Well, it wasn’t another defeat, I guess. Maybe we should just be thankful for that.
But it was grim. Wholly devoid of any joy, excitement, purpose and skill.
That we’ve reached the point where all we have left to celebrate is a point from a goalless draw against a terrible team who are still several levels better than us, speaks volumes of where this football club finds itself right now.
In response to that, there will be folk reminding me how lucky we are to have a club that is stable, is owned by people who care (as opposed to someone with lots of money) and that we have no divine right to expect to survive in the Premier League.
All of which is true I suppose, but anyone who can happy-clap through this is a far better person than I. If you’re one of those, I applaud you.
Our opponents yesterday, let’s not forget, came into the game off the back of a run of six straight defeats – a truly woeful run of Norwich City proportions, which unbelievably put our own fun of five back-to-back defeats in the shade.
But they dominated us. Totally. From start to finish.
Brighton had 63 percent of the ball and had no less than 31 shots on Tim Krul’s goal. In addition to Neal Maupay’s missed penalty that was last spotted whizzing past the ISS, they literally missed chances by the dozen.
City, by contrast, mustered only six shots during the entirety of the afternoon, none of which were on target. My partially-sighted, 87-year-old dad could have played in goal instead of Robert Sánchez and it’d have made not a scrap of difference to the outcome.
We offered nothing apart from effort. Only the back-four plus Tim Krul could depart the Amex with their heads held high, although it’s hard to criticise Teemu Pukki given the paucity of his supply line. In fairness, Jon Rowe’s late cameo was again worthy of note.
But that was it.
Our midfield quartet was devoid of all the qualities needed to be a functional Premier League midfield except one. There was no shortage of commitment but they lacked in every other aspect, including the ability to perform a joined-up, cohesive press.
Poor passing, no energy, no control of the game, no ability to break up and spoil, and not even the slightest hint of flair or invention. Rarely, since the creation of the Premier League can there have been a more ineffective midfield, certainly in terms of going forward.
The clappers could, perhaps fairly, argue that the midfield played its part in the low block that somehow conjured up a clean sheet, but it was no more than a fire-fighting exercise. I’d prefer much more from my midfield including that forgotten art, in these parts, of stringing two consecutive passes together.
I’m sorry, Kenny, but pointing a lot doesn’t count as a quality.
Among many other questions that desperately need to be answered, all of which will come far too late to make any difference this season, is what type of football are we trying to play?
The answer, at the moment, is no one knows – other than, presumably, the management and players.
So poor are we, and so paralysed by fear and uncertainty are the players, the shape of the team and what they are trying to achieve is hidden behind a shield of stray passes, elementary errors, and hopelessness.
There is really no way of identifying what Dean Smith wants from this team.
Let’s not forget though, this unnerving lack of identity started to reveal itself in the final throes of the Daniel Farke era and is not something that began with Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare.
While I can’t pretend to know the style of football that Smith implemented in his time at Walsall, at both Brentford and Aston Villa he developed teams that were predominantly possession-based and who were easy-on-the-eye – the very antithesis of what we’re seeing right at the moment.
So, for now, I’m giving Smith the benefit of the doubt and putting this current shambles down to him having to work with a squad that isn’t good enough to play what we once described as Farkeball. Daniel F discovered this himself, hence the change in style in the early weeks of this season that led to the unraveling of what we (and others) recognised as our footballing identity.
The notion that Dean Smith comes in and unpicks the style of play completely flies in the face of our ‘model’, which is built around any new coach coming in and picking up the reins with the minimum of changes and minus the need to implement a new ethos.
If change is going to be driven by the new head coach, it feels a little like the unraveling of all the work that Stuart Webber’s undertaken since his arrival in March 2017.
Maybe the apparent lack of focus of the sporting director will lead to a change of the original plan.
But, either way, it’s the implementation (or non-implementation) of Farkeball in the top division that has been at the heart of the current malaise.
It’s a system and philosophy that requires good technicians throughout the team but once in the Premier League, the level of technician required is of a far higher calibre than one who can operate successfully in the second tier.
But, the more competent the technician, the more he costs.
It’s also a system that requires centre-backs and full-backs to be comfortable in possession and able to receive the ball in tight areas. For all of their other qualities, neither Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson are, in the Premier League, able to do either consistently.
That, for me, is where and why the identity started to fade.
