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Have been digging around online to draw some comparatives with the prior two championship campaigns to hopefully spark some discussion – not just with how things are stacking up statistically, I understand this is not everyone’s cup of tea (nods to Dean Smith), but also to try to understand the current, pretty muted, mood of the fanbase. So here we go, I haven't covered everything I want to so might add some other bits to this later: Average position of teams faced (below) – our easy start has been noted across the board and a look to the prior 2 championship seasons does back this up – with the average position of teams faced (based on current standings) being 16th. On comparison, 2020/21 represented a marginally more challenging start with an average position of 14th, albeit still on the favourable side, and 2018/19 more challenging still but remaining pretty middle-of-the-road overall. Notably a difficult opening 5 games, and overall more teams being played from the top (5) and bottom third (6) as opposed to the middle third (1). This certainly does bring the importance of October more into light, as we are naturally beginning to play a larger portion of sides in and around us. Percentage of player gametime lost – i.e. of the players who played the previous year in the league over 90 minutes, how many did we lose and to what extent were their minutes lost in the teams overall playing minutes? This one is really surprising to me. On the surface it felt like, with only 4 senior signings made and no players unwilfully pinched from premier league clubs last year, that we had retained most of the squad. But we have actually lost a significant chunk of it - the 4 loanees, Rupp, PLM, Rashica, Tzolis and Placheta all out on loan. At the other end we’ve brought Cantwell back from the cold, Sinani, Hugill, Hernandez have all returned from loan spells. Byram and Omobamidele back from long-term injury layoffs. Gibbs has also broken into the side. As a result the player turnover at the club is much higher than what it ‘feels like’. Particularly on comparison to 2020/21 where we only lost a very small percentage of playing time from the prior season. Whilst none of these changes were done against the club’s will, there is surely a degree of patience which should be afforded to Smith through a period of many changes. This is another aspect which makes 2018/19 such a special season, we lost 14 'playing' individuals from the prior season, including Maddison, Oliveira, Josh Murphy, Angus Gunn, Harrison Reed, Hoolahan, amongst others. We replaced them with cheap overseas players, spending little and massively cutting down the wage bill. There was nothing to get excited about from this, nor from the prior season's performance under Farke, yet the team delivered the most memorable and chaotic campaign I have ever seen despite expectations being at a serious low! I haven't considered injuries in the above, and might come back to this, but my impression is that the notable holes in Smith's central midfield and at left back have been much more significant on the team than any pains we were suffering early on in 18/19 and 20/21. Albeit we were fielding Sorensen at left back from the Brentford away game in 2020/21 - and worse injuries came in the following month or so to extent we could barely field 11 senior players! So yes whilst the start has been favourable, player turnover has been high and we are suffering through multiple injuries to vital areas on the pitch, despite this we’re matching 2020/21 for points accumulated and surpassing 2018/19, with more goals scored to boot and only less conceded in 2020/21. With key players to come back into the fray we look like an excellent shout to finish in the automatic places this season. So why is everyone so miserable? Clearly, none of the above statistics can illustrate the ‘eye-test’ in how our undeniably strong numbers have accumulated this season; this is where Smith seems to be failing for many. It seems unlikely right now that anything under Smith this season will ever surpass peak Farkeball, but a more emotionless look at the results above under Farke at this stage does show there may be an overreaction to what we have seen so far. Don’t think about the euphoria and/or chaos of Huddersfield at home, Leeds away, Sheffield Wednesday at home, Forest at home - but look at the games below. How strong and 'entertaining' were these performances? Of course this is all subjective, but the only games that stick out as particularly memorable across both season openings – in a good way - under Farke were the Bristol City away game in 20/21, and Stoke away up until Buendia’s unfortunate red card. I can however recall plenty of pretty mediocre performances with even