As disappointing as it was – and it really was – last night offered, unfortunately, a snapshot of where we are right now as a football club.
As a team, we’re about as average to middling as you can get, and as a club, we’re poor (in a financial sense), which is starting to become painfully obvious as this squad struggles to cope with a spate of injuries to key players.
To start with the team itself, I can understand why David Wagner felt the need to mix things up a bit given the relentless Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday nature of this time of the season, and with Hwang Ui-jo’s bright little cameo on Saturday hopefully boosting his confidence I could see the logic in giving him a start. But it didn’t work.
None of the changes worked and neither, later in the game, did any of the substitutions – the upshot of having a squad with a few good players but which also includes too many that are no more than okay.
But that’s precisely where we are and what we are. This is where you find yourself when, over the course of a summer transfer window, you sell players for a total of around £30 million but spend only £3 million on fees to bring players in.
In fairness, most of us were happy with our summer business at the time, particularly the way those who came in bolstered both the mentality and physicality of the squad, but ten games in – the barometer by which we’re supposed to evaluate the rest of the season – those additions are all looking fairly unexceptional. Some, let’s be honest, are looking not-very-good.
And that affliction of giving away soft, sloppy, and stupid goals – the one we hoped would disappear with the addition of Shane Duffy and Jack Stacey. Well, that’s gone nowhere. Last night confirmed it’s very much still with us.
The first goal was a shocker all of its own. A horribly over-hit pass my Duffy. The ensuing panic to right the wrong. Missed tackles galore. And we were 1-0 down… after three minutes… when the last thing we could afford to do was concede an early one.
This is the same Swansea who didn’t get a win in their first seven games and who, despite winning their last two, were still wobbling. But that early goal settled them nicely and it almost went without saying that the goal was scored by Jamal Lowe – one of the strikers we were linked with on deadline day when we ended up with Hwang.
The response from City was decent and, as is the case with most average Championship sides, when it clicks we’re still capable of playing some nice football. A fine diving finish by Gabriel Sara was a fitting end to a flowing move that we would once have described as prime Farkeball.
And from there City regained a modicum of control, particularly for the opening half hour of the second half, when they created enough good situations to have gone on and won the game.
But, as is the wont of a side and squad that lacks quality, all too often the final ball was imprecise and the opportunity wasted. The only time they almost got it right was when Przemysław Płacheta – on for the ineffective Tony Springett – rifled an awkward-looking left-footed cross at the head of Adam Idah when it was crying out for a clipped cross from his right boot.
Idah has taken plenty of stick for heading over the bar but anyone who has been on the receiving end of a cross that threatens to take your head off your shoulders will know how difficult they are to control.
At Championship level, however, I agree you do expect those to hit the back of the net.
As it transpired, that was the closest City came to getting their noses ahead. The Swans were the ones to finish strongly and that super-fitness that so excited us in the early weeks of the season oddly seems to have disappeared.
And, let’s be honest again, from around the 80th minute onward, there was only going to be one winner. As the Swans grew in belief, the Canaries retreated and crosses aplenty were launched into Angus Gunn’s six-yard box.
After a couple of close calls – including Duffy clearing one off the line – it felt inevitable that one would eventually drop. And sure enough…
It was another of those where there appeared to be plenty of opportunities to clear the ball but there will not have been a single Norwich supporter out there who was surprised to see that ball ricochet into the roof of the net. Not one.
And, worse still, the response was tepid. No Alamo. No fire in the belly. Nowt. Instead, what appeared an acceptance that it wasn’t going to be our day… again.
So… four defeats in our last six league games during which time we’ve slipped out of the top six. While we are on the same number of points as fifth-placed West Brom, we’re only two points clear of 14th-placed Millwall.
On our current trajectory, mid-table nothingness beckons which, in fairness, feels about right for this group.
As mentioned at the start of the piece, without our two main strikers, this team screams “average” and the squad is wafer-thin. All too often, for David Wagner to either mix it up to keep his players fresh or to use players off the bench means to dilute the quality. And that’s not going to get you into the playoffs.
