For those of us who are English and fans of sport as well as fans of football and Norwich City, yesterday was a stinker of a day.
Several more apt descriptions are available but I’ll run with stinker as my mum reads my Sunday morning column. But you know what I mean. Pick your own.
The cricketers set the tone for the day with the most abysmal of defeats in their nearly-must-win against South Africa and while the rugby union team produced a performance of infinitely more guts and bravery, they too succumbed to heart-wrenching defeat.
Sandwiched in between though was, for us, the pick of the bunch. A performance that encapsulated all of the ills of defeat from both in Mumbai and Paris.
From India, City sized upon the technical deficiencies, the gutlessness and the mismanagement both on and off the pitch, and from France that priceless ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The upshot was the throwing away of a fortuitous 2-0 lead and our fifth defeat in our last eight Championship games. Or, to spin it another way, a run of 23 league games in which we have won just six.
Now whether you are Team Wagner or Wagner Out, what we can all agree on is that it is a run of results that is not good enough if you have aspirations of promotion.
Regardless of where the blame lies – and you’ll not be surprised to learn that I don’t believe it all to be the fault of Wagner – something has gone horribly wrong, and that type of run, unless averted, could see things turning very ugly on the pitch and in the stands.
And, whatever some may think, no one wants that.
All of which is made even worse because there were moments yesterday when the football flowed nicely and we looked dangerous in the attacking third.
When Wagner’s formula works it’s both pleasing to the eye and effective – that I will not contest. But what it lacks is flexibility. It’s formulaic, it’s football by numbers and so when opponents successfully suss it and counter it, there is nowhere to go.
Even the substitutions are formulaic. The decision to stay with his pre-planned triple substitution in the 78th minute, when Leeds had just equalized, appeared odd to say the least. At that point, the game had changed and so too should the thinking.
But no – the iPad said to make a triple change on 78 minutes, so that’s what must be done.
It wasn’t the only questionable substitution either. With the decision made to replace Onel Hernandez on the hour – the iPad said so – it was either a brave or stupid call to replace him with Tony Springett when alongside him sat Borja Sainz and Christian Fassnacht.
I’ve nothing against young Springett – I don’t doubt he’ll go on to carve out a useful career for himself – but in that moment, even minus the benefit of hindsight, it felt like an odd call.
It just feels so inflexible. What we can’t accuse Wagner of is being reactive. Far from it. But neither is he proactive, so I’m not really sure what he is.
But it’s not just the game management from the technical area that’s a problem. The on-pitch decision making too is, to be kind, questionable.
For example, how the hell, from our own free-kick, which Gabriel Sara had floated into the Leeds box, did Crysencio Summerville manage to find himself with two-thirds of the pitch to run into?
One booming defensive header and the Dutchman was away with the only player anywhere near him being Adam Forshaw – for all his qualities, not someone you would choose to enter in a foot race with a flying winger.
The outcome then was inevitable, as too was the result of the whole game once Shane Duffy had unluckily diverted Dan James’ cross into his own net.
Let’s not kid ourselves either. A 2-0 halftime lead was wonderful, and both goals were, in different ways, excellent but alongside that lead was the fact that, as always, we conceded some big chances to our opponents. And we’re taking really good chances – particularly those missed by Messrs Kamara and Piroe.
Daniel Farke will have been incredulous at being 2-0 down but also acutely aware that any team that gives up as many goalscoring opportunities as Norwich remains there for the taking. And they were.
For context, it is only fair to recognise that, despite their ordinary start to the season, this Leeds team is bursting full of quality and now looks destined to chase down the current top two.
On that basis, defeat to them was no disgrace but we’re not just losing to the Leeds and Leicesters – we also lose to the Rotherhams and the Plymouths. And let’s not forget how many big chances and shots we conceded in the draw at Coventry.
There are lots of things wrong and the direction of travel is clear. In eleventh and just five points clear of the team in 21st is not a good place to be when your form is dropping off a cliff.
But, as mentioned earlier, this crisis shouldn’t be laid solely at the door of David Wagner.
His team is ‘average’ – very average as it transpires – because, aside from a couple of obvious exceptions, his is a squad rammed full of average, unexceptional Championship players. The compound effect of many years of serial underinvestment in the playing squad.
