Very impressive match stats for Watkins there. Josh, has he had a fall out with DF?, may find it hard to reclaim the LW berth after that.
That's incredible seeing the turnaround in Zimmerman a month ago, he was being lambasted as being useless (OK, his fellow CB was Martin!!!!) and now he's clearing shots off the line and getting MotM!!! Things are looking up!!
Completely bullet proof CB pairing. Anyone young / sharp enough to remember the last time we had one of those? (Carlos Cuellar, Elliott Ward, Michael Turner, Seb Bassong, Leon Barnett, etc, best you all look away now )
I think before the season started, there were some of us who were cautiously optimistic, but were nervous that our recruits were going to be too raw/inexperienced/inexperienced in the EFL or not good enough. But all of us I think were willing to give every one of them a chance and were happy that the old guard except Martin had been given the heave ho. Both RER and I were optimistic worriers as far as I recall. Like Cromer I simply don't think anyone had a downer on this, and after pre-season i think we all thought Zimmermann in particular was a find and were really looking forward to our brave new world. However Pre-season is pre-season and as little as the results can mean, had us looking good and all optimistic, the optimisim and criticism of those players only really came after a number of poor games where once again we looked so pourous at the back. Question marks about the manager and players ability to succeed in the Championship I think are legitimate after 8 goals conceded in two games as we slumped into the bottom 3. Time will tell just how good all of them are, but we still look a little unbalanced as a team, we are simply not offering enough of a threat and definitely look too defensively set up for our home games. Don't get me wrong, the current system is perfect for away games, but the 1 goal in 3 at home says there is still a lot of work to be done, to find the right balance. I do have faith that Farke can find that balance. As much as I and others have moaned when it was looking pretty crap, I still think that I have been more fair than most, many wish to contiually berate Martin still, but he too was a victim of the flawed team setups and as yet hasn't played with a proper screen infront of him or with Klose. Both Zimmermann and Franke also struggled but don't attract the same ire. I do think he is the past and realistically is 4th or even 5th choice now, but he doesn't deserve all of that criticism (Some definitely, but not as much as he has gotten). Anyway, I'm happy that a number of those players that I was nervous about are coming good, Trybull, Stiepermann and Zimmermann already have little to prove, only that they can keep up the good work. Watkins and Husband that they can keep improving when they get the chance, though they both look more promising now than they did. Franke like Martin has not had a go with the new more resolute system so the Jury is out, but I'm optimistic that put either in with Klose and the two midfielders and we will still be a tough nut to crack. So overall, well done Mr Webber, make sure you continue to earn your corn by getting Trybull tied down sooner rather than later if he keeps playing as he is! Bah!
Klose no doubt helps, but Trybull, Tettey and Stiepermann also instrumental, its to simple to say Klose. I don't think Klose and Zimmerman would have kept more than 1 of those 5 clean sheets without the midfield organisation, tracking and pressing. Afterall, Husband was getting abuse as being rather cr#p, but has looked better since our midfield actually contributed to our defensive solidarity. bah!
On a par with Klose and Zimmers Except Malky and Flem were a fixture for ages, whereas this new partnership is still in it's infancy. How long, I wonder, before Farke trusts them enough to play with just 1 holding mid as opposed to two which has become the new norm? Thereby enabling one extra player to maraud forwards and give CJ and NO some more / better ammo to work with.
Very true. Identified as a potential weak link early on, this new found team resilience has rubbed off on him too. And Steipermann is still described on wiki as "an attacking midfielder for English club Norwich City in the Championship". I don't think we've ever seen him play there as such, so if DF trusts Trybull to shield the defence, Marco S. could get more advanced and wipe that egg off wiki's face
GM recalls it pretty clearly, IMO. Like him I felt too many of us were getting carried away with comparisons with Huddersfield in their second season. The depths of despondency followed the Millwall debacle. My concern was whether DF would adapt his approach for this league. He did and everything changed, aided by Klose, Trybull, Tettey and Steipermann coming in to the team. IMO, the players improved because the system improved and they adapted to it, much as GM has said.
Whatever happened to make DF 'change' his thinking, it has reaped massive rewards in the shape of 11 points from 15, which included 2 potentially tricky away fixtures. The points dropped have been as a result of 2 goalless draws at home and it will be interesting to see how we fare when 'the Tigers' visit CR next month and let's hope the international break can be utilised to inject some flair in our attacking in much the same way as the last one was utilised to make us more solid defensively!! PS - Did I mention Gunn hasn't had to pick the ball out of the net even against some of the top teams in the Championship since the last international break??
With Oliveira missing out for Portugal as he recovers from injury, Wes and Watkins are the only attacking players away during the international break, so there is an opportunity to work on improving attacking outcomes before Hull.
Yes, it was all doom and gloom in the left back slot after Mitchell Dijks went back to Holland. We were just left with a (below par) Toffolo. Credit to SW and his scouts for locating both Husband and Steipermann But they all seem to have stepped up a gear or two lately - my only reservation is Vrancic, who is all guile and not much graft. Playing 2 DMs, we need all forward players to get stuck in to tackles, bust a gut to win the ball back when lost etc and Super Mario doesn't seem to have taken this on board?
And yet he has played in teams that have kept clean sheets? I agree with you in principle that we could be even better with graft from 1-11, but it seems the system can afford one or even two luxury players like Vrancic and Josh like vs Bristol City. I would say it is more his inability to get us scoring that is more concern, if he is something of a luxury where defending is concerned, then he must make more positive contributions to unlocking the oposition. Unless he pulls his socks up in that respect, I can see him dipping in and out of the side with Maddison, Hoolihan already in my book better options, more out than in. Also with the injured duo of; Pritchard who I think is definitely better and Naismith different but maybe better able to handle the Championship. He needs to adapt quickly. He's still got time to adapt, but as good summer signings go, he is in the maybe group at the moment, clearly talented as demonstrated against Brentford and with some passes early in the season, but he still needs to prove he can hack the pace of the championship. I see him a little like Klose, I think Klose looked better suited to the PL than the hurly burly of the championship, could be the same for Vrancic? Klose with time has adapted (Maybe it is just that he finally had a good system to work in?) and so might Mario, I just hope it comes quicker than next season! Bah!
I was at the game, and really enjoyed it. A proper battling performance, competive in midfield instead of standing watching. We looked more of a team without Josh out there doing a Redmond!
