Cantiaci Canary

Where did it go wrong? Quite simply ... we made half an effort to adapt Farkeball after the previous relegation but have then forgotten the lesson learned. Farkeball only works in the top tier with elite players. We can't afford them. We need to be bigger, faster and nastier but we can't bring ourselves to evolve down that avenue.

"Paddington Bear stare" 🤣 I loved that - thank you! Yes, agree with everything you outlined above. We are too nice and look more like a lower league team arriving for their big day out in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Does it emenate from the paternal, kindly and genial Farke? Does it come from building a squad of 'good characters' and a no d*ckhead policy? Does it come from the culture of the region - gentle, sleepy and bucolic? I genuinely don't know.

Yep, absolutely this. What I don't get is that Farke and Webber appeared to have learned that after the previous relegation and yet we've STILL got a midfield of technically good, easy on the eye, box to boxers. This, sadly, is the cost of Farkeball. We needed to buy at least two neanderthals but bought zero. If you look through every Premier League starting they have at least one big, mean, grim Suffocator In Chief .... Normann ain't that. A club with our budget can only survive by being a lot grittier, nastier and disliked.

I'm honestly at the point now where I don't think it matters. There isn't an untried formation that will unlock our brilliance. There isn't an untried player who will glue everything together. Quite simply ..... Farkeball doesn't work in the Premier League unless you spend like Man City can. There's a reason Watford and Bournemouth BOTH took SIX points off us LAST season! When we come up against teams with equivalently talented squads (let alone better ones!) Farkeball doesn't work. Our passing game gets disrupted and we struggle to create the 'gift wrapped' chances Pukki relies on. We also can't boss possession and that equates to more chances created for more lethal forwards - and we've always looked leaky at the back under Farke. For me, the only hope Farke has left is to have a major philosophical rethink but I suspect that he can't / won't do this and that we don't have a diverse enough range of players (e.g multiple DMs of Premier League standard) to shake it up enough. Farke would do well at a top German side with a generous budget to throw around.

I honestly think that it is too easy to turn a blind eye / apply common sense when it's a decision that would favour an unfashionable team in one breath but then apply the strict letter of the law when it comes to penalising that same type of side in the next breath ... seen it happen too many times. E.g why was Cantwell's goal offside when Hause's today wasn't?

I think a bit of both ... Our squad was head and shoulders better than everyone outside Bournemouth, Watford and Brentford but crucially our STYLE (Farkeball) although moderated to be more conservative, worked a treat. The problem is ..... Farkeball doesn't work in the Prem without ManC level players and we don't have Skipp (or an equivalent) to be as effectively conservative!

For me, the fascinating thing about last season was that we tried so hard to change from an all out offensive / dominate possession team into a more conservative / game management team - because we were adapting from the lessons learned from relegation. However ..... this season we don't have Skipp but haven't replaced him AT ALL. I fully expected two new defensively obsessed warriors to be hired this summer but instead we got box to boxers and we look as lightweight and naive as 2019. How has this happened???

Honest question but did the credibility of the Webberlution ever hang on surviving this season? I think we're hoping to stick in the Prem as a long term objective - potentially after numerous yo yos ... or however many it takes. Obviously the fewer the better. Without a billionaire the aim is to live in the top 26. We can't invest enough to become a nailed on Prem side. Despite breaking our spending records we STILL have one of the least talented squads in the division - many Prem fans outside of Norfolk, and journos, would say the actual least! TBF I think the club have been a lot quieter on this recently because it is controversial. Whether stomaching that sort of existence is a fantasy or not is the biggest question and I'm starting to think that it's not feasible. Losing so often is more painful than the joy of winning promotion endlessly.

