Wagner comes in and 2 games played, two wins away 8 goals scored and all looks well. Next 2 games, two defeats and no goals scored. What has happened? Why are NCFC so poor at home?
Frustrating to be sure, but there were more signs of Wagner's tactics being taken on and that will grow with more games. This result pretty well erodes our chances of getting into the top 6, so it's now about developing the skills needed and the instinctive understanding between the players to make it work. The four man transition from the back was working well, but we're still not moving the ball through midfield quickly enough. Hope to see a response against Hull on Tuesday.
Was it? I didn't see any of the match, but whoever was providing "expert" comment on Radio Norfolk kept remarking on how deep our back line stayed and the resulting distance between our lines. Both Smith and Wagner have set out to institute aggressive high pressing and playing the game in the opposition third. That's simply not possible without the CBs holding a high line.
Keep onside please. Ours is the best squad in the Championship and if we aren't top of the league and cast iron certainties for automatic promotion, it's all Dean Smith's fault.
The results were uneven, but there were signs that the new tactics are being integrated into the performance. As with Burnley, though, this was compromised by the goal conceded. Bristol prioritised game management to protect their lead with a low block 8 man defence when we threatened and two attackers upfield as out ball targets with medium to long passes to break our gegen pressing (thus their 7 shots to our 15). When we gained the ball at the back, McLean dropped back between Hanley and Omobamidele to provide the extra man, with Sara dropping back in the middle ahead of those 3 to progress the ball out of defence. This worked well much of the time, with the FBs providing out ball targets effectively. Our top 3 rated players on WhoScored were Hanley (7.4) Sara (7.3) and Giannoulis (7.0), which suggests the transition from the back wasn't the problem. That came with the next pass to the attacking players against a packed defence. This must be why Nunez was brought in instead of Hernandez, but that didn't work and Onel came on after HT. He brought more energy, but the same frustrations occurred trying to penetrate a packed defence. Our line was high enough when we successfully kept hold of the ball but too often misplaced passes let us down. For me, the main difference between Wagner's first two wins and the last two losses was us getting the early goal, as opposed to them doing so. That both were due to goalkeeper errors just made it worse. Too often, the lack of movement and clinical finishing up front was also a problem.
Gary Gowers, writing under MFW, highlights these issues which he feels were apparent against Bristol City and remain from DS era: Individual errors Lacklustre Laboured and imprecise passing Lack of creativity No cutting edge Are these issues down to the way DS coached the squad or are they down to the inability of the players? Initially, Wagner seemed to have addressed most these issues, but the change of manager doesn’t seem to have stemmed the tide. Hull at home on Tuesday will be interesting. We haven’t won a home game since October last year and they are just behind us in the table.
I remember under Farke, the training sessions were extremely grueling and this was why they scored so many late goals as opposition fitness levels faded . Perhaps Smith & Shaky didn't match those levels & preferred the more relaxed training sessions preferring to be one of the lads ? Standards seem to have dropped in the last year & as one of the most expensive highly paid squads, the players were happy to turn up , put an 80% performance in & drive home in their expensive cars to their mansions to shag their Instagram model girlfriends.
Giannoulis was a liability in the premier league when he played, so rather surprising why people think he'll improve in this league? We've got a mixed bunch as team....new foreigners who'll take a season to get with life in the championship. those heading towards the ends of their careers who need moving on irrespective of which league we're in next season. A few youngsters who, given time may be good enough, but need good coaching, and average players who, despite repeating the same mistakes over and over, we can't improve on due to a lack of quality.
I may have got a bit over excited over our prospects of promotion this season after Wagner's first 2 games . After Burnley & Bristol I would rate our chances slim to none now. This looks like a slow rebuild from the bottom up
