Utterly Shambolic

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

I’ve been going to games for 40+ years and thought I’d pretty much seen it all, but this season our defence is the gift that keeps on giving - game after game - and finding new ways to impress with its ability to gift goals out of nothing.  It really is beyond pathetic.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,742]

You do wonder if nobody want's Hanley and that's why he's still here.. Seriously though it's feels like our defence has been awful for a good five seasons now. Nothing ever changes.

[Spillay 180]

It just gets worse and worse doesnt it? Keystone Cops used to be the term used for that kind of defending, i think we can now just call it "Norwich City" defending from here on. Spent much of the second half shaking my head at all aspects of our play.  Embarrassing.

[Michael Brown 11]

Agree, this is the worst I have ever seen city play 

[Midlands Yellow 3,995]

Just now, Branston Pickle said:

I’ve been going to games for 40+ years and thought I’d pretty much seen it all, but this season our defence is the gift that keeps on giving - game after game - and finding new ways to impress with its ability to gift goals out of nothing.  It really is beyond pathetic.

It’s all very cosy for too many players at Carrow Road. Those £30k + weekly pay cheques (that no other club would pay) is why we’re still stuck with the failing back four. 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,327]

1 minute ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

You do wonder if nobody want's Hanley and that's why he's still here.. Seriously though it's feels like our defence has been awful for a good five seasons now. Nothing ever changes.

Surely he could get in at hearts or the like? 

 

 

Please? Please can he get in at hearts or the like? 

Even queen of the south? Wroxham!? ANYONE!!!! JUST FÈCKING TAKE HIM! 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

Oh plenty of teams would want Hanley. The ones who play with their backs to the wall for three quarters of the game, sitting deep and parking the bus soaking up balls into the box. Warnock would have him. But he's not suited to a team which is expected to dominate possession. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[Capt. Pants 4,252]

Our midfield was a shambles 2nd half too and Pukki looks a good yard off the pace.

Sargent did all his hard work to get to the World Cup. Has been p1ss poor ever since.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

3 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

and Pukki looks a good yard off the pace.

Unfortunately he is 33 in a couple of weeks. He isn't "off the pace", this just is his pace now.

Happens to them all. Pukki this season is like Robert Fleck in his second spell.

Pukki two years ago was like Fleck in his first spell.

Should just go and do a couple of years in Finland and score a sh*t load for HJK where he'll be hero worshipped. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[ricardo 7,395]

The annoying thing is that you could see it coming long before they scored. We seem unable get a proper grip on games and there is always a sloppy period where we pay the penalty.

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

To be fair, clearly none of the defence are ‘that’ bad players, but as a group we and they now seem to know that they have a calamity that is only just around the corner and it’s becoming a self fulfilling thing.  We’ve conceded so many goals this season that would make defenders on my local Rec blush.

The sad thing is that Huddersfield were so poor that we should have beaten them without even breaking sweat, but we ended up coming closer to losing than winning.

Otherwise, quite how Stroud was allowed to ref us so soon after his awful showing vs Burnley is beyond me.  

[rock bus 854]

We really did look awful today, not one player impressed.

I’m now used to the likes of Hanley, Dimi, McLean and Idah not being good enough but sadly we also now need to add Aarons and Pukki to the list. Max in particular is awful and worse just doesn’t see, to really care.

As stated on another thread huge clear out needed and even if we have spent all our money need to foster on the young players where there is at least a hope they can improve and become decent players.

Wagner really has a lot of work to do.

[Rhiadd 7]

16 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

I’ve been going to games for 40+ years and thought I’d pretty much seen it all, but this season our defence is the gift that keeps on giving - game after game - and finding new ways to impress with its ability to gift goals out of nothing.  It really is beyond pathetic.

Pretty simple, press Norwich high and you win. Stop trying to play from the back, you can't do it.

[Google Bot 3,278]

Very poor tonight, we should've took them to the sword first half.  They barely seemed interested, yet the space allowed we fell into the trap of allowing our CB's to act as midfielders which then set the precedent of poor passing and very little in the way of creative balls into advanced areas.

Plenty of points to play for still, but I have very little hope left.   Two previously massive games coming up are now season definers I feel.

[Captain Holt 522]

14 minutes ago, Michael Brown said:

Agree, this is the worst I have ever seen city play 

Pound for pound, given the opposition, the in-play state of the game, I honestly think you're right.

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

23 minutes ago, Captain Holt said:

Pound for pound, given the opposition, the in-play state of the game, I honestly think you're right.

It is astonishing the difference between the performance at Millwall, the strangely low-key performance against Sunderland and the utterly awful performance tonight, all in the space of three games.  So many players were off their game in the second half - I’m not sure I saw Sargent kick the ball anywhere near his intended target all night long! 

[Robert N. LiM 4,394]

2 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

It is astonishing the difference between the performance at Millwall, the strangely low-key performance against Sunderland and the utterly awful performance tonight, all in the space of three games.  So many players were off their game in the second half - I’m not sure I saw Sargent kick the ball anywhere near his intended target all night long! 