winning matches being shaky and arguably 'lucky'. Points earned with penalties (Rotherham, Middlesbrough), fortunate goals (McLean’s deflected goal at Brentford, Huddersfield away), or late winners coming after stuttering performances (Wycombe, Rotherham, Birmingham, Swansea). In narrow winning positions we also had a tendency to gift the opposition a superb chance in the final 5/10 minutes – but rarely got punished – I previously criticised Farke for not making subs early enough in these matches and causing a loss of initiative. Overall, it felt like we were still in first or second gear. Sounding familiar at all? Just to caveat that I understand this summary is negative, but I want to try and root out some of the criticisms which were being made of the team at the time – versus the team today – as there are some similarities. I’m sure this will be backed up with a look at some old match threads and may do this later, though I certainly don’t feel like the descent was as bad as it is now. It’s a shame fans were not allowed at Carrow Road either as I wonder what the atmosphere would’ve been like through these matches – again I would wager probably not as quiet as it is today. In 2018/19 after a mixed start with some brave performances against the top sides, the Preston and Middlesbrough games fuelled a turning point, it felt like the side matured somewhat around then – I’d say pretty comparable to the Millwall home game of this season; strong, controlled, comfortable – but more satisfying because of where the team had just came from. To be honest, 2018/19 does get a bit of a free pass as there were so many factors working against us that it feels unfair to directly compare performance levels to justify any subpar elements to this season (massive loss of players, reduced wage bill, new players brought in for a pittance, a harder run of fixtures), we were a side in massive transition from top to bottom! I personally think our problems in the fanbase run a little deeper than just ‘Smith’s football is boring’, ‘there’s no plan on the pitch’, etc, this is about the overall direction of the club, the compounding depression of the prior two premier league seasons, the loss of Farke who oversaw our most exciting period of the century, the fall out with Webber at the end of last season, the loss of faith in ever being successful in the PL under the current ownership, and everything in between. Expectation in the championship is higher than ever with fans wanting perfection. It is understandable to a degree, of course expectations evolve over time and we have gone from a side in complete transition on a shoestring budget in 18/19 to a team brimming with quality, strength in depth, and financial strength (for the championship). The increase in expectation is also compounded by last season. Webber has always talked of incremental improvement and building better for long term stability, but clearly unravelled somewhat after last season which was supposed to be our true arrival to the top league, the only way he will regain his reputation if we can somehow surpass 2020/21 and go back up stronger. But I don’t think we will surpass 2020/21 and it is difficult to understand how we can do better in the PL with so much reputational damage, mental scarring in our failed team of PL players and fans, and our general lack of financial competitiveness. Last season was an existential crisis for many and fans are still coming to terms with it all. I think all of this is the real drive behind the quietness of Carrow Road, the miserable-tone of many on the board and that level of ‘so-so’ feeling for many others. I don’t think this feeling will change for the rest of the season. For Smith, whilst I’d agree he lacks the same charisma / passion of Farke, the rapport with the fans, and the football has been patchy up to now, the real material issue behind it all is that he is the unfortunate flagbearer for a period where we are stuck in footballing ‘limbo’. Too good for this league, nowhere near good enough for the league above. That will only change when the cycle breaks and we find ourselves with a more certain direction to aim for (whether that’s aiming to get back to the top of the championship after faltering down the league, or actually being competitive in the premier league). If we do go up this season, which I think we will, I hope that the inclusion of Attanasio in the board can be a drive for change and a better use of the transfer market, right now it's probably the most tangible thing we can look towards for a competitive attempt at premier league football. As well as (hopefully) keeping all our best players from the prior season (i.e. no Skipp or Buendia situations). A couple of things that might genuinely make things different with another attempt.

