Norwich City vs Cardiff(away) Friday 1st December.

[hogesar]

Watching it I thought we played better than recently but I was slightly swayed by the amount of the ball we have which in reality Cardiff were happy to let us have.

Oliviera was very poor, need Jerome back but he was out of form before injury too. Makes the decision to not buy a 3rd out and out striker a mistake, which is an admission because i defended the club on that originally.

Josh was poor bar probably two runs and Wildshut has to get on the pitch when youre chasing a game - he has often produced more than Josh in his 10 minute cameos than josh has in the previous 80.

We need to do a bit more with the ball when we have it because despite the stark difference in possession we ended up with the same amount of shots on target!

 

[Dubai Mark]

Yes agree we did play quite well, particularly when considering it was like playing with nine men, with Vrancic almost a spectator and Nelson now looking like an absolute amateur rather than the potential season saviour he looked a few months, I actually thought Josh was much better than a few of his more recent performances.    

 

[morty]

Yeah this Oliviera thing is worrying. We were all waiting to welcome him back from injury to start scoring the goals we so desperately need. And he just isn't.

Worrying indeed.

 

[GJP]

with Vrancic almost a spectator 

Our best midfielder on the night.

 

[hogesar]

Our best midfielder on the night.

I thought so too. Made just as many tackles as Reed, won more in the air than any of our other midfielders and created more too.

 

[GJP]

I would say though, in Oliveira's defence, he is probably frustrated with the lack of support (and more specifically quality support) around him.

 

[morty]

Nah, not having that. His decision making has been terrible, his non pass to Wes being a prime example. His shooting accuracy has been awful, and his decision when to shoot, especially from long range has been poor at best. He hasn't even been taking easy chances.

 

[hogesar]

I would say though, in Oliveira's defence, he is probably frustrated with the lack of support (and more specifically quality support) around him.

Some o

Oh I agree he will be frustrated regarding quality around him but if he can't be bothered to challenge for a ball in the air then he has no right to point fingers.

 

[GJP]

Nah, not having that. His decision making has been terrible, his non pass to Wes being a prime example. His shooting accuracy has been awful, and his decision when to shoot, especially from long range has been poor at best. He hasn't even been taking easy chances.

I didn't say Oliveira is/was without fault. I commented on his sh*tness earlier in the thread.

 

[morty]

Its frustrating as its like he was the missing piece in the jigsaw "Yeah we'll be alright for scoring goals once Nelson is back" and it just really, really isn't happening. And as much as I love Cam, he isn't going to score enough goals for us.

I reckon we could see Tristan Abrahams soon.

 

[Fenway Frank]

I would be happy for Abrahams to play instead of Josh at the moment 

 

[morty]

I would be happy for Abrahams to play instead of Josh at the moment 

Without being outstanding, I don't think Josh has been awful in the last few games. And, to be honest, I don't think dropping him just now would help him.

 

[Fenway Frank]

How long do you keep him in the team for though ? He isn’t getting stuck in and doesn’t look like doing much at the sharp end of the pitch either.  We haven’t got room for passengers at the moment. 

 

[GJP]

If support and service improves to Oliveira then it is totally on him to deliver. At the moment it isn't there.

It's a two way street. Currently the tactics and rest of the team aren't doing enough for Oliveira and Oliveira isn't doing enough for the team.

 

[morty]

How long do you keep him in the team for though ? He isn’t getting stuck in and doesn’t look like doing much at the sharp end of the pitch either.  We haven’t got room for passengers at the moment. 

Exactly, one commentator noted that he looks like he is very much playing for himself, not the team. And he isn't even doing that well.

 

[morty]

If support and service improves to Oliveira then it is totally on him to deliver. At the moment it isn't there.

It's a two way street. Currently the tactics and rest of the team aren't doing enough for Oliveira and Oliveira isn't doing enough for the team.

Nah. We have seen that when Oliviera is on his game he has the ability to individually create something special out of nothing at all. I can live with him being selfish when he is doing that.

 

[GJP]

You still need to have something for him to feed off. 

He has got by far the hardest job of anyone on the pitch at the moment and there's a real lack of understanding and appreciation of that.

 

[Canaryboy]

Terrible team to play in if you are a striker, no matter what type of striker you are. 

Exactly the same as under Hughton when we we had Van Wolfswinkel, Hooper and Elmander all struggling to score goals and probably all regretting choosing us over other clubs.

Farke's has just laid it out there from the start, we aren't set up to create lots of chances intentionally. We 'release' the ball at the 'right time' allegedly. There is probably a time and a place in this league to try the 'smash it into the box at the first opportunity and hope it lands on the head of the numerous people busting a gut to try and score a goal' approach, but we aren't prepared to try that one.

We've just swapped a dangerous attack but leaky defense for a limp attack but stable defense, and even our defence hasn't looked all that stable since losing Tettey (who we are set to lose permanently). 

If there is a balance to be found then Alex Neil has failed and Daniel Farke has failed, and probably the last person to find it was Paul Lambert. We somehow managed to frequently score 1 more than the opposition under him while usually accommodating at least one of Hoolahan or Fox in midfield, sometimes both, and sometimes even a 4-4-2. 

Hughton made us impotent up top, Alex Neil made us fragile in defense, not really enough of a sample under Alan Irvine to judge him, I never worked out what Neil Adams was trying to achieve with his bizarre wide target man thing.... last one to generally manage to strike a balance between defense and attack and sustain it for a long period (three years) was Paul Lambert. As simple as that. 

No idea what sort of manager would sort us out to be honest, but after Hughton and now Farke I do think that Norwich fans are happier when Norwich are sh*t but can score goals instead of sh*t but manage to keep the occasional clean sheet. Something about having a charismatic number 9 or winger as your talisman which is good for your soul and the general 'zen' of Carrow Road. 

Lambert back, Holt as his assistant, and persuading Hoolahan to stick around for one more season on the cheap sounds quite appealing to me at the minute. I bet the fans would find it easier to buy into a 'buy shares for Lambo's kitty' appeal than a 'gift us money at a time of great economic uncertainty to prop up our academy because we've spunked millions on compo' appeal. 

 

[Fenway Frank]

Lambert back, Holt as his assistant, and persuading Hoolahan to stick around for one more season on the cheap sounds quite appealing to me at the minute. I bet the fans would find it easier to buy into a 'buy shares for Lambo's kitty' appeal than a 'gift us money at a time of great economic uncertainty to prop up our academy because we've spunked millions on compo' appeal.

I’ll be keeping my money in my pocket, they’ve moved on, so should we

 

[GJP]

At the moment DF is looking a bit like a poor man's Chris Hughton.

Though maybe his inability to get the best out of Olivieira is perhaps reminiscent of AN's inability to get the best out of Redmond.