Match Day Thread Carabao Cup, Southern Section Rd 2,Norwich City v Southampton, Tues 26th August ko 19.45

We play like we haven't touched a football in months.

Note to Manning: drill drill drill!

 

Agreed I don’t believe the players’ touches and passing are this bad if they actually practiced

 

Three home matches, 3 home defeats. What is wrong in the state of Carrow Road? Has Manning got a cunning plan?

 

Schwartau showed some really heavy touches in that second half

 

Started off well in that second half but faded really badly into a poor half.

There seemed to be a lack of forward movement to free themselves of their markers, resulting in the ball being passed around at the back due to lack of options and ending with Grimshaw smashing hopeful long balls

 

Positives:
Good minutes for Gibbs, Jurasek, Schwartau and Kvistgaarden.
Darling and Topic are good

 

English manager takes over......football quality plummets.

This club has been ruined by Knapper. Must have spent well over £30 million, two managers, and we have a team in which it's best players are the ones who were here before he joined.

And he caps it all with this unimaginative hire.

I hope Attanasio see's the light and fires him when this comes to its inevitable conclusion, hes pissed his money away.

 

We were done by their more effective pressing and passing. McConville made a good case for the fourth CB option rather than going out on loan. Schlupp played well and there were some flashes of what will come with Kvistgaarden but it certainly showed the trouble we'd be in without Sargent. Three more days to go.

 

I’m not convinced all the player signings are bad or that the money will turn out to have been wasted. I actually see some good players in there with the right system and coach. But otherwise, yep.

 

I think our squad is decent - just need organising and instructions to play it forward rather than negative back passes which keep playing us into trouble

 

We seem to get worse the longer a game goes on. Very few players seem match fit. Schlupp played better in the first half, but looked well off the pace in the second. It's almost like we didn't have a preseason. Second half was particularly poor, we lacked any real penetration and for much of the time we looked like a Thorup team. The rest of the time we just lumped it forward. Loads of poor first touches and passes and plenty of poor individual decisions.

Would help if some players could play the ball forward.

Still early days, doesn't help that most of our players who aren't performing / playing to their full potential arrived at the club before Manning.

 

Would help if some players could play- full stop. It was not just diabolical, it was completely disheartening.

 

I think that indicates perhaps the squad is not decent. He's told them to be more direct and all that happens is we give it away.

When Nunez plays we look so much better.....because he's a great players. The rest of that midfield are frankly very average

 

Based on the chances he's now had I hope the Crnac experiment is over, as bad a watching Onel out there, lots of energy with nout end product. If that's the best performance we can give with Sargent out (injured / sold / suspended) we're royally porked to stay above the basement 3.
Still some deadwood knocking around Colney, Gibbs & Jurasek 2 that stand out.

 

I think Crnac still has potential but he needs to shed timber and he hasn’t got much time left. Tick tock.

 

I can't make up my mind about Crnac. On one hand it took Sargent a while to come good as a striker and not really until after Pukki left. On the other Crnac lacks the competitiveness of Sargent in the early days and he seems to drift in and out during games. Given the money we paid for him it's concerning. As for the new players, I'll wait to see more before making any judgements.

 

Younger players are notoriously known to be inconsistent. The issue I have with Crnac is despite the opportunities he's had I've yet to see a game when he's played a blinder.

 

Manning on Topic:

"I've been really impressed by him, I think he's exactly what we needed. You see him [against Southampton], the way he intercepts, the way he breaks up play. His capacity to break play up and drive forward with it, he's showed some real strength doing that. But he should score. He hit the bar against Southampton, had a really good opportunity at the weekend as well, I think he's somebody who will contribute. He'll only improve. Seeing him, how he carries himself, he'll only improve over time, the more he gets settled in the league and understands the sheer intensity and the margins in Championship football, how close they are, the volume of games and the programme. They'll all be new things for him and not just him, but I'm really confident that he'll pick that up quickly. He's shown huge progress in his time with us."

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/interviews/25421584.norwich-city-boss-liam-manning-perfect-mirko-topic/

 

I think Topic is a good player and potentially capable of being excellent. I just wonder why you need a defensive cm with 3 at the back and centre already.

4 at the back makes more sense with him in front with 2 creatives either side centrally.

I'm a big believer that your creative force should come from centre, not wide.