I've just done some number-crunching. So far this season Sargent has played 515 minutes over the 10 PL games, featuring in 9 of them, and starting in 6. Tzolis has played 130 minutes over the same 10 games, featuring in 4 of them, and starting once (against Arsenal). (My figures don't include minutes for 90+ but there would be no significant difference if they did, since both players came on as substitute three times.) So Sargent has been given approximately four times the opportunity to acclimatise to the PL. I find this strange since we hear so much about Farkeball and how much he values technically gifted players, and since I doubt if even Sargent's mother believes he is more technically gifted than Tzolis. If any proof were needed that Farke has lost confidence in his own style of football, surely this is it.
I don't know about Farke, but it sure looked to me yesterday as if every last shred of confidence has been knocked out of young Tzolis.
Who knows where we go from here? I don't want to comment about Farke's future because I don't want to sound disloyal. I really wish Wolfsburg would make him an offer he can't refuse. It might be the best thing for all concerned. Other than that: 1) Unless we get 6-10 points over the next 4 games, we accept that it is very likely that we will go back down this season and start all over again, but make sure we get at least 12 points before the season ends 2) We do our best to keep the assets we have which will be good in the Champs: Omo, Tzolis, Hanley, Gibson, Sorensen, Mumba, Rashica, Dowell, etc 3) In the unlikely event that Normann wants to stick around, we fork out the money for him from the sale of Aarons and Cantwell 4) We send back Gilmour and Williams and focus on developing our own players instead. NCFC does not exist to develop the players of mega-rich clubs 5) We get an alternative to Pukki because the new team based on fast wingers will require a tall centre-forward type and a different style of football EDIT: (I don't mean get rid of Pukki, I mean get a different type of player so we can play both styles.) 6) We keep Sargent as back-up (a sort of Hugill) rather than take a huge loss on him 7) We dump Cantwell as soon as possible even if it means getting less than we originally hoped. If he kicks up a fuss, we tell him we have the right to a one-year extension on his contract and he can go and sit on a beach and sift the sand through his fingers and imagine it is his footballing career 8) In contrast, we sell Aarons and thank him for great service to the club and being a decent human being and genuinely wish him all the best 9) The club comes to a definite decision about what will happen when Delia and Michael are no longer with us 10) We do our utmost to persuade Webber to stay but thank him and wish him all the best if he wants to move on to bigger things EDITED to take out the extreme negativity from my original post. There is still a chance of survival although it seems to be small unless there is a sudden upturn over the next few games.
I don't think DF has "lost confidence" in Farkeball; all that's happened is that he's realised, correctly, that, given the quality of player we can afford, it is not a style of playing that will keep us in the EPL. This was clearly the conclusion reached during suspension of the 2019--2020 season. What we could then have expected to happen was that we'd witness a coherent, workable and effective alternative being honed last season in the Championship in preparation for a new assault on the top division. But we didn't. What we basically saw was a return to Farkeball, with the defence strengthened by the arrival of Ollie Skipp (a genuine DM), and a modest increase in the use of longer balls. From a longer term perspective, it might have been better to let Emi go last summer. By keeping him we effectively delayed implementation of a more pragmatic style by a year, a delay we are now trying to make up for "on the hoof".
I sometimes wonder what you get out of football, Robbie; there seems no joy in it for you. It comes across like a trip to the dentists, a painful necessity to find some sort of ugly, industrial pattern of play which will enable us to finish above 18th, which then gets repeated in the next season, and the next, and so on. At worst we become Pulis's Stoke or the current Burnley; at best we become a team of cynical thugs and professional fouls which takes no risks but has one good player (Sarr, Zaha, Raphinha, Saint Maximin) who can turn enough draws into wins so that it can survive and repeat the meaningless process all over again. It's like saying to a young artist, "Forget all that nonsense about being the next Picasso. Just churn out some third-rate pastiches of Constable and you'll just about make enough money to survive, and one day you can retire to Basingstoke". I recognise that your pragmatism is more sensible than notions of the beautiful game, but this new defensive formation and outlook is painful to watch, and we're still ****. We may as well lose in style.