The return of Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes will, of course, help but a squad that is thrown so off-kilter when it loses just two key players to injury is not a well-balanced one in the first place.
The usual soundbites around expecting a response against Middlesbrough are already in full flow but when you find yourselves asking for one on an almost weekly basis that is a sure-fire sign that all is not well.
Having said that, I desperately hope there is one – a reaction that is.
One final thought before I leave you to your Corn Flakes… Wagner was outcoached by Daniel Farke yesterday.
The in-game changes made by Farke were not countered in any way, shape, or form, and if by some miracle we were given a choice over which German we would prefer to have in our dugout while in the Championship, then it would almost certainly be a unanimous decision.
At the time of Daniel’s departure, there were some dissenters but also plenty who agreed with the decision as it appeared, at that exact time, that he had taken us as far as he possibly could.
But with the benefit of hindsight, what has followed has been little short of a horror show.
So it is not just the decision-making in the dugout and on the pitch that appears to be the problem.
Just saying.
Hi Gary – dissenter and proud of it. The wrong man left CR almost two years ago. That man is still there.
I feel very sorry for Wagner, being used as a pawn in a desperate game played in the ivory tower. You know the one.
I can’t judge the game in footballing terms I’m afraid, I didn’t go. I am not going to use my ST until Webber leaves (my granddaughters are happy enough going).
Although I know my views will attract the usual “get over it” cries. I can’t because we got rid of our best chance in decades of providing both promotion and beautiful football. Also the feeling of pride in our club.
I’m still waiting for a rational explanation for the sacking of Daniel Farke after he’d given us so much. I’ve still to see a valid reason.
We’re back to the Gunn and Grant years in terms of squad ability. We’ve ******* the money up the wall – as Webber so delightfully out it.
All I hope is the new SD makes a fresh start and doesn’t listen to Delia and Co when they make suggestions.
The Attanasio group need to take over now and run this club as a business, not a career ladder for the Webbers.
Oh and give us some lovely football. I don’t want much in life on a Saturday afternoon.
Farke was the scapegoat for the poor recruitment in the summer of 2021. That’s not being said with any sense hindsight, and to then replace Farke with a man who was actually employed at the time of sacking, was never, ever going to end well. NCFC are still paying the price for these decisions nearly two years on.
Spot on.
You have said everything that needs saying. I love my club but I will say a lot of our fans deserve this. They couldn’t see that Farke had got us to the Prem despite the club being run at mid-Championship level. Anyone who moaned, they laughed at and told us to support someone else. Must have got that off Webber.
Spot on. I remember reading on this site that we needed a change and that DF had taken us as far as he could, and we needed to be able to compete in the Prem etc. I even recall comments that some were fed up getting promoted if it meant relegation.
To win the title in 2019 was the most amazing achievement in recent years from me. He inherited a side going nowhere and rebuilt it with no money. Playing great football. He overachieved. Massively. So yes we went down, then won the title again. Then went down again. Well now look at the mess since. This isn’t 20/20 hindsight, so many of us saw it at the time. I remember saying it was reminiscent of Charlton sacking Alan Curbishley because they wanted someone to “take them to the next level”. Which was 2-3 divisions lower. Nottm Forest overachieved with Steve Cooper two years ago but stuck with him last year and stayed up. Sometimes clubs need to realise that they can’t all be top ten in the country and accept when they have it good.
DF is a class manager and above that a truly classy man. The clowns in charge here got lucky when they appointed him and then couldn’t see it.
Morning Gary. I too was perplexed by the triple substitutions. The score was 2-1 when they lined up on the touch line, so I presume the intention was to protect what we had, but the equaliser changed all that. Leeds clearly had their tails up, and we were sitting deeper, with no attacking threat, so why not put on someone who can add something different up front, with Sainz being the obvious choice.
I also couldn’t understand the Hernandez/Springett swap. If Placheta was fit enough to be on the bench, why not a straight swap with a natural left sided player? Especially given that their right back was already on a yellow card?
While I’ve been willing to give Idah the opportunity to prove himself, I’m sorry to say he’s never going to be an effective striker, and I don’t know where else you could play him. He never challenged for a single header, and his brain seems to be too far away from his feet.
