Petriix

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.

There's a little trick that I do when making a post: when I get an idea in my head about something but I'm not quite sure of the details, I open up another tab in my browser and look it up *before* hitting the submit button. Hope that helps.

It's ok, your imaginary friend can sit wherever they like without upsetting anyone.

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.

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.

Possibly the most skillful goal you'll ever see.

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.

Yes, there's no real choice now (and no options from the bench). The squad is looking very thin, but it's only really Rowe that's missing from the first 11.

Great @SouthwellC, now if you can remove or increase the reactions limit, that would be awesome.

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.

Back in my day this was considered a fair tackle. The game's gone soft.

That's all very well, but of course I'm going to pick the data relating to my point. You'd have a valid argument if I was extrapolating something outside that selected period but all I did was say "look, we had an awful run earlier in the season". It would be totally illogical to pick a wider range of results while making that point. The "cherry picked" table is interesting because it shines a light on a particular period in a way that isn't normally visible (because, like @nutty nigel says, they don't publish random 10 game tables from earlier in the season). I'm not drawing any biased conclusions, I'm just saying "look how bad we were for that run of games". If you looked at the overall league table at that point it would have masked it by also including our really good start. So, sure, "biased" if I were to say "look how awful we are" based on that run. But I'm not so you're making a bit of a strawman argument.

Not really, as long as you explain the context i.e. the worst period in our recent history in comparison to the best etc. Obviously the table I shared above was a bit of a joke. It's a spectacular coincidence that our awful run ended when Webber left... but even the most recent good run is only playoff form. Which I suppose is why we're outside the playoffs when you take the season as a whole.

You're obviously not looking hard enough... Anyway the point remains that, as a whole, Wagner's tenure has been a bit of a disappointment because we're in a slightly worse position than when he joined. However it's entirely relevant to say that recent form shows a significant improvement. I don't accept that it's all down to injuries. Sargent was injured before the transfer window closed but suitable backup wasn't brought in and, as rightly pointed out, the tactics we employed really didn't suit the players who were available. The hope is that the months of training have finally taken root throughout the squad and they are now more capable of making the system work. The fear is that it's all rather tenuous and it won't take much to set us back on another awful run of form. At this point no one knows which way it will go and, unfortunately, even if we can sustain the recent form, it's unlikely that we'll be able to do enough to win the playoffs. Then we're on to worrying about next season...

Congratulations for making the most spurious leap of logic of the day on the Pinkun forum; quite some achievement given the competition on here! No, I don't blame all our failings on Wagner, nor do I credit Knapper for all our recent successes. I actually hold Webber most at fault for our decline over the past three seasons. Largely that's down to recruitment and squad (mis)management. I do have some serious question marks about Wagner's tactics at times, particularly when we're outnumbered in midfield, but otherwise think he's done well to turn things around. It's hard to ignore that we've seen a huge reversal in form from the moment Webber left and Knapper arrived. I imagine that's down to a number of factors, not just the sporting director. Sometimes a small change can give everyone a fresh start.

I thought he was the worst possible signing because he was too good to drop but had a pathological aversion to playing Pukki in on goal. Ultimately he was no better than Hernandez: lots of decent runs but no end product whatsoever.

There's "struggle" then there's picking up just 7 points from 10 games. In fact, we picked up just 7 points from our final 11 games in 2022/23 and were on an incredibly poor run which would usually be enough to see a manager sacked by November 2023. The 10 points from the first four games this season seemed to be the anomaly as those results are included in a total of 24 points from 25 games bridging the end of last season and the start of this one. Now we've clearly had a revival under Knapper and I'm glad that he stuck with Wagner at this point. But it's absolutely fair enough for people to be a bit sceptical about his long-term suitability for the job. You don't have to have a particularly long memory to recall the feeling that we were dropping like a stone towards League One. The good news is that his outburst seemed to have the desired effect and the crowd was noticeably putting in the effort, though I did struggle to get my "you do know what you're doing" chant going. It's an interesting time to be a Norwich fan.

And McCallum was cleaned out after the pass so, even if it was given as offside, it's either a penalty or a free kick right on the edge of the box. Awful officiating all round. Luckily it didn't matter.

I think he's been excellent every time he's played in defence and continually improving with yesterday's performance right up there. He's still prone to the odd moment of madness but he seems to have better natural instincts around the positing required from a defender in comparison to the defensive side of the midfield role. He's alway been fairly decent in the air and he is pretty solid (if not spectacular) at defending, but it's the passing and carrying the ball forwards that gives us something extra. The team always has a better balance with Kenny in the back line.

Those stats are phenomenal. 1.13 goals per 90 minutes and 79% shot accuracy are head and shoulders above the next best player and 42% goal conversion is joint top. I definitely didn't rate him before this season. He's absolutely come good now.

Deflected off the wall which took it right into the corner. Vrancic did have a habit of getting favourable deflections.

I'm not totally convinced. I think McCallum was fouled in the box twice and there were a bunch of other fouls not given or obvious yellow cards that he kept in his pocket. The fact is that we were so good that it didn't matter but, on another day, might have made a difference.

A huge part of the balance is Barnes dropping deeper and adding an extra body in midfield. In general we're doing far better at those tactical rotations meaning we're spending less time outnumber in the central third, finding some decent pockets of space and occasional overloads. It's noticeable how much better we are in transitions both when we win and lose the ball with some quick vertical passes in attack and reliable defensive cover in defence. This is all I've been asking for and addresses my fundamental problem with playing two strikers. I love McLean the centre back. He adds a whole extra dimension in the defensive line (and his ability to break from it). Teams really struggle to cope when he pushes into midfield because no one knows who should be picking him up and, invariably, whoever does then leaves someone else free. But, yes, I'm very happy with the Nunez/Sara partnership.

So not all that injured then... Boo!

Have you been to any home games this season? Believe it or not people do try to create an atmosphere but there's a real malaise over the place. It's very difficult to 'get behind the team' as an individual. All one can do is either join in with the crowd or not. Unfortunately on Tuesday that was a collective grumble. Today we'll wait and see, but the fans need something to be positive about before they can be positive. Wish me luck trying to start the "you do know what you're doing" chant in the river end.