Preseason friendly or not... that was shocking! Toothless going forward and inept at the back! The Sara money best be going into the squad squad! Will get relegated with the current bunch and no signings!
It's really noticeable how much more accurate the continental teams are with their passing -- and their awareness of where the space is.
Anyone fancy doing the Stevenage League Cup thread ? I believe @Bure budgie is starting us off against Oxford.
Good summary of the problems facing the squad from the pinkun forum, similar to concerns raised here. With time running out before the season kicks off, it seems clear that we're starting the season with a stylistic transition not reflected by the makeup of the squad. Barnes, Onel, Hanley, Long, Gunn, Fassnacht, Sorensen(?), Rowe all out of contract in 2025 (who though giving Duffy a 3 year deal was wise!?), and are all players who don't seem suited to JHT's style. Looks like rather than try and sell them/let them go this summer, we're going to limp through with a dysfunctional squad and try and fix it next year when they mostly leave as free agents. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Surely yesterday's team will be quite different next saturday? CD of Hanley and Duffy is the complete antithesis of JHT 's core principals.
There's nothing in all this that Riddersholm didn't lay out a week or so ago in his interview with the Pink'Un. The club know where we are; this is fans still struggling to come to terms with it. Get on board the project, and stop ignoring the signs of progress, of which there are several. Watch the first quarter of yesterday's match, before the first goal, and tell me we aren't capable of playing as Thorup wants -- even without Sara.
I haven't really been paying much attention to preseason other than we seem to be losing lots, what has the standard of the opposition been/ Have they generally been similar to championship or better?
Northampton Town: League two club. Northampton 0:3 Norwich Clubb Brugge: 3rd in the Belgian Pro League 2023--24; will compete in the Champions League this season. Brugge 3:0 Norwich Standard Liege: Mid-table (10th) in the Belgian Pro League 2023--24. Liege 1:1 Norwich FC Magdeburg: Finished towards the bottom of the 2. Bundesliga 2023--24. Norwich 0:1 Magdeburg TSG Hoffenheim: 7th in the Bundeslga 2023--24. Hoffenheim 2:2 Norwich St Pauli: 2 Bundesliga Champions 2023--24; will play in the Bundesliga this season. Norwich 1:3 St Pauli So, 4 continental top tier clubs (Brugge, Liege, Hoffenheim, St Pauli), one continental 2nd tier club (Magdeburg), and one League Two club (Northampton). Norwich record: 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats This pre-season programme was put together under Wagner, with the possibility that we might be in the EPL in mind! Thorup has tried to make the best of it, but given how disrupted it has been for all sorts of reasons, I don't think it has been best suited to the task facing him.
The preseason may have been put together under Wagner, but it was done by Knapper, knowing the coaching change he wanted for this season. It was welcomed by Thorup as preseason started because it would allow him to see how our players and tactics would fare against these teams. The answer is not well. I'm particularly concerned about how vulnerable we have been defensively. The goals we allowed were bad enough, but we were exposed time after time and the scores could have been far worse. In over 50 years of watching City, I can't remember any time my expectations have been lower going into a new season.
Watching Cov v Oxford. 2-1 to Cov. Really good game. If this is the standard of this years Championship, we are really going to struggle. Cov look very good.