A bundle of energy, strong physically, some great touches and a well taken goal. Hopefully this can be an injection of confidence and spur on a run in the team. Potentially a very good option if we play with a diamond going forward too,

Excuses for what? We lost a game of football. No one died as far as I know. You ought to get over it. And yourself.

Absolutely not. This is a disgrace. At the end of the game, this will be 0 points out of the last possible 3, which is relegation form. Terrible.

There was a kafuffle just down the road from me this morning where someone was apparantly stabbed, Police everywhere. Mrs R wanted me to put on a stab proof vest for the footy but I managed to convince her that it was safe and pedalled off to CR without it. Smith kept faith with the team that won a point at Reading and for the opening quarter hour it looked like the correct decision. City began with plenty of verve and were ahead in under two minutes when Gibbs through ball to Nunez wasn't cut out and Sargent picked up the pieces with a clear run at goal from the left and made no mistake by tucking a low drive past Woodman from eighteen yards. Now playing with confidence, the home side began to create further chances and the visitors appeared to be holding on. Sargent again got free in the Preston area and did brilliantly to get a shot away while surrounded by three or four defenders. Unfortunately Woodman was equal to it and somehow palmed it away to his left for a corner. Then a cross in from the left only needed a City boot but it didn't find one. Preston looked neat and tidy in patches but at this stage it was mostly backs to the wall. Next it was Pukki with a turn and shot that brought another good stop out of Woodman but when moments later, the City Talisman, was slipped through into the penalty area with only the keeper to beat we really should have been well on the way to game set and match. The ball was lifted over the keeper but drifted just wide of the far post. I suppose you could say that it was a turning point because Preston broke away down their right and Brady was nippy enough to get in ahead of Byrom and send in a perfect cross for Riis, who had lost his marker and made no mistake with a header that Krul could only stand and watch. All very disappointing considering that up until then it had been the most convincing twenty minutes I'd seen all season. Unsurprisingly things got very scrappy for the remainder of the half and Byrom was a lucky boy to only get a yellow from a high challenge that required lengthy treatment for the Preston player. The visitors were now having a lot of the ball while City could not get any grip on the midfield and you could feel the early bouyant atmosphere change. In the run up to halftime Nunez tried his luck from range but it veered wide while at our end nerves were jangling as Aarons nipped in to rob a Preston forward just as he was about to strike. It was clear that a change was needed but somewhat of a surprise that it was Byrom who made way as Kenny dropped back and Sara came into the middle. Maybe Smith was worried that Byrom was in danger of a red because he did not appear to be carrying an injury. It certainly looked better as City had a couple of raids where Pukki's cross didn't quite find Sargent and Gibbs shot didn't quite drop in the right side of the post. Then they made it much harder for themselves when Krul's out ball bisected Gibbs and Aarons leaving the lively Fernandez a clear run before squaring to Riis who had any easy job to pass the ball into the net. We are the architects of our own demise unfortunately but to their credit they did begin to push Preston back and there were several near squeaks as the visitors defence was put under constant pressure. Sinani came on for Ramsey on the hour as City poured forward and Sargent hit a good volley from a high bouncing ball that only needed to be a yard either side of Woodman to be a goal. Somehow it went straight at him and the loose ball was scrambled away. Then Pukki had a clear opening from Kenny's cut back but uncharacteristically tooed it wide. Dowell came on for Nunez with twenty minutes left and the goal that we had long threatened finally came on 76 minutes when some forceful play down the left and good control in the box enabled Pukki to square to Sara who netted from six yards at the near post. I think we were all expecting to go on and win from here but once again disaster struck as a hard cross in from the Preston left appeard to deflect off a City player and past Krul just a few minutes later. They have barely scored all season but go and get three almost out of nothing, sometimes you just can't credit it. Hernandez came on for the last knockings and brought yet another good save out of Woodman who must have been Preston's MOM. Kenny, who had had a storming second half netted in time added but the whistle had already gone for a foul in the box so it was just not meant to be. At the end there were boo's but more from frustration than from lack of effort and bloke near me nearly had apoplexy after a stream of invective aimed at the ref and the time wasting. Its pointless getting upset, we would do the same in Preston's shoes. I thought Sara looked the part in his second half cameo but my MOM today goes to Kenny who I thought was outstanding in the left wingback roll.

Amongst all the angst flying around after today's game (and I DO understand why), can we all just take a minute to say that Kenny had a bloody good game today and was very unfortunate not to have a goal to his name. Disclaimer - I am not his wife/mum/dad or in any other way related to him 😊

Might as well get the topic ready for the doom and gloom merchants .... have a good evening

Can we not just concentrate on trying to get promoted first? The number of people who seem to only be interested in what might happen next season is extraordinary

Yes, “what’s the problem, we’re top of the league?” Lots of posts with this sentiment.

I think we looked markedly better with him at left back than we did with Byram. Having a left footer there makes a big difference.

Preston doubled there expected xg, hogesar will be so excited.

Superb post, @Hank shoots Skyler, which might as well close down this forum. You've said almost everything that needs saying.

Smiths job is to win points, not make as look like 70s Brazil. Get behind him and support his, so far successful effort to achieve the Boards Top 26 ambition.

Good analysis, but the problem with this ‘we’ve played sides from the lower half’ thing is that they weren’t necessarily there when we played them, nor will they be at the end of the season. It is misleading in terms of their relative form at the time: for example Bristol were a real form side and I’m pretty sure were in the top six (whatever that means after, what, 7-8 games)…it just feels an unfair yardstick at an early stage in the season, where one win can see you jump 4-5 positions. Ultimately, I think after 12 games you can generally say you’ve probably played a fair mix of sides. Indeed, using this league position thing, the fact we’ve not played Watford is less of a factor than Swansea or QPR.

I’m sorry this football loyalty nonsense is over done if someone offered you to chance to double your money you would bite their hand off. Why criticise footballers for doing the same.

For those wearing rose coloured spectacles who have been wondering why so many fans are unhappy, that’s why. Today’s defeat was unnecessary, but also unsurprising. First 20 mins until they scored were excellent. That’s what we want. But after yet another soft equaliser we fell apart. Preston lapped us up thank you very much. 4 goals all season. FOUR! And they get 3 gifts against us. Anyone who thinks that everything in the garden is rosy is simply deluded.

