The 2018-19 Season

That's great Cromer, and to return the favour I'll be following his progress at Leicester.

Robin Sainty has given his views on the new season here:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/robin-sainty-ncfc-column-1-5636457

I agree with him that Hernandez will be a key player this season and he is more than capable of replacing Josh, including goals and assists, hopefully with more conviction and consistency as well. McLean and Marshall will also be key players, both in providing service to the strikers and scoring themselves. With a settled defence and many options in midfield, the rest depends upon the strikers consistently putting away their chances to match and then move beyond Maddison and Oliveira's goal tally. The potential is there, they just have to realise it.

Also a good read, with interesting comments from Marshall and Holty. Let's hope that all the 'clicks' come together this afternoon.

http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...ty-sees-goals-the-canaries-appear-good-to-go/

 

Well, 1 down and 45 more to go, plus any cup games. Odd start to the season with two of the pundits' favourites, Stoke and West Brom, losing. Hopefully we'll be able to continue West Brom's woes on Saturday. Let's also hope we'll see Leitner and McLean from the start this time, though Trybull will be hard to leave out. Fingers crossed that Lewis will be ready and the defence more solid as a result.

Hernandez's confidence must be brimming after adding his brace to his two goals in pre-season. The key now is to get Rhodes and Pukki off the mark and the threat Onel and Kenny carry could help that, with Leitner and Marshall providing decent service as well.

 

Looking back at the Brum game, it's clear that DF's tactics are changing now that he has new players to work with. With Pukki playing in Madders' slot in a 4-2-3-1, we now have two strikers, even in away games. If he can get something like the total of Madders' outfield goals, Leitner and McLean can take over free-kicks. Rhodes will hopefully exceed Oliveira's total last season and Hernandez looks capable of at least equalling Murphy's 7 goals last season.

McLean will contribute more as he and Hernandez play as inverted wide players, leaving room for Marshall and Lewis to overlap and cross the ball. Leitner, Trybull, Vrancic or Stiepermann will be the deep playmaker, carrying or passing the ball forward to the attacking players while the DM shields the defence. The formation also allows a lot of movement up front, which makes it even more difficult for the opposing defence.

 

Having watched the highlights again, Sir Benny made two brilliant and almost identical runs to create chances. What position did he play when he came on? Looked like a strong runner on the ball.

 

After Stiepermann went off with an injury, McLean went to LB and my guess is that Pukki moved to WR and Srbeny slotted in behind Rhodes, from where he made the assist. I think he made three excellent Holty type runs and two great passes as well.

 

Saturday will be an excellent test and I'm looking forward to being at CR for our first home game.
I know it's early days, but it appears that SW/DF have improved us significantly when we're attacking .........

 

I thought the plan was to try and stabilise the defence (Zimmerman, Hanley, Franke) last summer and then to focus on the attack this window. Our budget didn't - and won't for the rest of my lifetime - allow us to do it all in one hit.

 

Unfortunately, Franke just didn't 'cut the mustard' - but maybe Godfrey COULD if DF gives him a chance.

 

I think that's true. Hanley cost £3.5m and that was quite a chunk, but he's proved to be worth it. Once he gets more training and game time he should be back to his best. As for the attack, most of us thought that Jerome and Oliveira would do better than they did.

 

I was going to make a similar comment in regards to Hanley’s below par display. He missed a lot of pre season so may not be fully up to speed yet! Hence possibly the mistakes

 

Anyone that doubts Hanleys ability to contribute significantly to our defensive stability is seriously out of tune with reality. With a fit and fit Lewis yet to come into contention, our rearguard should improve over Saturdays showing. Our DM selections this season could significantly create a better attacking platform. I welcomed the new contract for Tetty, but the performance by Thompson in pre-season has cast a doubt, in my mind at least, in Tettys' usefulness in the heat of battle.

 

Thompson is the future, but it will do him the power of good having a player such as Tettey to act as mentor in the same vein as Hoolahan did for JM least season.

 

I’d rather see Thompson playing and save Tettey for the big games like West Brom this weekend

 

Thompson and Godfrey should both get a start next week against Stevenage. Hopefully others will get their chance as well.

 

Good to see what the club is doing with the proceeds from the bond scheme:

http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/canaries-academy-bond-latest-1-5643132

Maintaining Academy One status and developing training facilities for all the players is a key part of our long term development of the club as a whole.

