The season 2020 - 2021.

Well, when SW appoints you Head Coach you can make that change and bring Leitner back, Robbie.

 

This may come as a surprise to you, but I completely disagree about McClean. He is far more cultured a player than he looks at first glance. His range of passing, in particular, is something we miss unless Vrancic is in midfield.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s not pretty to watch play because he has a slightly uncomfortable looking style and he is willing to get a bit brutish. But I’m confident that he’s underrated by Norwich fans generally and we perform better when he’s on the pitch.

I actually think he’s best when he’s further forward - he is not a great defensive midfielder. I think maybe the reason he’s not valued is he’s been too often put in that position because we haven’t had anyone else good enough in the air and strong enough in the tackle.

Without wishing to load you with more effort, I’d be interested in your stats about how we play with or without him in the team and especially with him but where he plays in a more advanced role.

 

Me Too!

 

Yep, agree with this

 

And me

 

Yes I agree.

 

McLean says he prefers to play at CM because he can control the game better from there. He's our only left-footed CM midfielder and that is a big advantage on that side of the pitch. I agree with Rob that his movement on the pitch can look awkward and that puts some people off. His real advantage is that ability to move forward in the attack (which Trybull and Leitner were less good at) or back to cover in defence (which again Trybull and Leitner were less good at). Like most of our players he struggled in the PL, but will be more productive this season.

 

Tettey was interviewed after pre-season about our new midfield additions:

“Skipp is obviously from Tottenham, he’s played a couple of games and has looked a very good player. And Jacob as well has come in and has been so calm and very good in training as well. So fantastic signings and it’s up to me to give them that push, that ‘you are going to play but don’t take it for granted’ in a way. I will help them as much as I can because they should play, definitely, and I hope they play and do well.”

Sounds like Tettey knows very well that he's backup this season, which I guess is an encouraging sign that the new signings have come in and looked a clear improvement. The interview (https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/tettey-impressed-by-city-midfield-duo-1-6819752) also discusses his gametime at CB, which I think suggests that there was an element of using pre-season to coach Tettey in that role a bit, just to add an extra bit of CB coverage. It's not like he needs practice playing at DM these days.

 

He's also more of a threat in the air than Trybull / Leitner

 

Tettey is almost the new Drury with the amount of times we tried to replace him!

 

Going back to McLean, this is what DF said this afternoon:

"Kenny McLean has already proved how important he is for us on the Premier League level. We lacked physicality, power and speed on that level and Kenny provided that. He's aggressive, capable to win headers, capable to control the ball with good passing ability and an experienced homegrown bloke. It's great for us that he was able to sign a contract."

 

No stats (yet) but, from memory, McLean featured regularly at CAM in the period leading up to the arrival of Duda. Actions speak louder than words, so I simply note that Duda then took over at CAM until the season was suspended.

As for the more general question of how we play with and without McLean, he started all but 6 matches, 3 early on (when, in Tettey's absence, DF paired Trybull & Leitner in midfield, with Stiepermann at CAM), the home game against Spurs (late December), and 2 in the dismal period after the restart. He was on the bench for 5 of those 6. The only match he was completely absent from was the 3-1 home win against Newcastle. For what it's worth, those 6 games yielded 4 points, GF 8, GA 14 (average 0.66 ppg, 1.33 gpg and 2.33 gpg respectively). The 32 games he started yielded 17 points, GF 18, GA 61 (average 0.53 ppg, 0.56 gpg and 1.9 gpg respectively).

 

Thanks. I’m not sure I’m suggesting he should be a CAM. More that I think he’s wasted at DM (ie CM or CAM are better).

 

'Last season we barely had a Plan A let alone a Plan B. If you look now we can set up
and rotate players for specific opponents and home and away games.'
https://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2020/09/05/new-season-new-city-so-many-options/

 

Good article, but it only touches on the tactical options available to DF after a net gain of 8 new players including Sinari, who Gent left off his list. There's also 3 at the back in a 3-4-2-1 formation, a 4-3-3 and so on. We were far too predictable last season, mainly because injuries restricted the options available. Gibson could make a huge difference given the CB injuries last season. Gent also touches on another key element:

"An extra dimension that looks to have been added this season is a battling temperament among in the recruits. While that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s something we badly needed last season."

I have no doubt that we now have "a better team than the one that won the league in 2018/19". Let's hope it lives up to its potential.

 

Well we could, but then we could have done a lot more of that last season and the season before. Gent doesn't seem to have noticed that to turn that "could" into "will" or "are actually" requires radical change in DF's preferred modus operandi, which is to settle on a "best" XI and limit any adjustments for specific opponents or home/away to tweaking how that XI play. (Remember DF's response to Connor Southwell's criticism about his apparent inability to adjust? "I'm making adjustments all the time; we played x different formations in that one game, and made y alterations to the tactics" etc. etc. Is anyone holding their breath about a completely different use of substitutes by DF this season? Thought not.

 

I don't know about "wasted", but KM never played as a DM at Aberdeen and has simply been shoe-horned into the role. The orthodox view is that this has been necessary because the alternatives in that position were all too lightweight. However, that completely ignores the prior question of why we needed to play two DMs in the first place. And the answer to that is "to cover for the way Farkeball requires the FBs to play". If one of the FBs routinely stayed back when the other joined the attack, we wouldn't need a second DM; we'd always have a back line of 3 with Tettey (or A N Other) covering across in front of them.
The ridiculous thing is that playing two DMs in front of the CBs anyway proved ineffective in plugging the gaps behind our advanced FBs, while depriving us of the creativity and attack value of players like Leitner, Vrancic and McLean.

 

It's nothing to do with Farkeball what ever that is. The 4-2-3-1 system requires the full backs to provide the width when attacking.

 

Farkeball is also a mystery to me?