Farke tried to stick with it in 2019-20 but we were routinely outplayed, out-muscled and beaten and so tried, unsuccessfully, to tweak it this season. Smith, in my view, was merely left to pick up the pieces and try somehow to get a tune, in any way possible, out of a squad that is not technical, powerful, or athletic enough.
I know some are already questioning Smith’s appointment but I believe he should be judged when managing a squad that is his own. Right now it feels like he’s managing a rag-tag bunch of non-swimmers who are trying unsuccessfully to negotiate the deep end.
Quite frankly, the sooner this season ends the better.
Then I hope everyone at the football club, including the owners, can take stock and decide what the hell they want it to be.
Do you think the owners care that much?They,like some fans just bury their heads in the sand until things get better.The board is stale,the sporting director is hopeless at recruitment,a few players dont care and not fit to wear the city shirt,what chance has S aS and us fans got?The club needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom,now we all know thats never going to happen,even if some fans turn against auntie D!
I have respectful Auntie not egotistical ones that continually tells me they know best.
This one’s says there is no one interested in buy or investing in a stable club so is it her idea to make it an unstable club to garner interest.
In reality if it was marketed right then buyers in investment would come in but they don’t want it as it will show how poor their ownership has been
Ah well , 8 games to go and now only three points to beat the previous low. And that folks is the hieght of excitement going forward.
Nice too to see again Normann and Gilmorc keeping players who will be here next year from getting minutes .
Full agree send all loanees back to parent clubs
A truly dreadful season which easily fits into the worst two or three seasons I remember in almost 50 years (and one of those was relegation into the third tier). The ‘Reasons-to-be-cheerful box’ is indeed virtually empty. The only real positive from this season I can think of is that normally the fans have the constant worry that big club vultures are circling looking to pick off our best players. Not a worry we’ve had this season.
The other positive, I suppose, is that this dismal dismal season is happening on the cusp of the premier League and Championship rather than League Two and the National League. Now that would be desperate…
Hi Gary
Many readers will already know how many of us feel about our current owners.
Pessimists, optimists, or just a Fortune Teller would all have a problem working out what’s going on at City.
Would City have been better to have kept Farke till the end of the season or got shot earlier?
A Wrexham friend said that he thought after our last terrible crack at the Premier League, Farke would have gone earlier and SW’s friend Steve Cooper was in line for the job but Forest got in first but had to pay a hefty compo to Swansea and that City didn’t want that.
Another thing he mentioned was that SW mentor from Liverpool, now at Villa, had tipped him off about the demise of Smith there so they sacked DF with no real plan in place.
McLean as a traffic warden looks his future employment and Gibson a postman as every ball that comes to him he returns to sender like a hot potato, Hanley is the rock at present that all teams need but he has never been a creative type, more a Duncan Forbes type.
Gilmour again proved he isn’t what is needed; Normann not sure if his head or heart or both was effected with his injury – he knows he is not staying and going through the motions.
Lees-Melou and Sorensen should be given the chance to prove themselves and if Rupp is staying that could be our midfield. Tzolis in front of Dimi on the left with Rashica on the right with Byram – lots of pace on both flanks and then Pukki up front for the rest of the season.
We may not get may more points but they are City players not loaned in with no interest in what or where are future lies
Farke may or maybe not got sacked just for results on the pitch!??
Maybe he was the scape goat so others kept their jobs to go a wandering
Rupp has spent much of the last two years injured or ill, so unless he’s on some kind of reduced or pay as you play contract, I wouldn’t retain him. Pity as I think he’s one of the more reliable midfielders when available.
I’d be happy to never see any of the loans in a City shirt again, possibly Williams excepted (although he does have his flaws). My Chelsea supporting sister and her fella are still refusing to believe wee Billy Krankie has been as ineffective as we know he’s been, whatever the reason for it.
Gary, that last paragraph is very true. I sure don’t know what the hell this club is trying to do any more and God alone knows what Webber’s input is now meant to be. I suspect the current ‘model’ will end up being quietly abandoned like all the others have been over the last couple of decades and the owners will find a new way to prop themselves up for a little longer.
Base camp at Everest will be a 3 week adapting to conditions not sure what the mob signal is but it will be a similar period at any major mountain ask Julie Andrews she should know
With my happy clapper hat on I’ll point to the end of the losing run, a clean sheet and defensive determination. Taking that hat off now- crikey, that was terrible. The fact that the players look as though they’re trying shows how lacking in ability they are.
We have ended the latest losing streak, but there’s almost certainly another one starting soon.
