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Petriix last won the day on November 29 2023
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Where has the identity gone?
Petriix replied to norwichsteve's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
I think Dowell would have been a top player if he could have stayed fit. At the time Sargent was being played as a winger and genuinely wasn't an improvement over Dowell in that position. Now he's up front it's a ridiculous comparison but let's not forget the purple patch that Dowell hit (before getting injured again) when Wagner first came in. I presume he's injured now too... -
27 points from the last 15 games…
Petriix replied to nutty nigel's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
So 88 points over a whole season which would probably put us in 3rd or 4th place in the final table. Does that count as success? -
Was it only me that thought Sargent might have strayed offside for that pass? It must have been very close.
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We need to talk about The System
Petriix replied to Petriix's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
I think there's an interesting correlation between losing both Hernandez and Rowe and ending up with a more coherent midfield system. I think Wagner has tweaked the tactics (or they've naturally evolved) but I also think that players tend towards their natural habits regardless of their instructions. Onel likes to drift high and wide, Sara drifts narrow and deep. Yes, Sargent has been massively important, as has his partnership with Barnes, but I think the more interesting changes have happened more recently. -
I was extremely critical of Wagner's midfield system earlier in the season so I feel it's only right to give some credit for the incredible reversal into what we're witnessing now. Where previously there were huge holes and regular systemic failures leading to positional errors and overloads (underloads?), now we are seeing a solid defensive structure from which we're able to transition with deadly speed to create chance after chance. Well done David Wagner. Many of us were calling for Sara to play further forwards, ideally at number 10. We weren't right, but we weren't entirely wrong. The tweaked midfield now features Sara and Sainz as the wide AMs where we previously had Rowe and Hernandez. I'm not certain how much of the change can be attributed to the personnel, but there's a significant narrowing of those midfield roles. The consequences are significant: Now we retain more control in the crucial central area and have far better defensive cover from the deeper midfielders because the attacking players are a deeper and narrower. There's a huge amount of space for our fullbacks to overlap into and less danger from doing so (because of point 1 above). It's obviously not perfect. We still have vulnerabilities, but the overall structure is far more coherent with better defined roles and consistently more reliable positioning. A far cry from watching Onel loitering on halfway. I still have concerns about the depth of the squad because the backup options are significantly weaker, but the first 11 is really good at this point in time.
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It's ok, your imaginary friend can sit wherever they like without upsetting anyone.
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He's definitely been playing better since Wagner tweaked the midfield to make the wide players narrower (possibly this is just an unintended consequence of the injuries we've suffered). There's a little bit more defensive cover and a little bit more space out wide giving Stacey the chance to shine, which he's doing. Sara's two goals and one assist, however, made him MOTM yesterday.
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It's stupid but that sort of thing is always a red card because it's violence. You simply can't do it. The ref showed some extreme leniency to the Brough players prior to that point, probably even including the tackle which sparked the reaction. But, no matter how unjust it was, you can't do what Sainz did. This is the second time now that he's cost us a game. Six more points and we'd be heading for the playoffs.
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I did start a campaign to get people to correctly call them 'brough (pronounced "bruh") but it never caught on. 'Boro just winds me up because it's not actually in the full version of the name.
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Great @SouthwellC, now if you can remove or increase the reactions limit, that would be awesome.
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Parma’s State of the Nation
Petriix replied to Parma Ham's gone mouldy's topic in Main Discussion - Norwich City
It's interesting that this conversation is happening now when we've actually seen (probably for the first time under Wagner) 'the plan' working properly. I'd argue that our biggest weapon has become... Kenny McLean... but... only when he plays at centre back. It's been mentioned elsewhere but bears repeating that he causes real problems for our opponents when he steps into midfield from defence. Every time he plays in defence the team looks better balanced. I'd argue that for two thirds of the Watford game and for almost all of the match against Cardiff we could actually see a comprehensive system in place where we were able to dictate the game and repeatedly hurt the opposition and create chances. Patterns of play, not just the moments of individual brilliance we've become dependent on. I didn't watch the Blackburn game so can't really comment on what went wrong but the overall recent picture is one of improvement and success. The real issue is that we've left it late to come to the party and other teams are continuing to pick up points so it requires a very strong end to the season to make up for the awful run up to November. Yes, there's still a defensive frailty, but we don't seem to have the structural issues we previously had. I only wish that Wagner would stick with that winning system rather than continually chopping and changing. It drives me mad.