Din
Well-Known Member
Just straight up dire, again. Brentford played well and are clearly a good team but the way they absolutely controlled the game was so poor from our point of view. We just couldn't seem to score to save our lives, and alright in the end we did but by that point it was completely redundant. Brentford let us have the ball in that 2nd half and I think if they really wanted to they probably could've punished us further.
Our attacking play is just nowhere near where it should be. Alright last season defensively we were shocking, but we are as well this season. At least last year we had some really entertaining games. Apart from Sheffield Wednesday a couple of weeks ago I don't think we've had 1 'great' game at Carrow Road this season. I understand that when Farke first came in he identified defence as the weak point, and wanted to prioritise that and make sure we were defensively solid, hence why we weren't putting as much emphasis on attacking, and for a while (up until that Arsenal game) that was fine. But now the defensive side of our game has reset it was before our winning run, and our attack that was so potent even under Neil and Irvine last year, hasn't reset and is still in this weird, conservative mindset. We are just so slow at turning defence into attack, and getting men up the pitch to support the striker. It's like half the time the front 4 don't really know what the're supposed to do in certain situations. In contrast to a lot of teams we've played, who don't have players of the quality of the likes of Pritchard, Maddison and Oliveira, yet are organised and all know their roles, and have therefore ended up coming away from CR with a result, such as Hull, Barnsley, Preston and then Brentford today. Don't get me wrong they're all good sides, but on paper shouldn't be as strong as us going forward, yet are practically all more effective.
Add that to the fact that defensively we're shambolic a lot of the time and it's certainly not a recipe for success. Part of that problem to be fair could be solved with the re-introduction of Trybull and Tettey. It's no coincidence that their injuries have coincided with our poor run of form. It would be harsh on Reed and Vrancic who have actually been two of our better players recently. I really don't understand the Vrancic haters. There are a few around me who seem to criticise everything he does, and I had a quick look on the other forum and some were criticising him on there during the game despite the fact that they blatantly weren't even watching it. Don't get me wrong he was poor when he first joined, but it does just take some players a while to settle in. I thought he was pretty comfortably our best outfield player today. He wasn't amazing by any stretch, but he was one of, if not probably the only player (apart from Gunn) where you could say he actually played well. Regardless though, we really need a midfield that isn't as easy to bypass. Both Trybull and Tettey are heart on their sleeves type of players, and can actually add some bite and passion to what is at the moment a very timid side. So whilst I do like both Reed and Vrancic, we do desperately need to see those two return on Boxing Day. I'd be interested to see what it would be like if we had a 3 man midfield of Tettey, Trybull and Vrancic, with Pritchard, Maddison and Nelson just constantly camped up the pitch. That personally is what I'd do against Birmingham.
To be fair, with the chances we had today we should've got something from the game. There was that spell at 0-0 where we had 4 good chances in the space of about 2 minutes but the ball just did not want to go in the net. The difference then is that Brentford go up the other end and take their chances. Hate to say it as well but we certainly bought the wrong Watkins. I've heard throughout the season that Ollie Watkins has been doing really well for Brentford this season (has 7 goals and 3 assists from the wing so far),and you can see he's got great ability. He cost them £2m from Exeter and is 21 years old. He is the sort of player we should've got in the summer. He's like a stronger, technically better version of Josh Murphy. Our Watkins may have cost £2m less, but he's probably on more money and so far he hasn't looked like adding anything to this team, with the exception of the 2nd half against Sheffield Wednesday. As for the rest of the side, Pinto had the worst game I've seen him have in a long time. Pritchard looked like making things happen at times but was relatively ineffective. Oliveira blew hot and cold, though actually had a decent game. He worked hard off the ball as well, put in a real shift. Also took his goal brilliantly. I have to say after his recent form, if we got a decent offer in January for him I wouldn't have been too fussed if we sold him, but one thing he does do is get goals, which for us, a team who rarely look like scoring half the time, could be priceless. He's currently 13th in the top scorers list at the moment, despite playing less minutes than any other player in the top 25, and is 6th out of 25 in terms of minutes per goal (he scores every 154 minutes). That would be better as well if it didn't include games where he wasn't fully fit or recovering from injury. I do wonder with the way we're playing at the moment, that even if we do get a good fee for him, whether we'd be able to replace his goals.
I really don't understand what Farke's reluctance to play Wildschut is about. He is the best player in our team at driving the ball up the pitch from deep, turning defence into attack. The last time he started a game was against Bolton on November 4th. Since then he's only played 25 minutes worth of football in 7 games! Not even making the bench for most games. I just don't know why we're not using him. As said above, if I was a defender I'd be much happier to be up against Watkins than Wildschut. Whilst I was pleased to see Lewis get some minutes (and I thought he did ok considering he's just returning from injury and had never even played a senior game before),if I was Farke in that situation, 2-0 down at home with 20 minutes left I'd have just taken Reed off and bought Wildschut on and gone all out for a goal, along with Josh coming on for Watkins. But instead he just made a straight swap at left back, which to be honest made no difference to how we played. I only caught the end of the interview, but Farke saying after the game that he put too much pressure on the players going into this is an interesting one. Not sure what to make of it really. As for the 'Delia Out' chants, I'm more and more starting to agree with them.
We need 3 wins from the next 3 games if we wanna do anything this season. It's as simple as that. As I said before obviously I don't expect us to get near the top 6 but even so I really don't want to see this season just fizzle out, particularly as we're not even in January yet. We have Birmingham next game who are bottom and Burton after that who are also in the bottom 3. If we get a poor return from those games then Farke is in trouble, particularly as we could be in the bottom 6 by the end of this weekend.
