The myriad issues of why City have imploded so spectacularly this season have been debated by fans and pundits alike over recent weeks.
One area I don’t think has seen much focus though is the growing disconnect, if not personally, at least philosophically, between the work of Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke.
Until this season everything had been clear. The footballing philosophy of Farke was one of patient, possession-based passing football. Webber would then provide a pipeline of Buendias, Leitners, Trybulls, and McLeans to implement that style. We got it, it worked. There was the occasional miss like a Marley Watkins or a Patrick Roberts, but every signing is essentially a roll of the dice and you have to accept that.
In our first Premier League season we elected to spend nothing, trust in the players and the style that got us there and see how it went, knowing that if we went down we had invested wisely behind the scenes.
For the first 28 games, it wasn’t going brilliantly, but we were competitive. By the time Covid-19 reared its ugly head we had just beaten Leicester and were looking like we’d found a little bit of form that gave us half a chance of making the last ten games interesting at least.
We all know what happened next but we all understood the clear philosophy of what the club was trying to do. The football remained as it was, we banked the money, we strengthened the club.
Webber then had another great summer bringing in players like Ben Gibson, Oliver Skipp and Kieran Dowell who all fit Farke’s system perfectly and we enjoyed our best ever Championship campaign, smashing 97 points for the season.
And then the wheels came off.
I’m not even going to remotely entertain the idea that we could have held Emi Buendia hostage to his contract or thrown money at him to make him stay. He wanted out, Webber made it happen and we got sufficient money for him to be able to fund several other purchases. Webber, Farke, and the vast majority of fans all accept this, with only those who still contend in the virtue of Victorian employment laws bordering upon slavery still arguing that we could have kept him.
However, regardless of how accepting all parties were of losing our best player, we appear to have gone in vastly different directions since that point.
Webber spoke openly about the need for the squad to be bigger, faster and stronger. He then spent our two biggest transfer fees on Christos Tzolis and Rashica who are 5’8 at best and 10 stone sopping wet. Sargent does at least fit the bill in that area, and PierreLees Melou looks big but has yet to suggest he adds any greater physicality than a McLean or a Rupp.
Overall it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re any more competitive physically than we were before the summer recruitment, so if that was the aim we haven’t met the target.
It was then mooted, at least from the Archant lads who generally feed us all the unofficial steers, that we were looking to play more on the break using speedy wingers.
This meant that the signings of Tzolis and Rashica made perfect sense, and you could see scenarios where the two of them and Pukki could maraud into wide-open spaces behind the defence following a clever through ball. That’s happened once, when Pukki scored against Watford, and Tzolis and Rashica haven’t started a game together. So if that was the aim, we haven’t met the target… again.
There appears to have been a conscious effort to move away from the 4-2-3-1 formation that has served us well over four years. That’s fine, things have to progress sometimes in order to avoid stagnation and predictability and Farke has thrown various formations against the wall to try and counter the opposition or build a new style for the team.
But the way we’ve recruited has meant that now we’re unable to go back to 4-2-3-1 even if we wanted to. That system was based around a midfield pivot of two players screening the centre-backs, allowing the full-backs to push on, taking the ball from the back to set up attacks.
It required at least one of the players to be an anchor and have the positional sense and stability to mind the shop at all times.
While we may have spent the summer pining for a Skipp return to the role, that was never to be. We also let his only realistic replacement last season, Alex Tettey, leave and made no effort to replace him.
Mathias Normann has been put forward as the answer to the Skipp position, and he’s an absolutely fabulous midfielder – one of the best we’ve had in years, without question – but of those two midfielders in a pivot, he’s not the anchorman.
He, like McLean, like Lees-Melou, like Gilmour, they all need to have a Tettey or a Skipp holding the fort, to allow them a little more creative licence. They can help out defensively without doubt, but you need a specialist in breaking up play and mucking in with the centre-backs when you’re under the cosh. That’s not Normann’s role.
Whilst Jacob Sorensen was signed as that type of player, he doesn’t have the physical attributes to succeed at this level, and as much as we all like him, Daniel, and 99 per cent of the fan base know this.
Moving on to the strikers, and there are more examples of a strategy for squad building that make no sense.
It’s widely known that we made enquiries about Adam Armstrong at the start of the summer. How far that interest went we don’t know, but it would certainly signal an intent to provide Pukki with some serious competition for his place.
