Excellent analysis

Below is an excellent piece of analysis from The Guardian. Nice to see some proper analysis about our games for once!

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Paul Lambert's formation switch allows Norwich to clip Swansea's wings. Brendan Rogers' Swansea are this season's surprise stylists but Norwich showed that adaptability is just as important.

Norwich City outplayed Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

On a weekend dominated by the subject of pre-match handshakes, the embrace between Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert before Norwich City's 3-2 win at the Liberty Stadium was particularly warm. We weren't just treated to a handshake but also a brief hug, a few jokes and a long discussion as they waited for the game to kick off. These are two managers with great respect for one other.

And understandably so: both have faced the challenge of adjusting to the Premier League and the performances by Swansea and Norwich throughout the season have been highly impressive. Both sit comfortably mid-table with one-third of the season remaining, and though a late-season collapse cannot be ruled out, it would be a great shame if either of these clubs were not competing in the top tier of English football next season.

But although they are in the same boat in terms of their challenge for the season, the two clubs have completely different styles of football. Swansea have won plaudits for their short passing game but Norwich play more direct, getting men wide and crossing the ball to the strikers. Swansea play broadly the same system every week, while Norwich change formation from game to game – and frequently within the game, too.

The contrast owes much to their managers' football backgrounds. "My biggest influence has been Spanish and Dutch football, that Total Football idea," says Rodgers, while Lambert obtained his coaching badges at the German FA, leading him into a more pragmatic style of play. Swansea have the fourth-highest average possession in the league, while Norwich's is the third-lowest.

Limiting Swansea's possession formed a key part of Lambert's strategy at the Liberty Stadium – Swansea average 57.1% of the ball in home matches but on Saturday it dropped slightly to 55.3%. It felt like much more, because even when they did have the ball, they never looked completely comfortable. Lambert knows that passing out from the back is important to Swansea and Norwich pressed very high in the opening stages. Michel Vorm's goal-kicks usually travel no further than the edge of the penalty box – against Norwich, they were thumped downfield towards Danny Graham and it was a 50-50 ball on the halfway line, rather than controlled possession in Swansea's own half.

Pressing so intensely was a risk for Norwich in terms of the formations. Swansea's 4-2-3-1 was countered with a narrow 4-4-2, which meant Norwich's front six closed down Swansea's six defensive-minded players – often.

When the home side had the ball in deep positions, Norwich would push those six forward into the opposition third of the pitch, happy to leave space in behind. Swansea had space to break into but weren't used to moving the ball so quickly from back to front, and although the loanee Gylfi Sigurdsson, the central playmaker in the 4-2-3-1, enjoyed space between the lines, Swansea often couldn't find him with an initial pass.

Despite playing well, Norwich went in at half-time 1-0 behind. Then Lambert, as he has done so many times this season, decided to change formation midway through the match. There were two important consistencies despite the switch, however. First, he kept the same 11 players on the pitch, recognising that Norwich had competed well despite the scoreline. Second, he didn't abandon his initial gameplan – if anything, he simply reinforced it in a different system. Norwich continued to press well.

The 4-4-2 became a 4-3-1-2, and Rodgers seemed to have difficulty working out precisely what Norwich had done. The whole shape of the midfield changed – David Fox continued to hold but Anthony Pilkington went from the left wing to the right of the diamond, Andrew Surman moved from the centre out to the left, and the right-winger Elliott Bennett became the central attacking midfielder, providing the link between midfield and attack. His energy was crucial in Norwich's closing down from the front but his real impact was in an attacking sense.

The midfield battle had now changed. Swansea were still 4-2-3-1 but now Fox was close to Sigurdsson, while Surman and Pilkington could occupy Leon Britton and Josh McEachran, the two players deep in midfield for Swansea. Bennett was completely unaccounted for, with neither Britton nor McEachran dropping on to him, and the two centre-backs concerned with Grant Holt and Simeon Jackson upfront.

Norwich got back into the game from a Holt header following a set piece but the impressive thing about their comeback was that they didn't rely on this approach. It would have been easy to do that – Norwich have scored more headers than any team in the league, while Swansea win fewer aerial duels than anyone. In the first meeting between the sides, Norwich won 91% of aerial balls. Yet on Saturday they were more sophisticated – rather than throwing it in the mixer as soon as possible, they took four short corners, more than any other side in the league this weekend.

But Norwich didn't go route one – they outplayed Swansea on the floor, with Bennett running free and using the ball brilliantly. He set up the second goal for Pilkington after finding himself free between the lines, then did the same thing for Holt, who made a run from an outside-right position to collect the ball in the box. His positioning there was a result of another tactical instruction from Lambert – now they were so narrow in midfield, Holt and Jackson were asked to play wider, and help block off the passing routes to the full-backs.

Norwich rode their luck late in the second half but the victory was fully deserved. They became only the second side to win at the Liberty Stadium this season, and whereas Manchester United's win in November was gifted to them with an Angel Rangel error, Norwich outplayed Swansea for large periods.

Recalling Swansea's defeat to Norwich at Carrow Road in October, Rodgers described it as his side's worst display of the season. A second below-par performance against the Canaries indicates that Lambert has formulated an excellent plan for playing Swansea, and Rodgers would probably be the first to acknowledge that, at least privately.