Hi Don
Xmas could come early and we have an 8 game winning streak.
I hope we could stay up but it would just make those happy clappers and inners even more unbearable
A brutal but honest assessment of the parlous state of our football club. I for one have lost much interest in the non-effort of our board to keep the club competitive at the highest level and I am desperately trying to find more worthy interests to pursue.
An excellent assessment of our situation Gary but I’m afraid as we all know our owners must be totally deluded if they can’t see the sale board has never been more essential than it is now!
That was grim.
Have a more enjoyable Sunday everyone.
I think the happy clappers are usually to be found in the Away Section at Carrow road. I’m more of a defiant clapper, trying to ignore the unhappy flappers.
Despite all the bullshite about us before game from players who reckon we can still stay up that was a performance from a team that knows it’s down apart from krul and Hanley another one of the list of our lacklustre performances that stretch back many years it’s pathetic gutless and fed up with the same old story when we will have a team that actually puts up a scrap doesn’t matter who owns the club or who’s been recruited they at least owe us that🤑
Hi Kev
My MFW piece tomorrow is pretty much the same as Gary’s today – in substance anyway.
I wonder what the atmosphere will be like against Burnley in the Barclay on Saturday – we’ll find out for sure, especially if/when we go a goal behind!
See you then.
I suspect it might be a little muted in the barclay on Saturday Martin.
Come Sunday at 2pm I expect no quarter will be given.
Oh shucks – I should have said Sunday 🙂
I can honestly say I’m not looking forward to the game on any level but like you and many others I feel compelled to go.
And that’s exactly what the ownership trades on.
No Gary we cannot let ourselves waste more money on players for Dean Smith to prove himself and certainly not let Stuart Webber waste more money again . Stoke possibly signing Daniel Farke now actually makes me envious of them tbh ,be interesting to see if they invest more if they go up and if he keeps them up . I’m not entirely hopeful of us going up again next season to be fair a lot has got to change that’s for sure .
I agree that us being among the Championship contenders next season is far from a given, Jim.
Fair comment that.
The current model of the football club is for owners to go away for free social occasions during the football season on the back of fans hard earned cash!
It is too be able to hold your head up high and say “We own a lovely little football club called Norwich City”.
Insufficient funding, all the ambition of a grave yard!
The problem that NCFC fans face and what the current owners haven’t figured out, is the longer you are away from the Premier league the greater the financial gulf. So next season Brentford will be better in theory? One of the reasons why we yoyo.
Even recruitment now is a fortune and you have to be able to have someone like Luis campos as DOF who knows what he doing at that level!
The owners have taken this club as far as it can go, money talks in this sport from recruitment of staff to players and we just don’t have enough for either.
NCFC need good investment and that doesn’t mean to say we have an ex Warlord in charge! Leicester, Southampton, Bournemouth to name a few.
That should be the model we need to work towards not this “self funding” nonsense which means let’s try and make a silk purse out of a Sows ear!
Could any one imagine a City 11 doing what Brentford did yesterday, yep 1 or 2 win could be classed as a fluke, but 4-1 does throw a different slant on it.
Even the Sow’s Ear is sub standard, lets try a different view. a sow’s ear from a sows arse maybe better
Sadly what else does our owners have in their lives no children so no grandchildren to enjoy.
Jones sold his business off a few years ago.
Smith lost he commercials for Waitrose and no longer is on TV telling everyone how to boil an egg so the sales of her recipe books have plummeted and now she is writing a book 9n psychology or something.
Little ol Norwich is their last vestige of credibility and celebrity status and they are so addicted to the limelight they can’t see they are slowly but surely killing any respect the rest of football had for our club but Auntie know best
How sad but quintessentially true Gary.
You say “In response to that, there will be folk reminding me how lucky we are to have a club that is stable, is owned by people who care (as opposed to someone with lots of money) and that we have no divine right to expect to survive in the Premier League.”
I therefore give you Brentford, who, if you remember we were streets (and 10 points) ahead of last season. OK, they have a “rich” owner, but they didn’t spend (or should that be waste Mr Webber?), buckets loads of cash last summer on players with potential.
They identified who they wanted, and got them. Maybe their fees/wages were more than we were prepared to pay at the time, but they’re now looking comfortably at a second season in the PL, and the additional riches that will undoubted bring them.
NCFC?? Yes; the loan players will go back to their parent clubs, but with what we’re going to be left with, can NCFC fans really see us getting out of the Championship at the first attempt?? Unfortunately I can, but fear it will be downwards rather than up.