Excellent summation Gary. You are right that this debacle of late was made probable by the poor decisions made in the past year and a half. Primarily keeping a failed football director in place for too long. Even now we can’t get shot of him.
Looking forward though, what to do next? It may be a bit harsh but the only way to spark a response is to bring in a new manager to try to get things moving again. Wagner seems a decent guy but he has only one plan and is unable to influence a game. So sadly he must go and a new face be given a chance to get a consistent tune out of our poor orchestra.
This season has to be a rebuilding process and Wagner is not the man for that in my opinion.
Am I the only one thinking that 2 years ago we sacked the wrong person?
Farke was, and continues to be, far too good for NCFC.
O T B C
The amazing bit is Webber still gets to leave on his terms while we want to sack another manager. Our club is in trouble.
Hi Gary
Yesterday was a real downer on the sporting side.
Buttler win the toss and we looked good after a quick wicket but then nothing went our way, for the bowlers, but our sloppy batting was terrible.
Rugby was a reasonable watch but in the dying stages it looked like England were playing out time and S Africa wanted the win more than England and so a double blow to the English from the Boers.
Wagner it seem is the Happy Face or the defensive one trying to divert flak from Webber and the board, says all the right things and with a smile on his face.
Farke did a similar thing when at city but was winning games 208 games, 87 wins, 47% win rate
Wagner has played 36, Lost 15, Drw 7, 38% win rate
After the terrible results at the end of last season he was lucky to stay in place, now we are struggling again and will we see another win before the next international break I hope so but will not hold my breath.
Do nice guys win things, but is he getting the best out of this squad, I don’t like early sackings but city never do that it’s always hang on to the last minute, or maybe Webber will leave it to Knapper, and that will be to late.
Farke doing tactical substitutions, and switching to a 3-5-2 formation. Who would have seen that one coming?
Thanks Gary.
I expect you’ll be inundated with responses on this one !
Just a couple of things to throw in the mixer already partially alluded to above – our substitutes have little little presence, whether that be physically, ability or other.
We know Duffy and Gibson struggle to handle pace, but it’s not all their doing. Leeds 2nd yesterday being awful marking on the outside of our box and the 3rd a mess positionally as Mr Farke would say from an ‘ offensive ‘ position.
Hi Gary, I agree on all points.
The issues with the team in my opinion, is we do not have the fitness to play Wagner’s style for 90mins especially with the amount of games crammed into the championship. One of the reasons I believe we started so brightly at the start of the season. Also to add to that the injuries.
As mentioned before like Daniel Farke prior, there is one plan and that is the plan!
My concerns with the manager are that he seems to be unable to identify problems on the pitch. For example.
Ben Gibson is not a man you want to play the ball out from the back. After watching the game yesterday myself and most of the crowd needed pace makers fitted when he was choosing who to pass to!
Following on from that when Leeds were on the counter how was Gabrial Sara back in the box defending before him?
I don’t understand how Bahtt is not given a chance when quite frankly Gibson is not good enough?
Substitutions should have been like for like replacements. As soon as Hernandez went off, that was it! No outlet!
I think Adam Idah gets a raw deal. I think if you cast your mind back that kid sat on the bench for 2 years with no football rather than being loaned out again. He clearly needs confidence but there is a goalscorer in there. Unfortunately he has a thankless task if you look at what Wagner asks him to do.
If you noticed on a counter he is nowhere to be seen? He was in our 5 yard box defending a corner?
He should be standing on the half way line being utilised as an outlet. Big lad can hold the ball up, then build play from there?
Stuart Webber needs to hold accountability for the players he has brought in for Wagner.
Webber knew Wagners style of play, bringing in 30+ aged players in to play that football style, is never going to work unless you were Gary Holt?
I think we can all agree the clubs direction is like a compass with a magnet on it!
I don’t believe we will see anything but the odd draw unless something miraculous happens?
As you mentioned the crowd are not going to put up with this much this longer, nor should they!
I would not be surprised to see us in the bottom of the table by the end of November. By which point Webber will have finally washed his hands of Norwich City and the new Sporting Director will be left to pick up the pieces with big decisions to make!
Personally I would like to see Graham Potter come in?