There is a great deal of sense in this ... heartbreakingly

In response to the OP I would say ... 1. Money. It is a HIGHLY competitive league - with the money we invest (we broke all our spending records on players that cost half the price of what most teams spend on individuals) we have to have everything whirring perfectly to stand a chance. e.g Lambert's top flight season with us. Wilder's 1st top flight season with the Blades. Brentford this season it seems. Currently we are FAR from a well oiled, intensely drilled team with high confidence that's greater than the sum of its fairly modest parts. We have to be PERFECT! Honestly, how many of our players would the fans of Palace, Newcastle, Watford, Soton, Brighton, Wolves swap for theirs? One or two??? None??? We need to finish ABOVE THREE of them to survive (and the Bees)!!! 2. Style. Unless you spend proper money (like Villa and Leeds) you cannot play attractive football and survive. A club like ours needs to be big, strong and resolute or face being blown away by the top teams who pass and move better than us or stamped on and bullied by the rest. There's a reason Burnley, Palace, Soton, Stoke, Watford etc surprised people by surviving so long. They are / were tough and gritty.

Sad to say it but the scent of death, that eventually smoked off the shoulders of Hughton and Worthy, is beginning to snake around Farke's ankles. I think this is the beginning of the end for him and his staff, I really do. The players look shot of confidence and belief. He's already rejigging formations and line ups. Pointing the finger at critics in the media, fanbase and a player has already been ticked off. The only hope I have is that a better gelled team will have enough to shift the rudder but I'm starting to concede that whilst Farke has mastered putting tier 2 opponents to bed by dominating possession he hasn't adapted enough to give us a chance against tier 1 sides who are stronger, faster, fitter, taller and cleverer. He's also been crippled by us not replacing the stars of last season with an attacking midfielder capable of feeding our only goalscorer and a DM of any sort ... Normann isn't a pure DM (despite the script that the club got him to regurgitate when he arrived!). It'll be fascinating to see how much rope Webber gives him. No points after 10 played? No wins by November? Relegation confirmed? Not this season however bleak it gets?

Please help me! How can you get Radio Norfolk commentary outside of the county? Is it true that you can only either get home OR away commentary with the club membership and if you want to listen home and away you need to buy both memberships at £50? Am I missing something obvious here?! Thank you in advance for the advice!

I know ... but that's the only glimmer of hope that I have left! I'm already braced for watching Burnley, Palace and West Ham swatting us aside like pixies as they did in 2019/20. We needed to bring in a thug or two at DM.

What struck me from the highlights was how big the Brentford players are - not just Ajer. Despite the plan to learn from 2019/20 I still think we look flimsy, lightweight and too easily bullied.

Shouldn't forget that whilst we have spent more in total than ever before we have 'only' progressed to signing £10M players whilst the rest of the league are spending double that on individuals at least. We still have to be greater than the sum of our parts and we can only pray that more time on the training pitch and more gelling will improve us.

Yep this line up looks excellent. For me, we needed to go into this season with two DMs in the middle for every game and therefore should've bought in two more to support / rival Normann and Sorensen.

Fascinating to see at what point Webber would pull the trigger ... if ever. And, if he did, who, decent, would risk coming to what looks like the Titanic?

Until next week 😂

A. We survive in the Prem with Farke still in the hot seat. B. We survive in the Prem but without Farke by the end. C. We get relegated and Farke leads us to promotion the following season. D. We get relegated and Farke fails to win promotion in the following season but remains in place at least at the start of that campaign. E. We get relegated and Farke, for whatever reason isn't here to launch the new Championship campaign. We win promotion in the following season. F. We get relegated and Farke, for whatever reason isn't here to launch the new Championship campaign. We fail to win promotion in the following season.

Emi was pushing to leave for over a year before he did. He had outgrown a self funded club. How could we turn down that sort of money?

Surely we can get points off this Toon side.

Whichever team loses on Saturday will be fearing that it'll be a long and hard season ahead! My heart says that we'll pull a magic performance out of the bag and blitz them with quick passing and ambition but my head says we'll get bullied and sucker punched by a team that has our number.

If you scattered the games we've played across the season (rather than have them bunched as they are) there would be few grumbles. Man City also beat Arsenal 5-0. Liverpool also beat Leeds 3-0. Arsenal will probably beat most opponents by more than a 1-0 across the season. Nothing to be down hearted about just yet but Watford's an important test.

Fortunately we have a great record against Watford

Arsenal 3 - 0 Norwich City