I think so too, but we always knew that the pundits and the bookies would predict that the promoted teams would go back down, leaving us 'under the radar' which is a good place to start.
Good to see Pukki scoring twice in the 2-0 win for Finland against Bosnia-Herzegovina, for whom Vrancic was an unused sub. McLean and Lewis both played 90 minutes for Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/norwich-players-on-international-duty-1-6095938 Video of Pukki's two goals here: https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11737886/pukki8217s-sublime-brace Coolness personified.
Connor’s MFW article is well worth a few minutes reading -http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...ramble-to-recruit-no-longer-afraid-to-say-no/ I particularly liked this and it sums it all up IMO ‘Norwich will concede goals and lose games in the Premier League.!!’ #NoShitSherlock 'In periods of successive defeats for, example, they will need to prove they possess the endurance and will to overcome them. Characters will need to be relied upon, with players encouraged to take risks without losing their spark of creativity. Daniel Farke has displayed his ability as a coach, that method of allowing a player-centred training regime to get a tune out of players other coaches have written off and cast aside. For those perceived as damaged goods, the German and his staff nurture, educate and scrutinise. They have created an environment where standards are high but humility is low.’
Some GREAT news from today’s EDP - New kit and sponsorship announcements - as well as the majority of City's pre-season schedule - are all in the pipeline for the coming weeks, as well as preparing for the arrival of VAR (video assistant referees) fresh from their use in the Women's World Cup and Nations League. https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/ben-kensell-premier-league-preparations-var-1-6098618
Good read JMF. Those many PL related infrastructure projects will bite into the PL money available this year. I was also struck by Kendall's emphasis on team work behind the scenes: "I think Stuart couldn't do what he does without the phenomenal team he's got around him. I certainly couldn't. Zoe couldn't. Likewise the senior management team and all the staff around Carrow Road and Colney. It's a proper team effort, just like it was on the pitch - whether you're the captain, the right-back. It doesn't really matter." Good to know that runs through the whole club.
In another Pinkun article, DF makes a similar point about Pukki's influence on the whole team: "He is for me a role model for how you have to work," said his club boss. "When you think more about the group you can also shine in an individual way. Let the group shine, let's be successful and don't get carried away. A good example for our younger players to go further on. Love the shirt and the name on the front more than on the back is a great attitude. He deserves all the plaudits going." https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city...onship-qualifying-quintet-in-action-1-6098564
It's the holy trinity, Farke, Webber and Pukki. A happy slice of serendipity that would not have worked without any one of the three pieces absent. The puzzle is why Pukki took until he was 28 to show this kind of form. I genuinely think that if you went out into the marketplace with £30 million to spend that you wouldn't buy a striker that would have the same effect on the team as a whole and their results. He is a sort of Pogba in reverse.
A lot has been written and spoken about our not "doing different" next season, keeping faith with what gained us promotion, trusting that more of the same will prove enough for survival. The style of football, the "all for one and one for all" ethos, the financial prudence, can be expected to remain broadly unchanged. But how far can "more of the same" be taken given the difference of level between Premier League and Championship? For instance, fitness and stamina: at the beginning of last season, after a full year under the new regime, we had one of the fittest squads in the Championship, a fact which underpinned our stunning record of goals scored in the final quarter of games and our ability to turn round games in which we went behind. In the EPL that same level of fitness will be average rather than exceptional, depriving us of a significant weapon in our armoury. Additionally, our possession based game played to our superior fitness, tiring out the opposition by having them endlessly chasing from one side of the pitch to the other. In the EPL we will face many teams more adept at that than ourselves, running us ragged in turn. Again for instance, team selection: last season, from match 5 onwards, only injury or suspension caused DF to tinker with the team, leaving players of the quality of Leitner & Klose warming the bench for half a season. How realistic is it to expect such a reactive selection strategy to succeed in the EPL? I don't buy the mantra of "no change"; tactically and in selection strategy at least, IMO there needs to be significant change.
A lot has been written and spoken about our not "doing different" next season, keeping faith with what gained us promotion, trusting that more of the same will prove enough for survival. The style of football, the "all for one and one for all" ethos, the financial prudence, can be expected to remain broadly unchanged. But how far can "more of the same" be taken given the difference of level between Premier League and Championship? For instance, fitness and stamina: at the beginning of last season, after a full year under the new regime, we had one of the fittest squads in the Championship, a fact which underpinned our stunning record of goals scored in the final quarter of games and our ability to turn round games in which we went behind. In the EPL that same level of fitness will be average rather than exceptional, depriving us of a significant weapon in our armoury. Additionally, our possession based game played to our superior fitness, tiring out the opposition by having them endlessly chasing from one side of the pitch to the other. In the EPL we will face many teams more adept at that than ourselves, running us ragged in turn. Again for instance, team selection: last season, from match 5 onwards, only injury or suspension caused DF to tinker with the team, leaving players of the quality of Leitner & Klose warming the bench for half a season. How realistic is it to expect such a reactive selection strategy to succeed in the EPL? I don't buy the mantra of "no change"; tactically and in selection strategy at least, IMO there needs to be significant change.
please log in to view this image -- like buying two copies of the same newspaper to check the accuracy of a report!
It's a good post,Robbie but I don't know about reading it twice! I'm not so sure many PL teams do double session training, so fitness will be a key next year as well, but I do hope DF uses the whole squad to make tactical changes for different challenges. If we play a standard 4-3-2 every week PL teams will take us apart. The quality throughout the squad is good and we need to make that count. DF will also need to use his subs more tactically as well if we are to survive. The mental pressure of the PL is as sapping as the physical challenges and the players need to adjust to that. Possession based tactics will indeed be harder to maintain against more skilled opposition and we'll need to deal with turnovers before they hurt us. We won't be winning as many games, so the unchanged line-up shouldn't feature as much and that provides a chance to make tactical tweaks to suit the opposition. I'm sure that DF is aware of all of this and I just hope he mixes it up to keep the opposition guessing.
Club twitter are teasing some new link up with Jarrold's. Probably not a big enough brand for a kit sponsor, so presumably our official sofa supplier.
It's clear that opposition-dependent tactical adjustments are made match on match, but these have seldom (if ever) involved changing the starting eleven. This was the pattern both in the first half of the season before the injuries to Klose, Leitner and (later) Tettey, and the second half when DF persisted with Godfrey, Vrancic/McLean and Trybull. DF seems to be confident that whichever eleven players hold the shirt, they are capable of making whatever match by match adjustments are needed. But the (roughly) pre-Christmas and post-Christmas elevens were not mirror images; I think the stats would show that the Klose/Leitner eleven was defensively more solid but correspondingly less potent in attack compared to the Godfrey/Vrancic/McLean eleven. You could say we got away with that mid-season shift in the Championship, or you could say that it was the key to our winning the title. Either way there's a question about which balance will serve us best in the EPL.
I think most of us felt that we'd a tough run of games just after Xmas and again in early Feb and to get through that period with defeats to only FLDC and PNE speaks volumes. I think DF head decided that he doesn't want to have to chop and change the starting 11 unduly and some of the midfield players are able to play different roles/positions. Next season is going to be challenging and exciting IMO.
It's probably been said already, but with DF not having PL experience he'll need to rely on advice from SW. Their partnership will be extremely important, again.
So, just under 36 hours until we find out who our first opponents are and when our first home game is!!
Strong rumour that we are away to Spurs on the opening day, lunchtime KO on Sky Of course it may just be BS by the Sun to sell some papers
New ticketing scheme has been annonced. Headline being the capping of casual tickets at £30 to be in line with the restricted prices that can be charged for away fans. Bah!