Sorry Greg, I have to disagree about Idah. He doesn’t have a genuine striker’s instinct, like for instance, Grant Holt or Pukki. He isn’t great at holding the ball up under challenge, doesn’t win headers, and when put through by Sara with a pass reminiscent of Buendia, it took him so long to sort his feet out that he was closed down by at least two defenders, so he isn’t going to be an outlet when we’re defending a corner. I don’t disagree that we should leave someone up by the halfway line when defending a corner, but I think it needs to be someone with pace, like Pacetta, who can get a defender on the turn and exploit the space in behind.
As for Potter, no chance. He’s waiting for an opportunity at another big club (Man Utd?), and anyway, we’re unlikely to make another managerial change before the new Sporting Director is bedded in, which will probably be at least until the end of the season.
Hi Jim, we all have our opinions. But what I will say is an apprentice only gets better with experience. From when Adam Idah scored a hatrick at Preston, to now, you tally up the minutes played. Furthermore the service he got yesterday was shocking. Probably one clear chance? Again he Is suffering from what Pukki went through and nobody whinged about him! If he missed 6 chances a game I could understand but wagner is not playing him as lone striker. I agree he doesn’t have the pace, but where norwich have always progressed upfront is a big man upfront with others playing off of him with pace.
The Leeds commentary team were very impressed with Idah,the defence was the problem yesterday. It’s strange that any mild positivity about Idah is always questioned.
I’m not surprised the Leeds commentary team were impressed with Idah, because he presented no threat to their team! I’d like to be positive about him after that cup game against Preston, but since then in his (admittedly few) appearances, he has not shown any signs that he can worry an opposing defence. If my memory serves me right, both City and Preston in that game were fielding sides weaker than their usual, so maybe that was a factor. I’ve played football for over 20 years, and watched it for over 60, and I like to think I can recognise when a player has what it takes, and as a striker, sadly Idah doesn’t have it.
Excellent sum Mr G, listening to the wireless, where Adrian Coote was almost speechless at the first change with Springett. Goreham tried to push him for further comment but credit to him he kept it in, being Radio. He maintains that the squad is nowhere good enough, that is exactly what many of us have been saying since August. I would love to hear what Mark Rivers and Mark Walton, two of the best pundits Radio Norfolk get alongside Goreham.
There was a little blip of playing good stuff, which made some think again, but we are back to exactly where we were last season and there is no Smudger Smith to blame .
Chris Goreham made a point a couple of times, that we should remember who we are playing, they were a prem side last season. Hellfire if we have aspirations of promotion who the hell are we expected to play? A L2 side. (we would struggle with them too at the minute)
Leeds had a torrid time through the summer, with players jumping ship with release clauses etc, players refusing to play. Yet Farke took the job on and has worked his magic, showing this club what he can do with better backing.
He had taken our group of players as far as he could given the lack of injection of any quality. Time was perhaps right, but I am undecided now using hindsight, just after an away victory still rankles me a little.
Farke took a clutch of lower-league German players, a free transfer and one very cheap Argentinian and moulded them into one of the greatest teams we have seen for a while. Wagner has a clutch of Freebies, (3 over 30..yo’s) an international from Swiss Young Boys and is moulding them for just the opposite.
After years of under-investment, and seasons of poor recruitment, we have reached where we are. waiting for the January window to get an injection from the sales of Sara and Rowe. Webber should be shown the door tomorrow morning, he must not be allowed to have any input into any playing staff.
I wonder where the club will be and what state when the 3 years in up before the Americans can reall do anything. We could be competing against other Americans, film stars I mean (lolol)
I wish Farke nothing but the best, going forward, his actions yesterday were class, he makes Wagner look 3rd rate. a very poor copy of even trying to get the fans onside. I have no doubt was part of his brief, you all know, give them cheers then lead them in cheering back. Poor poor. and a cheap shot.