What we then ended up doing was shipping one big backup option in Jordan Hugill out, and bringing a younger big backup option in Josh Sargent. The USA international cost us half as much as Armstrong would have, which can be seen as good business, but in terms of offering competition to Pukki in the way Armstrong would have, he’s half as effective.
Currently, Pukki is pretty much irreplaceable with neither Sargent or Adam Idah looking like viable Premier League starters, particularly if we play one up top.
And if the squad building from Webber has been scattergun, Farke’s attempts to shoehorn these options into a new and improved Premier League version of Farkeball have been even more chaotic.
I’m not going to labour the myriad issues around the inability to find a place for Billy Gilmour or Todd Cantwell or the lack of cohesive team objectives in the various ever-changing selections, suffice to say it’s been a total mess.
Principles abandoned, style sacrificed, chickens headless. And most criminal of all, the players are no longer doing the basics like tracking back, competing regularly or providing the most basic of movement to give their teammates a passing option. And some of the worst offenders are then picked again the following week.
Nothing has been the same since Buendia left. Not because he himself is irreplaceable, because no player is, but because Webber and Farke appear to have had no clear tactical idea of how to play without him.
We’ve brought in alternatives that we haven’t really used, we’ve tried changing the system entirely, which has been a disaster, and we look a million miles away from having anything cohesive and effective to build around.
And we’re only a quarter of the way through the season.
So all in all a Total ,Total lash up . Did Webber tell Farke how we were gonna play now and sign players accordingly or the other way around . Either way what a f**k up . I think Webbers last interview implies him more than Farke he’s so arrogant full of himself , so I feel some sympathy for Farke in that respect .
But that goes out of window when you here his substitutions and his pre and post match interviews .
So they’re both very culpable in my eyes and need to admit it , wake up and smell the coffee !
Totally agree.Webber has to take alot of the blame for this shambles,bringing in new players without epl experience and loaning out better players than bringing in.All we needed was a experienced cb,Emi’s replacement,Skipp’s replacement and a striker.Only Normann and possibly Kabak are an upgrade,the rest would look half decent in the chump!
Generally I agree with this. What’s most disturbing is the lack of any planning.
We have known for years that Farke without Buendia results in a mediocre Championship level side. We have also known that he wanted out, at least as early as our first relegation, if not sooner. We also know that based on ‘self funding’ we’d need to sell him sooner rather than later.
So why haven’t we had a Buendia replacement lined up for the past 2-3 years? If for no other reason than he could be injured.
It’s almost like we wait for someone to be sold before trying to locate an adequate replacement. As you state, there’s no one in this team who can replace Pukki. If he leaves then we’re crossing our fingers to find a replacement. Hasn’t worked so far with Srbeny, Drimic, Hugill, Rhodes, Idah, or Sargent.
Our recruitment planning is a shambles.
Yes, a total mess. Enough said.
One area I don’t think has seen much focus though is the growing disconnect, if not personally, at least philosophically, between the work of Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke.
100%
I couldn’t understand the summer as it unravelled from the day promotion was secured until the minute the window closed.
DF should have decided upon a specific base formation and I bet a £billion he never intended 4-3-3…. if he did want that, he should be dismissed on that fantasy alone! He should have spoken to SW and said this is plan A, B and C within the realms of 3 subs.
Then he should have said, “within my squad, i nominate player X YZ through the spine of the team because of those match Plan A B C and therefore I want thees specific types of players to extract the best from the existing group, allowing for B and C via these changes,,,,”
I hope to god, at no point, did DF say to SW, or worse SW say to DF “Hanley, McLean and Pukki are our senior outfield players and they will be capable of leading, inspiring and guiding players with no Premier League experience so we can look abroad and look at youth”.
It should have been “Hanley, McLean, Cantwell and Pukki are the best we‘ve got, but they are barely good enough…. So we want better and more experienced examples of each to help them along their way…. With a sprinkling of X factor secondary, if we can find some”.
‘Nothing has been the same since Buendia left. Not because he himself is irreplaceable, because no player is, but because Webber and Farke appear to have had no clear tactical idea of how to play without him.‘
Only the foolish couldn’t see that last season whenever Emi was suspended. Without him, let alone without Skipp too, we would have been mid-table last season and excuse would have been made,
Sadly, there are too many influential local media outlets that refused to highlight these deficiencies last season and that’s led the blinkered up to this point of absolute chaos, The writing was on the wall the whole bloody time…. It’s so sad.
This is what I wrote previously, hopefully it can be published alongside your article Andy:
Making It Right when it has gone so wrong.
