“Farke has lost the players” - Robbie Earl

[Capt. Pants 4,227]

Clearly some on here are pleased we have been relegated as it means everything is going to plan.

Lots of expectation already being heaped on these youngsters. They'd better be good.

[curious yellow 184]

If Robbie Earle says so, it must be true then. It's amazing how someone that knows FA about the club can tell by watching the game. I suppose that's why he's an expert

Do you think Farke has become a worse manager over the season? Have the players forgotten how to play? 

It's a patched up, inexperienced team, you can't expect an SAS performance from the Home Guard. 

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

5 hours ago, TIL 1010 said:

Watch out now Jedi for the posts slagging off Robbie Earl as a useless pundit and a no mark footballer.

Good players at Port Vale but we certainly got the wrong one when he went to Wimbledon and we got Darren Beckford

[Rolf Harris 31]

The recruitment has failed Farke. Players who haven't stepped up have only failed themselves. They will move and new group will form we be promoted next year or we may not. Only time will tell.

[Van wink 2,994]

So much SH1TE on this thread, and on this board. We have a squad that most of you didn’t think were good enough for top six in the Championship last season, but there you all were outside City Hall, and now you whinge because with all the injuries we have had the same lads were not good enough to stay up. Where are you, Let’s be havin you! 

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

2 hours ago, Icecream Snow said:

To be fair he was in Romania Wednesday/Thursday discussing a deal for Dennis Man and sorting out a deal for Jacob Sorensen later in the week. Paddy Davitt says four signings coming in over the next few days (though God knows how many of those are for the first team)

Webbers' phone must be ringing off the hook at the moment.

Was he ?

Romania isn’t on the travel corridor exemption list so wouldn’t that mean he has to self isolate for 14 days when coming back to the UK ? I can’t believe he’d be doing that.

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

5 hours ago, nutty nigel said:

I don't think the football was much different between season one and two. We just scored some goals. Apart from that what was different?

We played with a lot more urgency in season two.

I remember there were a lot of grumbles about our crab-like football in season one and we became more direct after that.

[nutty nigel 7,531]

1 minute ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

We played with a lot more urgency in season two.

I remember there were a lot of grumbles about our crab-like football in season one and we became more direct after that.

We honestly didn't. We passed the ball backwards and sideways as much as the previous season. People were still booing last season until the wins racked up. But even then the frustration was just under the surface. But we scored goals. So days like Nottingham Forest at home were forgiven because we scored 3 goals in the last few minutes.

[Mello Yello 2,289]

29 minutes ago, curious yellow said:

If Robbie Earle says so, it must be true then. It's amazing how someone that knows FA about the club can tell by watching the game. I suppose that's why he's an expert

Do you think Farke has become a worse manager over the season? Have the players forgotten how to play? 

It's a patched up, inexperienced team, you can't expect an SAS performance from the Home Guard. 

"Don't tell him Pike!".....

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

7 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

We honestly didn't. We passed the ball backwards and sideways as much as the previous season. People were still booing last season until the wins racked up. But even then the frustration was just under the surface. But we scored goals. So days like Nottingham Forest at home were forgiven because we scored 3 goals in the last few minutes.

We honestly did but rather than go on one of your magical mystery tours I suggest we beg to differ and move on.

[yellowrider120 762]

5 hours ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

Big job required to turn this around for next season given the manner of our relegation and the short window. If we don’t start we’ll it could all spiral downwards fast, and that doesn’t lend itself to the “project” whatsoever.

And therein lies the problem. Most fans just don't seem to have grasped that this coming 'close season' will not be anything like the leisurely, normal three month break but a very short four week affair (if indeed the new season kicks off as early as 29th August). Yes there will be an influx of new signings but if recent history is anything to go by it's very doubtful if ALL will be ready for immediate Chumpionship action. Sure to be a few who will be 'loaned back' or simply fall away into the U23's ('ones for the future' you understand). These players will join a squad whose chins are down and shoulders sagged and who now only know one thing and that's how to lose, lose and lose again without scoring and shipping soft goals by the bucketload. The mere task of 'rebuilding' the squad is hard enough but if an early start is a mere continuation in some form of the last few weeks then Herr Farke needs to be politely relieved of his duties. Indeed I would have made said decision for him sometime ago. As usual, Smith will fiddle whilst Carrow Road burns.   