 

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Great to see that there are plans to that are plans to include spectator facilities, as most of the Under 23 games are being held there this season and it's only just over 2 miles away. 'Floodlights have already been added to the main Colney pitch so that more under-23 games can be hosted at the training ground, with spectator facilities to follow.

For those who can make it, here are the Under 23 fixtures at CR.

 

A few observations and personal opinions on the season ahead.
A) The new management structure has done very well to pull us out of a very dark financial hole. I am still slightly concerned about the size of the squad, the number of higher paid players still at the Club and whether this will fit in with the budget set but a lot can happen in the next 24 hours to rectify that but I just hope that the fans realise that this is a permanent austerity and our future lies with the Academy and buying cheapies to develop, improve the squad and then, possibly, be sold on.
B) What do fans want? Promotion to the Premiership? Improved performance and entertainment? I am sure that a lot of fans would prefer entertaining competitive football in the Championship to a struggle in the Premiership but eventually the longer you stay in the Championship the more likely you are to stagnate. Many would argue that it is impossible for the smaller Clubs, like us, to survive long term in the Premiership. Swansea managed for a few years longer than most as have Burnley but realistically the likes of Burnley, Brighton and Huddersfield will be back in the Championship within the next few seasons with all the problems relegation brings. You get a lot of money in the Premiership but you get most of it at end of the season but if you get promoted you need the money at the beginning of the season to improve your squad. If we got promotion this season wouldn't that just lead to a season or two of struggle before the inevitable happens? Is the prospect of Premiership football and the chance to see the likes of Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal etc better than being able to beat the likes of Rotherham, Ipswich and Preston? I think it is but others may disagree.
C) Are we in danger of underestimating other teams in the Championship? We are one of the bigger Clubs but in this league does it matter? How many of our supporters and supporters of other bigger Clubs looked upon the games against Burton as a certain 6 points and how many supporters ended up disappointed. I heard on the radio a supporter of one of the Clubs relegated last season to the Championship talking about the season ahead and he said that the important thing was getting 6 points off certain teams. He mentioned about 6 Clubs including Norwich. I was angry but then is that any worse than our supporters who thought we should have got more than a draw at Birmingham? I think that a point away from home in this league is a point gained rather than two points lost.
D) We all have our opinions on who should be in the team and who shouldn't but such opinions are based on very limited information. Only DF and the coaching staff know who has trained well, who is off form, who is carrying an injury, who is fully match fit, who is only likely to last 60 mins and therefore can only be on the bench etc. They also will have all the information on the opposition with their strengths and weaknesses and often have to adjust team selection and formation accordingly. How many teams last year man marked Maddison especially at Carrow Road? This meant they had to change the team and system accordingly. Whilst we, as supporters, would like to see the same attacking formation and team selection every game this is not practical and DF has to change selection and formation according to the opposition and if the changes do not concur with our view then perhaps, just perhaps, DF has done it for a reason and it is our opinion that is wrong.
E) Have I still got the same enthusiasm for my Club as I had when I lived in Norfolk and was a season ticket holder? This coming season I doubt if I will see more that a couple of games at Carrow Road although I will fly in for the away games in and near London. I will see Nice play a lot more than I will see Norwich but I wouldn't class myself as a Nice supporter. Am I still ' Norwich till I die' - too bloody right I am!!!!

 

I'm amazed there hasn't been a business case for doing this sooner. Opening Carrow Road for an U23 game (even with several areas shut) most be pretty expensive - I'd be surprised if the club do much more than break even given the limited ticket sales. Being able to host something at Colney and have a little income from spectators must be cheaper long term, even if the up front costs are a little pricey.

I'm curious whether there's any plans to further integrate the NCFC Ladies into the club. They currently play their home games at Plantation Park (home of Norwich United). With a small capacity to host games at Colney, the Ladies side could probably play there as well.

 

If my memory serves me well I seem to recall that when Colney was developed and subsequently expanded there were concerns raised by the Local Authority and local residents regarding parking facilities and access, leading to restrictions being put into place on use. This might well explain why this hasn't been proposed before now although it is difficult to see how the access issue has/will be overcome.

 

Yes, Colney is off a very minor road between the Watton Road and Hethersett and there doesn't appear to be much available parking.