Alex neil Learns From His Mistakes

[Crafty Canary 547]

Does he?

In the first 19 games of this season our record was

P19 W5 D5 L9 Pts 20

In the second half of the season and with his new signings our record was

P19 W4 D2 L13 Pts 14

I''m not convinced that a 30% reduction in points gained indicates that AN does learn from his mistakes nor does it suggest that his signings are generally beneficial to the team''s performance.

Let''s hope he gets it right this close season.

[TCCANARY 263]

Stats don''t lie.................or do they?

Everyone says we had a terrible transfer window in the summer and that was corrected in January but the points tally says otherwise.

Stats don''t lie................or do they?

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

[quote user="TCCANARY"]Stats don''t lie.................or do they? Everyone says we had a terrible transfer window in the summer and that was corrected in January but the points tally says otherwise. Stats don''t lie................or do they?[/quote]

 

Well not sure what "everyone" was saying, but the key problem in the summer transfer window for me was the failure to sign a CB who was an upgrade on our existing players.  And I think that was the biggest single factor in our relegation, because if we''d signed that CB then, we''d have done a bit better over the season as a whole, probably would have got enough extra points in the games we "should" have done better in to end up around 40 points not 34.  That was corrected in January but unfortunately Klose was injured just when he''d settled in and improved our defence.  That''s the way it goes sometimes.

 

And things clearly did go wrong from the start of January, that 10-game run without a win was the period when we got caught up in the relegation scrap.  Up until then we were on target for 40 points.  What changed ?  My feeling is that the main problem was the signing of Naismith and him replacing Wes in the team (or moving Wes out to the flank).  Naismith failed to deliver and without Wes we lost our cutting edge.

[Thecanaryfan 0]

I can certainly identify his biggest mistakes in the hope he will learn from them.

Signing two West Brom cast offs.

Being too lazy during the summer transfer window.

Selling our best midfielder when there was absolutely no need.

Not letting Grabban move to Bournemouth at the first opportunity causing disharmony during the squad.

Spending a club record fee on a 29 year old player who''s playing position is a mystery. Money we will never recoup.

Not playing Mbok every game when he was clearly our best forward, if not player.

And least not forget picking up a mere and tragic 11 points from a possible 57 in the second half of the season.

[T 191]

Pity people don''t learn playing computers games is not real life. Not seen a single post with the real reason for relegation. Normal for Norfolk I guess.

[Thecanaryfan 0]

What is the real reason T?

[GJP 79]

He might learn from them. But he might not learn particularly quickly.

[SwindonCanary 457]

I think around the 19th game we changed tactics,  so it maybe nothing to do with who was playing, it was about how we were playing.

[Highland Canary 78]

We have had this discussion before. We obtain the vast majority of our points at home. We played only one of the big six teams before Christmas. It was to be expected therefore that we performed better in the first half of the season. However, in the event we significantly underperformed, poor recruitment being the main driver. I see little evidence thus far that AN is learning from mistakes.

[Buh 0]

Oh god, here come the stattos again...

"Our throw in successful positive situational pass potential percentage has decreased under Alex Neil connnnnnsiderably!!!"

We were 100% crap. There''s a percentage for you.

[ZLF 335]

Post newcastle, per game, we conceded the same number of goals, yet score 40% fewer and gained 25% fewer points. Feels like and over-reaction that did nothing but harm the teams chances.

Easy with hindsight - but that back 4 were always conceeding goals, try to protect them only cost us fewer goals scored and reduced the points gained.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

[quote user="T"]Pity people don''t learn playing computers games is not real life. Not seen a single post with the real reason for relegation. Normal for Norfolk I guess.[/quote]

 

I''m waiting with baited breath for you to enlighten us, T.  I''d love to know...

[Hairy Canary 760]

I''ve seen plenty of posts outlining the real reason for our demise T. Perhaps you haven''t spotted them?

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="Crafty Canary"]Does he?

In the first 19 games of this season our record was

P19 W5 D5 L9 Pts 20

In the second half of the season and with his new signings our record was

P19 W4 D2 L13 Pts 14

I''m not convinced that a 30% reduction in points gained indicates that AN does learn from his mistakes nor does it suggest that his signings are generally beneficial to the team''s performance.

Let''s hope he gets it right this close season.[/quote]

Those stats do lie though. We lost Klose while we were on a good run and if he had not been injured I''m sure we would have added to that good run and stayed up.

I''d be more interested in the stats that cover the clear penalties we didn''t get and other poor refereeing decisions that cost us dearly. Too many teams were awarded soft penalties against us whereas we never seemed to get the rub of the green.

We will come back stronger though !!!!

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

You would have thought that T would be more worried about which free transfers his own team will be signing this summer

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

For me the jury is out on AN. The lack of summer transfer activity has been his get out of goal card and his honesty and good persona in front of the camera has helped build his support. he does deserve a go next season but there will be no excuses it will be his team and his transfer window, i hope he succeeds but we will have a good idea well before Christmas

[T 191]

The real reason is blatantly obvious for any one who has a grasp of reality. You can either grasp reality or blame people. I can''t make people think. You either get it or you don''t.

[Crafty Canary 547]

So collecting 14 points out of 57 is just reality and nothing to do with anyone at NCFC? I can readily accept that that would be the board''s view of reality.

[Hairy Canary 760]

The reality is we have been relegated. From where I''m standing that is about par for the course, taking into account our resources.

Have we under achieved? Probably not. Have we over achieved? Probably not.

Could we have over achieved and stayed up with a better summer transfer window, a more experienced manager, more funding at board level etc, etc. Probably yes.

