Webber interview

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

Seems like Webber has got his feet under the table and the fans can poke off if they don''t like the football. Be very very careful what you wish for Webber.

[GPs Beard 0]

ridgeman Seems like Webber has got his feet under the table and the fans can poke off if they don''t like the football. Be very very careful what you wish for Webber.

A cynic might say that Webber is plucking the low hanging fruit . Blame everyone else , sell your easier to sell players , create a marketing mantra of Work In Progress , and last as long as you can .

He came here with his stock high having taken full credit for Huddersfield and by and large is looking to replicate it. A big PR push - community and family - and he cleverly isn’t putting any time scale on it. The villains are all the folk that aren’t here anymore. Oh and Naismith of course .

Let’s see in another 12 months . I’ll still be in the Upper Barclay Mr W if you are still with us.

[Duncan Edwards 2,223]

Strange that his “p155ed money up the wall” speech, delivered in the same brusque and possibly arrogant manner wasn’t received similarly. That openly critical oration was welcomed. Those that have been continually critical found it refreshing and akin to some justification for their misgivings throughout the previous however many years.

So what has changed?

He is still shooting from the hip but the target has fallen somewhere that the moaners aren’t happy with. The crosshairs have rested on them. Now the refreshing honesty is a Leeds fan with no affinity to our club attacking the very people that are it’s lifeblood!! How very dare he!! He’s not even a Norwich fan, what’s he doing working for us?!?

All this from the folk that bemoan a perceived nepotism and little Norwich mentality. I know, right?

The club aggressively recruit somebody regarded as “best in class” when they clearly should have been looking for the “best there is that actually supports Norwich City, stood on a milk crate in the old Barclay, took the Rookery in 72 and has ticket stubs from the 85 cup final, Bayern Munich away and a Chase Out mug.

🙄

[SwindonCanary 455]

I generally like Webber and his plans for the future of the club, but I think he''s lost it in the non productive way we play 

[FCC 76]

If the owners aren’t careful I can see him taking them down with him.

All this philosophy nonsense - I feel we always had it although we call it history. We play attacking attractive football, we play the game the right way, and we support our team the right way.

If he is a Leeds fan, he is probably unaware of our history, some of which us older folk can remember a lot more of.

A quick apology, or clarification, from him could stop this quickly,

[AJ 1,218]

I do wonder how much influence on playing style Webber has, although I''m sure he would have been fully aware of Farke''s approach when we signed him.

I think his words are of poor choice rather than being chosen as harsh on purpose. Should have asked for people''s patience rather than expecting it

[nutty nigel 7,513]

Is Duncan''s post satire? Or are there really people on here like that?

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

"He is still shooting from the hip but the target has fallen somewhere that the moaners aren’t happy with. The crosshairs have rested on them. Now the refreshing honesty is a Leeds fan with no affinity to our club attacking the very people that are it’s lifeblood!! How very dare he!! He’s not even a Norwich fan, what’s he doing working for us?!?"

It was an insensitive, ignorant (very) and street corner boy retort made by somebody who is clearly up against it ....... perhaps because he realises that he is being found out.

If this is an example of ''openness'' and having dialogue with the fans then I suggest he shuts up and concentrates upon the job in hand, which is preparing for the Summer''s comings and goings and making sure that the team is in good enough shape to improve upon this season''s miserable and very disappointing performance. This should include an unbiased and on-going assessment of our coach and his methods as he might well need to wield the axe in that direction and therefore needs to be well-planned re: time scale and replacement.

If he himself doesn''t like the heat then he should get out of the kitchen rather than make cheap snipes at the fans who are currently the life-blood of this club, give or take a player sale.

As for Smith, if she doesn''t see the writing on the wall and remains in that dream world of hers whereby all is well in the best of possible worlds with transition in progress and whereby set-backs are expected and that eventually all will come good (promotion being the immediate priority remember) then she is even less bright than I had previously assessed her to be after the "Let''s be ''avin you" spectacle.

I''m beginning to think she is easily led and that she is vulnerable to the extent that any and every plan your average travelling salesman has to promote the best interests of the club is a sound one because he had the good sense to don a yellow and green scarf for the day.

I''m ''avin a rant here. Sorry for ''avin got carried away. I''ll be ''avin a coffee now to calm down.

[komakino 272]

Webber''s comments were careless and deeply offensive. Fans sell out the ground every week, follow the hard across the country, invest in the Bond Scheme and then get told to ''go and watch another club''.

Webber should be sacked for this as it is gross misconduct. However, I would expect an apology by the end of today ordered from above and that will be that.

He sounds like a man who is frustrated, not unsurprisingly, because the whole plan isn''t working - with the exception of getting the wage bill down.

I cannot find a single article on this story on the EDP site as I write, which leads me to what I already think that Webber is reining in the media that was more open after McNally was sacked.

I hope Webber isn''t given the chance to recover from this and is handed his P45.

[hogesar 9,618]

I get the feeling had we won 4-1 yesterday the response to his comments before the game would be slightly different..