Rubbish Onel hit a fantastic shot on the volley & frightened the life out of the opposition. He can beat players for pace, skill & strength & occupies defences in a way nobody else can. I know his head down, beat the man first & think after approach means he'll never be a top player, but as someone to bring on & upset the apple cart there's nobody else we've got can do it (nor any other teams at this level).

And yet, with gilt edged chances missed by Pukki and a host of other great chances fluffed not to mention the 2 horrible cack-ups at the back and you could argue we should’ve won the game comfortably. But you cant win them all eh? Still level at the top and Sara looking mightily impressive! 🙂

We seem to see the game in similar ways Nutty and we have learned that with NCFC nothing goes in a straight line. It must be something to do with all that time we've been watching. I am a bit depressed tonight but if Smith can cut out the mistakes I feel we still have enough to take this league by the scruff of the neck.

Well done @ricardo. Far too many journalists, fans, phone-in callers make their reports and opinions based on the result and work backwards from there. You are far too sophisticated and empirical for that. This is what coaches focus on. Football is a low scoring game The result can be a poor representation of 80% of the action. Your report is balanced and pragmatic. I wish more thought as you do. Parma

So what is Smith doing, asking Pukki to miss several guilt edge chances to make the league more of a challenge? Krul to pass the ball straight to them? The problems today weren't tactical - we didn't concede via an overload or poor tactical discipline. The manager did his job today. The only bit I'd argue is the subs weakened us.

Wait so fans have been unhappy, waiting for our defence to make stupid mistakes and us not to take several guilt edge chances - in advance of it happening? And I'd have to say none of that is really the manager. Our finishing has generally been OK this season and we had one of better defensive records. So we have 1 defeat in 10. The 1 defeat is what makes you right, as opposed to the 9 where we drew / win. The ratio feels a little off...

Is there anyone who thinks that? Not to my knowledge. But there’s some who will argue we’re dire and it’s all down to the wrong manager, others who can see there’s something there/that there’s mitigating circumstances (eg no left backs, other injuries) and that the guy deserves his chance. I think this is the ‘fighting ground’ if there is one.

Preston defend with 6 or 7. And then they attack with four or five. Its called pace and energy. We just aren't showing that.

The moaners will be so happy at full time.

That's a really thoughtful and insightful analysis. As to fan attitudes, I think you're maybe right that the negativity is fuelled by despondency for two huge faillures in the Premier League in a row. Personally, I see that in itself as a reason to just give up following the club; trying to argue against these charges of 'shapeless dross' in the face of decent results is trying to box with a shadow. There's nothing supporting the charges, which is also why you can't argue rationally with them, and what's more, no matter how well we do for the rest of the season it'll always be there and always be impossible to refute with actual facts because 'it's all opinion'. The way the stats are actually now being openly mocked by some is reminiscent of some of the most ignorant Trump supporters out there and their aversion to fact-checkers because facts are inconvenient to their basic prejudices. But what's worse, if it is hangover from relegation, it won't even stop at the end of a successful promotion campaign, because all of next campaign there'll be this overwhelming doom-mongering. And then what? Say we even do finish up surviving and establish ourselves as perennial survivors in the Premier League, it''ll only be as makeweights scrapping for mid-table positions year after year; it'll just be another form of limbo, and one where you'll be losing or drawing more weeks than you're winning. It's all pointless. When the fun stops, stop.

Amusing how Farke is viewed as this magical fantastic saviour who is a million times better than Smith by some on here and yet the facts are that A- Smith did better in his breif time in the Prem with us than Farke did in his one and a quater seasons B- Smith in his first season in the Championship with us at this point at the season has more points than this point in the season under Farke in Farkes two championship promotions with us But of course, Smith puts his hands in his pockets, drinks tea from a mug and his football is slower so clearly Smith is the worse manager..

Emi is good enough to be in their first XI. Gerrard is just too loyal to his mate courtinho

Le tissier wasted his talent. Didn’t look after himself, didn’t train well, wasn’t slightly ambitious, didn’t want to push himself against the best. Ended up without an International career or a medal. Great goal collection, a statue and that’s it. If Nunez becomes good enough to play for an Arsenal or Milan etc, he should do his best to eventually get there.

You can "see" that eh? Were you going to present any evidence (at all) to support this hypothesis?

