McLean was full of excuses for a very poor performance. Looking back, the down turn in the teams performance seem to start with Sargent being injured in the match against Huddersfield. Next 4 league matches Rotherham lost 2-1, Stoke won 1-0 (full back scoring), Leicester lost 0-2 (their 2nd goal was clearly off-side) and then Plymouth lost 6-2. Cannot fathom that the injury to JS would cause this collapse in form. Is there a behind the scene problem?
Why would you think there is behind the scenes problems? Unbelievable. Failure to recruit a competent number 9 to cover is more problematic.
So, in your opinion the South Korean lad is not up to it? From what I have read, he came to CR without much match practice. Was this a panic loan? If Idah can score more goals like his first against Plymouth then he will be filling JS role with distinction. I always like conspiracy theories. I think South Korean might get at least 45 mins against Fulham. I would be very surprised if we get a result in this match. The result couldn’t be worse than the Plymouth result , could it?
I've listened to your Pinkun Norwich City Podcast and read all six pages of this and have come to the conclusion that you've overlooked one thing....that on the day Argyle where the better team. PS.....you might of scored 17 goals this season.....but we are only one behind on 16......and we have given away less goals.....plus three to your plus one.
You may have scored 16 goals but 6 of them were against us, prior to the game we had scored 50% more goals than Plymouth. There is no doubt that your game plan worked perfectly but this was nowhere near us at our best, you completely deserved the thrashing you gave us on the day and it was a combination of us being bad and Plymouth absolutely capitalising - it could have been 8 quite easily. We seemed to heavily over commit in attack against your low block, leaving our 2 slowest players to defend high, and you transitioned with pace extremely clinically. For some reason we had a complete lack of patience in the game and lost our heads before half time trying to chase a goal which lead to us being countered again and conceded 2 more in quick succession. Whereas they should have shut up shop until half time at 2-0 down. The funny thing is the style of game plan that you implemented is exactly what we were looking to do in the first 5 games this season - invite pressure and possession from the opposition and then transition and break with pace and purpose. Congrats on the win and best of luck for the season!
Ben Lee's analysis of the game: https://ncfcanalysis1.wixsite.com/ncfcanalysis/post/plymouth-vs-norwich
Really interesting breakdown from Ben which really exposes how the players and the tactics failed at the weekend. The below graphic is exactly what I was talking about and seemed to be the cause behind at least 4 of the goals and a couple of other chances.
