Match Day Thread Stevenage (H) - League Cup

We NEDD to wake up!!!!

 

3 1

 

Never in doubt

 

And Ipswich go out to Exeter on penalties. Tristan Abrahams stuck his pen in the top corner

 

You OBVIOUSLY weren't there.
Points to ponder -
1. TC is NOWHERE near a replacement for JM!!
2. McLean looked good when he came on.
3. Hernandez - just makes things happen and I now see why we let Middleton leave.
4. We're in the next round!!!!

 

Player Ratings:

McGovern 6- Didn't have much to do (aside from control all the back passes!!!) but kicking a bit iffy.

Passlack 5- hard work vs a big winger but didn't look great with the ball

Zimmermann 7- poor in the build up to their freekick but pretty solid otherwise... added point for a goal he knew nothing about (not seen a replay).

Godfrey 6- not sure how he got MOTM but pretty solid playing out of position. Beaten in the air too many times.

Aarons 7- decent effort from the young lad. A bit more positive than Lewis and miles better than Husband (not hard)!!

Trybull 5- pretty poor. Too many sideways and backwards passes... too safe and not enough presence in the middle.

Thompson 6- Moved the ball faster than Trybull but still too safe with his play. Guess it's Farke's instructions mixed with lack of game time?

Stiepermann 6- Not great but had moments. Too slow! A few times players were caught offside so his good balls were for nothing... passes needed to come sooner. Crap in the air for a big lad... scored a goal so an added point.

Cantwell 5- Saw little to suggest he is the future of Norwich City. Not very direct, never crossed the ball and corners were poor... seemed a little out of his dept. He is young though so will hopefully improve.

Srbeny 5- Useless. Couldn't buy a goal (at least getting chances by being in the right place i guess?) Poor hold up, no pace, no strength, another big lad who is poor in the air.

Subs:

McLean 7- we looked much better when he came on. He tried to run with the ball to move us forward quicker and played a few nice passes both over the front line and diagonals across field.

Pukki 7- Another who improved us when he came on. Movement is very good, determined when we didn't have the ball and scored with a fine finish.

Hernandez 8- By far our best player at the moment. Full of confidence and put three decent crosses in within 5mins of being on.

Thoughts:

Worrying how far behind our first team regulars some of these guys are. Yes we had some young lads and some who have had little game time but until the subs came on we couldn't get out of 2nd gear. Stevenage were poor but it was only with the subs that we showed any real forward impetus. Easy in the end and could have been more but still a poor game to watch for 75mins.

 

Thanks for that Bedford and a pretty accurate summary and we were VERY poor in the first half and McLean definitely gave us more forward impetus, but the number of times we were caught offside was worrying and I thought the officials were some of the worst I've seen and allowed the Stevenage players to get away with 'manhandling' SirBenny and a few others.
Godfrey, Aarons and Thompson put in a decent performance, but Cantwell was particularly disappointing and as the author of the article above states - it was 'a poor game to watch for 75mins'.

The saving grace is that SW/DF may have unearthed a gem in Hernandez and he seemed very comfortable against the Baggies on Saturday as well.

 

Woof.

That was a hard watch.

Great to see so many youth players, that was fantastic.

The problem comes because they are still footballers playing under the same manager and his tactics. It just looked like a usual Norwich Performance. We couldn't really make out how the "Zimmermann" goal went in, we all assumed it was an own goal. If it was Zimmer, he knew nothing about it, and that changed the game really. I thought Zimmermann had a really shakey game at the back. Him and McGovern passing between each other was really uncomfortable viewing.

First time seeing Hernandez in the flesh this season. Wow. He was only on the pitch for 20 minutes but was instantly the only thing worth watching, and the only one to make things happen.

I was impressed by Pukki when he came on, and I liked the look of Aarons and Godfrey. Aarons was very quick, and attacking, looked to Overlap in the first half which was good to see. Godfrey seemed calm on the ball, didn't seem to get into many problems. I think they both looked bright and confident. I loved the runs and space Passalack kept making, but no one ever looked up to pick out a pass to him in Yards of space. They often played it down a congested Left side. Didn't notice Mclean much, but if it was mainly him feeding balls out to Hernandez, then that was good, someone starting finding his runs with great consistency the last 20 minutes. Thompsons looked decent without doing anything too stand out.

Srbeny looked way out of his depths, even against Stevenage. Cantwell I thought looked good on the ball, but like the rest of them, just didn't have any ideas going forward.

Great to win with that side, Fantastic to see so many get a first team start at Carrow Road. But over all it was a turgid performance of sideways passing and creating very little. Until Hernandez and Pukki came on to stretch them and get us over the line.

Edit- Not a great turnout. Just over 11,000. I'm sure last season against Swindon it was over 14,000 and we have the highest attended game of the round. I hoped for more from our fans.

Also, if there was a "Signing section" who were going to sing all game and have fun. I don't know where that was. Maybe they got stuck on riverside.

 

Pretty fair report FML - my only disagreement would be with McLean, as he at least tried to drive the team forward, but the number of times Passlack was in acres of space .........

 

Tongue firmly in cheek JM, but no I wasn’t there, followed the game on Twitter

 

Why did they never look up and just ping a ball out to him?! Time and time again he was just standing there with his arms up! Felt sorry for the lad.

 

So there was a lack of passes to Passlack.

 

EVERYONE around me was saying the same!!!


Edit - NOTHING to add and especially re Saturday-

 

Draw for next round 7pm Thursday at Stadium of Light.

 

Well, the match at least tells us who is close to the first team and who isn't...yet. Zimmerman, Thompson and Godfrey needed the game time and it was a good chance for Passlack and Aarons to move on from pre-season. The fact that McLean, Hernandez and Pukki coming on changed the game suggests their quality and that they've had more game time. Srbeny seems to have confirmed his position as third striker, though he has shown that he can be useful coming on as an additional striker late in games. Good for these back-up players to get game time and let's hope for a cup run for that purpose alone.

 

PD on Todd Cantwell:

"Cantwell could be many things if he continues his development, but a wide left midfield option does not immediately strike you as the Dereham’s prospects route to the Norwich first team. The precocious talented academy prospect was no doubt happy to play anywhere in his full debut for the Canaries, but the increasingly manic gesticulations from his coach during the first half illustrated he was not as comfortable in front of Max Aarons as probing in more familiar central attacking areas. It was a steep learning curve but also perhaps a measure of the trust Farke has in Cantwell. The youngster stuck to his task before a second half exit. He will be all the better for emerging unscathed from a landmark occasion."

He also analysed the contributions of Leitner, the only survivor from the WBA line-up, as well as Srbeny and Trybull, who went off injured.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwic...-pointers-stevenage-carabao-cup-win-1-5652169

Also worth reading is DF's detailed 'player watch' focused on Passlack's debut:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/ncfc-passlack-player-watch-1-5652160

 

If I am honest... Id rather have a pissed off Oliveira than Srbeny as 3rd choice striker! At least he knows where the goal is, makes intelligent runs and can hold the ball up with a bit of strength! Srbeny has none of that!

 

What about team morale, motivation etc?
You know what they say about "one bad apple".

 

I met Todd last night. He's a lovely lad. He really doesn't look like a footballer up close. Pretty slim and gangly for a Footballer.