Norwich City vs Sunderland (home) Sunday 13th August.

[Canaryboy]

Didn't see the game so got nothing valuable to say, other than that I'm surprised Hoolahan isn't the first name on the team sheet for all home games considering he's about 3 times more effective at home than he is away. I wish I did watch the game because the Talksh*te commentator kept calling Maddison a "local lad". 

Also, we haven't really got any excuse to be playing a left winger at right wing back. We clearly need to sign a right wing back, we've only got one (Pinto) and Webber made quite a big deal about us only having one left back when he arrived.

Its going to take us time to find our feet isn't it, to be expected. Does show how much work needs to be done though and how pre-season can be a pretty poor indicator, completely different kettle of fish in competitive games when adrenaline pushes everything up a gear. 

 

[GJP]

Also, we haven't really got any excuse to be playing a left winger at right wing back. We clearly need to sign a right wing back, we've only got one (Pinto) and Webber made quite a big deal about us only having one left back when he arrived.

But Wildschut played well. And actually would deserve to keep his place over Pinto.

 

[Canaryboy]

Seen other people say he was poor. Like I said, didn't go, I don't really have any opinion other than that shipping 3 at home is concerning.

Its not exactly a Bryan Gunn style humiliation though is it.

 

[GJP]

Seen other people say he was poor. Like I said, didn't go, I don't really have any opinion other than that shipping 3 at home is concerning.

Its not exactly a Bryan Gunn style humiliation though is it.

You should trust me over them.

 

[Canaryboy]

You should trust me over them.

I believe you. Also, Godfrey a possible contender for that right side in time? 

 

[GJP]

I believe you. Also, Godfrey a possible contender for that right side in time? 

Don't know tbh, not seen enough of him.

Thing is, he was around the first team squad last season but didn't break through. And it appears he's going to be in the situation this season. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Quite a bit of doom and gloom on the Pink'un already, many not listened to Webber's plea for a bit of patience. 

We started last season with 8 wins, 2 draws, and 2 defeats in 12 games and found ourselves at the top of the league... and look how that panned out.

Not time to worry just yet, transfer window hasn't even closed yet and we have no idea what Webber and Farke are trying to pull out of the bag in the next 18 days. Last season we signed one Nelson Miguel Casto Oliviera on the 30th August. 

 

[Fenway Frank]

I'm staying away from the Til un until things calm down a bit

 

[morty]

I'm staying away from the Til un until things calm down a bit

 

[Fenway Frank]

What happened to the flags etc in the Barclay ? I thought the crowd / atmosphere was pretty good though, particularly in the first twenty , thirty minutes 

 

[splutcho]

We still have more points than Newcastle had this time last season! Really, really frustrating today as it's the same old problems, stupid defending and not making pressure count. I still have faith we'll get there though and we did all predict a slow start.

 

[Din]

I haven't bothered checking the Pink'un, usually I do look through it but I just know it'll wind me up if I read it

I am warming to Wildschut, however I think Pinto has to come back in. He's not the best defender by any means but he is still much better defensively and technically than Wildschut. I would be happy for Wildschut to be used as a natural winger, just not as a wing back.

I imagine Wes didn't start because basically played 90 minutes against Swindon and we have 3 games in 6 days this week. Perhaps the same with Pinto as he's coming back from injury. It would surprise me if they're both on the bench against QPR.

 

[GJP]

I don't see us going up with that back 3.

 

[ZLF]

I think Klose will improve our aerial strength,  but its clear we need another CB to help deal with that threat;   a long ball is causing far too much panic.

So do we loan or buy Grant Hanley or what are t he alternatives?