This season isn’t where this stops. Next season is in jeopardy too. Hypothetically, considering player age and contracts, it gets even more complicated after that. We need to act in the short term and we will need to act in January. This is a frightening time and in my opinion, we are closer to being a Sheff Wed or Notts Forest, than we are a Burnley or Brighton.
The debrief of yesterday is easy: The first half was pretty good but Leeds tweaked it at the break and DF didn’t even acknowledge the changes and the second half was crap. 2-1 down and then Tzolis and Idah replaced Dowell and Sarjent. It couldn’t have been anymore like-for-like. Our system had stalled so spectacularly with the Leeds shift in the second half that like-for-like was UTTERLY POINTLESS. It needed a plan B. Instead, Placheta, left sided, joined Tzolis, left sided, who’d joined Rashica, left sided, because the one player who would have changed that game yesterday was Cantwell, left sided, and DF can’t deal with him. Thank god that Alex Ferguson could deal with petulant kids like Ronaldo and Rooney.
Secondly, yesterday…. I thought we started 3-4-3. Apparently, I was wrong, as was everyone around me…. and we in fact played 4-2-3-1. Presumably, that meant Sarjent was playing as a wide attacking midfielder and not as a no 9, which is how it looked to me. This is why Andy O ended up as a LB. The point is, nobody had a clue. WHICH. SAYS. EVERYTHING. As for DF failing to protect Andy O repeatedly facing 1v1 with Raphina? Ridiculous.
I am so sad to say this, but DF lost my confidence a long long time ago. The impartial fan would probably argue that without Skipp and Buendia, City wouldn’t have been anywhere near the play-offs last season. Forget Pukki without Buendia…. Take Stiperman and Vrancic, even Hernandez, and now Cantwell, out of the equation, and there isn’t an ounce of attacking support for the GOAT in this team. Not at this level or in the Championship.
But looking forward, I am sad to say I don’t think DF can lead this group anymore. DF dropped 4-3-3 because the public didn’t give him a choice otherwise he’d still be persisting with it now, like he did with 4-2-3-1 after project restart. He then chose 3-5-2 and played the wrong players within that system which is why yesterday, he changed again. I don’t care if we are relegated, I don’t care that he tinkers, but even yesterday, no fan would nominate those players in 4-2-3-1. Or 3-4-3. Or whatever it was.
So…. who replaces him. That depends on if SW intends to stay or not.
My opinion is the sporting director / head coach model has it’s limits depending on finance and the league in which you want to play. The setup at this club, what DF and SW have achieved, is absolutely sensational. It is READY to be an established top flight club. But does it need to remain sporting director and head coach?
I don’t want to nit-pick, but under SW, ‘sell-on’ profits have come from Madison, then Godfrey, then Buendia, which is one per season isn’t it? And for the record, Maddison and Godfrey both arrived before SW did anyway. Of course, I credit academy sales to SW as well, which would be Lewis, the Twins, and soon will be Aarons and Cantwell etc, but that’s hardly a revelation. With a good academy, as long as the head coach or manger brings along youth appropriately, income from academy crown jewels should always be there. Andy O will be next. Abu Kamara after him.
My opinion with the club structure is that at the Premier League level, there is scope to play maybe 2, at the limit 3, young players. In a bid to prove the system and baulk at the status quo, Sarjent, Kabak, Rashica, Tzolis, Williams and Gilmour have joined the party. When the limit of young players is 2 or 3, and we already had Idah, Cantwell, Andy O (and Sorenson), the party looks over-crowded.
So much youth as come at a forfeit and that forfeit is the backbone of the team. What do we want? I’ve argued it many times over, but my opinion is that if we couldn’t afford Kris Ajer, then Ben Davies was probably more suitable than Kabak, or we could have given Hourihane a chance as part of the Buendia deal instead of Gilmour, had we taken up Alex Mowatt as a free agent instead of PLM, or John Fleck, then we would be far better suited this season. A relegation battle is not the time to bring in 6 players who all expect first team football into a squad with far more obvious holes to fill. SW hasn’t made the same mistakes, but this summer has been a subjective failure in other regards. Unfortunately, DF clearly never gave SW a definitive brief on what he wanted either, hence this eclectic mix of summer arrivals, none of whom complement each other or those that have remained. With every arrival this summer, more questions were being asked than were being answered, so few made logical sense or offered obvious improvements. NOBODY was known well enough to unequivocally improve the squad by Premier League standard.