To use another sport the Springboks coach saw the way the game was going and changed the scrum which won them the game. Wagner lost us the game. Leeds have good forwards but we should have managed that game out. Norwich City is in a state of paralysis. While Webber is there everything is on hold. Wagner is living on his past reputation. Anywhere else he’d be gone. What worries me is if he does go we will appoint his coach who has already had a puff piece written in a rival publication. We are becoming more like Huddersfield Town every passing week. As for being out thought by Farke, Wagner also managed to be outthought by Schumacher at Plymouth which is more worrying. Only at Norwich could players like Idah and Springett be considered worth a place. I hope a positive change is made before the season has gone but everything is so stale now. Even a takeover takes forever and the previous incumbents are still there. There are too many placeholders contributing nothing.
There should have been a new SD in place straight after last season,new start for a new season,instead the Geriatric owners wanted their dear little Stuart to carry on regardless,pi###ng more money on wages on has beens.Until Webber is gone and the Stowmarket two nothing will change,a complete shower of S##t from top to bottom.
Spot on TonyB – as you say nothing will change. It can’t until they let go and that is not going to happen – there is only one other thing can can replace them and I do not wish anyone ill will.
The club needs fresh input, not just cash, but younger more professional, with football nous and background. Not just the Cook and the publisher but Mrs Webber to Join her old man out of the door.
Spot on Tony. I can’t understand all this pro club stuff. I’m sick of Delia holding everything to ransom. She needs to let go now.
Perhaps Wagner was too cautious in his selection with regards to fitness. Forshaw has got to be fit enough to start a game, Sorensen has always played well in his natural position, Nunez has been good this season and I can’t understand why Sainz wasn’t used in such an important game. Without Rowe, when he was subbed,and Placheta we were without anyone with real pace
I don’t understand why Duffy’s second was not allowed and the Leeds keeper made some good saves. Also unlucky to lose Gunn as their first was a keeper mistake.
Hernandez was deemed to have obstructed the keeper , by standing in front of him as the ball came over. 50/50 decision at best. There is no rule that says Hernandez has to get out of the way. But the ref saw it as he did.
Agree with every word, Gary.
New players but same team as last year under Smith and Wagner.
How often over the last year and a half are we a one-half team?
Whether some supporters will agree with this I do not know, but for me Duffy and Gibson are a sizeable downgrade on Hanley and Omobamidele.
It is now 14 goals conceded in 7 games. Just not good enough.
Wagner hasn’t learnt, we are not good enough to hang onto a lead, our best defence is attack.
The substitutions were madness – Springett for Onel? Really.
If Wagner thought that was a good performance, we are in trouble. How did we mange to be 3 v 3 at 2-2 in the 85th minute? Hang on for a point at least.
I noticed that Leeds’ last two goals could/would have been snuffed out by a holding midfielder in the Alex Tettey mould.
Farke is our greatest manager of modern times and he has been treated shamelessly. As Gary said, he was the scapegoat for horrendous summer signings that year.
Look at Burnley rip up the Championship (as we did twice) but now struggle because they, like us, need a much higher class of player than it seems they can afford.
Farke was the pawn in the Delia/Webber sandwich. Delia won’t go, whatever is in the interests of Norwich City and SW is going but only because he knows this self-funding malarkey just will not work.
He has actually admitted it.
Farke needed better players than, Gilmour, Tzolis, Rashica, Kabak etc – not the boot. If you cannot fund an EPL team and there is interest from others then it is time to step aside Delia.
My heart sank when she said she is soldering on for another three years to keep a beady-eye on Mark Attanasio. Just what he needs!
I think Leicester and Leeds will walk this Championship
Delia is beyond arrogant. Why would anyone want or need to learn about running a football with her. To expect Attanasio (far more successful than she’s ever been) to serve an apprenticeship is an insult.
I’m afraid you are spot on with your summary, Gary.
What a class act Farke is and what woeful owners we have that they couldn’t see the man who should have gone was Webber.
Still, as Webber said he wouldn’t leave Delia in the lurch it’ll be interesting to see all the activity between now and the end of November as he clears the £60 million deficit he’s created and moves out the deadwood he’s brought into the club!
Costly basic errors yet again plus a coach below par on in-game flexibility equals mid-table mediocrity.
I wonder if Sara is hoping a Premier League move will become available in January. Rowe ditto, although he’s still a bit raw.
We’ve sold all our other PL-type assets and have nothing to show for it except debt.
And please find a League One club willing to take Idah.
Yet again not much to take issue with, Gary.