[komakino 272]

[quote user="hogesar"]I get the feeling had we won 4-1 yesterday the response to his comments before the game would be slightly different..[/quote]

I don''t think so. His comments were still out of order.

[king canary 7,580]

@Duncan

If you can''t see the difference between those two comments then I despair.

One is criticising the performance of former paid employees of the club who failed in their jobs.

The other is telling fans who pay to watch the team and whose continued attendance is crucial to the future development of the club to bugger off.

To claim they are one and the same is obvious nonsense.

[hogesar 9,618]

I think people should actually listen to the interview. I get the impression quite a few on here are going by twitter snippets.

So, to make it easy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0632kgx

Have to say I agree with every word.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

"I get the feeling had we won 4-1 yesterday the response to his comments before the game would be slightly different."

Us winning 4-1.

Scoring four goals in a game is not part of Farke''s tactics.

The opposition would claim possession for getting the ball from the back of their net and from all those re-starts. It would ruin our possession football tag.

Be serious man.

[Capt. Pants 4,202]

[quote user="hogesar"]I get the feeling had we won 4-1 yesterday the response to his comments before the game would be slightly different..[/quote]

Err no. Unless there is some apology or clarification today on his comments, then he can bog off quite frankly.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I don;t really like some of the stuff Webber comes out with and I think so far he''s yet to justify the hype or prove that he simply didn''t "get lucky" at Huddersfield with Wagner. He does come across as a bit arrogant (and covering his own back by blaming previous regimes for things).

That said, I think what he was trying to get at (but expressed badly as he was trying to "tell it as it is" was that the football in the first half against Bolton was decent and therefore if people don;t like watching that type of football then they are not going to like his/Farke''s regime. From recollection we were quite good in that half although as usual failed to score. It was a follow up from his "if you want hoof ball then i''m out of here" type line at the Trust meeting.

[Coneys Knee 941]

What worries me more is, if the Fulham game is the bar that''s being set regarding quality of performance then I am very worried. We did ok in that game performance wise, but 1) we still lost at home, 2) we failed to score - again, and 3) we didn''t play that well - just ok at times!

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="hogesar"]I think people should actually listen to the interview. I get the impression quite a few on here are going by twitter snippets.

So, to make it easy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0632kgx

Have to say I agree with every word.

[/quote]What he says (slightly expurgated) is:"If you take te 0-0 draw at home to Bolton and the 0-0 draw at home to Burton back in September, I would challenge anyone...if people got bored at home to Bolton go watch another team would be my answer to that. I think Cedric [Anselin] who was doing the co-commentary said it was the best half of football he''d seen at Carrow Road in years."He admits some of the football and resuts at home have been disappointing but goes on to the Fulham game:"I enjoyed it as a tactical spectacle; it wasn''t loads of balls into the box..."This points up what Jim Smith has just mentioned, which is that in effect Farke is trying to produce a team that doesn''t play in the typical up-and-at-''em English style of attack, attack attack, but in a much more continental, tactically sophisticated way. Plus, although Webber doesn''t mention this, Farke plainly decided, given how poor we were at defending last season, he had to prioritise defence. Necessary but not conducive to attacking foorball in the English way that excites spectators.I don''t see many games but I follow the matches on the Bailey/Davitt minute-by-minute, and the commonest complaint from fans is "Why don''t we play two up front?/Why don''t we have more players in the box for crosses?" Because - in crude terms -- that would expose the defence.

[Grumpy 122]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]Is Duncan''s post satire? Or are there really people on here like that?[/quote]

I think the post has merit.Supporters all loved it when he was honest and open and criticising the board for what went on in the past now he has had a pop at the supporters and all of a sudden he is not flavour of the month.

When it is his time to go whether its by choice or force, I somehow don''t think my opinion of the man will have any effect on that decision.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

I genuinely can''t find anything wrong with Webber''s interview.

Transitions are always tough and sometimes ugly. He has a crystal clear plan and the hunger to achieve it. Let''s support him and the boys with all we have.

[nutty nigel 7,513]

If Webber "got lucky" at Huddersfield then he will be a good fit because whenever any success comes our way it''s because "we got lucky".

Alex Neil didn''t criticise the fans. Neil Adams and Bryan Gunn were "Norwich through and through" and never criticised the fans. It made no difference to the regard the fans held them in.

None of it really matters to most posters on here. Neither does style of play which was great under Adams. The only thing that matters is meeting expectations with results.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I have to say though Purple I understand what they are trying to do but (i) I am not convinced its the way to go in the championship (at home anyway) and (ii) i just long to see us go out at home, put a team under real pressure and have one of those 20 minute spells where we batter someone.

I''m struggling to think of a single home game this season where we have had any concerted spell of pressure/attacking to get the fans off their seat. Ultimately that''s one of the things we all love - the roar/buzz as the team builds up a head of steam and you feel a goal will surely come soon - and I miss it.