Get so many young players in Little Old Norwich and I’m sorry, you cannot keep all of them happy. Only 2 or 3. And Cantwell proved himself at this level 2 years ago so he bloody well deserves to fly the post-Buendia flag. Petulant, immature? I couldn’t care less. Deal with it. Play him.
So if SW wants to stick around, then clearly a belligerent and difficult character like Chris Wilder (who reminds me of Paul Lambert) won’t be interested. But but but, he’s a manager that Hanley, McLean, Pukki, Cantwell, Andy O…. he is someone that will give them a boost. Ask someone from Bundesliga 4 to inspire those characters now? Forget it. It will take too long. For the record, CW promoted Sheff Utd from League 1, the Championship (TWO promotions, just like DF), and then he KEPT THEM PROMOTED the first season up. Sure, they were relegated after that, but whatever. 4 wins and a draw for Chris Wilder against Daniel Farke since 2018. People just don’t like him because he’s prickly. But they are also correct that SW will need to gauge his own role with character like CW. I expect Neil Adams won’t flinch in the future with such a situation.
Let’s hope SW does stay though and wants another head coach: Eddie Howe. Recently, I was slated by someone who called Howe the “South Coast family man”. Now let me get this straight, we pride ourselves on being a small, family orientated club…. I’m confused…. Howe does or doesn’t fit? Next, Bournemouth are smaller than Norwich and Howe was happy there. But sod all that, let’s talk facts. He took charge of a Bournemouth side facing relegation to the Conference but was able to avoid relegation despite having started the season on -17 points, and instead they were promoted to League 1 the following campaign. After the disaster at Burnley, Howe returned to Bournemouth and led them to two further promotions in three seasons (sound familiar?), taking them to Premier League. Bournemouth survived for FIVE seasons before they were relegated last season.
I am astounded at the logic sometimes. DF didn’t get us promoted last season, Buendia and Skipp did. Without them, DF would have led us to mid-table mediocrity and excuses would still have been made. Lastly, Brexit. We won’t be getting another coach like DF unless that coach is already in England.
Personally, I think we must change. These players need a different leader and the longer this drags out, the less time there is to save the season. And if Nuno Santo is available as of today, then he goes straight to the top of my wish-list.
OTBC
Can’t disagree with any of that, Andy. But the main message is they’ve implemented nothing to suggest they learned from last time in the PL. This is their second go at the PL and it’s even worse than last time – and breaking records as we go. Makes the situation untenable frankly however sad or unpalatable that fact might be. They are not failing slightly by just missing the treble twenty, they’re missing the board altogether.
I’d love them to win the next 3 games and prove me wrong and be in touching distance of the relegation pack again. But can you see it?
I said on here last season we still had not replaced Alex Tettey Andy. And it is still the case.
Olly Skipp was not our player and it looked highly unlikely he ever would be.
We had no chance with our self funding model in keeping Buendia. Absolutely none. Though Emi maybe wishing he has bided his time a little more as the system Villa are playing is not allowing Dean Smith to get him in the team.
Our priority in the summer had to be an experienced holding midfield player. Brentford did it with Frank Onyeka. We also needed another centre half badly and again Brentford swooped for our target Kristoffer Ajer.
Before I get into too much with a love in with Brentford I still think they will be in a relegation scrap and will do well to stay up. But they look to have a much better chance than us.
With Crystal Palace, Brighton being a lot better than I thought they would be and money bags Newcastle possibly spending a fortune in January the relegation suspects are narrowing.
As you say Andy it seems Stuart Webber’s signings do not seem to be in tandem with Daniel Farke’s style of playing or his preferred way of setting up.
This will inevitably come to a head very soon. I have loved the Daniel Farke years but even I seem to be talking about his time in the past tense.
If Daniel doesn’t want another championship season, which I suspect, and in 3 games time it will be a much clearer picture then a mutual parting of the ways would be the best for both Daniel and the club.
If he does want another go then the club have a massive decision to make because who would be the best man to get us back up ? I would still trust Farke to do it.
You can bet your bottom dollar if Daniel wanted to stay in England then a host of Championship clubs would be after him.
I think DF, 2-3 years ago…… that was a sensational tribute to DF. He really mixed a group together and they were better balanced than last season. That first promotion side could score goals from anywhere and anyhow. Absolutely brilliant.
But last season? Albeit record setting stuff? Without Buendia last season that team would have been mid-table. DF proved incapable, tactically, of organising his side without Emi’s brilliance.
