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Christoph Stiepermann

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Posts posted by Christoph Stiepermann

  1. Posted

    I don't see it as a fitness difference. More that pretty much every one of their players was 6 foot something, athletic, strong and fast which allowed them to dominate us and get about the pitch quicker. They're a team perfectly suited to this league, they're organised, direct on the counter, have athletes all over the pitch and a handful of top quality players to make things happen. I'm not saying they're like a Pulis era Stoke team, they play decent football and mostly keep the ball on the ground but in all physical aspects they were a league ahead of us today and that was the difference. I don't think our players having a higher fitness level would be enough to deal with the physical disparity on show today

    • Like 2

  2. Posted

    I'm just clinging onto the fact we improved drastically after August in the last two seasons so hopefully we'll do it again. That game was shocking, like a Middleweight against a Heavyweight or a youth team playing against a senior team. 

     

    We need to be more dynamic in our play as well, like I said earlier in the thread, switch the play sometimes when we're being crowded out, play quicker on the counter, defend in numbers when the opposition is on top etc We don't have to compromise our principals by adding a bit more to our playing style. The midfield makeup also has to change, we're just too small and lightweight. Tettey for Trybull and Vrancic for Buendia for me next week, Drmic playing Stiepermanns role and let's try to keep the scoreline respectable to take some confidence going into Burnley

     

         

  3. Posted

    Not played well. We keep getting crowded out by a bigger and more physical team, the way around this is to have a man over and switch the play from time to time. Trouble is we never want to deviate from the close possession play and the players not involved in that part of the pitch look asleep. Would love to see Vrancic with his excellent range of long passing come on, I think he's exactly what we're missing. 

     

    Surprised by how limited Buendia and stiepermann have looked so far though which is worrying

  4. Posted

    Thanks for the report Ricardo

     

    That second half was a great example to anyone watching why we need to play our usual game and not sit a bit deeper. We were slightly better defensively, but still open and much less proficient in attack as a result. It didn't look like instruction, we were just pinned back and I think the players decided to stand off a bit but it showed what would happen if we approach every game like that. 

     

    We remind me at the moment of us at the start of last year which gives me hope we'll improve even more. We were very open at the start of last year, then after a few personal changes and a settling in period we got to grips with the defensive side of the game much more while still retaining our attacking verve. 

     

    I like Trybull but I don't class him as a DM, more a hard working deep lying playmaker and cover for Leitner and I think we need Amadou or Tettey in there next game. Plus Hanley out for Klose. I rate him higher than most but i don't think him and Godfrey is working as a partnership for whatever reason and if one has to be dropped then it's obviously Hanley. Something has to change in that area because if we'd have been more solid in this position we'd have probably drawn today and kept a clean sheet v Newcastle. Needs to be addressed asap

     

    With a more solid base once Buendia and Stiepermann find form we'll really start looking the business. I doubt we'll keep many clean sheets, but I think we'll look a lot less vulnerable. Could be a mad season where we finish with no clean sheets in the league but our striker bags over 20 top flight goals. Gonna be interesting that's for sure! 

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    That our full backs are worth more than their entire squad, staff, stadium and training ground combined is a good one. 

     

    Or that our U23's might be rocking up to portman road to play their first team in a competitive game (If Lambert decides to take the FLT seriously that is) Is another

     

    Plus, their current manager, the guy they hero worship and place all their faith in was one of the main catalysts to us overtaking them in the last decade

     

    I could go on and on. it's almost cruel

  6. Posted

    Pukki v zouma is going to be interesting. Zouma's weakness from what I have seen is tracking clever movement. I think Giroud will give us problems but we can handle Abraham. Hopefully Lampard goes with Abraham and if we keep and use the ball well we could have a lot of joy out of them at either end of the park. 

