Match Day Thread Manchester City vs NCFC, Sat Aug 21st, 15.00 hrs

[RiverEndRick]

5-0 again just shows how DF has learned little since two years ago, as Busan says. Trying to outplay ManCity on their own pitch is suicidal but still that's what we did and paid the price. The loss of Giannoulis at halftime is worrying but at least Mumba showed he's ready to play on the biggest stage. Playing Gilmour deep as a DM just sums it up as they attacked at will through the middle and from the flanks. Rashica was our only threat and that shows promise, but there weren't many other positives from that debacle.

 

[Canary Rob]

The ever-reliable xG scores say Manchester City 2.44 vs 0.03 Norwich

Sounds about right.

Once again, made to look worse by extremely clinical attacking.

 

[carrowcanario]

5-0 again just shows how DF has learned little since two years ago, as Busan says. Trying to outplay ManCity on their own pitch is suicidal but still that's what we did and paid the price. The loss of Giannoulis at halftime is worrying but at least Mumba showed he's ready to play on the biggest stage. Playing Gilmour deep as a DM just sums it up as they attacked at will through the middle and from the flanks. Rashica was our only threat and that shows promise, but there weren't many other positives from that debacle.

The last 3 times we've played them we've won one & lost 2, most teams in our position would be happy with that.

 

[Phuketcanary]

The last 3 times we've played them we've won one & lost 2, most teams in our position would be happy with that.

I mean yes, but your reducing the data point down to such a point that it's fairly meaningless really. How did we play the last 3 times? How effectively did we support our strengths or protect our weaknesses? Have we shown improvement over time with regards these two metrics? Have our performances suggests progression or regression? Last two games between us man city have had 47 shots to our 6. Is that cause for concern or celebration? Not saying it's necessarily an issue (they are a totally different league to us) but it's worth considering. When we look at these stats, I have to ask why are we trying to go toe to toe with these teams? Who could possibly see the data and suggest we are likely to be their equal on any given day? In that reality I'd like to see us at least try something different.

Edit - just listened to farke after the game and it still concerns me a bit. Hes so focused in on the quality we can bring. A realist would surely see that against most premier League sides player quality is not something we win on. We have to be pragmatic and drag people down into the mud with us at times. And yes. Play less attractive football than we might do against Luton. Because against Luton we are giants. And against man city we are ants. Play accordingly.

 

[DHCanary]

Reaction needed against Bournemouth, who will think we're there for the taking.

I don't think we rotate, this team needs to gel, but surely we have to give Sorensen a go? We need a DM.

 

[carrowcanario]

I mean yes, but your reducing the data point down to such a point that it's fairly meaningless really.

Agreed. A bit like we've lost 13 PL games in a row. Can't have it both ways.

 

[DUNCAN DONUTS]

Agreed. A bit like we've lost 13 PL games in a row. Can't have it both ways.

12, officially 2nd worst record pipping Villa and hot on the heels of Sunderland on 20

 

[carrowcanario]

12

Well that makes all the difference

 

[DUNCAN DONUTS]

We only won 5 from 38 last time round so any improvement on that would be progress

 

[Phuketcanary]

Agreed. A bit like we've lost 13 PL games in a row. Can't have it both ways.

Yes, although I'd agree 13 games lost in a row in the PL is a more impactful statistic. That's a long enough run of games to start smoothing out freak goals and unfortunate score lines that don't represent the run of play.

I don't think we know anything about our season yet, as we've played two titans early on. But I've yet to see an evolution of farkeball to suit the vast resources of the teams we find ourselves unevenly squaring off against this year.

We've just sold our stand out player from last year and the previous year in this division. More than anyone Buendia was our 'quality' player. We need, and Farke needs to see our place. We cant hope to go toe to toe on quality against big teams when the moment a player we have is recognised as being a quality player we can no longer afford their wages and have to sell them to a rival club. That's a ridiculous business model. We currently aren't a club that can retain quality. We can unearth it and polish it. But our foundation needs to be grittier. The foundation of our club currently isn't players like Buendia or Cantrell for me. It's players like Tettey or McLean. Less glamour, but unafraid to put in a shift. That's our strength at the moment

 

[RiverEndRick]

As one commentator put it, "Norwich are the ManCity of the Championship but, well, the Norwich City of the PL". We need to have some realism for these matches. Our goal difference could be important and it's already shredded after two matches.

As for the cup, Pukki and Cantwell aren't fit enough for that and Sargent an Idah should get a chance. McLean and Sørensen should start and it also seems that Mumba will need to start for the apparently injured Giannoulis and Bali deserves that chance after his performance today.

 

[DUNCAN DONUTS]

Brentford with 2 clean sheets Ajer the second highest rated player according to BBC.

Looks a great signing

 

[Canary Rob]

Lots of bed wetting going on here?