[ron obvious 1,502]

6 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

Not sure if he's lost the players only they will know that and no player will slag off a manager unless they've got a book out.

Post lockdown he's clearly lost the plot which is very worrying as I now have doubts over which version of Farke will (try to) take us forward.

Post lockdown he's lost Zimmermann, Hanley & Byram. He's had to bring in a CB who's been out for a year to play alongside one who is talented but very inexperienced.

I will continue to contend that no club could have succeeded with the level of defensive injuries we've had this season. It's been catastrophic.

[Mason 47 1,379]

That studio team was the same one making out the Norwich team were collectively about to jump from the roof of the Jarrold Stand at full time against Brighton. They're sensationalist US-based 'narrative' pundits playing up to the drama the American market loves. 

I still hold my information is correct that there was a faction of players who didn't get what they wanted in January and it fractured the team morale. Farke hasn't lost any players that haven't already checked out mentally.

[ron obvious 1,502]

5 hours ago, Tumbleweed said:

For me the difference between Season 1 and 2 was the pace of play. After the M'Boro game we gained confidence and generally played more quickly and with more movement off the ball, with some directness. This time we've been too slow, completely nullifying any attacking threat.

We have weirdly persisted with an utterly naive formation with no real full backs allowing the opposition acres of space. Last season we conceded loads of silly goals at crucial times before and after half time. The defence is just as bad as then, but even with Zimmerman and Hanly fit I am not sure  it would have made much difference. Having to play 20 passes to and from the goalie just to hope to get half way is not really a recipe for great success. 

I was desperate for Farke to do well but IMO he has lost it.

I think it would.

Neither are outstanding at PL level but they are adequate, & got shafted by injury/fouls (I am not a vengeful man, but I wish Haller to be on the end of a 'tackle' similar to that he perpetrated on Zimbo). The difference in the odd goal not conceded here or there would've made a big difference to our points tally - & a huge difference to our confidence.

[Capt. Pants 4,227]

We can debate all night long and longer, and I've no doubt we will as there are still 3 games to go, over why we were relegated and what was to blame. The point of the OP was whether Farke has lost the players, and we don't really know. What we saw in today's humiliation was a distinct lack of fight and commitment, it was pitiful. In my experience of watching City nothing ever good comes out of performances such as these, but we will have to wait and see.

 

[Aggy 755]

19 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

Post lockdown he's lost Zimmermann, Hanley & Byram. He's had to bring in a CB who's been out for a year to play alongside one who is talented but very inexperienced.

I will continue to contend that no club could have succeeded with the level of defensive injuries we've had this season. It's been catastrophic.

Has anyone said we should have stayed up? I think most of the criticism is not because we’re down but because we haven’t even been close. We continue to make the same mistakes week in week out. We must not be bothering to practice defending set pieces. We have conceded goals for fun and have scored hardly any. We have shown on occasion that we can set up more solidly, yet we’ve apparently decided that such an approach is below us for most games. Despite it being clear to everyone our players aren’t good enough to go toe to toe with opponents and the only way we’ll get anything is by trying something different, we’ve just kept doing the same thing again and again losing week in week out. 

[HertsCanary93 222]

I think the players have been sapped by all the 'we need a miracle' and 95% chance of relegation malarkey that has been dished out this season. 

Who is Farke trying to protect with these comments? Probably himself. 

It's certainly not the players. What the players have been told over the course of the season, is that they aren't good enough for this level and need a miracle to stay up. Not exactly the sort of management that breeds confidence and a winning mentality. 

Look at the players after the restart. They looked like they knew they weren't good enough. The shocking stat that we have not got a single point after going behind corroborates with this. 

