swanseas defence, but as we saw there were so many players defending that as closer Norwich got to Swansea goal as more players they were had to play against. Norwich didnt have single real scoring chance, so you cant expect anyone to score. Buendia might help and surely overall helps, but against Boro he played and Norwich didnt really had scoring chances. It can very well be like that rest of season, now of course every team is copying and training those systems against Norwich. They dont even try to play so Norwich should force them open up. Norwich have 2 players who are struggling too much, Placheta and Dowell and Dowell is so shaky that he is dangerous to play.
A worrying time Gary.
Football is always about opinion and personally I don’t think we were as bad as some people have said.
It was one way traffic in the second half but was that because Swansea were happy to defend deep and hold on to what they had or that they just couldn’t get the ball off us ? A little bit off both for me.
But the truth was we did have some chances in the second half but either the final ball was poor, shooting wayward or great blocking from Swansea.
To concede the goals just before and after half time gave us a mountain to climb.
I have said on here many times that our finishing has worried me all season, and it is now coming home to roost.
Firstly Teemu, when he came back from injury last season he didn’t look right and for me since this “side” problem again he hasn’t looked right. One acceptable chance last night was a shocking effort, the Teemu of old would have definitely have hit target at the least. But he is, to be fair feeding off scraps. He has been fantastic for us as his record shows and as they say form is temporary and class is permanent so here’s hoping for a goal or two against Stoke.
Of course they had a big break while we had 3 games in 6 days and any team would miss Emi Buendia and our record without him is absolutely awful. Hugill’s injury has also come at a terrible time, as he was really in form.
So there are many reasons why we lost yesterday, I even get the idea Daniel Farke wasn’t 100% confident before the game.
I don’t know if fellow supporters would agree with me and that is I don’t feel we are playing with the same confidence, the same clinical football as we were 2 years ago ? The stats do not show that as on all metrics bar goals scored we are more ahead of the Championship winning team this season. To me it just doesn’t feel like it.
I know the defence is way ahead of that side and even last night it was a Tim Krul error and a super strike that beat us.
Where do we go from here ? I still wonder if it is worth trying Todd Cantwell as number 10 and then add Onel Hernandez out wide to give us some pace ? I do feel Todd, Teemu, Emi as our 3 attacking players does leave us lacking pace in forward areas but they have to play as they are all too good to leave out.
But we are still top, I would have settled for a playoff place in August and we are still very much on course for that, Emi is back V Stoke, the pitches will improve as we go into spring and hopefully our players coming back from injury are getting up to speed.
So we still have lots to be positive about.
What an excellent summary. Couldn’t have put it better myself. Think DF is still a bit tactically naive as there seems to be no Plan B or even C when as you say the better teams and coaches work us out.
Very gloomy on here today and that’s understandable.
However, let’s remember a few things:
We are still top.
We are 15 points clear of 7th.
None of the teams placed 4th to 6th have any momentum.
Of course there are concerns over the lack of goals but, to be honest, we’ve been profligate all season. There are no precedents for this season so it’s hard to make comparisons but the points targets should remain basically the same. So, 90 points would probably be enough. So, 11 wins and a few draws from 19 games should be enough.
Chin up everyone, we are still in this.
Luckily it nits so much dads army or the undertaker would be saying we are DOOMED
An excellent article Gary.
On a points per game basis Brentford are now above us. They have kicked on after last seasons play-off experience and look certainties for automatic promotion.
As for us, as illustrated above,, we still rely too much on Teemu and Emi for creativity and goals.. We have failed to solve the number 10 issue. Unfortunately it seems our squad has not developed and progressed over the last couple of years as we felt/hoped it would. We look no more like being a Premier League team than we were last year.
If we are to achieve the remaining automatic promotion place we need at least 10 wins out of the remaining 18 games. That is looking increasingly unlikely on current form. But Farke has surprised me before and perhaps he will turn it around – he will need to do it quickly as games will soon run out.
All I can say we have squander a discent lead in the league if we don’t pick it up then I can see alot of players being sold come the summer Ben Gibson won’t be here all the loan players would go the most troubleling thing is we don’t see any sign of us getting back to where we was even with emi in the team we don’t look great and look toothless