Norwich City vs Nottingham Forest(home) Tuesday 6th March.

[Fenway Frank]

Agree with everything you’ve said Din. I can’t believe some of the reaction from other places. I said to my mate during the game that our tactics are the current scapegoat. We can play ten forward passes which are ignored then one sideways or back and everyone latches onto that one moment with shouts of “ get it forward” or “ stop the tippy tappy “ . Shows a complete lack of understanding in my opinion. After the idiot Forest fan got on the pitch Gunn took a short goal kick down to the left, we played some lovely one touch stuff to get up the pitch. If a different team had done that everyone would be saying how good it was but because it’s not lump it forward then it’s critisised which is a shame. Yes, we need to be better around the penalty area but I watched some nice stuff last night.

 

[GJP]

Yeah but it's not that difficult to play nice stuff. A lot of teams will let you pass the ball around. They just get more interested when you get into their third - which is where it breaks down for us and becomes ineffective.

Average sides like Bolton and Forest are happy to sit back and let you tippy tap because they will be happy to get a draw. And then the better sides will pick you off for not doing anything with your possession.

 

[Scott]

I did some ratings buh.

Gunn 6 – Didn’t have an awful lot to do due to Forest’s woeful finishing, 1 or 2 saves.
Reed 6 – Solid, but did get caught out of position every now and then without the pace to get back, but did ok.
Hanley 8 – MOM – Absolute beast once again, passion, hunger, fire all we need in a CB! Nothing gets past him, what a great buy he has been.
Klose 6 – Maybe a bit harsh, could possibly be worth a 7, but he did get caught out a few times.
Lewis 6 – Did okay, put a few decent tackles in, linked up with Josh fairly well, doesn’t know what to do when he gets to the by-line.
Tettey 6 – Obligatory yellow, did okay.
Leitner 6 – Again, did ok, looks a bit casual for my liking.
Hernandez 7 – Looked strong, loves to put a tackle in, and has so much pace. Knows how to take a man on, he looks like a real good buy, first half was better than second
Murphy 6 – He did well first half, created some chances, but never get excited when he’s about to shoot as you always know its going to go wide
Maddison 7 – I don’t think he has been all that great of late, but played well, everything attacking wise went through him, unlucky not to get a goal.
Srbeny 6 – Pretty anonymous, looks a lot like Ricky van Wolfswinkel. Didn’t really get much service, unlucky not to score with a header (I think that was him, I was in the Barclay end so couldn’t see great)

 

[GJP]

Think you got it wrong about Maddison and Leitner. Leitner worked much harder and his vision created numerous openings.

Best footballer on the pitch.

 

[OldRobert]

Disappointing. Didn't lose is about all you can say. Stating the bleedin' obvious, we need to do something about the lack of goals.

 

[GJP]

Disappointing. Didn't lose is about all you can say. Stating the bleedin' obvious, we need to do something about the lack of goals.

Yup. As it stands the goalscoring rate under Farke is slightly worse than Hughton's 1st season and only a little bit better than his 2nd.

The way we play at the moment it's hard to see where more goals will come from.

 

[dj161]

The way the strikers play moving out wide and dropping in deep seem to me that we want to play with an Aguero/Messi type of forward with options coming from midfield, the issues are we don't have an Aguero/Messi type and they cost an absolute fortune so no idea where we'd get one from with our budget, and there are very very few times the midfield makes runs in behind to give us more options when attacking, a lot for Farke and Webber to ponder in the close season

also Murphy in particular needs to be on his toes more, he looks so static at times its ridiculous, start knocking the ball 5/10 yards ahead of him and hopefully he'll start to move, as right now it seems you can only play into his feet

Hernandez looks good, Hanley continues to impress and can we please tie Lietner down to a permanent deal already, I'd be more than happy with a Leitner-Trybull midfield pairing for next season

 

[Canaryboy]

The only realistic player I can think of in this league who is sort of a 'false nine' is Lewis Grabban.

(in the absence of any knowledge of the Spanish game, where there are probably dozens of them).

But Grabban is going to be very expensive for a 30 year old isn't he... what are Bournemouth going to want to recoup? £5m?

Plus we'd be swapping a confidence player of questionable attitude who seems to fall out with managers a lot for a confidence player with a questionable attitude who seems to fall out with managers a lot.

Can't see us spending that on any player prior to a promotion, which I can't see happening any time soon.

Ross McCormack sort of fits the bill, but his attitude is also questionable and he's probably past it. At best he's a short term solution, and that's before we even consider his huge wages.

Striker is probably going to have to be another position we head overseas for, but it means we'll have to sign homegrown players elsewhere to meet the 7 player quota.

Think I'm correct in saying however that McGovern doesn't count, so suspect he'll be loaned to the SPL next season with Remi Matthews coming in + another English keeper to sit on the bench (or Gunn again if we're lucky).

