Nothing new there. Same old Watford. Changing managers for them is like finding a new restaurant to try.
One of the advantages of operating a continental-style structure headed by a Director of Football is that you can employ coaches on short term contracts; in Europe it is quite common to change coach at the end of the season. Your restaurant analogy is very apt: if you try a new one and find the food inedible your costs are limited to paying that one bill. If you've contracted to eat there every day for three years, it's going to cost a lot more to get a decent meal .........
Looking back to the start of this sorry season, I had high-ish hopes that we may acquit ourselves fairly well and probably survive. I figured Farke had a bit more than Lambert, Hughton or Neil to mastermind a decent season. How wrong I was - he's proven to be the least well equipped of the four of them I know injuries, especially at the back have hampered things big time but that's why you name a 25 man squad at the start of the season. Roll on 6 p.m. on Sunday when we can all draw a line under the most abject year in the club's history. Then, as Lambert might say "we go again". Fingers crossed for more of the 2018-19 vintage, hey?
I would be more sanguine about the next couple of seasons if the nine games since the restart had provided at least some evidence of lessons learnt. In fact what we've seen is a team apparently bereft of belief in what they are being asked to do, and any confidence in their ability to do it. The second half against Burnley was the exception; being down to 9 men meant the task for the next 45 minutes was perfectly clear.
There have been games when we were totally at sea, but there's also been others where we've been competitive but lacking the confidence to keep the passing game going. It will be a real test for DF to reinstill that before next season starts. Paddy thinks SW has a 'cunning plan' for just that: https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/norwich-v-man-city-paddy-davitt-column-1-6756460
I think I must have clicked on the wrong link Rick. Didn't hear anything I would describe as a cunning plan. Just some statements of the obvious -- that we have been regularly out-muscled and out-paced and need to be more combative. Is the plan to have the entire squad focus on bulking up and muscle-building, meanwhile equipping them with jet-propulsion packs?
Incidentally, I just listened again to DF's post-Burnley interview. It yielded a classic statement of what I keep on complaining about. DF gave his summary of how the game went. It begin with (my paraphrase) "We had to make it our game. We couldn't compete with Burnley's physicality and set-piece threat, so we had to start on the front foot and keep the action as much as possible in their half". In other words, same old, same old, followed by same old result -- fail to score, watch the opposition take control of the game, and then concede as the pressure mounts. In direct contrast, forced on him by events, in the second half, do exactly what DF said we couldn't hope to do, i.e. defend deep, keep Burnley at bay, and hope to nick a goal on the counter. He said himself the 9 men did it brilliantly. It would have been so much easier, and likely more productive, with 11 men doing it from the start.
I have just realised that whom ever is relegated with us was also promoted with us. Bournemouth and Watford in '16, and Villa last year. This just puts into perspective how hard it is to establish a place in the top flight for championship teams.
Do you think it's because with Watford and Bournemouth they probably got promoted with players entering their peak years and then couldn't replace them with others that are good enough?
Think that's pretty spot on really. Shine has perhaps been taken off Todd as of late whilst Tettey has been more impressive, so surprised recency bias didn't mean Tettey came second. Honestly don't think there was anyone else really in contention.
Pukki was also outstanding before his injury But so poor after it and in the later stages of the season, I can't really mount an argument for him to contend. They'd be my top 3 in that order. Its for this reason that once again, any talk of Tettey being replaced or phased out, may again be premature. Bah!
I can’t believe how many games Farke has managed to get out of Tettey the past 2 seasons. I’m sure it was only a few years ago where we were told that his knees wouldn’t hold up to two games a week, now he’s played nearly every game this season and a game every 3 days since the return!
So we've finally arrived. The last day of a sorry season. Brace yourselves for carnage this afternoon, followed by inevitable dismantling and rebuilding in preparation for the 46 game slog that awaits in September.
This has surprised me as well, as has Tettey's distribution. His passing used to be a liability, now it's an asset as he becomes the central pivot as we move the ball forward. He's now a much more complete player and a good leader, with physical stamina as well. As for next season, we've already got 4 new players (Sørensen, Placheta, Sinani and Sitti) with Mumba looking likely as well. Adam Idah and Josh Martin have also moved up to the first team and done well in their PL cameos. That leaves us with a squad of 32, though Leitner and perhaps Thompson are likely to leave. Then it's down to who else might leave and the money that brings in, but it's unlikely to be a major dismantling IMO.
It certainly isn't "premature". Every season that passes, the need becomes ever greater. It's no good arguing "Where would we have been without Tettey?" The question rather is "Where might we have been if we had brought in a better DM than Tettey?"
Move the ball forward I didn't know we had 2 players called Tettey. The one I see only seems to be able to play backwards.
I think Tettey's "improvement" is actually down to his role becoming increasingly limited. And IMO a central pivot he is not; that position requires a player who, on receiving the ball, looks immediately to pass it forward quickly, with confidence in his ability to do so accurately; Tettey's reflex has become to pass backwards or sideways, in part because he so often gives the ball away when he tries to move it swiftly forward. (There used to be a stats site which logged every pass made by and to each player, plus direction of pass and distance. Does anyone know of anywhere which currently provides this level of detail?)
