I don't always agree with you Robbie but in this case I agree 100%. All of this change and we are still only 2 points off the play offs - does that indicate lack of ambition? These are exciting times. Success is not guaranteed but the status quo of Smith/Wagner running a team of old players past their sell buy dates was boring and getting us nowhere. Thorup and Wilshere coaching younger players eager to learn, play and put in 100% effort gives us, in my opinion, a better chance of getting another money loaded season in the promised land and a more exciting and entertaining way of getting there.
Phew! That's one poster who isn't going to give up on Not606 as a result of yet another seemingly provocative RobbieBB post ..........
I wouldn't disagree with what you say, Robbie, but early on the season there was a lot of talk designed to lower expectations, especially from the Pinkun journos. None of us really knew how it would turn out but JHT was very thorough and persuasive as the season went on. Adding Wilshere to the coaching staff helped a lot and his comments suggest more potential to come: "When I spoke to him and since working with him, it's what I needed. He's a young coach as well, but with some really clear ideas to learn from, and hopefully, we can grow together. I think we've put a staff together now, which is really good. I come from an environment in the academy that is completely different from the first-team world. When I stepped in here, Johannes had a really interesting way about him where he encouraged debate. It's all about trying to get the best out of the team. I'm really enjoying it. He's given me a lot of responsibility. Glen has been amazing, too. We're growing and building." That sounds good to me.
Here's another big reason for our recent improvement: "Emiliano Marcondes has been named as the winner of the Anglian Home Improvements Player of the Month award for January." https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/marcondes-named-as-player-of-the-month
Following the conversation about squad ages and after listening to this weekends PinkUn podcast, they have said that we had the 4th OLDEST squad in the league last season and we now have the 4th YOUNGEST. In November last year we played QPR we fielded the oldest team selection of anyone that season at 30.3! Long, Stacey, Duffy, Batth, Gianoulis, Mclean, Sara, Fassnacht, Barnes, Hernandez, Hwang We've gone from having 12 players over 30 to just 4. Last season only Gibbs and Rowe played more than 15 games as u21s, the list for this season has doubled and with many more closer to that number.
We are first in the division for most short passes made, but 24th for key passes, 24th for passes into the final third, 24th for progressive passes and 23rd for passes that are long. So all our pretty passing is to no avail. these are taken as %'s. So only one team makes less long passes than us but every other team makes more incisive passes than us. EVERY OTHER TEAM.
Are these stats percentages or absolute numbers? I.E. does "24th for key passes" mean "our percentage of passes that are key passes is the lowest in the division", or does it mean "every other team makes more key passes than us". There is a huge difference between the two: it could be true that we have the lowest percentage of key passes while still making more key passes than anyone else depending on how many passes we make in total. I suspect your figures are percentages. Only Leeds have scored more goals than us (52 to 48); how come we score so many goals if, as you say "all our pretty passing is to no avail"? We have the third highest possession in the division, which implies a lot more passes made than most other teams in the league. We are 4th in the league for total passing distance, and 3rd for progressive passing distance; i.e. 33% of our total passing distance is progressive passing distance, i.e. moves the ball towards the opponent's goal. That's the same percentage as Leeds ..........
Those are disturbing stats, GE. We pass backwards and around at the back very well but struggle to establish consistent passing much of the time and Preston was a good example of that. We must be pretty high in unprogressive passes and because we pass back into our own area so much we create opportunities for the opposition to steal the ball in dangerous situations, as happened for Preston's goal. We score a lot, but we also concede a lot. It's frustrating, because when we pass well we're a joy to watch, but when we don't, it's a mess, much like it was with Farkeball. One reason is lineup changes due to suspensions and injuries like we had in midfield against Preston. That's likely again at Hull from what was said at the presser. Let's hope we start with Sørensen alongside Slimane this time if McLean isn't fit. Wright's time will come.
Our real problem remains defensive. The stats on passing are interesting and of course it would be nice to see us score even more etc, but that is such an outlier it suggest to me it says more about style than necessarily there is a substantive problem with our progressive passing given goals scored. The issue is that this style and all this possession is not stopping teams score against us. (Although it is not just where the ball gets captured from us high up the pitch, we seem generally vulnerable, but that hassling of our centre-backs is a particular issue). If there is a way to measure dangerous passes or hospital passes, I would be very interested to see how our stats line up there…
True, but is our scoring down to the tactics or the quality of our attacking players, especially Sargent (when he's fit) and Sainz. Sargent has 8 goals in 16 starts and Sainz 15 goals in 27 starts. Crnac (5), Núñez (4) and Marcondes (4) have also contributed both in scoring and assists (13).
Sainz goals may be the outlier as a fair few were long range beauties which wouldn’t have been the result of a key pass I doubt. JHT has also been clear in wanting to create high quality chances rather than a larger amount of low quality chances, perhaps that has something to do with the stats but I still would doubt we were that low down. Robbie might have nailed it with his percentages explanation
All of this just goes to prove what I have always maintained - the majority of statistics are a load of irrelevant b*ll*cks!!
Tactics can throttle talented players, or free their talents; in his first year, Sargent was throttled by being played out of position; Thorup's tactics maximise his talent. The club strategy is to have players whose talents are maximised by the tactics. It is surely perverse to try to conjure a criticism out of examples of where that strategy is proving a success.
I wasn't being 'perverse' by 'conjuring up a criticism', Robbie; I was asking a genuine question about the variation in our performances over the season. Farke didn't play Sargent out of position because of tactics - it was because Pukki was our dominant striker, just as Crnac is played out position because Sargent is now our dominant striker. Once again you have tried to twist an ongoing discussion by attacking me as being 'perverse' and 'conjuring up a criticism' and I'm fed up with this sort of personal attack and the effect it has on genuine discussion.
PinkUn have put some great information out in their preview show today around our struggles to form consistency and how that has stemmed from the inability to play a consistent midfield due to suspension or injury. Of the 32 games so far, the longest spell we have been able to name the same midfield in consecutive games is 4 occasions - Mclean/Nunez/Forson, and that was early on in the season where we were still learning the system. In the 32 matches this season there has been 16 different combinations in the midfield 3 options using 11 different players. Slimane/Mclean/Nunez is our most used combination - 6 times - less than 20%. Arguably our best midfield is Mclean/Nunez/Marcondes and they've only played 3 games together. We are yet to win a game without both Mclean and Nunez in the team - ominously both are unavailable this weekend. Consistency in selection breads consistency in performance and unfortunately we have had none.
Which is why I think that most statistics are a load of irrelevant nonsense. If you can consistently put out your best team in a run of games you will do better than if you have to swap and change every week. The results are better because of consistent teamwork not because three players have passed the ball twice the average number of times or sprinted 30 yards 4 times.
True, especially if the consistent teamwork is from your best players. Experience and confidence could be other factors.
Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup confirmed that Marcelino Núñez will miss Saturday's trip to face Hull City in the Sky Bet Championship. The head coach also confirmed that Kenny McLean is a doubt for the trip to the MKM Stadium, while Emiliano Marcondes will also be unavailable. "Emi is the same, so we have to give him rest. Kenny was added to the list. He's had pain breathing in the warm-up, but it's a doubt whether he can play or not. We'll do some different tests