Everyone goes on about records last season but that team scored something approaching TWENTY fewer goals than did they in 18/19. Minus Emi, lord knows what Colney truly expected.
Next season is going to be sooooo different that I don’t think blind reliance on DF is wise. Hanley; McLean; Pukki, Gibson….. after this season, they will know their level. It will be a defeatist changing room with youngsters looking at their seniors and coaches thinking bad things.
The big thing with Brentford, like Sheff Utd, like Watford…. They chose a base formation that could be easily tinkered with just a few key signings. Plotting on Buendia and Skipp and other players we knew were barely good enough at this level, we’ve really dug ourselves a hole.
The person who decided on these transfers should be named and shamed. Have we ever recruited so many in one window who have all, apart from Normann, who we do not own, have been anywhere up the PL standards.
Let’s face it, we bought for the future, not for the present.
Business plan is only to buy young and cheap, the selling for millions. Can’t even see that happening with this lot.
His name is Kieran Scott Ken, who has left us to go to Middlesbrough.
He was Head of Recruitment. But everything has to go through Stuart Webber.
So both really can take the blame or accolades depending on the transfer window. As you say this one has been a disaster. At least for now.
It is possible these players may turn out to be very good one day, but we don’t need “one day” we need tomorrow.
I don’t believe we are a million miles away Andy.
Krul, Aarons, Hanley, McClean, Rupp, Pukki, Cantwell weren’t good enough in 2019-20 so why are we surprised? It’s demoralising but not unexpected. The P L quality has increased for 75% of clubs as the billionaire owners have come in. I would say the Championship quality has stagnated with Covid impacting more on those lower leagues.
The difficult starting fixtures destroyed our confidence and unsettled DF. He’s understandably over reacted and now we’ become headless chickens once we go behind but 25% of the rest are struggling too and that’s who we are in a dogfight with.
What decent manager will want to take over at present, none want a likely relegation on their CV as other clubs are finding out. It’s a time for DF to show courage, after all what a fantastic challenge and opportunity awaits.
We are desperate for renewed belief, we chucked away a point last Sunday, the game this weekend against Brentford will be interesting, for the first time this season they’ll be expected to win and their ‘honeymoon period has ended, I fancy we’ll give it a right good go and with Newcastle in free fall plus Burnley at Chelsea there’s always hope we’ll feel a little happier come 5pm Saturday albeit we need to ‘Mind the Gap’. to 17th
I love what you’ve said and I would hope you are right, but for in my mind the tactics have unsettled the team more than Covid. It’s a vicious cycle and I think that the players you mentioned, those senior pros, they are the ones who really need the lift so that they can carry the dressing room. Very sadly, I don’t think that they trust the coach enough anymore and the real danger is that those senior pros start to think “we don’t belong here” because that perpetuates next season. I think only an arm around them from someone inspirational, dare I say it “closer to home”, might save the season. And come January, a lot yet needs to be done and those same senior guys will need some help from players they look up to as well.
I for one don’t think this season is over if we make a change.
It was an interesting listen last Sunday to a Q & A session after the game between two City icons, no punches pulled and as ex- players they would probably agree more with you than with me.
What you and most others say makes perfect sense, it’s just taking me longer than most to accept it!
Good article Andy, and a good read!
I cannot help but notice, throughout these 10 games, we have had nothing but … reset … reset … reset, and the only reset we gained anything from – 2 points – was when we went to 3-5-2. It has been the only way we were able to stabilise and solidify that which has become an alarming jigsaw of hell for players, fans and club. It may not always be the best strategy, but it achieved results twice!
There’s another way to stabilise and I’d be interested to see what the much-appreciated Daniel Farke could make of it as I’d like to see him continue as our manager while keeping us in the Premiership. Many reasons for this but you can include bugging the legion of NCFC-haters out there in Medialand. In Daniel Farke we have a future world-beater, and he may as well continue that journey from here!
Two Championship titles have brought us to where we are today, and they were flaming good titles, won by flaming good squads. The nucleus of those squads still exist at Carrow Road;
Krul, Gunn, McGovern.
Aarons, Mumba, Omobamidele, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis.
McLean, Rupp, Sorensen, Plachetta.
Pukki, Dowell, Idah … Cantwell.
Even though anyone can have a bad game, not one of these 17 guys have ever let us down or thrown the towel in to my knowledge.
Why not pick the starting line-up against Brentford from this list, with the addition of Rashica, who is already developing a link with Teemu Pukki?
