Match Day Thread Norwich v Hull City

Probably stating the obvious, but a big part of the thinking behind appointing Tim as manager was the hope that he brings a competitive advantage by having a different approach.
We don't have parachute level money so won't have the best players / squad ... although that said, I think the club have done a pretty good job with the near complete overhaul .... so we need an advantage(s) in other ways.
As posted before yesterday's game, we are a 2 or 3 players short and I guess that will be addressed in January.
Having said that, although Hughes moved the ball well on occasions, he made 2 absolute howlers within minutes of being on the pitch. After that the game was gone and he wasn't under the same pressure again, meaning he was spared from the possibility of making even more (who knows?). Maybe those were 'one (two) offs', but it's still got to be worrying, so maybe instead of 2 or 3, it could be 3 or 4 players for January? I was looking forward to seeing him play and the very early touches were good, but my god those errors were absolute basic **** ups.
Only TWT.

 

I agree about January, but without improvement now we’re on course for 30 points at Christmas. At that point we’d need to improve so much that we start taking 1.8 points a game to make the play-offs. Even a top half finish would need some improvement. I’m not suggesting Walter should be sacked, but based on what we’re seeing so far it might not be worth spending a lot in January, especially on loan players like we did last season. We’d be better off saving money for the summer.

 

Obviously a lot of the players we’ve brought in are wild cards, we have no idea really how good they’re going to be for us in the long run as nobody in here has seen any of them play but so far so good for what we’ve seen so far. We have a big squad with lots of competition all over the pitch and as things stand, if we were going to be looking at making any improvement the only obvious one would be a proven striker. I don’t think we should be talking about 2 or 3 new signings in January, the manager has plenty to work with now.

Including inheriting pretty much what the previous manager had formed into what was one of the tightest defences in the division when he took over in November 2022, which is now more of a clusterfuck than the Busy Bee’s Day Nursery U-4’s team.

 

Let's not pretend (again) that LR's team were rock solid at the back. It was only his conservative approach that stopped them being a car crash at the back too

 

Agree about the striker. We have 3 options, which is not a bad situation, but I don't think we have a stand out, 20 goal one.

LB situation needs sorting. Drameh cannot be the answer, he's not a LB. Giles looked better yesterday, although the game was lost. Maybe he's had a needed kick up the arse. But then whose the back up if the current back up isn't good enough to step in?

Jones & McLoughlin aren't good enough as a pairing. Good for L1, not good enough for top end Championship. Is it just McL that's the weakness or is it actually both that aren't good enough for our aspirations and for the style of play? I don't know. We hope Hughes & Jones are the answer, but Hughes made catastrophic errors yesterday, maybe one offs .... maybe not? Yep, very early days for him, but I remember hearing he was prone to the odd brain fart at Wigan too. It seems the club is already planning strengthening / improvements at CB and I can understand why.

So 3 maybe 4 needed imo. The 17 will be well bedded in by then so adding 3 or 4 should be no big deal. The main rebuild has been done.

 

We could do with need a new goalie in January. Just to add a bit of competition.

 

Macca, Jones and Coyle made 3 out of the back 4 that was the 4th tightest defence in the championship in 22/23 under Rosenior, behind Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton, all of whom got promoted.

The personnel is NOT the problem.

Macca’s form kept Greaves from playing at centre half too.

 

Think it was more like Liam wanted height in the left back position

 

I'm not jumping on a knock Macca bandwagon, but that last sentence really isn't true. Rosenior chose to play Greaves at LB for a period, during which Macca filled in at CB. And yes, he had a few decent games too (and some poor ones). We miss Greaves big style, during that last season or two with us he developed into a cracking CB, hence why he went for a lot of money is is now a regular starter in the PL.

Watch the highlights. Jones & Macca at fault re. their 2nd. Jones should make sure he cuts out the cross ahead of Sargeant. As for Macca, wtf was he doing? He just seemed to not bother that Sargeant was getting away from him. Hughes at fault for the 3rd, absolute brain fart (yes, Giles on the floor made him hesitate, but wtf was he then doing, just like with the penalty we got away with, playing the ball back into the middle of our own box and with a **** pass to Drameh). Then McL getting badly done for pace by Sargeant, not exactly the fastest hiimself, with them missing by a whisker. Jones arguably at fault for their 4th (let their player bring down the ball and finish unchallenged, nice finish mindst). Hughes almost allowing Marcondes (?) a 5th.

Yes, we can question the tactics, but the tactics had next nothing to do with any of the above. The personnel IS a problem (or, is a problem as well if you like).

 

I think we have to take into account losing Greaves, can’t really compare defences when we’ve lost such a huge player.

 

Apologies if already mentioned. Anyone else notice, Norwich had Samaritans on their shirts. It was Mental Health day. Yet thousands of their fans gave Kamara dog's abuse warming up and every time he touched the ball. You couldn't make it up. Why do so many people act like ****s?

 

How can the same players that were the 4th tightest defence in the division now only be league 1 standard?

And Macca absolutely did keep Greaves out of CB that season. We don’t need to rewrite history.

The personnel is NOT the problem, that is an undeniable fact, proved by them having done it before.

 

We were lucky to have Greaves as most of our defence has been lacklustre for a long time and Rosenior did a good job plastering over some cracks.

Both Jones and Macca are too slow and get caught in poor positions.

We need to see more of Hughes to make any sort of judgement.

Drameh has looked good at times and poor at others, but he’s played out of position.

Giles was better against Norwich, but we need more depth at left-back.

Coyle has stepped up, but that feels unsustainable. He’s going to hit a wall at some point and his body will just fall apart.

 

The Kamara stuff from their fans was bizarre. Sent him out on loan to league 1 then got rid. Did he ever even play for them?

Hardly sounds like a player their club really wanted to keep anyway

 

Coyle has been solid and dependable for 3 seasons now at this level. He’s not lightning fast and he doesn’t have fancy footwork but he’s a very solid defender and has a peach of a delivery. Sure, maybe we could find an Odubajo or a Rosenior to improve on him but he definitely doesn’t need replacing and is probably our most dependable player/position.

 

What a car crash of a performance that was...Having viewed the goals. We're so easy to slice through. Two passes from their third and they were bearing down on our goal. Where the feck was our midfield?....Bullied, out bottled and schooled by fecking Narwych...If we don't get our house in order at the back we're going to ship a load of goals. Plenty of 3's, 4s and even a few 5s. Good forbid we see a 6.

 

Could it top 0-8 at Wigan?

 

They are not the same players. Greaves has gone.
Rosenior clearly said why he moved Greaves out to LB (for a period). It wasn't that Macca was better than him and keeping him out. That is your own rewriting of history, not what was explained to us fans. And is just plain silly to say.
You seem to have chosen to ignore the points made about yesterdays game, clearly all being individual errors / weaknesses, simple as.
The personnel IS the problem (or at least a big part of the problem) ... so there.

... and nobody is saying Coyle needs replacing. The point made seemed a fair point simply questionning if the level of intensity he plays at is sustainable. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. For me, we already have the 2nd RB that we need, being Drameh ... who is not an answer at LB.

 

Fans having a go at players! Whatever next? Maybe our fans should try intimidating players instead of asking Stevie G to give them a wave or going on the pitch to give Rooney a hug as he walked off. Fortress MKM? LOL

 

Is it possible to think that both situations are out of order?
Giving ex non player Kamara dogs abuse, compounded by the day it was, the shirt, etc. And 'idolizing' Gerrard, Rooney, etc.
Both plain wrong imho.
Also, we can make MKM a 'fortress' without stooping so low as that . (Well, in theory we could, but unfortunately we rarely if ever do).