Norwich City vs Barnsley(home) Saturday 18th November.

[GJP]

Thought Pinto deserved his man of the match, though Hanley was also excellent first half. After the change of formation not so much. Maddison as usual was trying to make things happen, and I actually didn't think Vrancic was bad. 

Agree that Pinto and Hanley did well.

Maddison and Vrancic both ineffective. Maddison does a lot of dropping his shoulder, twisting and turning and then playing a safe sideways or backwards pass. And he does it nearer our goal than theirs.

 

[Din]

Agree that Pinto and Hanley did well.

Maddison and Vrancic both ineffective. Maddison does a lot of dropping his shoulder, twisting and turning and then playing a safe sideways or backwards pass. And he does it nearer our goal than theirs.

Maddison does do a lot of that yeah, but he was also probably the only player today who did actually run with the ball in threatening positions as well, and look to make something happen. It was relatively rare admittedly, but I feel that was as much down to the lack of movement from the rest of the attacking players than it was him. Vrancic I agree was ineffective, but he kept things simple and play ticking over, and again wasn't helped by the likes of Murphy and Stiepermann not making the right runs. 

I feel like if we'd had Hoolahan and Wildschut on the pitch today instead of Murphy and Stiepermann/Husband, we would've offered a lot more.

 

[GJP]

That's the thing. We had 3 lads in the middle of the park who keep things ticking over when they get the ball. Ok, Maddison has his occasional move forward but majority of the time it's too easy to play against.

Stiepermann on the right with Wildschut on the bench is a very worrying sign as far as Farke goes.

And sadly I really don't think I'd give a sh*t if I never saw Josh play for us again.

 

[morty]

Gah, that was a massive pile of turd. Josh wasn't the worst, and I thought Maddison was class.

 

[GJP]

Class at what? Keeping possession of the ball 60 yards from the opposition's goal?

He did an alright job of that. 

 

[morty]

Lets not go full on pinkun here.

It was a disappointing result, bet lets not go all "everything is awful and the world is ending".

 

[GJP]

It's now a run of disappointing results though. Not a one off. There is a real lack of goals in the team and we now don't look like we can keep them out either. 

Farke is in danger of persisting with something that clearly doesn't work.

 

[morty]

What do you suggest he does, assuming that you grasp the reality of the situation we are in?

However much you may not like hearing it, its work in progress, we are milking every last pounds worth out of every player, we have massively downgraded in quality, and need every single player playing at their absolute maximum, which isn't always going to happen. Yeah its frustrating, but it is what it is.

Do you have any suggestions? 

 

[GJP]

Generally:
Commit players further forward/have someone playing closer to your lone striker. Instead of 3 central midfielders playing in the centre circle.

Today:
Don't play Stiepermann on the right of midfield.
Don't switch to 3 at the back when your flat 4 was doing fine.

Fairly easy starting points.

 

[GJP]

What do you suggest he does, assuming that you grasp the reality of the situation we are in?

Also, Lol. 

 

[morty]

Generally:
Commit players further forward/have someone playing closer to your lone striker. Instead of 3 central midfielders playing in the centre circle.

Today:
Don't play Stiepermann on the right of midfield.
Don't switch to 3 at the back when your flat 4 was doing fine.

Fairly easy starting points.

Dead easy.

But well done for not just saying we should play two up front.

 

[GJP]

Dead easy.

But well done for not just saying we should play two up front.

Some of that is quite easy.

I have no preference for two upfront. My preference is for causing the opposition problems - something we are simply not doing enough of with our slow movement of the ball and lack of movement in the final third.

 

[morty]

Well obviously.

My original point about "work in progress" was mitigation for those issues.

Despite all the negativity, we remain 3 points from a play off place.

 

[GJP]

Well obviously.

My original point about "work in progress" was mitigation for those issues.

Despite all the negativity, we remain 3 points from a play off place.

Yeah but you still have to deal with the here and now. "Work in progress" is as long as you want it to be.

It's interesting. Two home wins in the league this season but as you point out, only 3 points off the top 6. 

Things like Stiepermann on the right and then switching to 3 at the back....those are what you'd call unforced errors. Worrying signs from the manager.

But hopefully he can get things right when he has Pritch and Tettey to call on. 

 

[morty]

"Work in progress" is as long as some fans patience, like I say, it depends on your grasp of reality and the realism of your expectations.

Who else would have you played on the right? And really the switch addressed just that issue, leaving Pinto to get down the right hand side, which he did very well. I wouldn't call that a worrying sign, I would call it a proactive change addressing an issue? Didn't we all moan about Alex Neil's reticence to make in game changes, not so long ago?

 

[GJP]

Wildschut would be an obvious one. I believe Watkins has been known to play there as well. So at least two players who are more natural out there than Stiepermann. 

Yes, Pinto did get down the right hand side and he does work hard to get forward but there was a lot of space in behind him as well. 

He could have dropped Stiepermann into left-back and then brought on someone more suited to the right of midfield. But he tried to get a bit clever with it and paid the price.

 

[morty]

Wildschut and Watkins have been bit part players this season at best, if the pair of them were playing better then they would have started more, so I suspect there is good reason as to why neither started. The manager can only play the cards he is dealt in regards decisions like that.

And obviously when you switch to three CB's there is the risk of being caught out down the flanks. We weren't great in the first half, despite our lead. Would you rather we just ploughed on regardless, without changing it?

 

[GJP]

How are Wildschut and Watkins going to do anything if they don't get a run in the team? People wrote off Oliveira when he arrived because he was only getting a few minutes here and there. Wildschut beats defenders and we have a real problem with asking questions of defenders.

Defensively we were doing ok in the first half. It was the rest of the pitch that was the problem. So we changed the bit that was working and all of a sudden the defence wasn't so solid and we still couldn't do anything going forward. It was a mistake to change it and it cost us. But hopefully DF will learn from it.

 

[morty]

Really? Thats the same argument as folks had with Lafferty. The manager sees the players 6 days a week, we see them for 90 minutes. Honestly if it was as simplistic as you imply we'd all be managers. 

It wasn't a mistake at all, it was a tactical change that didn't pay off. We needed a second goal to kill them off, the manager made a change to try and effect this, it didn't work. I don't blame Farke in any way whatsoever for how he played it.

 

[morty]

Heres the view of someone who was playing in the game :-

http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/hanley-refuses-to-blame-barnsley-draw-on-half-time-tactical-switch-1-5286193