 

[Dubai Mark]

I had to look again at the highlights after reading some of the comments on the Pinkun and elsewhere being highly critical of Russell Martin again, and then here from GJP regarding him "giving the ball away" for two of Sunderland's goals. Now, my stream did play up a couple of times when I was watching the game live, so I could have missed some things I guess, but what didnt happen was Russell Martin giving the ball away for two goals. "For sure" it was his clearing header that went to the player who assisted the second goal, but the other two goals had nothing to do with him, more like our two new German recruits who went missing or who didnt attack the ball and a wing back not closing down his man, schoolboy errors as mentioned by Farke, in fact overall Russell Martin was pretty solid. There was also another near miss for Sunderland where Zimmerman totally lost the Sunderland player, now I have been relatively impresed so far with Zimmerman, but he does appear to have moments where he looses concentration or, perhaps its the zonal marking not quite gelling yet?,

That aside, for me the main problem we had was playing so many backward and sideways balls and playing at a slow tempo, Naismith in particular and Maddison to a certain extent were for me the only ones who seemed to get was required, but the rest of the team really didnt play with enough tempo or desire..... and the system we play needs a high tempo, if not, then the opposition find it very easy to get behind the ball and defend in numbers, exactly what Sunderland did. At times in that first half, I'll be honest and say, that I was getting bored, it was all a bit "tippy tappy" and thats the type of football I have never liked, sure I like good speedy passing and lots of movement, but unlike against Fulham we were going nowhere with our possession, the stats mean NOTHING when you lose. Now, I'm sure our Coach will be working on things this week, in particular to eradicate the small errors....whilst at the same time that canny Holloway will certainly also be looking at the replays of the match and feeling his side have a good chance of taking the three points.

We need Wes and Pinto to start that's for sure.....   

 

[hogesar]

If it's between the two then Wes > Naismith every time, even moreso at home

 

[Canaryboy]

I don't think there is really any point in mentioning alternatives when we've got a Sporting Director who is convinced that Germany has all the answers, but I thought that Angus McDonald sounded like a good idea when we were linked to him last January and perhaps paying an extra half a million quid or whatever for somebody who already has a years experience of this league is a price worth paying. 

And if the board and Webber feel like a sudden change of tact and decide to spend the Jacob Murphy money rather than put it in some Icelandic bank for a decade then they may want to ask whether Toffolo is really going to be up to the job if he is allegedly already behind Jamal Lewis in the managers thinking and consider giving Dijks a quick call to see if he has lowered his expectations after failing to agree terms with Del Boy at Birmingham? 

I've basically been calling for patience because I don't see what other choice we've got and was getting bored of my own negativity, but I am still concerned about a lack of investment. Its great if you can find a player here and there for £500k who ends up being superb at this level, but I'm not sure that Webber has some sort of magic formula which enables him to consistently build excellent Championship teams on a League 1 budget, if Germany was really that much of a gold mine then there would have already have been a gold rush. I read an article asking whether Chelsea have the best U23 team in the world at the moment, and its actually packed full of English, Scottish and Welsh players, no Germans. 

That said, Farke pretty much said that Zimmerman is here to be a backup player and presumably that will be the case if we sign one more centre back and then get Klose fit again, so that back 5 isn't the finished article. 

I find it quite easy at the moment to switch between negative and positive, but I'm worried that Webber and Farke don't really realise just how good Dorrans and Howson are as players and I don't think any fans expected to be losing both of them this summer. And the most concerning thing for me is that the last time we went downhill we didn't just downgrade once but twice. E.g. we actually went from Francis to Etuhu to Fotheringham, and from Ashton to Earnshaw to Cureton. Howson-Vrancic-???, I'm more worried about what comes post-Vrancic.... Jamie O'Hara or something? Good value to be found in the reality TV circuit? 

But then I sound all doom and gloom again, and have to remember that we've got injuries and more than two weeks left of the window, and remember that Michael Turner took 4 or 5 games to stop looking like a donkey when he arrived "he used to be sh*te, but now he's alright, Michael Turner" 

 

[GJP]

but what didnt happen was Russell Martin giving the ball away for two goals. "For sure" 

Twice he lost us possession of the ball and the subsequent passages of play ended in goals.

Those moments aren't necessarily the big obvious glaring errors but they are the type that, as the cliche goes, you get punished for at this level.

Not that the other defenders covered themselves in glory either. 

 

[Number 9]

A pfennig for Cam's thoughts as Russ nudged the ball away from him and past the well wide.

 

[Din]

What happened to the flags etc in the Barclay ? I thought the crowd / atmosphere was pretty good though, particularly in the first twenty , thirty minutes 

Also, no countdown to when On the Ball City was gonna start? Obviously in the end the crowd to it upon ourselves to just start singing it but thought it was quite odd. Wonder whether that's a regular thing or whether that was just a technical error or something from the club.