Thread

[king canary 7,605]

Bloody hell, that was something...

Thoughts as I wait for my train home.

Hull had no ambition to do anything after they scored and our play suited them- lots of slow sideways passes that let them get organised. Vrancic the clearest symptom of this- kept putting his foot on it and slowing everything down without any purpose.

Decision making in the final third was often woeful. Maddison and Vranic seemed to pass up good opportunities to shoot, Wildschut and Steipperman couldn''t cross, Nelson had a couple of shots when he should have passed.

Husband had a very good game, bit unfortunate to be taken off. Pinto was decent, Klose couldn''t pass, Zimmerman was solid.

Farke was bold in his substitutions but think it should have been Vranic off instead of Trybull. Made us v lightweight.

I love Nelson.

[king canary 7,605]

@AJ

Agree with all of that. The crosses were too often floated and easy to defend and we too often took 3 or 4 touches when 1 or 2 would have done.

Would argue we missed Tettey today as both Reed and Trybull are neat and tidy but not very dynamic going forward.

[Guest]

Had enough chances in the first 20 to win this one comfortably, but our finishing was rushed today. Sticking up for Vrancic, I thought he used the ball superbly in possession and has a real range of passing. One of those languid players who is unfortunately destined to be the boo boy when Russ isn''t playing.

Another basic defensive error for their goal, and after that Hull sat very deep and defended very well. Can''t understand why the fullbacks didn''t push further forward. A few times Vrancic picked out wide players with excellent angled balls, we got in behind and looked dangerous. Didn''t do that often enough, and made it easy for Hull by continually playing the ball in front of their defence.

Special mention for an absolutely tireless performance from Jerome. Fabulous finish from Oliveira, but a heroic effort from Cameron to get on the end of the throw and knock it into the 6 yard box.

Deserved at least a draw. With more clinical finishing we could become contenders in this division.

[king canary 7,605]

@ian

Imo Vrancic is a highlights player. You''ll see him make two or three wonderful balls a game (like the one that Wildschut should have buried) but he then disappears.

His off the ball work is really poor at times. Far too often Pinto was pushing up, looking for some help and Vrancic was jogging in the middle of the park. He was also far too static and kept slowing play down which helped Hull.

I don''t disagree he was good in possession but for me he needs to offer a bit more than some nice passing and some decent set pieces.

[Guest]

Sorry, I don''t agree. He is constantly drifting into space to pick the ball up, and when nothing is on keeps the ball moving in a simple fashion. As others have stated, we were very lightweight up-front today - if there are no options for Vrancic what would you like him to do?

I get that people don''t like the less pacy players who don''t sprint around after the ball, but his passing lead to several decent opportunities, including our best chance of the match (bar the goal), and I recall him doing a lot of good work I''m the game.

The fact he was left on the pitch by the manager speaks volumes IMO.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

I wouldn''t disagree with what Vrancic does, when he has the ball, but in the second half, because he was playing right in my eyeline, when he didn''t have the ball, he didn''t offer options, often enough, when we had the ball on that side. Wildschut was out on his feet from 75 mins onwards, and managed to get a 3rd wind, for the last 5 mind. Should have/deserved to, win.

Loved the Oliviera /McGregor love in at the end!

[king canary 7,605]

@ian

Sorry I just don''t see that. He was right infront of me most of the first half and his off the ball movement was non existent. He''s far too often found standing next to an opponent and not trying to find space.

It is nothing to do with being pacey or chasing after the ball, it is about him looking for the ball and offering an option which he far too ften doesn''t do.

He has his moments and I can see why he is in the team a but I think he played into Hulls hands today with his insistence on slowing things down even when there were options on for him.

[Alfie54 76]

Thought Vrancic was too slow on the ball throughout and seemed to be scared to shoot.wildschutt for me was awful, missed a sitter and as the game wore on stopped trying to go down the wing And kept passing it back. On the rare occasions that he didn''t go past anybody he seemed not to know what to do next

[hogesar 9,658]

Could have had the game won in the first 20 minutes but as soon as Hull scored you knew how the game was going to go. If anything going down to 10 men made it a little harder for us.

Anyway, thought Jerome ran himself into the ground alongside a few others.

Vrancic passing is very good. Like someone said hes destined to be a bit of a boo boy for us because unless our players are running 100mph at the other end of the pitch theyre not doing enough to some of our fans.

I do think at 70 minutes he should have made way and had Murphy been available from the bench reckon he would have done.

But to be fair his cool head and calmness on the ball is something we will need in some games this season. Probably has a better range of pass than anyone else.

Also, thought Hulls first goal where Maddison lost posession resulted in his head dropping and we lost him for the rest of that half basically.

[ron obvious 1,502]

Having just watched the highlights, we had an awful lot of close misses, any of which might have gone in.

Modern teams are extremely adept at progressively packing defences & funneling attackers into densely marked positions where shooting is virtually impossible (we''ve recently become quite good at this ourselves, e.g. Middlesbrough).You can only beat this with superb strikes from way out, or levels of skill & speed beyond all but a few players (e.g. Hucks, Luis Suárez etc.). That is why so many goals are scored on the break, when there is more room to manoeuvre into a decent shooting opportunity.

However I believe in players such as Wes, Maddison, Vrancic & Pritchard we have players who are capable of unlocking defences on a regular basis, but we need other players to move into the right positions, which doesn''t happen often enough. However, it can be hoped that the longer they play together the more awareness & understanding will blossom & goals will come on a more regular basis.

Still plenty to be optimistic about!

[king canary 7,605]

*sigh*

It''s fairly patronising to suggest the only reason others might disagree with your view of a player is because they are boo boys looking for a scapegoat or that they want the player to ''facking run abaaaht a bit.''

[Van wink 2,994]

Not a good performance but we got a point. Those are the sort of games that can make a big difference in a close league at the end of a season.

[Guest]

The paradox that is Norwich at home trying hard to break down dogged defences and Norwich away which is the dogged defence waiting to be broken.

I thought the Hoolahan/Maddison show late on was good. How do you break down a defence other than running at them if your crosses are hit and hope?

It is all about the luck of the break at times. And we have a continental line up now, not a British one. Possession and passing is their way and the frustration we Brits feel when we think we should be hammering defences into submission with crosses etc isn''t going to happen with our current set up.

Nobody was more impatient than me watching it but I do have to bring myself to accepting that this is the fayre that will be served up.

[hogesar 9,658]

Not actually what I said but then again going by those around me in the lower barclay youre not too far off anyway.

[Capt. Pants 4,229]

Not a great performance by any means but we deserved at least a draw. I thought Husband and Wilschutt combined very well on the left first half so I was a bit disappointed when Yanic moved over to the right and was nowhere near as effective. Thought Husband tbh and was unlucky to be subbed. Klose''s distribution was woeful at times and we need to make  a decision in January if possible as personally I would like to see a quality RH midfielder come in if we can offload Tim for a decent fee. Not sure what Vranic brought to the party once again and I think Tom would be more of a goal threat him so again was disappointed when he was subbed.Only 5 points off top, so auto promotion is still a possibility if we improve the squad in the right areas.

[GJP 79]

Vrancic was one of the best players on the pitch this afternoon.

[Molly Windley 76]

Coulda wouda shoulda, but a point off the play off places and unbeaten in the last eight league games.Nobody is going to walk the league this season, going to be a hard grind for every team