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TCCANARY

The question that no-one has been brave enough to ask

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DDD,

I sort of get what the OP is saying, in fact I tried to track down the latest stats on distance run yesterday, to no avail and whilst I agree with you that, "Each player consistently put one foot in front of the other", I''m not sure they did it well enough and IMO there lies our problem, we don''t track back well enough, some players seem static and some give up, there were many examples of this yesterday, plus we don''t shut the oppo down high up the pitch.

So, whilst they may all ''consistently put one foot in front of the other" I would like to see them do it a bit quicker, a bit more frequently and with a bit more purpose, you can take a stroll around the local museum and still consistently be putting one foot in front of the other!

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[quote user="morty"]I think the OP is having a gentle poke at another poster...[/quote]Is there such a thing as a gentle poke on this site Morty ? [;)]

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TIL,

May be start of with a gentle poke but I find working to a crescendo works quite well!!

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[quote user="Ray"]DDD,

I sort of get what the OP is saying, in fact I tried to track down the latest stats on distance run yesterday, to no avail and whilst I agree with you that, "Each player consistently put one foot in front of the other", I''m not sure they did it well enough and IMO there lies our problem, we don''t track back well enough, some players seem static and some give up, there were many examples of this yesterday, plus we don''t shut the oppo down high up the pitch.

So, whilst they may all ''consistently put one foot in front of the other" I would like to see them do it a bit quicker, a bit more frequently and with a bit more purpose, you can take a stroll around the local museum and still consistently be putting one foot in front of the other![/quote]

This is correct. Look how Howson and Dorrans, among others, are jogging back when Newcastle overrun us on the counter.

But try to explain this to the ignorants like Bor, Hogesar, TCCanary and others with zero footie competance.

People who write off stats showing Norwich at the bottom of the table when it comes to distances run in the Premier, when we know we have leaked 20 goals in 9 games, are at best ignorants, and have proven their incompetence for everyone to see.

It is not all about the running, but it is one of the most important ingrediences in any football team, espescially at this level. We lack physical "competence" in this team, and we are made to pay for it.

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[quote user="TCCANARY"]

 

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959818/MatchReport/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Newcastle-United-Norwich

 

Just look at this link (especially the heat map) and then explain to me how we managed to lose this game. I know I''m just an ignorant but none of it (apart from the result) looks like a team that lost.

 

 

[/quote]

Yes, stats show Norwich domination overall, in possession, total shots, tackles, aerial success, etc.

But when watching the game, we could easily see we were overrun, and ofcourse undone by some really abysmal naive defending.

Overall, our offensive game was not bad. But our ability to combine our offensive play with a coherent unit behind the offensive players (to mop up breaks, keeping the pressure) is a big fail. When we lose the ball, espescially in central midfield, we are so easily overrun.

Lose the ball to some African player, and Dorrans/Howson, even sometimes Tettey, are 5 meters behind right away.

Sadly this fact is not shown anywhere in the stats.

On the balance of play, perhaps a draw would have been fair, given we had two shots hitting the posts, and a strong penalty claim turned down.

But when Newcastle have 6 shots, and all of them goes in, i.e not a single save from Ruddy, you know you will struggle, even when scoring 2 goals away.

I think we were sucked in a bit like the Leicester game. hit on the break by quick players, and opposition managers know very well that Norwich lack physical strengths in the form of speed (and probably stamina), so we are so easy to hit on the break, leaving our defenders exposed.

In most games we will be better off by playing Wes, and let him "do his magic", while the other midfielders are more cautious. When Wes is not starting, players like Howson and Dorrans, even Tettey, will be sucked too high up the pitch, espescially when we are chasing the game, leaving us so open for counter attacks.

Norwegian TV had a brilliant analysis of Norwich abysmal defending (as a team unit) before the game, and they took it up also during the HT break, and it was spot on.

The pundits claimed Norwich'' players were running around like headless chickens without any defensive structure, and when attacking the stretch in the team is too big, which leaves us vulnerable when we got little or no pace in central midfield and defence.

The analysts where spot on, again, sadly.

AN and his team must adress this, but without Mulumbu I think we lack the player material to improve much. Maybe VOO can help, though.

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I am pretty sure we cover more ground in games where we press high and hard; that was missing for me yesterday and is a common feature in our poor performances.

ANs teams work best with high intensity and commitment. I posted before the game if we turn up and graft we would get something from the game - too many players did not, esp when we didnt have the ball.

