After years of stubbornness and unrelenting trust in the process under Daniel Farke, Dean Smith’s tactical flexibility gives the Canaries a new edge.
There were few Norwich City fans who could calculate the required solution as Josh Sargent went through his introductory warm-up on Saturday afternoon.
The American was preparing for a crucial second half, ready to replace an underwhelming and non-match-fit Todd Cantwell with City lucky to be level at the break. It had been too easy for Southampton to reach the edge of the Norwich 18-yard box and the Canaries had looked largely impotent in their rare forays forward.
A Teemu Pukki header may have earned the home side a lifeline, but the overwhelming sentiment was ‘over to you Dean’, and the overwhelming pattern was Saints dominance. We’d seen this all before.
The panicked defending, the early goal conceded, the air beginning to escape the popped balloon as the atmosphere fled Carrow Road in the same way; there are countless examples of similar situations, not least Southampton’s last visit to NR1 at the beginning of Project Restart.
City fans had been trained to accept this, to welcome the inevitability of the missed opportunity to earn Premier League points. In the Canaries’ previous 36 top-flight games in which they’d gone behind, 0 points had been earned by the final whistle. We knew what was going to happen.
And then it didn’t.
Minutes before Sargent was hopping from cone to cone Smith had decided how the American would change the game. “We never got to their ‘sixes’ early enough or high enough up the pitch,” he concluded of the first half. “We ended up dropping into a low block too early. We wanted to win the ball back in their half. Josh (Sargent) came on and did well, gave us legs and we went and played in their half [in the] second half.”
A defensive shape that had looked like a 4-5-1 sprung into the billed 4-3-3, Sargent’s energy dragging City up the pitch and greatly reducing Pukki’s isolation. The resulting loose balls often found Milot Rashica, the third of the trio, and the Kosovan produced one of his best halves in a yellow and green shirt.
Gone was the chasm between lines and gone, therefore, was the visitors’ capability to attack space with speed, and all because of the changes Smith made when he recognised the problems his side were in.
That capability has not been in the Norwich arsenal for a long while. No team facing a relegation rival at home with half an hour left should be as resigned to defeat as Farke’s City were when Leeds United’s second goal went in three weeks ago. The feeling when Rodrigo’s strike slipped past Tim Krul highlighted the tactical limitations on the bench at the time, and played a significant role in the demise of Smith’s German predecessor.
That a replacement has been found that combats one of Farke’s key failings is testament to Stuart Webber’s pinpoint recruitment, even if Smith had been on the ‘A’ list for a while.
Whether the Birmingham-born chief of the dressing room can repeat the trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers remains to be seen. Ideally, he’d like to avoid a similar start but- as Farke fatally failed to recognise – proactivity is key and every opposition is different.
Against a side that presses much less aggressively than Southampton it may be that Sargent is not needed, and with increased flexibility comes a recognition that that’s OK. So tethered was Farke to consistency that a winning team was almost always a starting team, no matter the circumstances.
There will still be a degree of intrigue and a frantic consultation of social media by the Norfolk masses next Saturday at 2pm, and that’s refreshing after the frustrating predictability previously present in the lineup.
Whatever Smith decides to do for his second match in charge, the new boss has proven that City fans can expect it to be the most likely team to beat Wolves, rather than the easiest team to put together.
If the nature of the Canaries’ win on Saturday was an indicator of what’s to come, they’ve solved one of their key issues already.
DF’s late and often ineffective substitutions were hot topics for many fans and DS was proactive in bringing on Sargent to replace TC. on Saturday
Within a few minutes at the start of the 2nd half on Saturday, the crowd could sense that we were witnessing a more urgent attacking and ball-winning intent from the NCFC players and it lifted the crowd.
To have won the game after going behind so early on must give the entire squad a much-needed boost and I’d love to see us score first on Saturday for a change!!
Totally agree Samuel Farke only really knew 451 his try at other formations failed him that’s a topic he needs to learn . I also didn’t like how he trained the team and set up his defence , and like you say his substitutions were a waste of time .
I think Smith & Shakespeare will really lift this squad given time and I’m it will be another golden era for the club the next step if you like .
