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Salopian

Well said, Iwan

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Iwan, Roberts in his article, suggests that our attacks seldom result in a cross.

In part it may result from playing a sole striker who is better at shooting than heading. Other forward players tend to be shorter in stature and can be out-jumped by large defenders.

Having said this. it doesn''t have to be a cross from way out wide, as Hanley and Klose demonstrated. Short crosses, even low ones, from the by-line are difficult for defenders to deal with when facing their own goal, and anything can happen.

We have quick wide players, but our short passing often means that our quick players are marked when they receive the ball. We need to develop incisive passes inside the defender. These give our wide men an advantage, as they are facing the right way while defenders have to turn.

However poor my suggestions, Iwan is surely correct. Wolves caused us problems with the pace of their wide men, while ours were stationary and marked before the slow passing game reached them, often the passes were very short, which meant that our two were confronted by two or more defenders. Our second half performances are usually much better, perhaps because opposing defenders are tiring, but also because our speed of passing is greater!

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Yes Iwan Roberts touched on Norwich''s main problem all season - our poor attacking tactics!

The slow build up which allows the opposition to get back and create a wall of players which allows little space for Norwich to work with.

Don''t attack the oppositions 6 yard box hardly ever and the penalty area which is where most goals are scored. It means we are relying on once a season wonder shots most of the time to score goals. Maddisons wonder strikes have papered over a lot of big cracks I''m afraid!

Till these shortcomings are addressed we will woin''t go any higher and run the risk of dropping lower if Maddison goes and the wonder strikes dry up!

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Fulham put in about as many crosses as Norwich and are the 2nd highest scorers in the league. There is no correlation between teams that cross more and teams that score more.

Variation in attack is important and Norwich have taken too many shots from stupid locations too often this season. Josh Murphy and Nelson being the leading culprits.

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Let’s be totally honest neither Josh or Nelson have looked anywhere good enough to solve our goal scoring problem.

Particularly at home our attack looks light weight.I blame the system we play. All season we have needed a six man defence to have any chance of winning a game.

Not enough chances created and when chances are created too many missed.

This is the worse season I can remember for excitement at home games. If I see another 90 minutes of sideways passing I think I’ll throw myself in the wensum.

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@Bethnal

I''d argue a fair few of those are born from frustration at the lack of any other chances being created.

Variation in attack is something we lack and I''d say more crosses would add to that variety. We seem to view them as a last resort.

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[quote user="king canary"]@Bethnal

I''d argue a fair few of those are born from frustration at the lack of any other chances being created.

Variation in attack is something we lack and I''d say more crosses would add to that variety. We seem to view them as a last resort.[/quote]
Isn''t that because crosses are typically regarded as very low % success?
On top of that Oliveira doesn''t make runs into the penalty area. Murphy occasionally flashes decent balls, low one''s, into the area, and no-one is attacking.

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@Hogesar

Bit chicken and egg I guess- do we not often cross as Nelson doesn''t make the runs or does he not make them because we don''t usually cross.

I''d argue for crossing to be effective we need someone else breaking from midfield so it isn''t just Nelson standing in the middle of 3 or 4 defenders.

Crossing is quite low % but I think if you take away the threat of it you make yourself easier to defend against- teams know we play narrow and thus can crowd the central areas of the pitch without concern about those wider areas being exploited.

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The low success rate is probably why we don''t make many crosses. The whole philosophy is now about retaining the ball and putting crosses in is less likely to maintain possession.

Equally we are unlikely to commit a midfielder from midfield to meet a cross - like Howson used to so often - because it leaves us vulnerable to a counter attack.

I''d be interested in how many clubs have a higher number of clean sheets than us this season - I bet its no more than 3 or 4.

It might not be entertaining but if you don''t concede, you''re more likely to win, however frustrating it is to watch when we don''t seem to create many chances.

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Goals are rarely scored from crosses these days as teams have become more skilled at defending them.

The reason that we don''t score as many goals as we used to is that we take so long to move the ball from one end of the pitch to the other. Even Manchester City rely on quick incisive passing for most of their goals.

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Agreed Dylan, but Man City don''t lump the ball forward either - they rely on a swift passing game - Sane, De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero. Some of their attacking play in the first half last night was breath-taking.

Our equivalents: Maddison, Oliveira, Murphy and now Hernandez need to find a way of doing the same thing.

And yes, I do realise I''ve just compared our forward line to Man City''s!!

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[quote user="king canary"]@Hogesar

Bit chicken and egg I guess- do we not often cross as Nelson doesn''t make the runs or does he not make them because we don''t usually cross.

I''d argue for crossing to be effective we need someone else breaking from midfield so it isn''t just Nelson standing in the middle of 3 or 4 defenders.

Crossing is quite low % but I think if you take away the threat of it you make yourself easier to defend against- teams know we play narrow and thus can crowd the central areas of the pitch without concern about those wider areas being exploited.[/quote]
Yeah agreed we need more than Nelson, often the winger not on the ball comes inside into the area more-so than Nelson himself but we could probably mix it up a bit more. With Maddison often starting moves I guess he''s not getting into the box either.

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@Woodman

I do wonder if you can get the quality of player to play in the style Farke wants at this level.

Players like De Bruyne and Silva are so good because of how quick they are mentally- they take one or two touches, always look forward and have the speed of thought to spot players.

The only player we have that is close to being as aware is Maddison. Leitner and Vrancic both play pretty looking passes but they are very often after 3 or 4 touches. Murphy doesn''t have the range. Hernandez we don''t know enough about.

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[quote user="king canary"]@Woodman

I do wonder if you can get the quality of player to play in the style Farke wants at this level.

Players like De Bruyne and Silva are so good because of how quick they are mentally- they take one or two touches, always look forward and have the speed of thought to spot players.

The only player we have that is close to being as aware is Maddison. Leitner and Vrancic both play pretty looking passes but they are very often after 3 or 4 touches. Murphy doesn''t have the range. Hernandez we don''t know enough about.[/quote]
I think we can because obviously the opposition we''re playing against aren''t as good as who Man City are shoving aside week in week out. And if you look at them last season under pep they were pretty inconsistent and their fans were complaining about some of the stuff people on here have been - possession retention without goals, basically.

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[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]Fulham put in about as many crosses as Norwich and are the 2nd highest scorers in the league. There is no correlation between teams that cross more and teams that score more.

Variation in attack is important and Norwich have taken too many shots from stupid locations too often this season. Josh Murphy and Nelson being the leading culprits.[/quote]

As well as putting in crosses, you have to have players in the box trying to get on the end of them. One is not enough. It is not always possible to score perfect goals which is what we seem to be trying to do.

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Man City break at pace against back peddling defences, which we don’t. I can see crosses having a low overall percentage success rate, but if a winger gets past the defence and crosses with oncoming attackers, and with defenders retreating and facing their own goal I bet they are effective.

No different in a good cross to a good pass. Find the man, and put the ball where he needs it. Example - Hanley to Klose.

I am hoping Dennis is going to be ruthless and a nuisance in the box.

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