Not sure that Núñez would have enough time in training to start, but he could be on the bench and if Gibson is fit, Sørensen can stay in midfield. I'd go with: Krul Aarons Omobamidele Gibson Giannoulis Sara Sørensen Mclean Cantwell Pukki Rashica Subs: Gunn, Núñez, Tomkinson, Gibbs, Sargent, Hernandez, Hugill
https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1139020276?-11057:808 DM on the list of reinforcements required by the looks of things. Not sure why it wasn't the case last season!
I am confused. The broadband in our area is erratic so streaming games is a waste of time. Full fibre is spreading out from Nice but won't get here for at least 6 months. I followed the game on Sky Sports. Lee Hendrie followed our game and was disappointed in our performance which he said was poor. He did particularly pick on Cantwell who he said was a disgrace even refusing to put in any effort whatsoever yet on here people are saying he was one of our better players and are putting him in the team for the next game. I shall watch the Wigan game with particular interest.
I'm no fan of Cantwell after last season, but I have to admit he worked very hard in the Cardiff game. IMO, he wasn't very effective, especially as the game wore on, but it's not fair to say he didn't put the effort in.
Cantwell was the highest rated Norwich player on WhoScored.com, and, along with Cardiff's Kipre, the =7th highest rated from either team. It's Hendrie who is the disgrace in this instance.
Lee Hendrie is a twat. Overated player and crap commentator. Cantwell imo was our best player by a country mile.
As I see it, a player being "effective" over 90 minutes (as opposed to in a particular single situation, e.g. making an assist, converting a chance) depends on similar levels of effectiveness from team mates as well. For example, Rashica has taken a lot of flack for being ineffectual against Cardiff, but the poor guy had virtually no support from team mates. Cardiff clearly considered him a threat, because the minute he got the ball he had three Cardiff players onto him. No player can be expected to break out of that kind of pressing without assistance. What he needed was someone behind him to receive a back pass and then put an accurate ball over the top for him to turn and run onto. The players behind him, in particular Hanley and Giannoulis, appeared quite incapable of providing the support required. In the event he was left with no option other than to try and break the press himself, and whenever he looked likely to do so, he was cynically fouled. This was exacerbated by the (deliberately?) right-side emphasis of our attack (53% to 26% according to Whoscored), which meant that midfield support for Rashica was minimal for large parts of the game (look at the heat maps for Cantwell and McLean to see the imbalance illustrated).
DS has just come out with the outrageous statement "we need to find a way to feed Pukki". Wow, it's only taken him nine months to reach this conclusion.
Good analysis except for the description of Hanley as the other player behind Rashica. Surely that's McLean. I think the problem is playing Cantwell as a CM. I'd move him up behind Pukki in a 4-2-3-1 so that he can interact with Rashica and Sargent and put pressure on the defence. Todd is a natural playmaker and in that position he can receive the ball from midfield and distribute it to the attacking players. As it was, the connection between midfield and the front 3 was problematic most of the time, with the ball too often going sideways or backwards. My hope is that Sara and Núñez can provide a new dimension in midfield. If DS insists on a 4-3-3 then he'll need to drop either Cantwell or Sargent. McLean does a lot of the grafting in midfield and he'd be far more effective playing alongside a dynamic box to box player like Sara or Núñez who can create problems for a packed defence. Hopefully, the eventual solution is both Sara or Núñez bossing the midfield with Hayden screening the defence.
Well of course if Rashica is playing on the left and being marked by 3 players, then we should be focusing on the right side, as that is where the additional space should be. Why would our tactic be to play the ball back, so it can be played over the top for him to race against the 3 other players. The comments about Hanley are your usual biased nonsense. In a 4-3-3 the support for the left forward comes from the LB, LM & CM not the CB.
I suggest that should read ".. the support SHOULD come from". My point was that, all too often on Saturday, it didn't.
at Robbie being unable to avoid trying to slag off Hanley, even when it had nothing to do with Hanley (and he got himself sent off, which is a much better reason to criticise him…) It’s an obsession
Confirmation from the club website https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/city-sign-chile-international-marcelino-nunez
You obviously missed my criticism of that bit of stupidity by Hanley then (#107 on the Cardiff match thread).
