Blackburn predictions

[......and Smith must score. 1,346]

1 minute ago, hogesar said:

He's a walking contradiction for the most part.

Like many of us on here then

[lake district canary 4,537]

10 hours ago, Well b back said:

Lol if we dared to criticise the club we were not worthy of being Norwich supporters, you once told us the performances didn’t matter, football was only about winning and can be boring as long as you win. Wether I want him in or out Smith is twice as good as some of the managers you told us ‘ we had to support ‘

At least Hughton kept us in the PL.........

[lake district canary 4,537]

1 hour ago, hogesar said:

He's a walking contradiction for the most part.

Ah yes, I forgot we were all supposed to be emotionless robots that can't be affected by events and things that change. Maybe if I adopted a statistical approach to football it would be easier not to be swayed by things that happen.

I always try to be positive, but was affected badly by the sacking of Farke - by someone who admitted failing the manager in the first PL season and then did exactly the same in the second PL season by not getting the quality we needed.  He brought in players "for the future" and then sacked the man who would be able to get the best out of those players in the future.

[hogesar 9,690]

16 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Ah yes, I forgot we were all supposed to be emotionless robots that can't be affected by events and things that change. Maybe if I adopted a statistical approach to football it would be easier not to be swayed by things that happen.

I always try to be positive, but was affected badly by the sacking of Farke - by someone who admitted failing the manager in the first PL season and then did exactly the same in the second PL season by not getting the quality we needed.  He brought in players "for the future" and then sacked the man who would be able to get the best out of those players in the future.

It'd certainly be a more reasonable debate, that's for sure.

There is a gap between "emotionless robots" and jumping from defending Hughton-Ball to attacking Smith-ball. 

[yellow_belly 226]

On reflection, I would take a 0-5 and Smith to get the sack. Come on Rovers!

[lake district canary 4,537]

1 hour ago, hogesar said:

It'd certainly be a more reasonable debate, that's for sure.

There is a gap between "emotionless robots" and jumping from defending Hughton-Ball to attacking Smith-ball. 

What is Smith-ball?

[hogesar 9,690]

2 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

What is Smith-ball?

Possession retention, counter-pressing in the final third, utilising width from fullbacks to open space, but not over-committing. Why do you need to ask?

[lake district canary 4,537]

36 minutes ago, hogesar said:

40 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

What is Smith-ball?

Possession retention, counter-pressing in the final third, utilising width from fullbacks to open space, but not over-committing. Why do you need to ask?

Because when I watch us, I don't see a method. From what you say though, we don't retain the ball well, we don't counter press nearly as much as we could and the utilising width from the fullbacks isn't yielding enough chances. So if Smithball is what you say, it isn't working very well, is it........

[hogesar 9,690]

1 minute ago, lake district canary said:

Because when I watch us, I don't see a method. From what you say though, we don't retain the ball well, we don't counter press nearly as much as we could and the utilising width from the fullbacks isn't yielding enough chances. So if Smithball is what you say, it isn't working very well, is it........

Well, we're 4th in the league and also have the 4th highest possession retention in the league, so it's not working as bad as you're making out. Shockingly...

[lake district canary 4,537]

Just now, hogesar said:

Well, we're 4th in the league and also have the 4th highest possession retention in the league, so it's not working as bad as you're making out. Shockingly...

Ah, so the stats say we're 4th highest for possession retention, great.  After two championship seasons where we were well clear of the rest in posession stats, 4th doesn't sound so great does it......

[hogesar 9,690]

4 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Ah, so the stats say we're 4th highest for possession retention, great.  After two championship seasons where we were well clear of the rest in posession stats, 4th doesn't sound so great does it......

Your desire to make things up to try and defend your point is remarkable.

Our first championship promotion season under Farke we weren't even top of the possession stats. We were third in the division for it, with an average of 57.5%. Our average this season is 56.6%

Edited December 16, 2022 by hogesar

[lake district canary 4,537]

8 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Your desire to make things up to try and defend your point is remarkable.

Our first championship promotion season under Farke we weren't even top of the possession stats. We were third in the division for it, with an average of 57.5%. Our average this season is 56.6%

Ok third, in the first promotion season, what about the last one?

[hogesar 9,690]

40 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Ok third, in the first promotion season, what about the last one?

First.

But you said "After two championship seasons where we were well clear of the rest in posession stats"

That is false. You used one of the seasons as an example as to why it would be fair to claim Smith possession isn't working but Farkes was. There's a 1% difference between the that first title in and this one. It's just an example of people making things up to suit a narrative. 

The second championship season we had the best midfielder in the league in Skipp, who was too good for the Championship, and the most creative player in the league who was also too good for the Championship. 

[It's Character Forming 1,161]

I predict we'll have a short part of the game when we look decent in possession and for the rest we'll be average to poor.

[Google Bot 3,278]

13 minutes ago, hogesar said:

The second championship season we had the best midfielder in the league in Skipp, who was too good for the Championship, and the most creative player in the league who was also too good for the Championship. 

Having no supporters at grounds also favoured the better teams like ourselves, too.  You drop the artificial crowd noise out of those games, and it's dead, more akin to a series of competitive friendlies.

[lake district canary 4,537]

31 minutes ago, hogesar said:

First.

But you said "After two championship seasons where we were well clear of the rest in posession stats"

That is false. You used one of the seasons as an example as to why it would be fair to claim Smith possession isn't working but Farkes was. There's a 1% difference between the that first title in and this one. It's just an example of people making things up to suit a narrative. 

