Bovril

Where we are now in the football pyramid (Top 10 in the Champ) is where we should be, financially speaking. It's clear to all that we haven't/didn't have the financial power to try and survive in the Premier League. We got extremely lucky that all the pieces came together, Farke's footballing philsophy, Pukki's transformation into a deadly striker, and getting the positive aggressiveness out of Buendia. For this, Farke deserves the main praise, and Webber the initial praise for bringing in an unknown, due to what he had previously achieved at Huddersfield via German coaches. However, since signing those three, you could argue Webber has achieved very little. The main argument against him being the seismic failure of the Summer 2021 transfer window, losing the two best players, and bringing in 10+ players, with not a single one of them proving to be any good in the Premier League. We had our chance, and failed. This was then compounded by bringing in the wrong manager for this club to replace Farke, and then again another mistake by not replacing him sooner this season, e.g. he should have been replaced with Corbehan before he went to West Brom (a club that mirrors ours in many ways).

There is no question it's the poorest in years. Ask just about any other club in the league and they will agree. It's also lacking stand out individual players. The likes of a Buendia here at Norwich, a Mitrovic at Fulham last year, a Benrahma or Toney at Brentford the year before etc. How many players would a Southampton type side for example look at in this league and think 'yep, he's a good player that could make it in the Premier League'?

It's got to the stage where two things now need to be left alone in my opinion: 1. Dean Smith - He's human. Whatever he says now will be construed into a negative. He's completely lost the support (despite what Simon Lappin thinks) and bar some Christmas miracle can no longer turn it around with the fans, he's out of time. However, let's keep the criticism towards the football and tactics rather than him as a human being, the two are different, see Chris Hughton*. 2. Todd Cantwell - It seems clear he has problems outside of physical fitness, so best not to speculate and hope he is able to focus on his football at some point, whether that is here at Norwich, or elsewhere in January/the summer when his contract expires. *I see Chris Hughton as the better human being but Dean Smith is a genuine bloke, just not the right fit for us.

The obvious standout candidate is Kieran Mckenna. He's been successful everywhere he has coached so far in his young career: - Tottenham U18's - Man Utd U18's - Man Utd First Team coach (kept on by all three of Mourinho, Solskjaer, Rangnick, alongside Carrick) - Ipswich Town Before he joined Ipswich, the club were in a similar situation to ourselves in League One, one of the favourates to go up each season and never got it's act together until Mckenna joined. He stablished them in his first season there and currently has them in the Top 2 (Farke anyone?). At 36, he's young, fresh, and has similarites to an Eddie Howe type. He also wouldn't have to relocate. ""He is a meticulous planner yet every session is spontaneous. Nothing is set in stone. He adjusts the session to how the players are and gets what he wants out of the session. Everything is linked and game related. Nothing is for show – it has to be about the game." - Jim Magilton "He changed everything. The way we trained was how the opponent played on the Saturday. If you played against West Brom, you trained how they are and focused on their weaknesses." - Man United U18 player There are two main obvious obstacles in the way; Would Ipswich let us talk to him? Would we be willing to pay the compensation?

Whichever team is slightly less bad will win this.

The trouble is, once the manager loses sentiment, the crowd will pick up on anything and everything to have a go at him for. I want Dean Smith out but it's nothing against him as a person, in fact quite the opposite, as a human being, he comes across well and genuine. A bit like Southgate and England. The trouble is, a bit like Manchester United managers, they are following after a manager who produced some of the best football the club has ever seen (and that is not an overstatement). However, keep the criticism to the football on the pitch, not cherry picking every single word and jumping down his throat.

I haven't missed it at all in all honesty. After a season of pure dross last year in the Premier League, I went into this season on a downer but optimistic that we might atleast play good football again, now we were playing much inferior teams compared to the Premier sides. Save for the odd 20min spell here and there (first 20 against Boro for example, we looked very good/enjoyable to watch) it's been dull, lacking a clear style, lethargic, and just generally boring to watch. Like a lot round me in the Barclay, there's a sad general mood of apathy, not even anger, everyone waiting for something to change. The excitement around match-day has gone (for now).

Very good piece. Not written by a 3-year old on Twitter but a well constructed article detailing exactly how everyone is feeling.

