DF's post match comments says it all - http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwic...r-norwich-city-s-black-cats-mauling-1-5146815 #caseclosed We move on and let's hope we get a win on Wednesday.
If we play the same tippy tappy football and get undone again by set pieces and hoofs over the top by QPR . Then I may piss my pants .
As I said on another thread, I fear that Farke has a 'philosophy' of football that isn't going to fare well in the Championship but it's early days and QPR will give us another indication. Dominating possession (71%) is all very well, but not if you give away goals so easily. As Holty said during the commentary, the 3 CBs were spread out to cover the whole back line which left Zimmerman on his own to deal with Grabban and Vaughan up the middle. Vaughan knocked it past him for Grabban to run on to and score and we were struggling after that. 14 shots is OK, but only 3 OT isn't. Though we passed well (87% success rate) and played at a high pace, we seemed to become predictable and that made it easy for Sunderland. If we aren't going to get it forward quickly, then why start with Jerome who isn't well suited to the possession football approach? He's much better at counter-attacking in away games for that very reason. DF doesn't seem to believe in counter-attacking and that limits our effectiveness overall. It's also very well for DF to talk about our 'young players', but Maddison and Gunn were the only ones under 24 out there. A bigger question is the quality of the players we've lost against those who have been brought in to save money. Though we passed well (87% success rate) and played at a high pace, we seemed to become predictable in our 'possession oriented build-up'. We are already 5 points behind the leaders and anything but a win against QPR will make it very very difficult for us to compete for promotion. At the moment, I feel a mid-table finish is the best we can hope for (and I'm an optimist!).
It's all very well having a philosophy but we don't have good enough players to play like Dortmund. Lining up against philistines that just punt a long ball over the top and score will soon get annoying. As soon as Sunderland got their first corner I was thinking here we go again another cheep goal and hey presto. All this guff about players not being bigger than the club then Nelson still gets dropped so Farke's ego stays intact. He isn't bigger than the club either and not starting Olivier and Wes backfired in my opinion.
Was Marley Watkins really that terrible? Read Norwich gave him a 2 for his performance! If so, why can we not play Oliveira up top with Jerome in behind? Surely this fits both of their games perfectly, or even Josh behind Oliveira?
I accept your opinion and completely agree Oliveira should have started. But when you say we dominated possession but lost due to defensive frailties, what is it that you think Wes would have improved? I wasn't at the game I admit but from everything I've seen and read, both Naismith and in particular Maddison had good games.
I didn't say we dominated possession but lost due to defensive frailties. The stats would suggest that though. Wes can conjure up a moment of magic to unlock a stubborn defence and Nelson can finish from pretty much anywhere. As proven against Fulham when they both came on.
Some excellent posts above and I was at the game and thought that Reed, Naismith played well and I would have given my hero MotM (again). I've NO idea which planet Paddy's on these days, but I had a quick look at his player ratings in the EEN, got as far as seeing he'd given Martin a '6' and have up after that. I accept that Basil's antics in the Fulham game were OTT and VERY wrong, but he has to start against QPR, but from what I've read, the issue has been dealt with and we move on. IF we sell Basil to Wolves, then I don't think I'll even bother going to many 1st team games and as someone has said, I can see us struggling to even be in the top half of the Championship at the end of the season!!!
I agree, DD. The interplay between Wes and Maddison has been impressive in previous matches and was crucial to the results achieved. Without him, Maddison was less effective. At 34 however, Wes can't start every match. I'd have rather seen him on earlier against Sunderland though. Watkins did OK, but he's not at his best playing behind the striker against packed defenses. A change to a 4141 would have allowed Pinto to replace Wildschut and Watkins to revert to WR as happened at Fulham before supersub Olivera scored the vital equaliser.
If we sell Basil, we'll be in a relegation battle for the rest of the season. Another player replacing him from the lower leagues of the Bundisliga just won't cut it.
Excellent article from Gary Gowers n MFW - http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...a-buzzing-carrow-road-crashing-back-to-earth/
We'll, Gary retains his optimism but I'm not at all convinced. All of those playing yesterday had the whole of the pre-season to get their act together. They managed that at Fulham and then leaked goals in the last two matches. After that, it's going to take time to convince me that we can be a promotion contender.
That's not true, remember that time you travelled from Norwich all the way to Accrington to meet me, big Brian and furry Dave for a Stanley game and a rogering session? you know after we met on arse ticklers and bears website! Don't be shy now! Bah!
Nelson paid the price by being dropped vs Swindon. I think DF started the team vs Cats that he thought was best, and it had nothing to do with ego.
