Pre season friendlies.

[morty]

Tickets for the home games go on sale tomorrow.

http://www.canaries.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/norwich-city-pre-season-friendlies-tickets-coventry-hannover-3164786.aspx

"Ouch" at the price to park at County hall!

 

[dj161]

not really sure where to post this, but here's the goals from the Peterborough game

 

[Din]

Good win and performance against Rubin Kazan. Naismith easily our best player, looks a class above. Pinto and Jerome both excellent, Klose and Whittaker also very good. Andreu generally played quite well. Showed some nice touches but didn't do anything brilliant. Both Canos first half and Odjidja second half were relatively uninvolved. Rubin Kazan goal though came via a mistake from Mulumbu, who made sloppy errors a few times. Turner is a liability, getting sent off in a friendly ffs. He was generally solid first half as well but has too many mistakes in him. Ruddy made a couple of decent saves, could of maybe made himself slightly harder to beat for the goal, though that may be harsh. All in all though a good run out.

 

[dj161]

Goals from the Kazan game, really enjoyed Naismith's goal, a really good team goal that one

 

[Din]

Went to the Hannover game yesterday. We were very poor first half, 2nd half much improved but wasteful in the attacking third. Hannover were a stern test, hard to believe that they're a German 2nd Division side. As for our players:

Ruddy - Distribution was incredibly poor, don't know if a single one of his kicks went to a Norwich player. He did make some excellent saves though, all in all a good game.
Whittaker - Was admittedly isolated due to a lack of support from Murphy, but overall he was abysmal. Should've done better for both of Hannover's first two goals.
Olsson - Solid in general. Didn't get forward as often as he perhaps should have. Good but unexceptional.
Klose - Excellent as usual. Won everything in the air and was generally really difficult to beat. Will be a beast at this level.
Bennett - Pretty uninspiring. Looked quite lazy and made some pretty lackluster clearances. Didn't look at his peak fitness-wise either.
Howson - Like Olsson, solid but unspectacular, and to be fair he was stuck out on the right hand-side for the majority of the game. 
Tettey - Had a good game. Clear we missed him towards the end of last season. Wasn't massively involved but what he did he did well.
Jacob Murphy - Defensive contributions were non-existent and the decision to sub him off was a good one. Both goals perhaps could've been avoided had he worked harder.
Naismith - Not his best game but still pretty decent. Linked up really well with Hoolahan but should've done better with a chance late on. Can tell he's an intelligent player.
Hoolahan - Not really in the game first half, but superb 2nd half and involved in everything we did. Took both his goals fantastically as well. Probably our best player.
Jerome - Not great. Had a brilliant chance early on that he put wide, and the amount of times he was caught offside must've been in double figures.

Dorrans - Passing was excellent and in general had a very good game. Put a great ball in for Wes' first.
Pinto - Looked solid at the back and was very good going forward. Should be a real asset at this level.
Toffolo, Mulumbu, Maddison, Josh Murphy, Lafferty - Not really on the pitch long enough to judge. 

 

[GJP]

Second half was an improvement because Hannover had gone 3 nil up and run their race. 

Once they got 2 nil up early in the first half they were very comfortable. Although Murphy was failing to do his defensive duties putting Howson on the wing is not really the way to ask questions of the opposition when you are already struggling to create. But it's pretty obvious now that AN isn't a particularly attack minded manager. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Can't read too much into friendlies, in fact I think we'd had a decent pre-season in the run up to getting tanked 7-1 at home to Colchester, but it is quite worrying that we were a defensive shambles against this team. They aren't a strong Bundesliga side, they were relegated last season so will play in the second tier this season.

 

[Canaryboy]

Can watch the full Hannover match here if anybody is looking for something to do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS8qd0fgFg8

 

[splutcho]

Can watch the full Hannover match here if anybody is looking for something to do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS8qd0fgFg8

I would advise skipping the first half if you haven't yet seen it.

 

[Canaryboy]

I would advise skipping the first half if you haven't yet seen it.

I got depressed and stopped watching in the 6th minute. 

 

[eatonparkboy]

When Naismith was pushed forward in support of Jerome we looked a different side and Wes had more room. I do hope the manager doesn''t pick players and them put them into positions for the sake of it.

The defence did look awful but better when Pinto replaced Whittaker.

 

[Canaryboy]

When Naismith was pushed forward in support of Jerome we looked a different side and Wes had more room. I do hope the manager doesn''t pick players and them put them into positions for the sake of it.

I'm a bit worried that we're going to end up with Hoolahan or Naismith on the left wing so that we can accommodate them both, I hope any system designed to have them both on the same pitch is a bit more creative than that.

 

[Din]

I'm a bit worried that we're going to end up with Hoolahan or Naismith on the left wing so that we can accommodate them both, I hope any system designed to have them both on the same pitch is a bit more creative than that.

Yeah I think against Blackburn Naismith will play behind McCormack/Jerome, Hoolahan on the left and probably Canos on the right. Certainly think both Naismith and Hoolahan will both play.

 

[splutcho]

If we're gonna play Hoolahan on the left we may as well just bench him. How many seasons has he been tried and failed on the left? Not a dig at Wes of course, but there really is only one place for him.

 

[ZLF]

wes on the left   h34r:    may as well be on the bench...

 

[Din]

I think it's more likely that both Naismith and Hoolahan will play in 'free roles' as happened a few times towards the end of last season. If Brady stays as well then I imagine he will start on the left against Blackburn. If I had to predict the line-up now, with no more ins/outs (except McCormack which we will apparently seal this week), then I'd go:

Ruddy
Pinto Klose Bassong Olsson
Howson Tettey
Naismith Hoolahan Brady
McCormack

Subs: McGovern Whittaker Mulumbu Dorrans Maddison Canos Jerome.
 ​

 

[GJP]

I would be very surprised if McCormack is even on the bench against BBurn. 

 

[Din]

To be fair I was forgetting that it's only 5 days til our first game. For some reason I thought it was the Saturday after. So yeah probably will be too soon actually for McCormack even if he does sign before the end of the week.

 

[eatonparkboy]

I think it's more likely that both Naismith and Hoolahan will play in 'free roles' as happened a few times towards the end of last season. If Brady stays as well then I imagine he will start on the left against Blackburn. If I had to predict the line-up now, with no more ins/outs (except McCormack which we will apparently seal this week), then I'd go:

Ruddy
Pinto Klose Bassong Olsson
Howson Tettey
Naismith Hoolahan Brady
McCormack

Subs: McGovern Whittaker Mulumbu Dorrans Maddison Canos Jerome.
 ​

I thought Naismith looked a bit "surplus to requirements" first half but looked much better and dangerous when pushed up to support Jerome in the second half.

I hope we don't go into the season with our first priority worrying about the opposition. We saw enough of that last season and England in the Euros. We still have  a very good Championship squad without any new signings that ought to have the majority worrying about us.