I applaude those who are grown up enough to brush off this run of form as understandable given the players we are without, but we’re not alone in suffering injuries to key players, and if we’re putting everything on hold until Josh Sargent returns, that’s a long old wait. By then a top six place could well be out of reach.
So we return to that place. The one in which we’re in a bit of a muddle. And with Cov (a) to come on Saturday, things ain’t about to get any easier.
Brace yourselves. This could get a bit bumpy.
Absolutely on the money Gary this is a poor side with a poor management guiding them. The early goal came from our insistence to tip tap at the back ( to call it playing out from the back would be an insult to those who do it well) and the slow reactions of those defenders.
Idah needs time on the pitch and I’m glad you too saw the fault with the cross after he got into the right position. He is a young man so any talk of overloading is nonsense. Kenny plays every minute of every game and covers more ground than most.
Sadly this manager’s previous form is there for all to see – good start followed by a slide backwards.
The geriatric brigade we brought in are no match for anyone with pace. Where is the midfield creator?? We don’t have one.
It saddens me to see all of the progress made over the years go to waste but clubs that are badly managed from the top down do not succeed.
I really do fear for the future.
Unfortunately a very accurate summary of where we are at, Gary.
Surely the talked-about three-year transition of ownership needs to be brought forward because the club is sinking at the present time.
I don’t know how much Attanasio anticipated the cost of being involved with City would be but I’d say it’s going to require revising upwards by a considerable amount.
Looking at our attempts to play the ball out from the back with Duffy and Gibson is beyond embarrassing!
Why Wagner didn’t replace a tiring Forshaw with Gibbs is as unbelievable as not playing Warner instead of one of our ageing centre backs.
Now maybe the time for younger players to be given a chance as our dad’s army brigade are not up to the job.
Is there any news of Webber’s replacement as it’s urgently needed.
Hi JohnF
On the subject of Webber it’s being reported that he’s in constant conference calls with Attanasio after games.
Maybe and I hope I’m wrong but leaving his Sporting Director’s role could give him a more powerful position within the Norfolk Group working for the American’s.
Surely any replacement being considered would have been announced at the pre ordained AGM share issue.
Last announcement was 6 candidates had being or were being looked at and yet again that was from a senior employee or sits on the board with a few shares.
It’s about time that the Norfolk Group put their gears above the parapet and said what plans they have for the immediate future not wait till the 18 months is up.
They have run a Baseball Franchise for 20 years and an investment business for longer so don’t need a hand over period.
Delia is doing everything to hang on to some form of celebrity status and it’s dragging an ambition out of the club.
Stuart is going nowhere. He can work out his contract and meanwhile look for other opportunities, though his reputation is slightly tarnished at present. He ‘resigned’ (😂) in March but Delia professed her love for his work and his ‘greatness.’ Since Stuart’s wife is on £425,000 per annum (see recent share issue report) and guaranteed that amount again as a bonus if she ‘achieves agreed targets’ or – wait for it – City are promoted to the EPL, one must assume Stuart will be on the same or more. Nice work if you can get it especially when under this regime the Club has been effectively bankrupted, now having to rely on transferring players and a forthcoming £33 million loan from our man in the States. Zoe remains on the board so, and I repeat for the umpteenth time (whether the Club is successful or not) this is and always has been a fundamental conflict of interest.
Just lazy ownership
But also a defensive shield for her in as much as anything that does or is going wrong the blame is at his doorstep not hers.
Hands up! I got the first sentence wrong!! So much for my Nostradamus inclinations!!!
I have some sympathy for Hwang because in the first half he made several Pukki like runs that were just not picked up by teammates. The most obvious was when Rowe just ignored him and went alone. One run in particular needed exactly the kind of pass Buendia used to slide in. Unfortunately it was Duffy who had the ball…. And of course the squad spent pre-season NOT looking for Pukki-like runs, and have had little time with Hwang.
I don’t have a problem with playing out of the back, nearly everybody who doesn’t have a Holt or a Iwan is doing it, and we probably earn as many turnovers as we concede. But the one ball they really need to cut out is from our full back position into opposing no. 10 territory because unless it’s weighted perfectly the receiver is so easily picked off in a very dangerous position.