I see that Declan Rudd has started the last 9 games for Preston, and hasn't conceded more than 1 goal in any of them!

Either we need to find a false nine in the summer or Farke needs to adapt his tactics to create more chances for a more conventional style of striker. Looks like he's bought a big target man type player in Srbeny who will need the ball in the box, I'll wait and see what happens in the summer and the start of the season before casting judgement, but it does feel a bit like Hughton all over again where the manager can't work out how to strike the right balance between defense/possession and attack.

 

[OldRobert]

also Murphy in particular needs to be on his toes more, he looks so static at times its ridiculous, start knocking the ball 5/10 yards ahead of him and hopefully he'll start to move, as right now it seems you can only play into his feet

Hernandez looks good, Hanley continues to impress and can we please tie Lietner down to a permanent deal already, I'd be more than happy with a Leitner-Trybull midfield pairing for next season

You're asking Murphy to show he has a footballing brain, dj161, I don't believe he has one, which is probably why his team-mates pass to his feet. I don't believe he sees the potential in a ball played in front of him, that he has to run on to, and they see he's not on that wavelength. Only my opinion of course, but in our current regime of limited finance, I'd love to see if someone would pay good money for him which would enable us to buy a more incisive player with a footballing brain.

Your final paragraph, I couldn't agree more.

 

[dj161]

The only realistic player I can think of in this league who is sort of a 'false nine' is Lewis Grabban.

(in the absence of any knowledge of the Spanish game, where there are probably dozens of them).

Michu would of been perfect for this, unfortunately he seems to of fallen out of love with football and retired, but if he was even at close to his best when at Swansea would of been a great signing, maybe we can find a similar type in the Spanish 2nd tier as you said there's bound to be loads out there, or maybe we can try to convince Chelsea to let us have Pedro on loan for a couple of seasons

 

[Canaryboy]

Think it was an ankle injury sustained at Swansea which finished Michu, he could never recover from it.

If he'd not got that injury he'd be playing for a top club somewhere.

Perhaps there are a few "poor mans Michu" type players in the Spanish second tier or something?

If it helps at all... I play FM17 and I always buy a false nine called Joselu from Granada for about £1m, he's a beast and can also play left wing. Somebody tell Stuart Webber

 

[Canaryboy]

We have a terrible record with Spanish players though.

 

[dj161]

We have a terrible record with Spanish players though.

what about Simon Lappin?

 

[Din]

Agree with everything you’ve said Din. I can’t believe some of the reaction from other places. I said to my mate during the game that our tactics are the current scapegoat. We can play ten forward passes which are ignored then one sideways or back and everyone latches onto that one moment with shouts of “ get it forward” or “ stop the tippy tappy “ . Shows a complete lack of understanding in my opinion. After the idiot Forest fan got on the pitch Gunn took a short goal kick down to the left, we played some lovely one touch stuff to get up the pitch. If a different team had done that everyone would be saying how good it was but because it’s not lump it forward then it’s critisised which is a shame. Yes, we need to be better around the penalty area but I watched some nice stuff last night.

I swear some people just seem to forget or don't understand that there's another team playing here. Most teams in this league are at the very least well organised, and you can't just play 3 or 4 forward passes and find yourself in their box. Yeah ok we probably could make them work a bit harder at times but I agree the way some fans react when we make a backwards pass or Gunn gives the ball to one of the centre backs from a goal-kick rather than kick it long is ridiculous.

The result wasn't what we wanted obviously but I thought it was really poor the number of supporters who booed at full-time. Some clearly have no idea or simply don't care about the situation we're in right now.

Murphy in particular needs to be on his toes more, he looks so static at times its ridiculous, start knocking the ball 5/10 yards ahead of him and hopefully he'll start to move, as right now it seems you can only play into his feet.

Another thing about Murphy is that he needs to hug the touchline a lot more than he does. He makes it easy for defenders because often when we're going forwards he occupies a position between the full back and centre back, meaning he has a lot less space to work in. Hernandez last night stayed tight to the touchline, and I think Murphy would have more success if he did that rather than coming inside all the time.

 

[Fenway Frank]

I might be in the minority but I’ve been really enjoying this season, what’s spoiling it for me now is the reaction of people that sit around me and the complete ott stuff online

 

[GJP]

I can't say I have really enjoyed it. A lack of goals, lots of slow predictable possession to little effect and not much in the way of excitement.

Been the most boring season for years and years.

 

[hogesar]

I can't say I have really enjoyed it. A lack of goals, lots of slow predictable possession to little effect and not much in the way of excitement.

Been the most boring season for years and years.

Yeah but i've definitely celebrated the goals more than last season. Admittedly because they're so few and far between but still.