Now then T. I''ve put my view in a reasonable adult fashion all without insulting anyone. How about you try to respond in a similar fashion? That way we might have a more worthwhile exchange of views

[T 191]

Yes that is reasonable.

[Barclay seats 4849 the 3rd 0]

AN is a clueless twit . He has had a season and a half , and finishes with less idea about personnel, tactics or substitutions than he began with .

Terrible decision to keep him in charge IMO ,, we will likely now suffer an agonising season in the championship before he is rightly shown the door .

[FenwayFrank 2,717]

Thanks to Glenn Roeder for those words of wisdom

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

To answer an earlier question about where we''d be had we been given the ''correct'' refereeing decision in major incidents, there was a piece done in the sun a while back where they looked at all the major decisions over the season, re-worked out the table, and we would''ve been 14th.

We can''t simply blame decisions that went against us as we clearly haven''t been good enough but there''s also some truth that sometimes it doesn''t ''even itself out over the season''.

[Peanuts 154]

[quote user="Kurious Oranj"]To answer an earlier question about where we''d be had we been given the ''correct'' refereeing decision in major incidents, there was a piece done in the sun a while back where they looked at all the major decisions over the season, re-worked out the table, and we would''ve been 14th.

We can''t simply blame decisions that went against us as we clearly haven''t been good enough but there''s also some truth that sometimes it doesn''t ''even itself out over the season''.[/quote]

I assume someone somewhere has worked out if its actually true or not, but I''d always thought it was a given that smaller clubs tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to decisions.

On the subject of the OP, I think Alex Neil has learned from this season, certainly nobody can blame him for not trying different systems, tactics and players in an effort to get results and that must be good experience going forward. I''d be far more worried if he''d played one way all season and we''d still gone down. You can certainly criticise him for changing things too far or too often, and perhaps a more experienced manager may have had a bit more faith in a particular way of playing but there''s no guarantees the result would have been any different.

I certainly didn''t see a manager who was clueless or out of his depth, what I saw was a young manager in his first season in one of the toughest leagues in the world desperately trying everything he could to get the most out of one of a fairly weak squad.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

but isn''t it better to find a system that suits and stick to it ( leicester bournemouth watford ) rather than chop and change and none work out ?

i think that is where AN was very inexperienced that he didn''t know and could not find a system and a best 11

[daly 553]

Peanuts wrote

On the subject of the OP, I think Alex Neil has learned from this season, certainly nobody can blame him for not trying different systems, tactics and players in an effort to get results and that must be good experience going forward. I''d be far more worried if he''d played one way all season and we''d still gone down.

To the majority of supporters that was the problem, right up to the end we never had a settled team, he had no idea who to have lead the attack, no idea where to play Naismith, could not decide after 30 plus games if he wanted Wes in the team. Clueless to the end as I have said before he seems a real nice guy who can talk the talk.

To think it is a foregone conclusion that he will lead us back up is a pipe dream

[Horse Renoir 1]

As a team we''re just p155 poor in both boxes at this level. I don''t think his tactical choices would have mattered all that much to be honest. If we can''t even hit the target or work the keeper when we do get chances his only option seems to be to overload forward areas to create enough to hope one sneaks in, on the flipside we can''t concentrate for 90 minutes and our defenders are often simply out muscled, out-paced or out thought by the opposition so if he overloads the back we might only conceed one, but we aren''t going to score either. A balanced approach seemed to make as ineffective at both ends.

He hasn''t got any tactical flexibility in the team, as players we''re too inconsistent and prone to poor patches to play a settled side etc. I really don''t know what some of you are expecting of him. There''s a reason most of us fans cheered him off at the end of the season, he''s had nothing to work with.

He''s made mistakes with transfers though, definitely. We certainly didn''t need any more lightweight, slow, decent-ish technical forward players like Dorrans/Andreu/Naismith etc for one thing. Hopefully we''ll get to see that he''s learned something over the course of this summer in that regard.

[GJP 79]

Well Lambert and Hughton did better with lesser squads so it doesn''t really stack that he''s had "nothing to work with".

Perhaps he just didn''t have enough about him to squeeze that bit extra out of them - which is what makes the difference for a Norwich manager in the Prem

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

[quote user="GJP"]Well Lambert and Hughton did better with lesser squads so it doesn''t really stack that he''s had "nothing to work with". Perhaps he just didn''t have enough about him to squeeze that bit extra out of them - which is what makes the difference for a Norwich manager in the Prem[/quote]

 

Lambert''s season in the Prem reminded me of Watford this year - he took a team of limited but motivated players, got some key results early on, and had an approach to the Prem which was effective, for one season at least.

 

Hughton''s team for the year when he kept us up was significantly better than this year''s because he had Holt up front and Turner/Bassong gave us an effective defence which yielded plenty of clean sheets in key games.  For his 2nd season, overall the squad was similar to what we had this season, with the key difference that our strikers were ineffective and didn''t suit his playing style, but of course they were his recruits at record cost.  The outcome of course was the same as this season.  So to say Hughton did better with lesser squads is a bit rich IMO.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Hughton didn''t actually relegate us McNa (oops) Neil Adams did.

You never could have written off just what rabbit ''Houdini'' Hughton might have pulled out of the bag. He was not given a chance due to what was, IMO, one of the most bizarre decisions in the history of our Club.

The Hoots deserved the sack, but not then.

He did well in his first season. A major factor in the outcome of his second was having an £8m flop as a mill-stone around his neck.

That''s yesteryear though. I am only prepared to give AN ten games next season now due to our abject ending to the season just gone.

Ten games, top six minimum, with some good signings on board and some good showings on the field of play both a necessity.