2025/2026 Season

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1950canary said:
Isn't it a problem of the current game and tactics? If one of our defenders or GK has the ball our sole attacker is outnumbered by defenders so it is useless humping it forward and their midfield tight marks our midfield leaving only our defenders, who outnumber their attacker, free to be passed to until one of our midfielders breaks from their marker. We might have to wait for Pep to devise a new system to break his old one!!
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IMO our players became frustrated by the limitations JHT's tactics after opposing teams worked out how to frustrate them. Robbie points out the Pompey game, but that was a complete change to a low block to frustrate the opponents and produce a goalless draw. That wasn't an answer, it was desperation. Some blame the players, but for me it was the tactical inflexibility.

What I'd like to see in the new Head Coach, is the ability to adapt the fundamental possession based approach to counter the opposing team's tactics, especially away from home. This doesn't mean dropping into a low block. It means choosing a variation in players and tactics to give us an advantage. In the Boro game Wilshere provided a good example of this where Stacey was pushed forward and McConville came in to replace him in a back 3. That tweak allowed us the upper hand in spite of being away to a playoff chasing team. It was a breath of fresh air after weeks of collapse. Sometimes it requires thinking outside the box, and that's where JHT fell short, IMO. Hopefully the new Head Coach won't.
 
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RiverEndRick said:
IMO our players became frustrated by the limitations JHT's tactics after opposing teams worked out how to frustrate them. Robbie points out the Pompey game, but that was a complete change to a low block to frustrate the opponents and produce a goalless draw. That wasn't an answer, it was desperation. Some blame the players, but for me it was the tactical inflexibility.

What I'd like to see in the new Head Coach, is the ability to adapt the fundamental possession based approach to counter the opposing team's tactics, especially away from home. This doesn't mean dropping into a low block. It means choosing a variation in players and tactics to give us an advantage. In the Boro game Wilshere provided a good example of this where Stacey was pushed forward and McConville came in to replace him in a back 3. That tweak allowed us the upper hand in spite of being away to a playoff chasing team. It was a breath of fresh air after weeks of collapse. Sometimes it requires thinking outside the box, and that's where JHT fell short, IMO. Hopefully the new Head Coach won't.
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Don't disagree Rick but you leave yourself open to a counter attack and when you have Duffy with the turning circle of a battleship and the speed of a carthorse you are in trouble. Cordoba for Duffy would be the obvious solution but what Cordoba will turn up? The one in his first 8 appearances or the accident prone version thereafter. In my opinion we will miss Wilshere more than we will miss Thorup.
 
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RiverEndRick said:
What I'd like to see in the new Head Coach, is the ability to adapt the fundamental possession based approach to counter the opposing team's tactics, especially away from home. This doesn't mean dropping into a low block. It means choosing a variation in players and tactics to give us an advantage.
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Rick, it's simply not true that Thorup didn't "adapt the fundamental possession based approach to counter the opposition team's tactics". He was often asked how he prepared the team for a match, and analysing the opposition and plotting counter-measures was always mentioned in his reply. If anything, I'd say he erred in the opposite direction, overdoing the reactive fine tuning and probably contributing to Stacey and others complaining about too much time spent in analysis sessions and too little on the training pitch.

You say the tactics against Pompey (A) were "desperation". Was Wagner's resort to similar tactics against Saints at Carrow Road also "desperation"?

There's no shortage of examples of Thorup making the kind of adjustment you say he routinely failed to make. Take for instance the home match against WBA, in which, to counter Mowbray's man-to-man, high pressing tactics, we used a more direct strategy of playing over the press when playing out from the back. In possession we were set up 3:4:3, with Stacey and Fisher either side of McLean and Slimane in midfield. This allowed Stacey to make forward runs when the opportunity arose, not dissimilar to his role in the final two games.
Another example: the away win at Watford, in which Fisher starred, earning himself WhoScored's MOM award. This in part was down to his defensive performance against Chakvetadze, but he also had a crucial role in our offensive play by inverting into a novel "double 10" formation, paired with Marcondes. It's beyond me how you can accuse Thorup of being "tactically inflexible". He was adapting all the time, both to constantly changing player availability, and the opposition.
 
Canary Rob said:
Ok, got it, let’s move on and have a ban on mentioning Thorup for half a season
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"And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!" (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, "Live Not by Lies")
 
  • Jurasek has had a minor hernia operation but should be fit for pre-season. No indication as to whether this was planned as part of his injury issues
  • Thorup has apparently rejected the manager role at QPR
 
SuffolkCanary said:
  • Jurasek has had a minor hernia operation but should be fit for pre-season. No indication as to whether this was planned as part of his injury issues
  • Thorup has apparently rejected the manager role at QPR
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I'm a little worried that Jurásek may be one of those players who picks up injuries a lot, but I hope that's not the case. The QPR job looked to be a strange choice for Thorup, so not too surprised.
 
Of the 24 clubs who will be contesting the 2025--2026 EFL Championship, 5 are currently managerless -- Bristol City, Hull, 'Boro, QPR, Watford -- and a further 3 have newly appointed coaches -- Norwich (Manning), Southampton (Still), WBA (Mason). That's a third of the league, and counting.
 
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Possible Brazilian 20 year old WL player:

"Norwich City are interested in young SC Internacional winger Gustavo Prado but face competition from some of Europe's top clubs, according to reports in Brazil. The 20-year-old has developed impressively with the Brazilian side and has been scouted by some of the world's top clubs, with Norwich also monitoring his progress as part of their ongoing South American recruitment operation. A right-footed winger who plays on the left, Prado has made 54 appearances in all competitions for the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A outfit, scoring on three occasions. Only 10 of those have been as a starter. Internacional are currently 11th in the Brazilian top-flight. Prado has featured six times, scoring once."

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwic...est-brazilian-winger-gustavo-prado---reports/

(Article includes compilation video)
 
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RiverEndRick said:
Possible Brazilian 20 year old WL player:

"Norwich City are interested in young SC Internacional winger Gustavo Prado but face competition from some of Europe's top clubs, according to reports in Brazil. The 20-year-old has developed impressively with the Brazilian side and has been scouted by some of the world's top clubs, with Norwich also monitoring his progress as part of their ongoing South American recruitment operation. A right-footed winger who plays on the left, Prado has made 54 appearances in all competitions for the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A outfit, scoring on three occasions. Only 10 of those have been as a starter. Internacional are currently 11th in the Brazilian top-flight. Prado has featured six times, scoring once."

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwic...est-brazilian-winger-gustavo-prado---reports/

(Article includes compilation video)
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PinkUn have said this is NOT one that the club are pursuing
 
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The cop out is "according to reports in Brazil" and other such expressions as they produce one article to promote the rumour and then another to refute it. It all fills loads of Pinkun space with useless rumours.
 
Is it just me, or is this a particularly news-less June footballwise? We are struggling on here, never mind the Pink'Un scribes. If it wasn't for Suffolk, I reckon the only activity would be on Carra_Rud's TAG thread. :emoticon-0171-star: :emoticon-0171-star: :emoticon-0171-star: :emoticon-0171-star: :emoticon-0171-star: for Suffolk <cheers>
 
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