The frustration last night was that from about 15 minutes in we were well on top for the next hour, especially after half-time. Stacey and Springett were superb, but it’s no surprise the youngster tired. With hindsight I wonder if Wagner would have been slightly less attacking in his subs and settled for at least a draw. Once Forshaw – who’s clearly a bit rusty anyway – had gone, the middle was wide open.
Duff is a good manager and his team are now in form (a shame we didn’t play them and Sheffield Wednesday in the first couple of weeks). A draw would have been a fair, and good, result.
I don’t want to look ahead , but I’m sure we will have a warm welcome from our old player MarkRobbins on Saturday, and then it’s another international break. We might need it. However, the game after the break is the return of a legend with his Leeds side. Could be two reunions we could do without .
A perfect summing up of last night Gary, and of where we are in general. After a promising start to the season mid table mediocrity is about the best we can hope for, made all the worse by the flying start made by that lot down the road. They remind me of how we were when we came up from League 1 into the Championship and have the confidence that this upward momentum brings.
We are still capable of having our moments but not in sufficient enough quantity to put a decent run of results together.
The squad is thin on the ground, to the point where if we get the inevitable injuries a long, hard season brings we just don’t have the quality or strength in depth to plug the gaps. I hope I am wrong, but I can see little more than another season of frustration like the last campaign.
Not having seen a game since the end of our Premier League adventure I’m not really able to comment on the current squad’s capabilities or otherwise.
However, given the level’s at which we and others supposedly find our players, why does our recruitment seem so appalling?
It’s so difficult to admit, but look at 1p5wich and their squad which has been put together for a fraction of ours.
O T B C
Hi Gary
A good review of last night’s tippy tappy game, Swansea knew when to give it the big boot to take pressure off the defence we don’t.
Row Z gives a team time to get back in shape and focus yet we pass away into trouble.
Can we see a change of coach maybe Webber had plans by bringing in the lad from Huddersfield only time will tell but again the decision makers could leave it too late, but who is the decision makers.
It’s reported Webber has after match conference calls with Attanasio does Delia and Co sit in and with no Majority shareholder things are only going to get more confusing the best few months will be an interesting time.
Coventry had a home win V Blackburn so will be on a high, City really need to find away of getting points on the board and soon let’s hope a weeks rest for international’s might work or could we see more injuries on the horizon.
Excellent match day take Gary, as always.
We debated playing out from the back during the week, like the ownership situation I guess there is nothing new to say.
I’m glad you were able to empathise with Idah regarding Placetta’s needlessly howitzing cross. Yes, he prob should have scored anyway, but across the table tonight if someone asks you to pass them the ketchup, and there’s a clear path between you, you’re unlikely to launch it like it a rocket.
Are our tactics to extravagant for away days?
Unfortunately this didn’t come as a surprise at all. Following our dour win over Birmingham the likes of Rob Butler et al were banding about words such as brilliant. It was acceptable. That’s all.
The summer business that we all hoped would add steel to the pansy battalion we laughingly dubbed a team last term has been shown up fpr what it is. Cheap, budget signings set against a backdrop of a major fire sale, a fire sale which probably staved off a points deduction for financial mismanagement.
Shane Duffy is fast becoming a liability. His errors pile up and if allowed to continue unchecked will be directly responsible for 30 odd concessions. Last night was a disgrace.
I was actually on the phone when Duffer coughed up the ball and let Swansea in for the first. The phone survived its journey across the livibg room. Just.
The obscene last day frenzy to sell Omobamidele clearly took all the recruitment team efforts, because as an afterthought we’ve clearly asked Forest if they had any odds or sods laying around. Unfortunately fpr us they did. Good grief.
Hernandez and Idah replaced whoever it was, I can’t recall, and proceeded to stink out the place with abysmal.performances. Thank the lord we haven’t tied them to long term contracts. Oh dear.
Fresh from the news that turkeys haven’t voted for Christmas and allowed Attanasio to pick up the 66 million pound black hole in our finances, thanks Auntie D. Any hopes that we would respond with something approaching an uplifting and professional performance were dashed.