So for me the tactics are fine/good way from home where we need to take the sting out of games and play on the break but he needs a radical re-think and I think Webber and Farke need to be alive to the fact that playing this way at home is not going to pull in the crowds we are increasingly going to be reliant on.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]I have to say though Purple I understand what they are trying to do but (i) I am not convinced its the way to go in the championship (at home anyway) and (ii) i just long to see us go out at home, put a team under real pressure and have one of those 20 minute spells where we batter someone.

I''m struggling to think of a single home game this season where we have had any concerted spell of pressure/attacking to get the fans off their seat. Ultimately that''s one of the things we all love - the roar/buzz as the team builds up a head of steam and you feel a goal will surely come soon - and I miss it.

So for me the tactics are fine/good way from home where we need to take the sting out of games and play on the break but he needs a radical re-think and I think Webber and Farke need to be alive to the fact that playing this way at home is not going to pull in the crowds we are increasingly going to be reliant on.[/quote]Jim, I understand the point about pleasing home fans, and different tactics for home and away, but I am not sure Webber and Farke see it that way. My suspicion is, as an extreme example, that their ideal would be to win every game, home and away, 1-0.I think there has also been a specific problem this season, that the style and system they want to play critically requires an all-purpose lone central strike who can hold the ball up, has pace, and scores goals. Which we do not have. Jerome wasn''t that, Oliviera isn''t that and so far Srbenny isn''t that. 

[Rogue Baboon 0]

''all-purpose lone central strike who can hold the ball up, has pace, and scores goals''

Does that striker exist at this level anymore, and how much would you have to pay to buy one?

A fully fit Assombalonga maybe? But even with his injury record he was 14mil. Chris Wood left Leeds for a similar amount. I guess the closest we had was Jerome, but he had obvious issue with goalscoring - would it have suited the team more if we kept Jerome and sold Oliveira?

[hogesar 9,618]

[quote user="Rogue Baboon"]''all-purpose lone central strike who can hold the ball up, has pace, and scores goals''

Does that striker exist at this level anymore, and how much would you have to pay to buy one?

A fully fit Assombalonga maybe? But even with his injury record he was 14mil. Chris Wood left Leeds for a similar amount. I guess the closest we had was Jerome, but he had obvious issue with goalscoring - would it have suited the team more if we kept Jerome and sold Oliveira?[/quote]

No, I don''t really think so but with the wonderful benefit of hindsight it would have been a big help to have kept both of them, in my opinion. We could have at least mixed it up with a player who we know can do certain jobs well at this level rather than throwing Srbeny in (who hasn''t looked bad, but he isn''t as quick or as strong as Jerome, and we don''t know about his goalscoring).

[Woodman 92]

Anyone expecting an apology or clarification from him will be waiting a long time. He strikes me as someone who doesn''t use the word sorry or ever admits he''s wrong. He''s here as a hatchet man to help the club deal with the loss of parachute payments and to get rid of our high earners.

[Guest]

This points up what Jim Smith has just mentioned, which is that in effect Farke is trying to produce a team that doesn''t play in the typical up-and-at-''em English style of attack, attack attack, but in a much more continental, tactically sophisticated way.

But so many of Championship teams play that way now Purple. The days of hoofball are over unless someone decides it will be a new different tactic.

Even L1 &2 teams are playing a progressive, passing, on the deck game nowadays.

I don''t follow the reasoning about the defence though. We had four centre backs available over the holiday period. Our more productive periods have come when playing three at the back. Yet we have reverted to a back four with one of the excuses being rotating, because its what everyone else does I suppose, and leaving ourselves vulnerable.

After 40 games, I find it hard to believe that he doesn''t know his best system or his best players.

Surely, many if not most of the current squad will be here next season. If they cannot improve in the amount of games they have played under DF then I don''t see where any more time is going to help.

[TIL 1010 4,722]

Should soon be time for Mick Dennis to make a Party Political broadcast as is the norm after a few days at a time like this. [:P]

[king canary 7,580]

There is a difference between playing a style and being so tactically naive as he was on Monday.

QPR are a long ball team and yet Farke seemed surprised at this tactic. Logic would have dictated that three central defenders would assist against the aerial bombardment and that we''d need to have the players closing down further up the pitch to prevent early balls into the box. Instead we stuck with a back 4 and played a pretty lightweight and immobile midfield that couldn''t stop balls being hurled into the box.

My concern is Farke doesn''t seem to be learning right now- what was working earlier in the season (the defence) now isn''t, what hasn''t worked all season (scoring goals) still isn''t and yet we''re asked to ignore what our eyes are seeing and believe there is progress.

[The Great Drinkell 50]

With the exception of maybe Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City, do any other teams play good attacking football these days?

Yesterday QPR played the big man up front and feed of him is this exciting? Ipswich play a direct style and get slaughtered for it, Cardiff too but as results are going for them it''s accepted.

We play a slow (sometimes too slow) build up and get criticised, I think what we are missing is the variety of play that can and does change when needed.

Fulham seem to have this as they seemed to break quickly at times and keep possession at others - but appeared to make the right decisions at the right time.

One other thing Klose last season was very poor, he''s learnt, adjusted and now looks the class act we know he can be. If other progress and learn like this next season could be a whole lot better.