S&S know how to make a positive influence on a game whilst it’s being played. They analysed and discussed what needed to be done and the best way to tackle the problem. It obviously needed more than some sideline instructions and a substitution. What was said at halftime we don’t know but there was more than a cup of tea or slice of orange waiting in the dressing room for the players. And what a transformation, all credit to the manager for having a plan B, and the players , they have the grit and skill to make the changes work. A long way to go but we might just survive.
While the stats don’t lie when it comes to Daniel Farke’s record in the EPL Samuel I do think it is unfair to say he didn’t change things when things were not going well on the pitch.
Only as long ago as Brentford Farke saw we had a problem on our left hand side of the pitch with a quarter of an hour to go and brought on Giannoulis for Dowell. It probably ensured we went away with 3 points instead of 1.
He was too slow on substitutions in my eyes at times but how many times did his decisions pay off ? Time and again in The Championship but Farke supporters like me have to accept he did struggle in the Premiership.
But whether that was due to an inability to change games with substitutions is debatable.
By Stuart Webber’s own admission in Farke’s first season in the EPL he went to war without ammunition and that has to be taken into account.
When it came to Project Restart even if we were allowed 12 players on the pitch I still think we would have gone down we were that bad. The responsibility for that debacle was primarily Daniel’s but others have to take their fair share of blame especially the players.
The start of this season was affected by so many outside issues, a bad covid outbreak at the club that affected pre-season and the lack of friendlies, that super hard start and moulding of so many new players into a team.
Take Grant Hanley, recovering from an injury that ruled him out of Project Restart then getting covid he has had no pre-season training whatsoever. The fact he is playing as well as he is is a miracle.
Yes he looked shaky at times on the ball on Saturday but along with Ben Gibson his blocking, vital headers and interceptions were first class.
I would also say despite his charm and general bonhomie Farke was ruthless. Only Ivo Pinto survived any length of time at the club from the defence after that 4-0 mauling by Millwall in Daniel’s first season.
But what I was pleased to see on Saturday by Dean Smith was his decision to replace Todd at halftime.
Everyone could see he was struggling and it cannot have been an easy call as he will want Todd with him in the coming months. Though Martin Penney raised a very good point yesterday and that is, has Todd got the physicality for the EPL. Time will tell, and Smith certainly improved Jack Grealish a kind of similar player in physique.
I was impressed by the turnaround at halftime but we mustn’t get carried away as Southampton could and should have been out of sight at halftime.
And the confidence in the team must be at an all time high for this season. Look at Billy Gilmour in the first half compared to the second. Chalk and cheese.
“We knew what was going to happen. And then it didn’t.”
Great article Samuel. Hit the nail on the head for this exiled canary. Keep up the good work.
Did we start “the most likely team to beat Wolves”? Cantwell was clearly not matchfit or sharp in his play and it left us vulnerable in the first half. Smith admitted it was a gamble, due in part to Dowell’s covid problem, but there were other options available in Sargent, Tzolis, Placheta or even Rupp.
It did have the effect of bringing Todd back from the cold, but perhaps that was the reason Farke didn’t select him. Gilmour, on the other hand, was a success though I’m not sure that would have been the case in the away game at Burnley say. Generally the 4-3-3 suits the players we have to meet PL challenges, but it does seem to mean keeping Normann deeper and losing some of his attacking qualities.
It’s very early days and it’ll be interesting to see where we go from here, but two wins on the trot will bring confidence into the Wolves game.
Sorry, your opening sentence is quite ludicrous. DF got us promoted twice, playing some of the best football I have ever seen from us. He was found wanting in the PL, but most certainly does not deserve any disrespect from any City fan. I did not read beyond that opening barrage but I am really disappointed,to read this disrespect to what has been a magnificent ambassador for our club.
Hi Roger
Maybe Samuel’s opening gambit was a little bit clumsy [I should know, I’m often guilty of that myself when writing for MFW] but disrespectful to Daniel Farke?
I’m not so sure because there WAS a stubborn streak within DF, although many of us tended to overlook it simply because we desperately wanted him to succeed. I know I did.
It’s the Dean Smith era now so let’s all get behind him and the team.
Haven’t seen any disrespect to Danny, all managers are stubborn. Knowing when and how to be flexible is the key issue.
Magnificent disaster in the premier more like Roger !
Working out the position for Gilmour was a masterstroke. In this more forward role I think he will play a major part in our coming games as he does for Scotland.