We have just played the league winners of the last few seasons in both our opening matches! The statistic of matches lost in a row is a bit of a freak when it’s running across two seasons separated by a full season.

 

[carrowcanario]

Yes, although I'd agree 13 games lost in a row in the PL is a more impactful statistic. That's a long enough run of games to start smoothing out freak goals and unfortunate score lines that don't represent the run of play.

Can't see any value in the 12 in a row stat if the run is split by a whole season. It's no more valid than my stat

The last 3 times we've played them we've won one & lost 2, most teams in our position would be happy with that.

Anyway So far this season we've lost to Liverpool & Man City. There will be plenty of other teams in the division that will do the same.

Southampton lost 9 -0 to Man U last season & 9 - 0 to Leicester the season before, didn't matter they stayed up both seasons.

Start of the season everyone expected us to lose the first 4 games. We're just getting the results we expected.

 

[GozoCanary]

Lots of bed wetting going on here?

We have just played the league winners of the last few seasons in both our opening matches! The statistic of matches lost in a row is a bit of a freak when it’s running across two seasons separated by a full season.

Agreed. These two games mean nothing in terms of our overall season. We just need to make sure we don't get cut off at the bottom. We have lots of new players to bed in and we always improve as the season goes on under Farke.

 

[DUNCAN DONUTS]

Can't see any value in the 12 in a row stat if the run is split by a whole season. It's no more valid than my stat



Anyway So far this season we've lost to Liverpool & Man City. There will be plenty of other teams in the division that will do the same.

Southampton lost 9 -0 to Man U last season & 9 - 0 to Leicester the season before, didn't matter they stayed up both seasons.

Start of the season everyone expected us to lose the first 4 games. We're just getting the results we expected.

Last time we won 5 drew 6 lost 27 it's not wetting pants it's realism based on improvements to our squad .

Buendia was by far our best player so factor losing him in and Gibson and Gianoulis in to the defence then I'm expecting a similar set of results.
There's no shame in being massive underdogs.

If we go down I won't be calling for Farke to be fired but lack of recruitment in certain areas should be scrutinised.

The transfer window is still open and it's glaringly obvious where we need to strengthen and with the right signings we could easily survive .

With the current squad very doubtful.

 

[Paulpowersleftfoot]

I was surprised by Norwich today,never looked up for a battle at any stage of the game.
2 games I remember of recent times at Carrow Rd (0-0 and 3-2) I felt Norwich worked much harder than us and got what they deserved from both games
Today they were half hearted in the press and we worked much harder on and off the ball
If you aren’t going to outwork the likes of Man City then you really stand no chance of anything other than a thumping
Think they really let you down today,I felt for the 2000 or so who travelled

 

[DUNCAN DONUTS]

I was surprised by Norwich today,never looked up for a battle at any stage of the game.
2 games I remember of recent times at Carrow Rd (0-0 and 3-2) I felt Norwich worked much harder than us and got what they deserved from both games
Today they were half hearted in the press and we worked much harder on and off the ball
If you aren’t going to outwork the likes of Man City then you really stand no chance of anything other than a thumping
Think they really let you down today,I felt for the 2000 or so who travelled

They definitely didn't look up for it today, I agree .

 

[Robbie BB]

We're just getting the results we expected.

The results we expected, yes. The performance we expected? Definitely not, today.

 

[Canary Rob]

I was surprised by Norwich today,never looked up for a battle at any stage of the game.
2 games I remember of recent times at Carrow Rd (0-0 and 3-2) I felt Norwich worked much harder than us and got what they deserved from both games
Today they were half hearted in the press and we worked much harder on and off the ball
If you aren’t going to outwork the likes of Man City then you really stand no chance of anything other than a thumping
Think they really let you down today,I felt for the 2000 or so who travelled

I broadly agree with you here, certainly in terms of how to actually combat you guys, but I think there are couple of things to say in our defence (given we didn’t have one on the pitch) - this was effectively our third game of pre-season, because our prep was so disrupted. You can see our players are not as match fit as the Man City team and that is not actually normal for our squad - Farke works them hard and they are up there with the fittest in the Premier League normally.

The other thing is that, with the best will in the world, we are going to get beaten comfortably when the Man City team is at its best, given the sheer quality throughout. After the Tottenham match there was a point to prove, a full week’s training, some guys brought in to show they can do better than last week’s starting XI. We pretty much timed playing you guys awfully, doubled up with our pre-season problems.

Finally, there’s nothing we can really do about a couple of fair slices of luck. I thought 3-0 would have been a fairer result - not only the own goal, but also I don’t expect Man City to score with every single shot on target every game. And while that might sound like nothing, it is actually meaningful - if we hadn’t conceded that first we would have held out for a bit longer, confidence builds, we have a chance to frustrate and make the Man City players tense up. As it was, it’s an early own goal and the whole of the Man City team was visibly relaxed and able to enjoy themselves.