Sargent is just as good as Pukki at it, Sargent has come close numerous times. Where Pukki has the advantage is he technical nous and movement. Where Josh has the advantage, is his now greater speed and maintained acceleration.

It was a classic case of Billy Sharp winding up the crowd to get them back into the game, he's an absolute master of it. From there, they subbed on their better players and began to dominate it. I've lost count of how many goals we've now conceded due to Aarons being out-jumped at the back post (this is why no Prem teams want him) and Sargent was never due to take the penalty. He was simply taking the ball to take the Sheff Utd players away from Pukki, ala Chelsea last season. Shame, as Pukki has always been woeful at penalties. His game is all about clever runs and passing finishers, Sargent next time please.

Sheffield United fans baffled by their own line-up, really not happy. Lots of things to fix with our own line-up but a massive boost to have Hayden in there and Gianni back to atleast give us a natural full-back. Real shame he has persisted with Pukki and Sargent together, just drop Pukki and put Sargent up top.

Seems very odd to appeal what is essentially a clear red card.

As others have said, no point sacking him unless there is a replacement lined up. I'd also wait until the Sheff Utd (a) and Burnley (a) games have passed, give the new manager a home game to start with, Stoke (h), to get the highest chance of a 'bounce'. Or get rid now, then go managerless for those two above games.

Hayden on bench makes sense, remember he's had no pre-season at all and shoved straight into one of the most demanding fixtures at half-time. He'll clearly be a starter once he regains his match fitness. Disappointed not to see Sargent up top by himself with either Pukki behind him or benched. Dowell has got a massive role to play tonight, he played one or two great balls including for Sargents goal. Needs to be the playmaker tonight.

Easy Solution. Just move the final weekend of the season to Qatar and play the games at 3am UK time. Job sorted.

I'd also start Sargent up top rather than Pukki. This league is just a physical battle 99% of the time and unless we start playing to Pukki's strengths there's no point him starting over Sargent who can hold up the ball and go for headers. --- KRUL AARONS OMOBAMIDELE HANLEY BYRAM --- RAMSEY SARA GIBBS NUNEZ HERNANDEZ --- SARGENT

France Rugby was my first thought.

I wouldn't say Gibbs is a DM, much more of a box to box player, his game is similar to a Johnny Howson type.

Aarons has been instructed to stay more defensively minded and not to cross the half-way line anywhere near as much as he did under Farke. This has been confirmed by Aarons himself, where he has stated he has been told to stay more defensively disciplined (although I typically can't find the quote at time of typing). This is clearly visible in matches where he will often literally run to the half-way line before stopping and making a safe pass. This makes sense in the Premier League but in this division he should be bombing forward as much as possible due to the severe difference in attacking ability of the opposition in the two leagues. Aarons not attacking as much (and with Byram naturally a defensive full-back) it leads to a lack of coherency in our attack, often leading to Mclean lumping it up forward in the general direction of Pukki with Pukki unable to hold the ball up. It's a real mish-mash of tactics and players utilised which leads to the performances we have seen. Smith always has good press conferences, and I find myself agreeing with a lot of his post-match analysis too, which is why it's bizarre he can't see the obvious changes. Play either Pukki or Sargent (not both) centrally and then match your tactics suitably to whoever is chosen.

Mclean sums up the league, alot of effort and hard-work but little quality. You could argue Nunez was even worse however.

We can all see that Sargent needs to be played centrally or not at all. We can also see nearly a full year into Smith’s tenure, there’s no clear style. It’s been turgid stuff masked by the fact this league is god awful and we keep snatching wins from other awful teams. Krul’s recent form the only positive.

Completely agree with them. It's absolutely embarrassing, regardless of who/which team does it. It needs eradicating. So many teams now instruct their players to go down 70+ minutes into the game if winning, to slow the game down. Those in charge need to have a serious look at it.

Sam Byram is a proper full-back, Bali Mumba is not a full-back. As others have already suggested on this thread, he could potentially make a cracking right-winger though. The loan is doing exactly what you hope from a loan, i.e. regular football and boosting his confidence.

Nothing to panic about here. He will miraculously recover by the time we play our next game against Blackpool. He's played a lot of games recently and needs a rest (as evident by his overall poor performance like most against West Brom), 'strains' are usually used to cover this.