Agreed some of the passing was poor or telegraphed or the receiver was on their heels. However let’s not go overboard and say it was awful. We still dominated possession despite the passing, had equally good chances as Preston except for the goal. We fielded an incredibly young side which I’m sure was not JHTs plan, these players will make mistakes, but I’d rather watch them than likes of Hanley, Forshaw and Barnes. The ref allowed them to get physical with our young players in the first half and then seemed to punish us for similar challenges in the second.
Jurasek had a couple of nice moves. Dobbin was neat and direct at times. Sainz was lively but he looked rusty.
I know you've been backing him for quite a while now. I always thought he was too slightly built. Now I think he's just a natural born ball player with good reactions and instincts. (I don't know how Jurasek got just a 5.9)
2 home games against very average sides to get into top 6 . 1 point earned from 6 . We are not good enough defensively & our away records is not good enough to mount a credible challenge . Not all doom & gloom for the future but the sloppy goals against keep coming
Fully agree. In other words a period of transition as the Club kept saying it is. You couldn't fault the effort or the enthusiasm but they looked like they were - a group getting used to each other. It would have helped if Mclean had been playing but he wasn't
I also agree. Last night was a cautionary tale about rushing to youth at the expense of experience. Young players are certainly the future, but last night was the youngest side we've put out and it showed, particularly in midfield where we missed the experience of McLean and Marcondes. Slimane, Wright and Schwartau (average age: 20) struggled against their more experienced players. Preston progressed the ball with ease into our final third and could have won by more. Things improved when Núñez and Sørensen came on, but not enough by then to make a difference.
Tell that to all the 'old ones' players who Littler has thrashed. You don't have to be old to be experienced. Many of the Arsenal squad are young and experienced. You get experience by doing a job not just because you get older.
I still believe we are capable of reaching the play offs but against the top 6 sides we have looked amateurish at the back. Hoff ball can be beautiful but it's extremely risky if the players can't pass the ball out without getting punished , unfortunately young kids are prone to mistakes as they are still learning or perhaps not good enough yet.
Thanks for the points match blog will be done shortly, should have won by more but will settle for the win, still to this day have no idea why teams prat around at the back and Duffy was lucky to escape without a card for the tackle on Holmes.
Without being privy to all the fitness details, I think the big mistake last night was to start with the midfield three of Wright, Slimane and Schwartau. Given that Núñez was already pencilled in to have minutes during the game, IMO he should have started. The performance had Oxford written all over it, with a young team destabilised by a late withdrawal and put under further pressure by an early concession. It's possible to overthink, to try to anticipate every problem, many of which will likely never materialise. I guess we have to remember that JHT is, in coaching terms, as young as many of his players.
It's fashionable to fanny about at the back & looks wonderful if done properly, unfortunately we have shipped tons of goals from basic errors .
https://not606.com/threads/norwich-city-carrow-road-11-2-2025.416747/#post-18185180 There you go all the best until we meet again
"Fannying about at the back". I like it. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way involves clear thought and action, our way involves stopping, putting foot on ball and looking around to find someone to pass to, and then passing to a fellow defender who repeats this action.
In hindsight yes, but with McLean dropping out of the lineup so late, Wright would be the realistic choice as it is his default position. However I think it showed that it was his first senior game and a bit of a baptism of fire. Realistically we couldn’t expect Sorensen to come from not being on the bench to starting. With Nunez they were clearly balancing the risk between him and Slimane with 2 games in quick succession - one plays 60-70mins and then rotates with the other. But McLeans injury and the game state changed that to a degree. I’m still not sure why Schwartau was substituted as he was the one driving up the pitch and pressing high which Slimane struggled to do. It was clearly evident in the game that we had a young midfield that most importantly had never played together before and they were bossed.
The latest update from todays press conference doesn't bring much good news, with JHT joking that our midfield is "cursed". As soon as we appear close to getting numbers back, they drop away again! Squad update *Updated after Press Conference* (RW) Hernandez - OUT - 1 week - Slight knee issue - Resumed light training Thursday (CM) Mclean - OUT - 1 week - Some trouble/pain breathing before last game and will likely miss this one (CM) Nunez - OUT - 1 week - Took a significant kick last game, badly swollen and bruised. Scanned but no break (CM) Marcondes - OUT - 1 week - has been playing with a hip injury - hopefully just rest needed possibly an injection (CM) Forsyth - OUT - 1-2 weeks - knee injury - 3rd injection this week (CM) Forson - OUT - 3-4 weeks - knee knock - still feeling pain, draining blood from knee and it keeps coming back (CM) Gibbs - OUT - 3-4 weeks - hamstring injury (RW) Springett - OUT - 12 weeks - back injury - re-occurrence (GK) Mair - OUT - Returned to the club after breaking his finger.