In short, the lack of sensible funding in the name of self-bollocks, or whatever it’s called, has royaly effed up the whole football club. The sporting director is working whatever notice he decides is good for him while his increasingly out of his depth mate – the one he installed as manager – clearly can’t be replaced.
Never mind, my happy-clapping nemeses will soon be buzzing around to tell us all in a condescending tone that all will be well, albeit in three years, that Newcastle United et al envy our wonderful model, that their niece will still have a club to support in 10 years time when we take on Kidderminster etc.
This takeover has become a farce. The sound last night at the final whistle was the noise of camels backs snapping all over Norfolk and far beyond. Three years? My arse. Three years! Get it done and give the club the vital blood transfusion so it can get out of this zombie-like state, one which has already lasted fpr the best part of three years.
Leeds United rock up at Carrow Road, with a rejuvenated Daniel Farke, which side of the fence will Webber be sitting on I wonder? And for that matter, his wife, the glorious owners and their bloody nephew, throw in a lover and a cook and you’ve got a Hollywood farce.
Just think Chris, the Bluenoses over the River Orwell just might end their dire run against City not once but twice this season… so will Delia be digging out her blue scarf? Or will that wait until she’s back home in Stowmarket waving it around the garden for all the neighbours to see.
An awful thought Alex
Hi Gary – yes we really are failing of late and I don’t think Duffy and Gibson are making a very good pairing. Maybe Batth and Hanley will be better? It seems we tried to emulate Luton’s successful blueprint but it’s going awry already .
Expect Ipswich & Leeds to compound our misery .
Trying to emulate other club has been City’s down fall over the last 27 years.
Luton has a young progressive manager and was given a chase to prove himself – we did that with Farke then resorted to tried-and-out-dated Smith, then Webber went for a trusted friend from his Huddersfield days.
It all seems to be all so cheap and not so cheerful. People have in early season praised Webber for his team building but has never given Wagner enough or has the early promise faded so soon to be replaced with the despondency of last season?
Smith had a good early season promise and how that fell apart. Wagner again had early promise but injuries and fitness got the blame for a terrible end-of-season
Now we have had a early season promise of a top six finish – injuries seem to have disrailed that. Fitness or recruitment can’t be blamed as Wagner says he got what he asked for.
So is it the manager’s lack of plan B, tippy-tappy football around the penalty area or is it just poor luck, poor refereeing decisions – then there is a combination of all of those.
Can City afford to stick with what we have – compo for the present management and possibly compo for a new team – then there’s the question who is available – Warnock, Pardew, Parker, Wilder, Beale or Fat Frank. Not one really floats my boat, but Warnock just might get a tune out of these players for a play-off place.
As sad as it is to read Mr G, it is a perfect picture you paint – a middling mess of high proportions I am afraid. For several seasons now, it has been apparent to many that this chaos was inevitable. Only Sara and Rowe have truly proved themselves deserving of a substantial amount. The youngster line drying up for sales. Any fees from Sara and Rowe will be lost while the search for another couple of freebies will possibly bear some small fruit.
A total of £33 million from the States, apparently set aside to help the debt, while the team limps and cramls on to mid-table nothingness, building more debt. While we hear the rally call, that Norwich City is a well-run club and given today’s climate lucky to still be here – along with 91 other clubs who are run better.
The Cooks ego, wanting to be still in the celebrity limelight is what has halted any further advancement of this club and will continue to do so. With the money that has gone into this club in the last few seasons, the fans shelling out the thousands to continue supporting their team. We all deserve much, much better than the dross that is being served up.
No disrespect to Wagner, but he was a very easy appointment. His past two clubs got shot of him because of his appalling record – talk about scratching backs. What was wrong with a young up and coming manager? I am sure we knew that Gary ONeil had been given his P45, at Bournemouth – a guy with connections to the club. Good enough for Wolves, Leicester went for Maresca – an assistant under Pep.
But it isn’t always the best to constantly change managers (Watford anyone) – it is the top of the pile that needs changing. I said when the news broke of the American connection forming, I could not see the cook allowing anyone into the boardroom who would challenge or threaten her position. I think I was right at the time.