I going to put in this last response because I don't think your listening to the problem. There is not this expectation of winning each game 3-0. Or a delusion of grandeur. There is however an expectation that we play good entertaining football which is something lacking. I'd be fine with Smith it he showed an ounce of passion and charisma and this reflected in the way his team plays

Brilliant, watching, hogster, mr Pickle and chicken little, come up with excuses!! sit back and enjoy everyone!!!😂😂

I do it from memory Nutty thats why I sometimes get incidents in the wrong order or I name the wrong player when something happens quickly up the other end. I have learned over the years that people often see the same incident in different ways. Football is all about opinions and we all think that our own is the valid one.

Sara starts next time for me. He needs games now.

At the end of the day as long as we won the match on XG that’s all that really matters….

Great report as always. And good point about Kenny, who looks better at LB than in midfield and, on the evidence of recent games, better at LB than Byram.

Haaland only got one today, he's already on the decline, he'll be past it by next season 😏

His job was to put out a team capable of, and sufficiently motivated to, beat Preston. The buck ultimately stops with him. Most teams who played Preston this season didn't concede, none conceded two. We shipped three. And today isn't the reason people doubt his ability either, it's an inevitable outcome in the frailties Smith's Norwich has shown even whilst scraping wins or getting draws. Par for this squad is comfortably top two. Arguably champions. The bookmakers and pundits were almost universally in agreement on that before the season, even Ipswich-supporting commentators. We're three points off 7th. And in a league I think we can all agree is much worse in terms of quality than we expected it would be in July.

Jesus Christ, you guys. I just waiting for "My dad/brother is gonna beat you up"

You seem to have your needle stuck. Maybe go out and have a walk?

“Hayden needed asap” is the line trotted out most of this season so far. What a fkng punt that was. Only at Norwich. He’ll turn up though, late. But we could have saved anguish getting a DM in that could actually field from day one.

Shock news coming in from Manchester, Haaland hasn't scored yet.....

Interesting half that. The diamond gave us so much more threat and presence up front, summed up by the early goal, but it also meant we had no cover wide at all, which led to the equaliser, and to a great chance for Preston just before half time. I get why Smith tried it, but all in all I'm not sure it worked. In particular, we've really struggled to keep the ball, which you'd have thought was pretty key after we took the lead against a team who's barely scored all season. Far too frantic for my liking. Also, I reckon Byram is quite lucky still to be on the pitch. Really bad tackle, studs up and high. As Bailey said on twitter, probably a red with VAR.

F*ck me. Edit: We've scored... OTBC

Hugely frustrating with reverting to playing Sargent out of position as I'm sure Josh is too. Guess that's the problem trying to fit two lone strikers in the same team

I'm usually behind Smith but I must say I'm disappointed to see no changes. I thought the Reading game demonstrated a need to freshen things up, and several pegs not quite round enough for their holes. Even just to get minutes in the legs for those that haven't started in a while, to keep things ticking over going into a very tough sequence.

Some interesting and well presented statistics. The difficulty of course in the comparisons is that the 2018/19 season mostly unexpected and you could say it was a team more or less assembled from scratch. Whereas 20/21 and this season had the advantage of Premiership money to strengthen the side. We were sixth after 12 games in the 2018/19 season which was probably a surprise to many whereas in 20/21 and now we are already in the auto spots where I suggest most people would expect to find us. 2018/19 is certainly the greater material achievement by virtue of the fact that it came out of the blue, so to speak. Farke was expected to get us up in 20/21 which he duly did and this year Smith faces a similar situation and is on course to deliver. As far as I am concerened, whether you prefer Farke to Smith or vice versa, is neither here nor there. Farke is already a legend and Smith may well become one. He is a pragmatic and respected manager who has been given the resources to get out of this league and I expect him to do just that. Whether he will ever have an affinity to the fans and be loved like Farke is of course another matter entirely.

Also this. He was excellent in his first few games, but has faded a lot since. If his most recent six were his first six, there would be a lot more grumbling about his performances.

Thanks for these Swindon, I love them. I think you've given us a great chance of adding to the pot if we get that little bit of luck we always need. I've placed them with Bet 365 where the potential return is £85.09. Here are the details... Sheff Wed **EP** 2/5 15:00 Sat Stenhousemuir 19/20 15:00 Sat Kidderminster 2/7 15:00 Sat Marseille **EP** 1/3 16:00 Sat Fenerbahce 4/11 18:00 Sun Roma **EP** 1/3 19:45 Mon The games marked **EP** our team will be counted as won if they go two goals ahead at anytime. Good luck Swindon and all you PUPs 🤞🍀💪

It's not virtue signalling. If it is then so are the poppies.