Match Day Thread Norwich City v Middlesbrough Sat 12th Nov ko 1500 hrs.

Going to the World Cup with England

 

Do we get a pay out for that with sell on add ons ?

 

Oddly I think he has improved our defensive shape and organisation and yet we still fall to lapses in concentration and individual errors

 

A manager can't take credit for moments of brilliance from the players but not exempt from lapses of concentration and individual errors .


Every game , it's either nature or nurture ?

 

Possibly

 

And yet we are happy to blame the manager for the players failure to convert chances when we are on top in games and blame him for conceding due to errors in play (not in setup)

 

If it becomes a habit then yes

 

Positives

I hope Sargent wins the sports ball trophy & refuses to stand for their flag like the women's U.S A team

 

I don’t see it to be honest. We get pulled all over the place defensively.

In the previous Championship season we conceded 0.78 goals per game. This season we are at 1.1 per game. On “expected goals against”, it’s also worse though only narrowly, 1.38 to 1.39.

If that doesn’t satisfy you due to the short season, Farke’s first PL season we conceded 1.97 goals per game and had expected goals against of 1.96 per game. By contrast, Smiths (75%) Premier League season we conceded 2.21 goals per game and xGA of 2.04.

So the stats suggest we have regressed - quite significantly. They’re not perfect stats, far from it, but the pattern is pretty clear.

 

But when our habit was going nine games unbeaten it was luck

 

Not at all - but there were some outstanding individual performances in the run. And that underlines the problem; we know there are decent players in our squad, but they’re not playing well as a team. We rely on flashes of brilliance and it’s proven that the Championship is unforgiving.

 

My worry is that we sack him and end up with someone worse or find out that maybe the team just isn’t as good as we think it is

 

L ampard will be available soon.

 

Isn't the first question on any candidate's lips likely to be "How much money will I have to spend?" .....................

 

I think you're asking the right question: Are the players good enough? If they're not, we are roughly where we should be - play-off contenders. If they are, the problem's Smith.

I suspect our conclusions on this differ, though.

 

Rusty not interested. So it comes down to Mark Robins.

 

I agree. I used to dread defending corners and set pieces under Farke's zonal marking. Boro's first goal was a bullet perfectly placed in the top corner - a moment of individual excellence like that of Sargent's goal earlier. I had hoped Hayden would make a difference, but he looked pretty ineffectual against Boro and his role is crucial in a diamond formation (6.2 on WhoScored).

 

If we do make a change, he would be a good option. He's achieved a lot at Coventry with very modest resources. Could well be a Lambert type appointment.

 

A goal from a moment of brilliance which could have been prevented had Hanley not been sucked out of position he would have been able to make an effective challenge for the ball.

Hayden was awful on Saturday, where I wuld apportion blame on Smith is not recognising that fact and removing him in favour of Gibbs/Nunez

 

Craig Bellamy - assistant manager to Kompany at Burnley