What a total waste of a season, and (another) golden opportunity.
O T B C
I have delayed posting, while I sat deep lost in my memories pondering, have a seen a worse display by probably the worst bunch of humans to pull on a City shirt. Notice I didn’t say players as I do not want trouble from any trade descriptions boffins.
I have to go back to the Rodent’s efforts of building a team with so many loan players, who never gave a toss. Gunn,s lot started the season so good, if you supported Colchester. They rank high A 4- nil defeat to Millwall under Farke’s control was bad as was his first season in with the big boys. But some of those players Vanrcic, Steiperman, Hernandez, Zimmerman etc were or it is me more honest. The got their chance for earning promotion, where as this bunch, have earned nowt only criticism and rightly so too.
4 of the squad, will return to sender, Gilmour, Williams we knew would depart, Normann is not really interested in this club or the championship, while poor old Kabak has spent more time on the treatment beds than on the green stuff.
The rest with exceptions of Krul, Hanley, Pukki, Aarons, Rowe, the rest are not worth a shifty Fifty behind the bike sheds.
For me this is the worst team.squad or gaggle I have seen compiled for a shot at establishing in this League. As for the Cook her dream of little Norwich is still alive and doing her proud.
Mid table championship. that is what she wants, but at the moment that little dream looks a long way off too
As a day out, yesterday was a mixed bag. The positives; We got a point, it was a good excuse to see my son, it was dry, I found a lot of people working at the ground and the station willing to help visiting fans, I dropped Maupay from my fantasy team prior to yesterday. Negatives; there is nothing at Falmer, this was the bleak stadium we could have faced if Chase managed to develop Colney as per the rumours of the time. The game was exactly the same, plenty of nice little aspects like a run from Rowe or a solid save by Krul but it was an ordeal. After 9 minutes I was counting down the time to the end of the match. There was little joy in the match. The wait for the train back to Brighton was more entertaining than the match thanks to the kerfuffle that saw Police drag away an over excited home fan. What kind of team will we field next season? Who can we afford to buy or keep? The switch back in narrative to being an impoverished mediocre second flight club could start as swiftly as it did in 2005. The club appears to be in transition but with no change at the top. I imagine that Webber will be the main man in the preparation for next season but will he be otherwise engaged? The next 6 months are vital
Never mind the quality, feel the point.
Brighton complete ineptitude gifted us a draw we hardly deserved.
Following one of our better results this season the backlash appears greater than ever. The standard of player performance and that of the manager are way below what should be expected of any professional sports team.
In response our wonderful owners are putting up the prices. Can we expect more quality?
I despair of this lot I really do. I haven’t felt this depressed about the team I support since we lost a Christmas fixture 0-1 to Southend under Megson I think. This feels like the end of an era on many levels but we know Delia will cling on forever. Webber will stay and the two excuse making chancers Webber appointed as his plan b will take us to the lower reaches of the championship. Let’s get a decent, promising hungry manager in place and take it from there. Not Russell Martin… Sort out the midfield once and for all. Webber stop trying to be some kind of business guru and do the job you are paid for. Give Pukki some help. Do the basics right.
I thought Webber was our next Chris Bonington more like Brian Blessed an amateur climber.
I’ve seen many highs and lows over the last few decades, so I feel well qualified to speak. To me, there haven’t been many seasons that have been as utterly hopeless and abject as this one, literally from top to bottom at the club and from day one.
I’m realistic to know that the Hamilton, Grant, Roeder and Gunn years were indescribably awful, plus the fact that none of those seasons occurred in the top flight. Yet there is something about the last eight months which is leaving very little to look back on as a matter of pride or progress.
There has been no inspiration or desire from anywhere or anyone in the club to at least have a go, even if we wouldn’t ultimately survive. Even in previous campaigns where we went down and didn’t spend a bucketload, there was a semblance of hope throughout, however small. This time we chucked in the towel before the end of January if not sooner, only heightened by our alleged Sporting Director’s jaunts abroad and our majority shareholder seemingly more interested in her literary ramblings. Am I being petty? Yeah, probably, but it feels like the eye has been taken completely off the ball and nobody knows exactly what we’re meant to be doing any more.
Did I think we might go down this season? Yes. Did I think we’d go down without a fight or some kind of strategy? No.
(I know we’re not down yet, but…)
Hamilton, grant, roeder, gunn. Wonder who inflicted that little lot on us?