The second championship season we had the best midfielder in the league in Skipp, who was too good for the Championship, and the most creative player in the league who was also too good for the Championship. 

A bit like when people say we only got promoted twice under Lambert because we had Holt and Hoolahan......makes you wonder why we bother with managers at all.......

[First Wazzock 902]

4 hours ago, hogesar said:

Possession retention, counter-pressing in the final third, utilising width from fullbacks to open space, but not over-committing. Why do you need to ask?

You'll have to remind me which 2 minutes of what game that appeared in...

[hogesar 9,690]

2 hours ago, lake district canary said:

A bit like when people say we only got promoted twice under Lambert because we had Holt and Hoolahan......makes you wonder why we bother with managers at all.......

I don't think we only got promoted because of Skipp and Emi. But to ignore the fact they played a vital role in us being so comfortable in that season would be naive.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

2-1 to us in one of those games that is a veritable curate's egg of good and occasionally shocking football. Can see Blackburn having some bright moments as Tomasson seems to want to get them to play, and they've got proven Championship quality up top so don't think we'll keep them out - but they like to get forward and that could be awkward against us.

We're capable of playing brightly in possession under Smith, just not done it for 90 minutes (with the probable exception of the Coventry match). But we are better at controlling the spaces off the ball compared to what we ever did under Farke. I do think I can see what Smith's trying to do, and it's to build a team that's more resilient off the ball than a Farke team ever was but it does sacrifice some attacking panache in the process. Thought that was very clear against Swansea where for all their possession, they didn't create much in terms of big chances.

[......and Smith must score. 1,346]

1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

2-1 to us in one of those games that is a veritable curate's egg of good and occasionally shocking football. 

Didn't you mean shocking but occasionally good ?

Easy typo to make 🙂

[Foxy2600 301]

Where’s Buh when you want to read a post about Smith conjuring up a 0-4 dismal failure?

Anyways ‘free’ on Now TV - got my Sat evening sorted 🙂

[C.I.D 302]

3 minutes ago, Foxy2600 said:

Where’s Buh when you want to read a post about Smith conjuring up a 0-4 dismal failure?

Anyways ‘free’ on Now TV - got my Sat evening sorted 🙂

Waiting to pontificate at 7.30 tomorrow night maybe ?

[Midlands Yellow 3,995]

2 hours ago, hogesar said:

I don't think we only got promoted because of Skipp and Emi. But to ignore the fact they played a vital role in us being so comfortable in that season would be naive.

To be fair, we probably did. 

[littleyellowbirdie 2,553]

On 15/12/2022 at 17:16, lake district canary said:

It went when we sacked Farke.  I was unbelievably uplifted by the win against Brentford, with my belief renewed after that horrendous start to the season.  All that was taken away by the ruthlessness and stupidity of what happened just an hour later.......stupidity that continued with the way there was clearly no-one in place to take over who would carry on similar work - and the way it was clear that Smith was not going to keep us up and nothing has happened this season to make me think differently. of   

It wouldn't surprise me if we end up mid-table this season.......and that may not be a bad thing, enabling us to rebuild a bit more, either with Smith or someone else in charge.  I'll continue to be hopeful, of course, but that is all. I don't really relate to Smith and the way he is going about things, it all feels a bit flat and the football doesn't seem progressive to me, but having said all that, there is a long way to go and there is still an opportunity to do well.

 

On 15/12/2022 at 19:05, Well b back said:

To think of the abuse you used to give us for posting something like that.

I have never seen LDC be abusive to anybody. I'd also add that, although he's clearly uncharacteristically despondent at the moment - and I sympathise with his despondency - his optimism has been a bright spot in a sea of doom and gloom at many points in the past so I definitely don't begrudge him nursing his wounds at the moment.

That said, even now, there's still just a sneaky smidgen of hope and open-mindedness appearing through the cracks in that pessimistic comment of his, in contrast to many of the prophecies of armageddon that flood this forum on a weekly basis, win or lose! 😉

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

2 hours ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

Didn't you mean shocking but occasionally good ?

Easy typo to make 🙂

LOL, the whole notion of a curate's egg is that some of it's grand, some of it is sh/it. We know there have been some pretty bi-polar performances paving the path of this season so far!

Edited December 16, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[Erraticus 55]

17 hours ago, hogesar said:

Possession retention, counter-pressing in the final third, utilising width from fullbacks to open space, but not over-committing. Why do you need to ask?

Possession retention? Did you go to the Swansea match ? All the fans around me were groaning at the number of times we lost or quickly gave possession away. Not only that but I lost count of the numerous crosses that skidded across our six yard box which the Swansea players failed to make contact with and score. We got away with one there, like many of our wins this season. 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Erraticus

[kenfoggo 247]

Prediction? I have stopped bothering. Having witnessed so many awful performances at home under Dean Smith I cannot raise the enthusiasm to go and sit in a freezing stand to watch Hanley pass square or back and for the rest to create so few chances. It is live on the TV and I probably will not even bother with that. Wake me up when Dean Smith has gone.

[Keyneton Canary 9]

3-0 city to win.

[dylanisabaddog 4,932]

On 15/12/2022 at 14:11, Satriales said:

Just had a peek on their forum and 99% of them think we are going to thump them, they are third in the table but they appear to feel it's a false postion.

Blimey, they're a cheerful bunch aren't they 😂

[percy varco 199]

My prediction.
Game will be postponed due to icey paths around Carrow Road. 
Smith Out.