  7. Posted

    Absolutely undroppable for me. He's vital for making this particular system we play work. Even when off form he creates space for others and carries us up the pitch. I want to see Vrancic included somehow as well but I don't think dropping Stiepermann is the answer

  8. Posted

    Being the top scorer in English football is impressive enough. Not sure he has a chance in Europe, the likes of Messi/Ronaldo etc play about 60 games per year, for extraordinary teams on average against more open and attacking sides. I can't find the stats for top goalscorers in europe but I bet he's still up there which is hugely impressive

  9. Posted

    As much as I enjoy our style of football that kind of workrate and commitment should be at the core of the clubs new philosophy. For me that was the difference between last season and the one before, the workrate and mentality of our forward 4 players, it set the tone for everything else we did well. I appreciate our pressing and work rate just as much as our one touch attacking play. Don't recall us ever having a team so likeable and easy to support. 

  11. Posted · Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

    League One standard? Shows how little they know about football outside the Premier League. First goal was a fluke, second a lucky ricochet off of Trybull, third was Lewis and Hanley abandoning the zonal marking plan and going with men instead of defending space, two individual errors, not likely to be recurring and for the 4th we were understandably shell shocked and were playing against the European Champions. Yes Krul had to pull off some blinding saves and he's gonna have to pull a few of them off every match but so does every other keeper in this league. If they didn't every PL game would end up high scoring, its much easier to attack than defend. 

    We need to tighten up on set pieces 100%, no arguments there. But in open play last year I'd argue we were very good. It was concentration issues just before and after half time that created an anomalous concession ratio. We also had a very young defence that is constantly improving who played behind a very fluid and attack minded midfield. 

     

    Our defending is fine for the lower half of this league, our set piece defence is pretty poor, not League One standard though and it can be fixed if players follow instruction instead of instinct. If we do that and our players stay focused for the full 90 we won't concede all that many against teams outside the top 2 who can tear any team in the world apart if they feel like it. 

     

    I'm going for a 3-1 win tomorrow, that'll hopefully shut the ignorant doubters up

     

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1

  12. Posted

    Good interview with Russ and Michael Bailey in the Athletic today. At one point they spoke about when Farke came in and tried to change the mentality and was met with resistance this quote stands out to me. Really highlights the poor culture at the club at the time, the weak mentality and why we underachieved.

     

    “There were a few things over the course of pre-season the lads were not used to, so they were asking me to go and see Daniel – schedules and times of travelling. A lot of it was different. So as captain, it’s part of your role that if the lads want to clarify something with the manager, they send you in. I wasn’t questioning him in a bad way. I was just asking if there was a bit flexibility, just to gauge it for the lads. Then I could tell them to either get on with it, or that there was a bit of room once the season starts.  I felt straight away he didn’t really like that and I said to the lads this is a bit difficult for me, because I don’t think that’s what he wants from his captain."

     

    There you have it. Multi millionaire professional footballers kicking up a fuss and feeling poorly treated because they had to do some double sessions that might keep them at Colney running and kicking a football around until the mid afternoon and sometimes they had to get up a bit earlier. Thank christ they're all out the door and we now have a set of players who deserve to wear the shirt. 

    • Like 1

  13. Posted · Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

    Would Pukki score in a Hughton side? I'd say no, he'd get about 5 a year if he was lucky, all would be long strikes or scruffy tap ins in a scramble. We never played through balls under Hughton or early, low driven crosses into the box which is what he feeds of so he'd have been seen as a less useless version of Van Wolfswinkel. But would RVW score in this team? I'm not sure tbh. He'd score in this team in the Championship thanks to the sheer volume of chances we created, in the PL? I doubt it, maybe 5-10 on a good year but his all round play was also significantly weaker than Pukki's as well so I think he'd do a job, just about but wouldn't be successful. Would take him as third choice if offered to be fair but compared to Pukki he's vastly inferior in every aspect of his play...except headers, but we never cross high so would be pointless

  14. Posted

    8 hours ago, lake district canary said:

    "Foot off the gas" is a convenient way for Liverpool to try and dismiss the fact that we did better than them in the second half.  Klopp and co wouldn't admit it, but they would be feeling a bit irritated at the way we kept them out and scored ourselves in the second half.