Anyway, not sure if I covered enough topics there
Our attacking play is just nowhere near where it should be. Alright last season defensively we were shocking, but we are as well this season. At least last year we had some really entertaining games. Apart from Sheffield Wednesday a couple of weeks ago I don't think we've had 1 'great' game at Carrow Road this season. I understand that when Farke first came in he identified defence as the weak point, and wanted to prioritise that and make sure we were defensively solid, hence why we weren't putting as much emphasis on attacking, and for a while (up until that Arsenal game) that was fine. But now the defensive side of our game has reset it was before our winning run, and our attack that was so potent even under Neil and Irvine last year, hasn't reset and is still in this weird, conservative mindset. We are just so slow at turning defence into attack, and getting men up the pitch to support the striker. It's like half the time the front 4 don't really know what the're supposed to do in certain situations. In contrast to a lot of teams we've played, who don't have players of the quality of the likes of Pritchard, Maddison and Oliveira, yet are organised and all know their roles, and have therefore ended up coming away from CR with a result, such as Hull, Barnsley, Preston and then Brentford today. Don't get me wrong they're all good sides, but on paper shouldn't be as strong as us going forward, yet are practically all more effective.
Add that to the fact that defensively we're shambolic a lot of the time and it's certainly not a recipe for success. Part of that problem to be fair could be solved with the re-introduction of Trybull and Tettey. It's no coincidence that their injuries have coincided with our poor run of form. It would be harsh on Reed and Vrancic who have actually been two of our better players recently. I really don't understand the Vrancic haters. There are a few around me who seem to criticise everything he does, and I had a quick look on the other forum and some were criticising him on there during the game despite the fact that they blatantly weren't even watching it. Don't get me wrong he was poor when he first joined, but it does just take some players a while to settle in. I thought he was pretty comfortably our best outfield player today. He wasn't amazing by any stretch, but he was one of, if not probably the only player (apart from Gunn) where you could say he actually played well. Regardless though, we really need a midfield that isn't as easy to bypass. Both Trybull and Tettey are heart on their sleeves type of players, and can actually add some bite and passion to what is at the moment a very timid side. So whilst I do like both Reed and Vrancic, we do desperately need to see those two return on Boxing Day. I'd be interested to see what it would be like if we had a 3 man midfield of Tettey, Trybull and Vrancic, with Pritchard, Maddison and Nelson just constantly camped up the pitch. That personally is what I'd do against Birmingham.
To be fair, with the chances we had today we should've got something from the game. There was that spell at 0-0 where we had 4 good chances in the space of about 2 minutes but the ball just did not want to go in the net. The difference then is that Brentford go up the other end and take their chances. Hate to say it as well but we certainly bought the wrong Watkins. I've heard throughout the season that Ollie Watkins has been doing really well for Brentford this season (has 7 goals and 3 assists from the wing so far),and you can see he's got great ability. He cost them £2m from Exeter and is 21 years old. He is the sort of player we should've got in the summer. He's like a stronger, technically better version of Josh Murphy. Our Watkins may have cost £2m less, but he's probably on more money and so far he hasn't looked like adding anything to this team, with the exception of the 2nd half against Sheffield Wednesday. As for the rest of the side, Pinto had the worst game I've seen him have in a long time. Pritchard looked like making things happen at times but was relatively ineffective. Oliveira blew hot and cold, though actually had a decent game. He worked hard off the ball as well, put in a real shift. Also took his goal brilliantly. I have to say after his recent form, if we got a decent offer in January for him I wouldn't have been too fussed if we sold him, but one thing he does do is get goals, which for us, a team who rarely look like scoring half the time, could be priceless. He's currently 13th in the top scorers list at the moment, despite playing less minutes than any other player in the top 25, and is 6th out of 25 in terms of minutes per goal (he scores every 154 minutes). That would be better as well if it didn't include games where he wasn't fully fit or recovering from injury. I do wonder with the way we're playing at the moment, that even if we do get a good fee for him, whether we'd be able to replace his goals.
I really don't understand what Farke's reluctance to play Wildschut is about. He is the best player in our team at driving the ball up the pitch from deep, turning defence into attack. The last time he started a game was against Bolton on November 4th. Since then he's only played 25 minutes worth of football in 7 games! Not even making the bench for most games. I just don't know why we're not using him. As said above, if I was a defender I'd be much happier to be up against Watkins than Wildschut. Whilst I was pleased to see Lewis get some minutes (and I thought he did ok considering he's just returning from injury and had never even played a senior game before),if I was Farke in that situation, 2-0 down at home with 20 minutes left I'd have just taken Reed off and bought Wildschut on and gone all out for a goal, along with Josh coming on for Watkins. But instead he just made a straight swap at left back, which to be honest made no difference to how we played. I only caught the end of the interview, but Farke saying after the game that he put too much pressure on the players going into this is an interesting one. Not sure what to make of it really. As for the 'Delia Out' chants, I'm more and more starting to agree with them.
We need 3 wins from the next 3 games if we wanna do anything this season. It's as simple as that. As I said before obviously I don't expect us to get near the top 6 but even so I really don't want to see this season just fizzle out, particularly as we're not even in January yet. We have Birmingham next game who are bottom and Burton after that who are also in the bottom 3. If we get a poor return from those games then Farke is in trouble, particularly as we could be in the bottom 6 by the end of this weekend.
Anyway, not sure if I covered enough topics there
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