Match Day Thread Canaries vs Seagulls

0-0 it is then, 4 points from safety thanks to Southampton's win.

Some promising moments, some mighty frustrating ones, but at least the defence held strong again. They'll take confidence from that, and it's a platform we can build on. Just a shame that it's taken 7-8 games for their to be anything redeeming about our play, and with a big test to come vs Chelsea, we'll have to see if that improvement is real, or we've just played poor attacks.

Krul 6 - some decent saves, couple of hairy moments.
Aarons 6 - offered some threat, good interplay with Pukki.
Kabak 4 - ok defensively, his desire to dribble forward nearly cost us a goal, he was fortunate to be fouled.
Hanley 5 - did well enough defensively, perhaps fortunate not to give a penalty away.
Gibson 4 - He's alright with the ball at his feet, but played Krul into trouble a couple of times, didn't control the ball when he could, shot when he should have passed, etc. Decision making not great.
Giannoulis 6 - Probably our best outlet, could see the frustration at not having options in the box.
Lees-Melou 5.5 - pick of the midfielders, solid without any standout moments.
Normann 5 - needs to work on his set pieces delivery or variation.
McLean 3 - really not doing enough at this level, well marshalled at corners.
Sargent 5 - woeful miss aside, he did well getting us up the pitch, even though he didn't threaten himself. Feels like he'd be more effective with more players around him.
Pukki 5 - couple of good chances, some tenacity and good runs, but he's not a penalty box striker and that showed when Giannoulis had opportunities to cross.

 

Agree with all of that, Suffolk. Confidence was our problem when the chances came, but we're getting closer and another clean sheet will boost the defensive players, who were excellent against a very good side. In midfield, Lees-Melou had his best game yet and Hanley was excellent as well. Here's WhoScored's ratings:

 

Was at a kids birthday party and saw bits and pieces , we at least defended well and our free flowing passes were coming off .

Sargent unlucky not to score and Pukki could have laid him on a sitter but we didn't lose or concede which is a plus .

Relatively content with that display and result.

2 games unbeaten for @GozoCanary

 

Farke confirms that it was just cramp for Normann.

 

For stat lovers:

xG: NOR 1.08 vs 1.16 BRI
Shots: NOR 15 (2 OnTarget) vs 11 (3 OnTarget) BRI
Shots in Box: NOR 5 vs 8 BRI
Chances created: NOR 10 (1 Big) vs 9 (1 Big) BRI

And for stat haters:

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Size of the blob is quality of the chance. So xG reckons the Sargent chance (top dot) was way inferior to Pukki's clipped effort from a tight angle. Despite Pukki having the goalkeeper a metre away, and Sargent having no goalkeeper in sight...

 

It’s horseshit isn’t it!

 

Doubt if I'll survive Chelsea away. If somehow I do, we may have turned a corner.

 

In other News Cambridge did OK today

 

I think in terms of Farke-watch, he got the starting XI right, but I'm not sure the subs worked.

Normann off was enforced, but Rupp has 1 goal and 3 assists in his last 57 games - he's not winning you the game. Gilmour would have been a fairly safe move, but maybe he finds the pass to unlock a team. Dowell has apparently impressed in training, but...? If he's not trusted to replace any of the central midfielders, when will he play?

I thought it was interesting that Potter noticed, and commented after the game, that all the space was out wide. That was why he swapped both wing backs to increase attacking threat. And Lamptey at times was the most advanced Brighton player. The moves didn't result in a goal, but the logic was obvious. 6 central midfielders crowded that area of the pitch and made progress in central areas difficult.

Tzolis, Rashica or Dowell could all have replaced Sargent and looked to force the issue in those wide spaces. Hug the touchline, pen their wingback in and potentially create a double up which gets a player to the byline. But Rashica didn't play in that fashion, which was a shame.

 

I think Farke is making his subs to hold onto results rather than force the issue, as he has done previously. Rupp was the most defensive and energetic midfielder to replace Normann in the role. I would hope that had Normann not been limping around then maybe Gilmour for McLean would have been his first choice of sub. Rashica was brought on to stretch the game and some much needed pace up front which nearly worked as Brighton started pushing more players forward.

 

I muttered after 80 minutes that Brighton had changed both wing backs so we should have responded by bringing Tzolis and Rashica on to pen them back more. DF s refusal to utilise the bench until too late is becoming worrisome. Idah comes on in the 89th minute. Why? What's he expected to do then?

 

I thought we were okay, on another day we would have won... or lost. Pukki was furious about his miss!

I am liking what I see from Lees-Melou.

Substitutes were naff, far too late to make a meaningful impact, but hey ho another point! The vincibles are still on for a no win season.

 

I think it was Lee-Melou’s best game so far, he was good in the tackle and won possession several times, hopefully that was a sign that he has now god up to speed with the Premier League.

 

With Gilmour not available next week at Chelsea, we will probably stay the same but I wonder whether we might bring in Rupp or Sørensen at DM and give Lees-Melou and Normann more freedom to support the attack. I've nothing against McLean, but he was our weakest midfielder yesterday (6.3 on WhoScored) and a stay put DM would provide a solid centre in front of the back 3.

As for the substitutions, I think it was at least partly situational. It was a game we couldn't afford to lose at that point. Imagine the flack and demoralisation that would follow a late Brighton winner. Brighton could afford to gamble but we couldn't. This is DF's growing strategic view - we're improving and he wants to keep that momentum. By comparison, Ranieri's new look Watford were demolished 5-0 at home by Liverpool - whither their once proud defence? We've been there and DF doesn't want to go there again, thus the new pragmatism.

 

Sorry to spoil your ongoing analysis and conjecture,
but Godfrey won't be available for the foreseeable.....

 

Bloody autocorrect again - I should know better by now!

Edited now.

 

Looks like we will have to vote for youth and ladies team efforts for Goal of the month

 

Yeah McLean didn't do much as far as I could see, but Idah for 1 min a game is becoming a frustrating habit. Normann was also cramping for about 5 mins before he was taken off, I know we want to see if he could run it off, but I thought it nearly cost us in one Brighton attack..

My dad was at the game and thought we were shocking and Sargent's miss was the worst he's ever seen with about 20 years worth of season ticket attendance. (I think he was grumpy because he was almost late due to traffic on the A11) we weren't that bad haha.

 

Restricting a team that has averaged two points a game to a single point must count as a bonus. It's better than the draw against Burnley. And a second consecutive clean sheet.

 

I've been pretty negative about the performance yesterday, but to be fair, that's the best side we've looked even remotely like competing with so far this season. We were full value for a point, against a team who won't trouble the relegation battle this season. There are issues with the side, but there are definitely positives.

-Normann already looks too good for us, and he's not even fully fit yet.
-Lees-Melou probably had his best game yet for us.
-Hanley looks excellent in a back 3.
-Fundamentally, Farke has found 9 of his starting XI. I think the only question marks are McLean and Sargent.
-2 clean sheets builds confidence, in the players as well as Farke. I don't think anything changes for Chelsea, but another good defensive performance there (and hopefully Chelsea are still shot shy) and maybe Farke will look to introduce more attacking impetus to the side. McLean replaced by Cantwell, Gilmour, or Dowell perhaps?