Bethnal Yellow and Green

Wales have are now introducing mandatory checks to large events with over 11,000 people from 11 October. This is the kind of policy change the Premier League is preparing for - while possible for fans to refuse (politely I would hope) to show vaccination status or negative test right now in England - it may not be that way for too much longer.

I suspect they may have a 10 minute period where they ask everyone for it, and see how many people get into the stadium in that time compared to normal. If it dramatically slows things down, then I can see some clubs with large stadiums having to allocate arrival times to fans so they can make sure everyone is seated by kick off. By the looks of it, nothing. They say it is voluntary.

It is prep in case the Government make it compulsory for anyone attending large events to have these things (negative test, vaccination etc). Premier League being sensible in trialing it out to see how much it slows down entrance and also getting fans used to the idea they may asked for and require these things in the future. Better fans learn how to get their Covid passport etc now rather than being told it will be compulsory 48 hours before a game later in the season.

When you look at the actual position the players adopted versus Arsenal, while the 'base' formation is listed as 4-3-3, it looks more like a lopsided 4-2-3-1 in practice. Against Leicester, McLean tucked in deeper on the left-hand side while PLM pushed further forward on the right-hand side. It makes sense for Norwich to do something different in the Prem than they do in the Championship as they have swung from being one of the best teams in the league to one of the worst. Carrying on as if nothing had changed would be strange. Will be interesting to see what Farke pulls out of the bag for the Watford game. It will be the first game where Norwich will be expected to be on the front foot and Farke may revert back to the 4-2-3-1 base formation.

Kabak has played 120 mins of football since May - not a surprise he might not be ready to start tomorrow. Not sure where the idea that Farke takes new long with signings comes from - Dimi came straight into the team in Jan as did Williams recently. If there is a clear place for a player then Farke puts them in.

Funny you should say that...

It definitely was better that than having Watford, Brentford, Newcastle in the first few weeks - but doesn't change the fact it was a disaster and put Norwich on the back foot straight away. Would have been tough without many changes to the squad, but to have that while trying to integrate a bunch of new players made it particularly bad. Think the lack of cohesion across the midfield is a direct impact. If Farke can get Rashica out of his funk that he had last season and get some confidence into him then Norwich will have a real weapon in attack. Have to remember that several of the new boys are coming in off personally difficult seasons so will need to find their form.

I think it is more likely that Norwich go down than stay up. Not that it represents a massive failure if the club is relegated - whether the season is a success or not shouldn't simply come down to the difference between 17th and 18th. This is one of the strongest ever Premier Leagues and while some of the established clubs hasn't been able to strengthen as much as they might have done if Covid wasn't a thing the sheer quality throughout the league is high. Norwich have a lot of new players to bed in and had the worst pre-season in memory. There is no escaping the fact that it takes time for new players to perform at their top level and it can take even longer when they are coming in from other leagues. Hopefully, Norwich can build up some momentum over the season and finish really strongly to avoid the drop - feel it needs at least one, possibly two other teams to completely implode - which is obviously beyond the club's control.

McLean coming in improved things a lot from the previous games. Gilmour broke through at Chelsea doing exactly what he is doing for Norwich now. Normann will primarily challenge McLean for that spot on the left of the midfield three. I can see the same midfield on Saturday as Leicester (if McLean is fit) while Normann beds in and gets his fitness up. I suspect that if McLean isn't fit Normann will get his first start. Seems Arsenal are having a bit of a midfield crisis - no Xhaka, Elneny or Smith-Rowe. There is also a doubt over Lokongo who pulled out of the last Belgium game.

I doubt Gilmour will be moved out of the CDM/anchor role even when Normann is fully up to speed. Read Connor's piece today on Norwich's midfield - the role Gilmour is playing now is his preferred position and is where he played for Chelsea and where he has played for Scotland. Normann will play where McLean/PLM are playing, but will probably sit deeper. McLean already was sitting deeper than Rupp did in his matches. In my view, PLM has been the bigger issue as he isn't up to the pace of the Prem League yet and doesn't close down quick enough, or move the ball on quick enough.

There is a lot to learn when coming to a new club, especially with the system Farke plays when it isn't just hitting percentage balls over the top. Will need to know and understand the myriad of pressing triggers, positions to take in and out of possession, rotations, set piece duties etc etc. Normann will travel back to Norwich today and have training for a couple of days, whether Farke is confident he can learn what he needs to know in those few training sessions is what will determine if he can start. Farke has thrown players straight in when he is confident they get the system - Dimi played only shortly after arriving for example - but central midfield is so key he might want a little more time to work with the player. There is also the issue that Normann is working his way back to fitness, he hasn't completed a full 90 once this season so far for Rostov of Norway. So that will need to be assessed as well.

Think it is more about Farke being confident he's had enough time to work with players on the training ground so they know the system and how he wants the team to play. Norwich's midfield has looked like a bunch of strangers at times this season, so chucking in Normann might not be the best move (although depends what the situation is with McLean injury). Kabak is going to be a way off fitness wise, he was frozen out at Schalke and played no pre-season to my knowledge. Tzolis is just coming back off injury and in unlikely to be ready to start. I expect a similar line up to Leicester in all honesty. Unless McLean is out and then Farke may go for Normann. Sargent had a pretty torrid international break by all accounts so suspect he'll also be on the bench.

Will always be a combination, but some teams are more prepared to use video scouting and data as their primary sources of information - especially due to the pandemic and inability to travel. As I said though, would only really be done where the player cost is low, clubs wouldn't buy a crucial player without having watched them first.

Yes - wonder if data will become even more important in recruitment now. While Scott was happy to use it, Norwich certainly weren't like Brighton or Brentford who use it as their primary recruitment tool. Scott said he wouldn't sign a player that he hadn't physically gone and watched, other more data lead clubs, will take that risk if the outlay is relatively small. Brighton signed Mitoma from Japan without being able to go and watch him play for over a year for example.

Nice article on Norwich's window in the Telegraph - written by John Percy who is very reliable. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/09/09/no-longer-going-war-without-gun-inside-story-norwichs-11-new/ Nuggets include Dortmund making a bid for Aarons the day before the window closed (loan with an option). Lee Dunn has taken over as Head of Recruitment. Tzolis had been tracked for years by the academy recruitment team, and Rashica had been watched since he was at Vitesse. Well worth a read.