Until the cook and co hang up their aprons, nothing will change
I can’t understand why, at first, he put Placheta on the right and Hernandez on the left – both are much better on their natural sides. That cross for Idah had too much weight and spin on it to be able to control. Hernandez can deliver better from that side.
If Francis Lee could manage 2 hours in the intense heat of Mexico, our superfit sportsmen should be able to last 90 minutes on a Welsh evening. Too many subs is disrupting the way we play
Wagner’s rock and roll football relies on us banging a bunch in and hoping the other team score less. Unfortunately, we are less rock and more roll over nowadays, as the goals have become harder to come by.
Honestly, after they scored so early, I was just happy it wasn’t another rout. Which is a sad state of affairs.
I also feel for poor Johnny Rowe. He must feel the world is on his shoulders. I don’t know when his contract is up (I believe next season), but we need him on an Idah length deal.
Sadly, again, a defeat against a team with a budget similar to or smaller than ours, is being put down to Delia’s finances, and where she is from.
As frustratingly inevitable as what comes our way after a short goal kick
*by a few, I should caveat, not all, and not the author
Anyone who still believes Adam Idah can magically transform himself into a deadly finisher should look at his overall record. He is approaching his 23rd birthday and so far has scored 10 goals in 80 appearances for Norwich (admittedly often as a late substitute). For Ireland he has scored twice in 18 games, the last one from a penalty. That makes as grand total of 12 goals in 98 appearances. If, by a footballing miracle, a Norwich team who have already lost to Rotherham, Plymouth and Swansea were to earn promotion this season, the club would face disaster. Virtually the entire squad would have to be replaced to avoid another rapid and ignominious return to the Champi0nship. And we can be sure that Mark Attanasio is not about to pour cash into a bottomless pit. Life as a mid-table Championship outfit has its drawbacks but it is infinitely preferable to being the self-funding laughing stock of the Premier League.
I think you’re misunderstand the state of our finances. This isn’t a one-time black hole. We have only ever broken-even in The Championship after selling our best talent.
We’re running dangerously short on desirable talent to sell. At this time we have Sara and Rowe who could potentially get some interest, perhaps Sargent can attract a few bob. But the reality is, a lot of our players have already shown they’re not PL standard.
We could be a self-funding laughing stock of the The Championship if things keep up.
Most of those as substitute, as last night, minutes to goals it doesn’t look as bad. Gets criticism if he has only played part of the game or if he scores two goals.
Recently it was said that the Norfolk Group wants to build on the infrastructure I just wonder if he knows that unlike American Teams most English clubs own there own grounds.
A story sent months ago by an old workmate who emigrated to Milwaukee says that Attanasio has demand that the city council either build a new stadium with a greater capacity or he will look into moving the franchise to a city that will provide what the team needs to be successful.
I just wonder if city are jumping from one franchise owner to another who is a mirror image in self-funding, maybe he sees city as a fast buck or two get the club promoted then sell on to a big investment group.
I just don’t understand an ambitious group buying an equal share as the current cook has and waiting till she decides it’s time to sell up, Running other Sports Franchise means he knows a Chickens egg from an Ostrich egg so what’s the hold up.
By now all the clubs finances will be know to him and what’s needed to turn the club into a more successful form of it’s self, so is he still not a 100% certain about a future and could he sell what he has to another group again for a fast buck.
Lack of any out pouring of plans for the club from both of the major shareholders shows no respect for the supporters but that’s nothing new with the owners of the club.
Good piece Gary.
Yep agree on Idah needing to score a few over a longer period to perhaps get many off his back, but the rocket cross last night was bloody difficult at best.
Good observation about not playing into our Korean friend.
As has been said before, if players loaned out previously weren’t good enough then, why are they now. I did notice a very weak effort from Onel at about 18 yards last night, just wish he could add finishing to his energy.
For about ten years at my place of work our Portaloo colleagues haven’t said a word, now they are chipper !
I’m waiting for January, although not exactly with baited breath. It may be too late for this season, but if MA splashes the cash then we’ll have a better idea of where the club is heading.