Terrible performance – should have been 4 or 5 nil. We got away with one and may have somehow won it. At least we fight on to the Burnley game – lose that then it really is all over. Win and who knows. Football is a funny old game….
First time I have seen anyone happy clap the happy clappers!
But one other point is that the article seems to be suggesting that the appointment of Smith was somehow a good move when we have been served up this atrocious offering. Why did Farke have to go if this is what it results in?
Fair point, Tony. There’s been nothing to suggest that the Dean Smith appointment is a good one. I get that. I just think, now he’s in the house, we have to judge him when he has a squad of his own making. I accept this is probably a minority view.
Sadly we must write this years nightmare season off like a bad dream. The 4 loanees will hardly be missed.
Sorensen , maybe Hernandez and the emerging youth team players look like our hope for the rebirth next season.
Smith deserves another season, but I think the unthinkable…..has Webber run his race?.
It was only after a LOT of thought that I decided ‘enough was enough’ and cancelled my season ticket renewal last Monday. As I’d been away, and noted that the club had asked to be notified of such decisions by 4 March, I decided to phone and explain.
I was 37th in the queue but, one hour later, I was able to speak to a NCFC representative.
I explained, politely, what I had decided, adding that it had been a VERY difficult decision, having supported the club for 60+ years – wherever I’d lived – and, most recently, for 20+ years as a season ticket holder.
“Oh, yeah?” came the disinterested reply.
Suddenly, my decision seemed vindicated. If that was ‘all’ she cared about my cancellation and/or my feelings, it confirmed my suspicion that the club really didn’t give 2 hoots about what supporters felt.
The follow up email I received from the club was more polite (it was signed by ‘Ticket’ …. Mr? Mrs? Ms? Dr? … who knows?)
It said ‘Sorry to see you again/thanks for your support’ etc – but the damage was done. That was just ‘corporate speak’. The ‘real’ NCFC representative had more accurately expressed just how much the club cared. Zilch….
So, I’ll be £1,200 better off (I had 2 tickets), I won’t be facing any more 160-mile round trips from Cambridgeshire (‘God, how long the journeys home have seemed, this season’….), and I’ll have spare cash to pay my ever-increasing gas and electricity bills.
That’s what I call a result….. “Oh, yeah?” ….. “YEAH!!”.
Very good article Gary,
Maybe Daniel Farke was actually sacked in thought by Stuart Webber long before he was sacked by Stuart Webber in deed, then?
However, if the players brought in prior to the start of this season were not really capable of playing Farke-ball, then surely they should be more than capable of playing Smith-ball which leans towards English football? Smith and Shakespeare cannot really be said to be playing Farke’s particular brand of football, after all!
Ergo the players should be fulfilling their positions enough to be getting some positive results in the Premiership so why is that not happening? I don’t believe it can be because they are not good footballers, as we have all seen that they can play well at various times during this season.
According to several on this notice board there is no point playing the loaners who will be leaving in a couple of months, probably true, perhaps they should be second choice for a starting place and we should pick the players we own, then we can see how good their badge is.
A week ago Tzolis scored twice for the Greek U-21s – I don’t really understand why he didn’t start on Saturday with Giannoulis at left back – even just as a reward! Sorensen and Rupp should be playing in midfield. There were four City youngsters on the bench, only Rowe got on the pitch – for the last 9 minutes.
Needs to be a sea-change in thought before we play Burnley, I think.
COYYs !!
Akin to things mentioned above, what is the benefit of continuing to play those who won’t be here next season? Hopefully not some ridiculous contractual clauses meaning they have to play so many games and/or we still think we can get out of this !
Disappointing to see this page has embraced the clapper vs nihilism bun fight of the FB fan pages … Guess it gets the clicks (and I’ve taken the bait), but I always liked the nuance and willingness to see things on different levels here at MFW. We are the
in midst of a terrible run and our players are evidently lacking in those key elements of confidence and belief. We have indeed blown it and down we’ll almost certainly go. But assuming next season is already crocked and, it seems, virtually all our players are devoid of ever being part of a successful team again, seems like a mix of wallowing in self pity and pointless pessimism. Things change quickly in football and it can of course get worse before it gets better. I know the saying that “it’s the hope that kills you”, but I’d rather hang onto hope (there’s always next season) than see nothing in the future but a downward spiral. If the only way forward – rather than a way forward – is deemed to be a new board then I guess a canary civil war is looming. And that really is depressing.