Compare interviews with Farke to interviews with Lambert. I use this comparison because both managers got promoted 'ahead of schedule'. Even though Lambert had a significantly worse squad, he never had this defeatist mentality. He would admit there was a battle ahead, and that we were the underdog - but a battle he believed the players could win if they worked hard and stuck together. 

Farke is clearly an excellent coach, but in my opinion has been found out as a tactician and a manager. 

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by HertsCanary93

[lake district canary 4,531]

3 hours ago, TIL 1010 said:

You are only as good as your last game.

No, you are only as good as your next game.

[JF 694]

Just now, lake district canary said:

No, you are only as good as your next game.

That doesn’t make any sense.... 

[ron obvious 1,502]

1 minute ago, Aggy said:

Has anyone said we should have stayed up? I think most of the criticism is not because we’re down but because we haven’t even been close. We continue to make the same mistakes week in week out. We must not be bothering to practice defending set pieces. We have conceded goals for fun and have scored hardly any. We have shown on occasion that we can set up more solidly, yet we’ve apparently decided that such an approach is below us for most games. Despite it being clear to everyone our players aren’t good enough to go to e to toe with opponents and the only way we’ll get anything is by trying something different, we’ve just kept doing the same thing again and again losing week in week out.

Precisely! And what precisely do you do differently when you have CBs who are simply not good enough for the PL?? Or does the standard of defenders not matter? In which case we should get some L2 defenders. I'm sure Farke could train them to cope with Pl attackers.

[lake district canary 4,531]

5 minutes ago, JF said:

That doesn’t make any sense.... 

It does if all you do is look forwards. Looking back and dwelling on defeats will get you nowhere except a false mindset. Just because you had a bad result yesterday does not mean you will have a bad result next time. Neither are there laws that say just because you won last time you will win next time.  The next performance is the only one that matters.

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by lake district canary

[Canary Jedi 579]

8 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

What we saw in today's humiliation was a distinct lack of fight and commitment, it was pitiful. In my experience of watching City nothing ever good comes out of performances such as these, but we will have to wait and see.

 

Today’s performance reminded me of Nigel Worthington’s last game against Burnley.

I hope Farke hasn’t lost the team, but the lack of fight and commitment as you say Captain is bemusing.

[Aggy 755]

1 minute ago, ron obvious said:

Precisely! And what precisely do you do differently when you have CBs who are simply not good enough for the PL?? Or does the standard of defenders not matter? In which case we should get some L2 defenders. I'm sure Farke could train them to cope with Pl attackers.

So you don’t think we looked more solid when we beat Man City? Or even against Man Utd in the cup qf more recently? You think Sam Allardyce, Pulis etc. have made careers because they buy the best defenders in the world? Or did they just know how to get a side organised. 
 

If your individual players aren’t good enough, you play more solid, play on the counter, make sure the sum of your parts is more than the components. We’ve shown we can do it two or three times this season, which is even worse. Because the majority of the time we’ve just tried to out pass and outplay people and haven’t been good enough, or quick enough to avoid the high press and strength of opponents. Then rather than try and tweak how we play we’ve just kept doing it anyway and coming up against the same problems.
 

There have been a few threads on here recently which have shown that when we move forward out of defence there is 40 or 50 yards between each of the lines. The full backs are fifty yards away from the centre backs. The midfield is 5p yards away from the centre backs. The attacking midfielders are twenty yards from the defensive midfielders. That’s the sort of thing we can change - tighter lines, more solid, not overstretching and leaving ourselves wide open. When we’ve done that, we’ve won games or gone close. And we’ve looked good on the counter - we looked more dangerous against Man Utd in the recent qf than we have done most games this season despite against Man Utd being much more solid and largely playing on the counter. Why haven’t we tried to do that more often?

[JF 694]

4 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

It does if all you do is look forwards. Looking back and dwelling on defeats will get you nowhere except a false mindset. Just because you had a bad result yesterday does not mean you will have a bad result next time. Neither are there laws that say just because you won last time you will win next time.  The next performance is the only one that matters.

 

But you still can’t be as good as a result that hasn’t happened though! I think you should have laid off the drugs a bit in the 60s! 