I would have to agree with Iwan here for the meantime & reassess in December. https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/ncfc-daniel-farke-should-he-stay-or-go-8457528
How come it is so difficult to grasp that it is possible to play entertaining, goal scoring, football, football that actually wins you matches, while also being difficult to score against? It's not a question of one extreme or the other, it's a matter of getting the balance right. DF has never got it right, and there's no sign that he's any nearer to doing so. It's a commonplace that successful teams are built on sound defence; does that mean that no successful team has ever played joyous entertaining football? Of course not.
Point taken, but teams never seem to go from hard-to-beat to nice-on-the-eye. Stoke again are a perfect example of that: as soon as they abandoned up-and-under, they collapsed. EDIT: I'm sure most fans here would put up with ugly football this year if it meant surviving for one season. Two? Three? I don't think so. So how do you make that change? It means changes at the foundation, and then the whole structure collapses.
If a team has been built over a number of years to play a particular way, it would be surprising if things could be changed in the blink of an eye. Hence the premium on continuity and gradual evolution, which is the path Brentford, for example, have followed. Even if they end up relegated this season, it will not mean major upheaval and a change of tack, just strengthening in one or two positions with players in the same mould as those being replaced. Our problem is that we nailed our colours to a style of football we were able to implement with spectacular success in the Championship, but haven't the resources to replicate successfully at the top level.
We came close to replicating it. We weren't that far adrift before the lockdown happened. I still think we would have gone down, but I don't think we would have had the 10(?) straight defeats. (Although I must admit I've got no idea why this total collapse took place.) My personal feeling about this season is that we over-reacted to the lockdown collapse. Last time we didn't make enough changes to try to stay up; this time we made too many. We ripped the heart out of the team (and I'm talking more in terms of squad harmony and togetherness than about losing two key players on the pitch) and now we have neither the camaderie nor the settled sense of how we play as a team. It's a complete mess.
I'd agree with much of that. There's a lot that's puzzling about how exactly we've got into this "complete mess" -- hence, for example, my question about the unannounced change of objective, from being a top 26 club to being a top 17 club. The aim of periodically having some (short) spells in the EPL was part of the "top 26" concept. Why then suddenly raise the bar in that way?
If Newcastle are stupid enough to come out and say they have a 5 year plan to finish top 6 . In the first season they finish second, there is a good chance they would change their ambitious accordingly. To get hung up on Webber and his 5 year plan after overperfoming twice is daft , the sale of Buendia and big spending clearly changed our objectives
No-one's hung up on the 5-year plan. What everyone is hung up about is the current mess. "Overperforming" says it all. You can only hope to survive at the top level if you are EPL-ready, both in terms of infrastructure and backroom services on the one hand, playing squad and coaching staff on the other. We are manifestly NOT EPL-ready and we are proof that winning the Championship doesn't mean that we are.
Well, we're partially ready in terms of facilities, infrastructure & some backroom facilities, which is a massive improvement on previous times when we've been in the PL. In terms of coaching and squad clearly we're no there yet, but we are probably further along than we were last time we were in the PL. Maybe we just need to go down and back up one more time.
We are In one of the most money driven businesses In the World competing with disgusting global Billionaires . We have an elderly TV chef and a Golden goose. Perhaps Robbie should put himself forward he seems to have all the answers. We as a club have hit the glass ceiling, not being able to keep Buendia on an improved contract, not recruiting an EPL quality defence or replacement midfield or striker means we aren't good enough at this level. No shame in that unless you are happy becoming another soulless franchise like Watford Newcastle or the others.
Solutions 1: get bought by a billionaire 2: pump so much money into youth that we eventually get enough coming through at the same time to stay up
I remember a few moons ago we had a poster called Supermanwearshrantholtpyjamas that worshipped the Southampton model of churning out World class youth players every season funding their business model . Eventually the production line goes dry , and they nearly went bust. We are poaching tons of kids loaning them out and often releasing them without even playing for us . We are selling our Golden eggs every year but without a head coach commited to playing these boys then we don't know how good they are . Is Farke our Golden goose ? If we get taken over by an Iraqi billionaire or any of the other revolting owners like the Glazers etc then I will start supporting another team like Kings Lynn