The tossing away of a 2 goal lead in the last half hour being the latest in a long line of disastrous performances and results.
Many point to the profligacy of Leeds first half finishing but with a decent NCFC centre forward the game could have been sewn up before half time.
It wasn’t a nanny, a Billy or a scape goat which was twice put clean through on goal, it was Adam idah. Suffice to say he failed to do anything useful. We can cut hin some slack for ballooning the open goal over the bar later on as he was offside, as he so often is.
Having negotiated 15 minutes of the second period the decision to take the industrious Hernandez off was clearly a classic Wagner predetermined substitution. Quite why he saw Springett as the logical replacement will never be known. Particularly with the long-awaited Sainz on the bench and raring to go. Baffling.
As the half unfolded we were all left wondering where all this nous, steel and experience we were promised had gone. It certainly wasn’t in evidence.
Also not in evidence for seemingly the 100th time was a defensively minded central-midfield player. You know the sort, one who snuffs out danger, picks up runners and commits tactical fouls to stop the opposition pissing through us like a sieve.
No, rather we were informed that 2 previously forward thinking players were going to form a “double pivot” which would negate the need for such an outdated concept. Klopp and Guardiola are clearly dinosaurs as they still find room for this elusive species but the clappers ridiculed the rest of us when we clamoured for one.
The same clappers who agree with every decision and statement ever made by the club.
As a result of this nonsense, we have one of the worst goals against records in English football. We are regularly treated to the sight of opposing attackers tearing unchecked toward our goal with Gert and Daisy at the back frantically backpedalling like the Italian army at El Alamein.
Add to this carnage the bizarre juxtaposition of Sara, who should be attacking the opposition from high up the pitch and Gibbs, who is being ruined by Wagner’s weird use of him as an auxiliary forward. Again, bizarre.
I’m sure Wagner is a decent guy and I’m also sure he knows it’s not going to work here for him. Like the man in the opposite dugout, he is set to be the next victim of the shower owning and running the club.
Unless there is an immediate and pronounced upturn in results and performances, mainly results, Wagner’s position will become untenable as his record will be frankly appalling.
Then the cadaverous speed at which everything happens at NCFC will create a situation where the soon-to-depart Webber can’t sack his pal and hire a replacement, while we all wait for the fellow from Arsenal, who may or may not be any good at all to come in and do the job.
A better team just won, you can also lead Manchester City at half time but the final outcome is easily different. Leeds has too much quality compared to Norwich. Half time result 2-0 was very much against how the game was. Summerville and Rutter are especially high level attackers to the championship level and its not only them because Leeds has plenty of options.
Sara has turned out to be a much better player than he was when he came to Norwich. I had good laughs when he gave to Kamara his own medicine, brilliant individual goal but Leeds still had 3 defenders left to defend him. Archie Gray just ran out in that situation and that made it easier for Sara. I do know that he is 17 and Leeds fans very much want to see him as new Messi or something and overrate him so much that it does not make any sense. That is a thing I have never understood by fans, he might get a good career or not so what? Outside Sara its very difficult to find much positive in the Norwich squad. Yes, I know that Sargent is injured but come on he has a lot to prove but of course he is better than Idah. Leicester, Ipswich, Leeds and Southampton should be top 4 this season, Ipswich might have been over performed and lose their top 2 spot. Norwich plays to get a 5-6 place with several other clubs. What is bothering me is the football you play after Farke.
Teemu Pukki played last night his last game of the season, Minnesota failed to get a playoff spot. Teemu scored 10 goals in 15 games and his goal per game ratio looks to be highest in the league and just 1 penalty goal. Teemu has revealed that he had to start playing without pre season and was very much out of form. He also said that he had la liga offers. His wages in Minnesota is 3,55 million per season, interesting that Billy Sharp only gets 0,24 per season. Teemu was bad again in the last euro qualifying matches, Just like Norwich after Farke is Teemu now as a player for Finland.
You say, “that he, (Farke), had taken us as far as he possibly could”.
Surely the point is Delia had taken you as far as she possibly could. To get promoted twice and not invest in the team guarantees relegation sooner rather than later. Delia played safe, cleared debts and settled for the mediocre.