    They would be expecting to win 6 or 7, but their goal difference was spoiled - and as we saw Man City were the beneficiaries of that.

    Anyone that thinks they have the better of us, even at 2 or 3 up, or in this case 4 up, hasn't taken notice of how we play - the same for 90 minutes, regardless of the score - and will nearly always come back at a side when we are behind, often getting what we need to get points.  I can see the same situations arising this season, a side getting a one or two goal lead then thinking we are done.....but as we know......we are never done!  

     

     

     

    I remember when Webber came in he said from now on we'd never see our players down tools again. He might have been referencing the Brighton game in 2016, I can't remember exactly and I'm paraphrasing him but he definitely said something like that. To be fair to him, even though we've been tonked a handful of times since then I haven't seen our players actually give up like they used to. It's a big part of the reason why the atmosphere in the crowd around the club and toward the team is so good at the moment. It's why despite having talent and a few good characters we never really cared for the 2012-2016 teams all that much. Giving up is one thing fans find utterly unforgivable and rightly so. This team hasn't downed tools once and are always professional even when getting a hiding and for that they deserve our support 100%.

    • Like 1

  15. Posted · Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

    No one can know for sure. I remember back in Lambert's Premier League year the opening game v Wigan, we were very lucky to scrape a 1-1 draw with a relegation rival, their winger Moses tore us to shreds, some of our star players from the year before like Crofts and our Cb's looked very weak at that level and I came away after the game thinking uh oh, we're in trouble here. Then we ended up finishing 12th and having a really comfortable season. Same thing with Hughtons first year, got battered 5-0 by another relegation rival, looked not just weak but utterly hopeless and we finished 11th. His second year we had a great performance in our opening game v Everton and got relegated.....

     

    Last year we looked vulnerable in defence away at Birmingham and West Brom carved us apart at will in the second game, Leeds a few games later also took us apart, then we won the league. 

     

    I don't think you can draw too many conclusions from early season form. In our favour we've been slow starters before under Farke, then improved massively in the autumn. But by the same token I don't think we can take Fridays game as a guarantee we'll create loads of chances and score loads of goals at this level either. 

     

    I honestly have no idea where we'll end up come the end of the season. I hope we'll stay up but at the moment none of us have a clue really.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    Would snap anyone's hand off for 3 points from those 4. Not being negative I just think we haven't found our feet at this level yet. I can see a point v Newcastle and against Chelsea a loss away to West Ham and a cricket score in favour on Man City.

     

    I'm predicting after that we start to find our rhythm and start picking up points but this is a tough start. I'm glad though tbf, if I could I'd swap newcastle with another top 6 team and get another one of those fixtures out of the way early. I'm glad we're getting a period to acclimatize to this level against teams we realistically would be very lucky to pick up points from. 

  17. Posted · Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

    Krul  - 8 

    Aarons - 6

    Hanley - 4

    Godfrey - 7

    Lewis - 5

    Trybull - 5

    McLean -5

    Buendia -7

    Stiepermann - 6

    Cantwell - 7

    Pukki -8

     

    ....

    Leitner - 7

     

     

    What struck me most about our performance last night was how the entire team bar Krul, Leitner, Cantwell and Pukki looked a bag of nerves. It was such a promising showing because you could see with our best 11 in place and the nerves settled we will look a really good side. But the occasion got to a few of the players, then at 2-0 down some became understandably shell shocked and the defending became desperate and ragged and a confident, high quality side like Liverpool were always going to take advantage of that. Farke settled us at half time and with their emotions in check we put in a much better performance and showed more of what we're capable of but I still wouldn't say our passing and decision making were all that good by our standards.