The new guys have been thrown to the wolves by transfer lateness, by the limited time they’ve had to learn the ropes, brought in to be the way to move ahead for NCFC in the Prem. They probably haven’t had time to blink, yet when you watch them on video playing for previous clubs you see players who know what they’re doing, are full of energy, play at ‘high altitude’ and are able to turn matches for their previous clubs.
Kabak, Williams.
Gilmour, Normann, Lees-Melou.
Tzolis, Sargent.
These guys would benefit from starting on the bench against Brentford, they all have their particular skill-sets, would get a chance to breath, and Daniel Farke would get to see more clearly when and where they might do the most damage to Brentford for NCFC, from the bench.
My starting 11 for Brentford v Norwich would be;
Krul.
Omobamidele, Hanley, Gibson.
Arrans, Rupp, Omobamidele, McLean, Giannoulis.
Rashica, Pukki.
Space for a good mixture of old and new on the bench.
There are still 84 points available for the taking.
Cheers All!
COYY !!
Apologies, I have put Andrew O in the line-up twice – I meant to add Kabak to defence, with Andrew O as defensive midfielder.
My only excuse is that I had curry and Cobra beer last night!
OTBC !!
That team would get bolloxed against Brentford.
You’ve got the toothpaste guy in it ,and I don’t mean pepsodent .
Another comment has implied the scattergun approach to recruitment in the summer and it reminds me of what I was told when applying for a job many years ago. You have the option of using a shotgun and hope you hit something, or you can use a sniper’s rifle and aim for selective targets.
We all agree that SW has acknowledged that he failed in his recruitment 2 years ago and so went armed with a shotgun rather than a sniper’s rifle.
Sargent fails to impress me when faced with an opportunity to score and I’d rather see Idah or Tzolis replace him at Brentford. What does Gilmour have to do to even get on the pitch??
Andy O looks a good un Kev, but are there 2 of him!!
“Apologies, I have put Andrew O in the line-up twice – I meant to add Kabak to defence, with Andrew O as defensive midfielder.
My only excuse is that I had curry and Cobra beer last night!”
OTBC !!
Hi Dan, it would be great if there were two of him, a really good young player.
I realised all too late what I’d done with the typo, and replied to myself, as above in the original message, which should have included Kabak.
Kabak’s okay, I know he’s made a couple of errors, but I think his heart is in the right place, love his surging runs upfield, and if he and the other new guys, get a chance to fit in properly, they might just prove themselves better than a lot of people are giving them credit for.
Cheers,
OTBC !!
Your transfer recruitment just failed. Because you have bought players mainly from Paok and Bremen, I suppose Norwich lacks contacts. You should watch greek league, you might get depressed and see why premier league is so difficult task to them. El Arabi was last season greek league top scorer, he scored almost double times more than second best scorer. He is 34. World is full of claimed top talents, its marketing and not difficult to make impressive highlight videos. Right now it looks unrealistic that Zsolis could play in premier league level. Giannoulis is mainly championship level player, likely good but gap between premier league and championship is huge. Opponents are targeting him when he has played in premier league. Bundesligas relegated clubs are not in level to play in premier league. All teams which scored last season under 40 goals in bundesliga were in relegation battle. There was teams which conceded as much as Bremen, but they were nowhere near of relegation battle. Its easy to see that their attack was awful and Norwich bought players from there to league which is not only clearly better but also way more difficult to score. Bayern Munchen is just 1 club in Germany and completely in its own level there. Burnley forced Norwich paid way too much for Gibson, it was clever and with that money they financed possibility to buy Cornet.
I dont believe that Norwich has never thought trying to make competition to Pukki. They have tried to find someone to play with him. Strikers are very expensive and Pukki is almost never injured, remember that best ability is availability.
I believe that Norwich have realistic chance to get points against Brentford. Raya got injured and their second goalkeeper is absolutely not bad but their defence looked shaky and Raya is so good in his foot playing.
I agree that 5-3-2 (let’s face it that is what is) gained us our only 2 points and may have gained us more. I would stick with that base system but with an actual left-back on the pitch this time. Not sure what DF was thinking on Sunday – too much schnapps on Saturday? Let Brentford huff and puff and then try to blow their house down when they have exhausted themselves. Maybe our wretched start can be our salvation if it breeds contempt and complacency in our opponent’s?
A conveyor belt of Mcleans , other toothpastes are available., No wonder we ain’t got the ring of confidence .