If she had had the club’s best interest at heart she should have sold the club whilst in the EPL for a handsome profit and ensured the club had new owners with the wherewithal to take the club forward. Didn’t happen and now the club is being managed on a Delia diet budget whilst looking for another Farke to get it to the promised land against all the odds.
That, in a nutshell is basically it.
There are so many things that need addressing, with some more than 18 months overdue:
Why have we not managed to bring in at least one half decent CDM – there has been a gaping corridor through the centre of the park ever since Oliver Skipp left
Why did we loan out Tomkinson when we knew big Andy was on his way out – Why hasn’t Jayden Warner been given more game time after a very impressive performance at Fulham against some quick and talented Premier league attackers – Gibson simply isn’t good enough – looks totally uncomfortable on the ball and always a mistake waiting to happen.
Yes they don’t have experience but they have pace and if you don’t give them minutes they won’t improve – we can’t carry on seeing pacy wingers leave our pair of aged defenders for dust – but obviously DW thinks it’s all fine.
I appreciate the pot is pretty much empty but we could at least use some of what we’ve got – why isn’t Batth getting more minutes from the bench and bringing on Springett over Sainz yesterday – give me strength!
I think Hernandez is still full of huff and puff but delivers vey little – full of mistakes at the back yesterday. Played a few decent games to earn a new contract but done sweet F A since.
It’s just become a bit depressing and embarrassing and it really doesn’t help when the Wagner clown comes out saying he thought the performance was good – really! – throwing away a three goal lead and not brining on Forshaw much earlier to deal with the second half Leeds onslaught was tactically naive at best.
I hope Ben Knapper is already watching this all unravel and realising what a massive task he’s going to face come 27th November – hopefully a shortlist of managerial replacements is already in place.
We will really struggle to make mid table, let alone top six unless deceive actions are taken quickly – but we all know that with sleepy NCFC that ain’t never going to happen.
Wow almost as many comments on this one as the Plymouth loss. I think the gutless description is unfair, they worked hard but in the end lacked the organisation and leadership on the pitch and in the dugout to bring it home.
I feel like we lost the game with the Onel substitution, he felt like our genuine out ball, he could hold off a defender and get us up the field. Without him we got deeper and deeper.
As I think I said before, Idah reminds me of Dominic Solanke, a player who tore up the age groups because he was so much more physically developed compared to others his age, it took Solanke a good several years to turn into a decent striker, I still think he can do that.
Finally watching Forshaw run after Summerville it was like watching someone running waste deep in water. So far our signings at the end of the window, Hwang, Batth and Forshaw have been very poor
Is Baath poor? Will we ever find out?
It’s as if Farke was never here and we are back where we were in 2017.
I decided to have a lovely day with friends instead of remaining angry about football. At least we can start planning for next season under our soon-to-be present new sporting director. All we’ve got to do is sell Jonny Rowe and Gabby Sara to meet our (American shareholder sourced) loan payments and wait 3 years to see if the new board members have any money to spend. Brilliant.
Farke would have gone at some point. But he would have definitely taken us further than Smith/many other options even under Delia. As several say above, perhaps the wrong man left. The utter farce that is the Premiership cash furnace should be seen for what it is. It needs to be an ever present part of any analysis of our situation. Then and now. I remember Archant whipping up the ‘Farke Out’ sentiment. Now they are milking the emotional response to his return.
For reasons I don’t understand this game was available on ESPN+ in certain parts of the world, complete with decent commentary. Available with judicious use of a VPN.
So I watched and the start was ok , Duffy scored from a corner, Leeds overcame the shock of going behind and started to look dangerous, 3 of their attackers have pace to waste and but for poor finishing would not have been behind at the break. City had their moments as well but the finishing was even dire than Leeds until Sara ,quick feet and power scored a second.
Second half Leeds kept pressing , City tried to counter attack , then a Leeds attack on the right , pace again , James shots from the byline and Long parries the ball upwards and towards the pen spot , Duffy , wrong place , wrong time. Note to Long , try to put ball off field,. Now Leeds pace was hurting us, Our speed merchant Placheta , in his defensive role must come on , but no , we ignore pace and bring on competance ?. A couple more examples of pace Leads to 2 more Leeds goals , particularly the 3rd when not a one of our outfield lads could keep up with him .