It's far too early to say "the present formation isn't working". But for Pukki's slip and a fired up Marshall, we would almost certainly be on 7 points, with a record of W2, D1, L1. Furthermore, the reintroduction of Stiepermann immediately restored the fluency to our play that had been missing; what was lacking was the faster tempo needed to penetrate Derby's deep defence. That will come with consistency of approach and a settled side, not chopping and changing.
Rotherham United FC and Norwich City FC have been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20 following their EFL Championship fixture on Saturday 17 October 2020. It is alleged that both clubs failed to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 70th minute of the fixture. The clubs have until Monday 26 October 2020 to provide their respective responses. Handbags ?
The FA probably worried about their champagne supply and therefore will be fining everything to top up their bank balances
Norwich City and Rotherham United have both been fined £5,000 for failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion. Both clubs admitted the Football Association charge following their Championship match on 17 October. Players clashed in the 70th minute after Millers defender Angus MacDonald fouled Canaries midfielder Oliver Skipp at the AESSEAL New York Stadium. MacDonald was sent off for the challenge as Norwich won 2-1.
It occurred to me that the start of this season is pretty much a carbon copy of 2018/19 when we took four points from our first five games and then went on that amazing run.
I think that's true and in both cases our play has been better than the results indicate and we have been integrating new players. Gibson, Quintilla, Skipp, and Hugill are settling in now and even looking better than their predecessors in some ways. Gibson's experience shows as does that of Quintilla and suddenly we no longer have a youthful back line. Even Aarons is well experienced now and the new midfield partnership of Skipp and Rupp is looking promising. I'm still not sure about Hugill starting up front and it will be interesting to see whether he does so in the next two matches.
Carbon copy? In some respects there are significant differences. The first is that, at this stage In 2018-19, we were creating chances AND, most importantly, taking them. The main reason for our lowly league position was goals conceded. This season we are creating even more chances, but failing to take them. For comparison (after 7 games): 2018-19: xG = 10.1, GF = 10 2020--21: xG = 13.7, GF = 8 As the 2018--19 season progressed, our chance conversion rate got even better; when the season finished we'd outscored xG by a massive 23% (Pukki party!) In terms of defending, the comparison after 7 games looks like this: 2018--19: xGa = 9.9, GA = 12 2020--21: xGa = 7.8, GA = 6 So yes, it looks as if we've been a bit more solid this year, but the chief difference seems to lie in how clinical the opposition have been. Two years ago our first 7 fixtures included games against West Brom, Sheffield Utd, and Leeds who knocked in 9 goals between them; with all due respect to our opponents so far this season, we haven't faced the same level of offensive quality.
To be fair he said five games, not seven. Without wishing to make more work for you(!) are you sure the comparison over five games is quite so different?
After 5 games: 2018--19: xG = 8, GF = 8 --------- making chances & taking them 2020--21: xG = 9.4, GF = 5 --------- making even more chances but not taking them 2018--19: xGa = 7.2, GA = 11 -------- conceding "against the odds" goals (clinical opposition finishing) 2020--21: xGa = 6.4, GA = 5 --------- conceding fewer chances against less clinical opposition
I remember when it used to be called the 'beautiful game' But if it's now all about laptops, heat maps and bullshit of this type little wonder I'm falling out of love fast. And I suspect I'm not the only one.
I'm a bit of stats nut and consequently I like all this stuff. There was a Sheffield Utd player in the 70's who wrote a thesis on the role of luck in the life of a professional footballer. One of the oddest phenomena is the goal drought in strikers. Relatively Pukki has been on this sort of run since our collapse of firm in The Premiership. I think that it will end soon and we will see him knocking them in for fun.
I would have liked to have seen Sorensen play against Wycombe, not least to give Skipp a break, which surely must come soon.
In 1704 when Isaac Newton first published his Opticks, critics of his mathematical approach to colour accused him of rendering the world colourless! We now know even more about colour than Newton, but the flowers in my garden are no less colourful for it. Nor is my garden any the less beautiful. In fact I would say it is made more beautiful by the deeper understanding I have of what I am looking at. Similarly with football; the "beautiful game" is made no less beautiful by trying to understand it better.