[Coneys Knee 952]

1 hour ago, nutty nigel said:

We honestly didn't. We passed the ball backwards and sideways as much as the previous season. People were still booing last season until the wins racked up. But even then the frustration was just under the surface. But we scored goals. So days like Nottingham Forest at home were forgiven because we scored 3 goals in the last few minutes.

I’m sorry. I’m as disappointed as anyone about how this season ended up but to completely re-write last year is unforgivable. Last season was incredible, scintillating. To say otherwise I’d wreckless. Disappointing.

[Aggy 755]

Just now, Coneys Knee said:

I’m sorry. I’m as disappointed as anyone about how this season ended up but to completely re-write last year is unforgivable. Last season was incredible, scintillating. To say otherwise I’d wreckless. Disappointing.

There was though a large degree of our attacking brilliance papering over defensive cracks. It’s no coincidence that many (most?) on here were crying out for a defender  or two over the summer - it wasn’t because we had been incredible defensively last year.

[nutty nigel 7,531]

5 minutes ago, Coneys Knee said:

I’m sorry. I’m as disappointed as anyone about how this season ended up but to completely re-write last year is unforgivable. Last season was incredible, scintillating. To say otherwise I’d wreckless. Disappointing.

Yes of course it was. Because we scored goals and won the league. I loved it. But I was also one of those who agreed with Webber the previous season when he pointed out we were playing good football but not scoring the goals. That has been rebranded as turgid. It wasn't.

[ron obvious 1,502]

19 minutes ago, Aggy said:

So you don’t think we looked more solid when we beat Man City? Or even against Man Utd in the cup qf more recently? You think Sam Allardyce, Pulis etc. have made careers because they buy the best defenders in the world? Or did they just know how to get a side organised. 
 

If your individual players aren’t good enough, you play more solid, play on the counter, make sure the sum of your parts is more than the components. We’ve shown we can do it two or three times this season, which is even worse. Because the majority of the time we’ve just tried to out pass and outplay people and haven’t been good enough, or quick enough to avoid the high press and strength of opponents. Then rather than try and tweak how we play we’ve just kept doing it anyway and coming up against the same problems.
 

There have been a few threads on here recently which have shown that when we move forward out of defence there is 40 or 50 yards between each of the lines. The full backs are fifty yards away from the centre backs. The midfield is 5p yards away from the centre backs. The attacking midfielders are twenty yards from the defensive midfielders. That’s the sort of thing we can change - tighter lines, more solid, not overstretching and leaving ourselves wide open. When we’ve done that, we’ve won games or gone close. And we’ve looked good on the counter - we looked more dangerous against Man Utd in the recent qf than we have done most games this season despite against Man Utd being much more solid and largely playing on the counter. Why haven’t we tried to do that more often?

Perhaps that's because the players cannot consistently follow instructions? Don't have the positional awareness necessary in the PL? That they get tired of being outmuscled time & time again? Why has an ageing midfielder often looked our best player on the pitch??

In bursts, & in odd games, we've been good enough. Consistency & a lack of discipline are most often the reason for our downfall, Experience in the PL is invaluable in that respect, & we just don't have it. Lack of skill has not been our problem;  it's our inexperience exacerbated by inadequate physicality & athleticism that has been.

Edited July 11, 2020 by ron obvious

[Harry53 209]

For 3 seasons now we have shown we cannot take advantage of corners when we get them and we certainly can't defend them. One would have thought the training would have worked on these areas and improved them, but there has been no improvement at either end. 

Does this indicate we don't have the skills at Colney to improve on our weaknesses? It's a bit worrying. 

[Michael Wynless Jones 161]

1 minute ago, Harry53 said:

For 3 seasons now we have shown we cannot take advantage of corners when we get them and we certainly can't defend them. One would have thought the training would have worked on these areas and improved them, but there has been no improvement at either end. 

Does this indicate we don't have the skills at Colney to improve on our weaknesses? It's a bit worrying. 

Indicates that we don't have a specialist defensive coach, which I still find staggering.