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We had more shots.

We had better pass success.

We were better in the air.

We had more dribbles.

We had more tackles.

We  were effective at creating goalscoring opportunities from long shot situations

We were strong at finishing

 

All this points to the fact that, apart from the result, we were the better team, if we continue to be as good as this and then improve on the results issue there doesn''t seem to be much wrong. We just need to pick some new players without doing too much tinkering with the team. Maybe sit the players down and get them to watch Norwegian TV''s analysis (Tettey can translate) and apply that whilst they are playing.

 

 

 

 

 

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Dermot Gallagher on SSN just said that we should have had a penalty for the shirt pull on Jonny Howson.

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We should have - and it could have changed the game.

We didn''t play badly in the first half imo, and were unlucky not to go in level.

the second half however was awful viewing, fuelled mainly by Tettey''s withdrawal by AN leading to us imploding with badly exposed defensive fragility.

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If this were a one-off I''d agree its a bit of tinkering. However our defence has looked poor all season. Some major surgery is needed whether on the playing front or coaching or probably both.

About the only good thing from yesterday is that hopefully it will trigger the management team to take some drastic action, no longer can they pretend that we can muddle through with a championship standard defence.

The tactical decision yesterday didn''t help, but we had already conceded half the goals when Tettey was on the pitch. Not only did we lack positional nous but I thought we looked slower and more ponderous when responding to those Ncl attacks, and I wonder whether our fitness levels are good enough also.

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The risk of sitting back, deep, as we did in the start if the game, is that is breeds passivity.

Sitting back is fine, as long as there is high tempo, short distance between the lines (midfield and defence), and high intensity. You need "midfield wasps", but we do not have them.

When intensity is not there (as was so evident the first 10 mins), sitting back is very bad, if you concede first.

You will then have to chase the game, and players suddenly have to change their mindset from being initially defensively minded to suddenly having an attacking mindset.

It was clear that we did not do this very well, as the team got severely stretched, and therefore open to counter attacks, counters we all know Newcastle took very well on the day.

I am pretty sure we dont have the suitable player material to be sitting back. We have players who are fairly good on the ball, and can pass, but they can not harry, tackle and run very well to make life difficult for the opposition.n We lack "destructive" players to play a deep 4-2-3-1.

So for us, we need to have more of the ball, and control possession more. To do that, Wes needs to play, against almost all opposition where we expect to have a fair chance of getting points. That would be against 80% of the Premier League, home and away.

And for a team like ours, the difficult part for AN is how to balance our attacks against the risk of being overrun.

Our last 2 games have been similar. We control posession, but are being sucked in, and hit on the break.

it does not help when the opposition "always" seem to be deadly effective against us, and Ruddy looks like a pink sack of potatoes on every shot coming his way.

It does not help having players of less physical ability than the opposition either (Martin losing headers and standing off due to lack of pace, Whittaker standing off or being outpaced, Olsson with poor positioning and little understanding, Bassong destroying the offside trap every time he has got a chance), but you can sometimes hide this through good organization.

However, we do not currently have particularly good organization either, and it''s a worry.

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[quote user="DDD In The Fine City"]Grefstad, lose the ball to some African player?

Can you explain what you mean by this? Why has his nationality got anything to do with it?[/quote]

African players are usually pacey, and for some reason, they always score against us. No coincidence.

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So it''s racist to complement Africans on their pace ?

I suppose it''s racist against our Scots who have no pace....

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Thanks for posting the stats TC. The heat map for me shows some fundamental issues in our set up yesterday. Look how far apart the average position of our two centre midfielders is. This leaves a big gap to play in. Also again the average position of our full backs is pretty high up the pitch leaving our centre backs exposed. This just confirms what we saw yesterday which was that we left ourselves exposed to Newcastle attacks and made it very easy to play through us.

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Even taking into account the conclusion that can be drawn from the heat map (click on Ruddy and they never get near our goal, that must tell us something) what about us having 90 more passes and 90 more touches, we made 8 more attempted tackles and our body parts stats are amazing, apart from the result our stats really do take some beating.

 

 

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So, are we finally getting to the conclusion that stats alone, do not really give an entirely accurate picture of a game?

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Agree Morty, however if the Hat Map is considered a ''stat'' then whilst stats alone don''t give an entirely accurate picture of a game, they definitely have a part to play.

They are of course always hindsight but do provide the management with tools with which to work.

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