     

    Leitner in next week to help control the ball, Amadou in for Hanley who needs a few weeks off to reset his head and we'll get a much better result v Newcastle I'm sure. 

     

    Also is Lewis injured or ill? He's looked slow, blowy and uncomfortable in the last few matches from what i can see. I don't want to sound like I'm getting on his case because he's brilliant but I was struck by how slow he looked at times last night which is usually the last criticism you could level at him. Just doesn't seem right to me, 

  18. Posted · Edited by Christoph Stiepermann

    Same team that got us over the line last year with Hanley replacing Zimmerman obviously. The only tough decision is Leitner or McLean. McLean doesn't deserve to be dropped and our results have been great with him in the team, he's also had a good pre season. But, given we're light on defensive players it would make more sense to play Leitner to help control possession. I'm glad I don't have to make this decision and would be happy to see either player start. 

    You could also maybe make a case for Roberts over Hernandez but for the sake of cohesion and defensive shape I'd pick Hernandez for the early weeks even though Roberts has been bright in pre season.

    Buendia, Stiepermann and Pukki must start together as their understanding and link up play is extraordinary and will cause problems for any defence in this league. 

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    I'm expecting a bit of a crazy scoreline with the players missing, it being the opening day and that its two all out attack minded teams. I think something like a 6-3 loss. As long as we score, play well and give them a good game i'll be happy. I'm expecting a difficult start for us given that there's always a period of acclimatization and that we've been slow starters in the last 2 campaigns. Liverpool are also top quality and have had a better warm up than us given they basically played a competitive game last weekend, let's be realistic, coming out of this without having our GD decimated would be a good result. 

  20. Posted

    Godfrey is not a defensive midfielder. Paul Hurst played him there, Alex Neil played him right back and Farke is certain he's a CB. I know who of those 3's judgement i trust the most. Like another poster said, he could do a job at DM in a much more limited system, like a Warnock team but he doesn't have the attributes to play in that role at the top level. Kante he aint. 

     

    Zimmermann is also way more than just a Championship level stopper. He's big and puts his body on the line but he's also so much more than that, you only need to watch him regularly to see that. Most promoted teams would struggle to find a better backup CB than Hanley as well.

     

    Pukki has been relatively injury free his whole career. Yes Pukki and Drmic could possibly be injured at the same time, but so could the two main strikers of any team and yes we don't have the money to waste on a 3rd starting option when we play one up top. Srbeny is adequate 3rd choice cover for this year, in future seasons probably not but with our fanaces being what they are we'd have to spend a significant amount to get a noticeable upgrade. Strikers cost money, the only other option is a cheap unproven player but thats basically what Srbeny is.

     

    For once we have strengthened in areas we actually need, instead of shelling out loads on minor upgrades in positions we're already strong while neglecting weak areas like we used to. We came up very strong in CB and forward areas. We lacked an Onel alternative, a DM, cover for Max Aarrons and a second choice striker. No other position needed filling imo. We've played this summer spectacularly 

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    Not really Norwich related but I see Zaha has handed in a transfer request amid interest from Everton. That could be huge for us if he goes because that would drag Palace right into the mix, with Zaha I'd say comfortable mid table, without they're in trouble. The PL is looking a bit light on obviously poorer teams and having another relegation rival in the mix could make a difference for us. 

  25. Posted

    Provided we're lucky with injuries and all 4 of our signings turn out well I think 15th-16th. 

     

    We'll get off to a very slow start, doubt we'll pick up more than a point from the first 5 games, thats purely going on Farke's last two seasons and a need to acclimatise.  But we'll find our feet eventually, we'll have one game in autumn where we look sensational and then build from that. I see us having a few blips in results along the way, a lot of games we come away feeling hard done by either through ref decisions or conceding cheap goals but I think we'll just scrape enough points. We'll outplay and look the better team in most games though, im pretty certain of that, results aside I think on performance we'll look comfortable at that level. I just worry about us a bit at the sharp ends of the pitch

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