Hopefully the mutual respect between the two will continue – we could do with less unsavoury bickering between managers of the biggest clubs in the country and when those coaches depart, Rodgers and Lambert should be regarded as contenders to replace them.

 

What impressed me was we tend to think that we have to have a defensive minded midfielder who just sits there breaking up attacks. However we played a narrow 4 in midfield who were comfortable on the ball and progressively minded but quite willing to tackle.
I wasn't a massive fan of Surman at first but I think his contribution has been immense these last few games and he identifies with me what we are about. Given a chance for whatever reason and taking it with both hands.

 

agree redruth. in fact, i think surman is a good outside bet for player of the season if he keeps this kind of form up

 

Excellent article. Does show the benefit of us having such an astute manager. I continue to be impressed by the squad's versatility with PL adapting personnel and tactics to suit the occassion. I think the wheels have only come off once at Sunderland which is remarkable considering the lack of Premier League experience of both the squad AND the management team.

I hope that we as a club are able to offer PL the vehicle to achieve his managment ambitions in the medium term and can see a future with a full 35,000 seater Carrow Road and the club being a stable premiership side, not having to sell our best players to break even adhering to the financial fair play rules and threatening Europe and the Cups every so often. Just got to keep things going and not let it all slip away this time.

Here's hoping

 

Tough call for player of the seaon though. An awful lot of candidates which says everything you need to know about the current squad - no big time charlies, no superstars but a whole lot of excellent pro's playing together with commitment and passion.

For what it's worth I reckon Ruddy (who I had never really warmed to last season) must also be in with a shout - he has been superb recently particulalry considering the number of centre half combinations he has had to try and marshall.

 

it is a very tough call - as it was last year too. i've got a feeling a certain mr holt will be making it three in a row...

 

thoroughly great read this is superman, thanks for sharing. if only they went into some of this analysis on MOTD

 

Highly likely that GH will be on top of the podium come the end of season awards dinner, particularly now he is in such fine form. Long may it continue.

Still, doesn't matter if he gets a goal a game for the rest of the season he still won't get an England call up. Much better to play the same failures as take a chance on a player with proven goal scoring ability in top form....

 

one thing i will say re: england, is that if harry gets the job, will he call up darren bent? he isn't exactly a fan of bent and harry loves a big man up front. i genuinely think holt will have a much, much better chance of a call up, which i really do believe he deserves on merit, if harry gets the top job

 

It doesn't surprise me that you are a Guardianista Superman!

 

i read all the papers warky!

except the sun... i just look at the pictures in that rag

 

A very interesting read that goes some way towards what has happened at Norwich these last three seasons.I think what seems to be the common link between Lambert and Rogers is that they both seem to possess this ability to take what appear to be ordinary players and get them to raise their game to quite extra ordinary levels.
My guess is that a lot of this is intuitive and that they don't know how they are doing it either.I first noticed it with Brian Clough at Derby.He got players like Hector and McGovern from Hartlepools and Bradford respectively for peanuts and somehow turned them into the best in the game.
Substitute,for example Holt,and the parallel becomes clear.(Not forgetting that Gunn bought him)But £400k for a striker in this day and age and he should not really be performing as he is.You could have gone shopping with millions in the transfer window and not come up with the goods,witness Mark Hughes.
So Lambert and Rogers clearly have something that 90% of managers lack.I guess Fergie has it too,The Special One ,Martin O'Neill and a handful of others.It seems than many seek,but few are chosen.

 

i take your point cruyff but i think its important to realise that these players are naturally gifted footballers. ok, they might not be able to do the same things in training as david silva or wayne rooney but players like holt and hoolahan, who have journeyed with us from league one, are talented footballers. they may not have had the same breaks, or been noticed at a younger age by a big club, or been too short, or whatever reason, but lambert has merely made them play to the top of their limits. these players limits are pretty high though! it annoys me a little when pundits suggest that lambert has got a load of average players together - they aren't average! if they were average, they wouldn't be able to play at this level, no matter how good lambert is.

 

exactly. though im happy for people to undervalue them. makes them more loyal to the only club that really sees their potential!

 

That really was the point I wasn't suggesting that they were average players - only that to those who don't share their ability they appear to be. That leaves only the cheque book option which as I hinted will end up with Hughes buying a very expensive team to challenge for promotion in 2012/13.

 

i just don't rate mark hughes as a manager at all

 

I think the important thing is the development of these players under Culverhouse and Lambert. They see potential and character, (I remember Lambert saying that Cully is good at spotting this in players who do well against us), and then bring them on in training. The balance of what is there already and what is developed by good coaching is a difficult thing to define, not just in sport but in any kind of occupation. But you don't get anywhere near the top of the football pyramid without a fair amount of talent to start with; it's the potential to get even better that is the crucial thing, and by being able to spot this our coaching staff have given us this splendid group of players. And I have rated Surman from the start. He's one of those players who seems to have more time on the ball, eyes in the back of his head, and his passing recently has been sublime. If he keeps this up he will be running Holt very close as my player of the season.

 

agree gg. it is culverhouse who does much of the work on the training ground so he deserves just as much credit as lambert

 

Agreed and if we can keep our current momentum going, John Ruddy and Russ Martin will surely be in with an outside chance.

Just reinforces how far we've come as a club, because in May 2009 the winner was.............................. Lee Croft

 

Peter Taylor? Maybe history is repeating itself forty years on.