Yes. This is nowhere near the worst City team I've seen, but it might well be the most infuriating. After Millwall I was really optimistic that we were getting somewhere...

[hogesar 9,692]

Gibson going off was the start of it unravelling.

The goal, without wanting to watch it back, was Omo playing a high risk ball into midfield with Sara running deeper with 2 or 3 Hudds players on him. Instead of playing into him Omo should be using the space Sara has created. Of course, it's still shambolic after that.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Tony Mowbray told us where we were going wrong. Perhaps DW didn't read it.

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

10 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Gibson going off was the start of it unravelling.

The goal, without wanting to watch it back, was Omo playing a high risk ball into midfield with Sara running deeper with 2 or 3 Hudds players on him. Instead of playing into him Omo should be using the space Sara has created. Of course, it's still shambolic after that.

They scored their first goal in 7 hours without even managing to muster a shot on target. Says it all.

We should have cruised through that second half, but instead we just ended up showing how dreadful we can be.  I dream of the return of some sort of consistency through a game.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Branston Pickle

[repman 635]

6 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Gibson going off was the start of it unravelling.

The goal, without wanting to watch it back, was Omo playing a high risk ball into midfield with Sara running deeper with 2 or 3 Hudds players on him. Instead of playing into him Omo should be using the space Sara has created. Of course, it's still shambolic after that.

It's far more on Kenny/Hanley ball watching and being complete unaware of the fact that should the ball be turned over then Waghorn is stood right in front of goal. Why both of them felt the need to be out there in the first place I don't know. 

[Jim Smith 2,322]

11 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

It is astonishing the difference between the performance at Millwall, the strangely low-key performance against Sunderland and the utterly awful performance tonight, all in the space of three games.  So many players were off their game in the second half - I’m not sure I saw Sargent kick the ball anywhere near his intended target all night long! 

Sargent is utter sh*t. Always has been. He has one good game in about 5 and the rest of the time can barely control the ball. 

[HB1989 27]

Fail to see why Hanley is getting blamed for the goal. It was Sara who gave the ball away far too cheaply in a dangerous position.

Wish people would stop using our BEST centre half as a scapegoat, getting ridiculous now. We all know Hanley is not the best with the ball at his feet, but what he lacks in distribution he more than makes up in bravery, know how, positioning, getting in his head on everything and leadership. 

[Jim Smith 2,322]

Hanley not particularly at fault for the goal. It he is no leader and I’m fed up with seeing him at the heart of our keystone kops defence. He’s basically mute. 

[HB1989 27]

1 minute ago, Jim Smith said:

Hanley not particularly at fault for the goal. It he is no leader and I’m fed up with seeing him at the heart of our keystone kops defence. He’s basically mute. 

Who would you play at the heart of our defence then?

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

1 minute ago, HB1989 said:

Fail to see why Hanley is getting blamed for the goal. It was Sara who gave the ball away far too cheaply in a dangerous position.

Wish people would stop using our BEST centre half as a scapegoat, getting ridiculous now. We all know Hanley is not the best with the ball at his feet, but what he lacks in distribution he more than makes up in bravery, know how, positioning, getting in his head on everything and leadership. 

I do agree to a point - you play as a team, defend as a team and it’s easy to just blame the defence when things go awry.  I’ve never commented on them as individuals.  I think they are all good enough players, but as a unit there is something clearly wrong somewhere. Some of the mistakes and goals we have conceded this season have been beyond comical. Mowbray spelt it out for us and he’s not wrong. 

[Jim Smith 2,322]

Just now, HB1989 said:

Who would you play at the heart of our defence then?

I don’t know but if Hanley is our leader then it’s no wonder we show zero sign of any leadership. He doesn’t communicate well on the pitch, he is very quiet and he f**ks up about twice a game so you can hardly say he leads by example. Yes he’s quite good at headed clearances, last ditch defending and in a foot race bit his defending for that Sunderland goal on Sunday was schoolboy stuff. 

[hogesar 9,692]

12 minutes ago, repman said:

It's far more on Kenny/Hanley ball watching and being complete unaware of the fact that should the ball be turned over then Waghorn is stood right in front of goal. Why both of them felt the need to be out there in the first place I don't know. 

Yes, that is also a problem. But if a defender is going to step out like Omo did and fire a ball into a midfielder running back with 2 or 3 players tightly marking him then there is naturally going to be a ball turnover and players caught out of position. We could have done better with the turnover of course, but let's look at the source and start eradicating it. Our chances conceded from mistakes being the highest in the league tells you we need to stop doing that sort of thing, and it's partially why Omo was dropped imo.

[repman 635]

5 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Yes, that is also a problem. But if a defender is going to step out like Omo did and fire a ball into a midfielder running back with 2 or 3 players tightly marking him then there is naturally going to be a ball turnover and players caught out of position. We could have done better with the turnover of course, but let's look at the source and start eradicating it. Our chances conceded from mistakes being the highest in the league tells you we need to stop doing that sort of thing, and it's partially why Omo was dropped imo.

I just don't see how you can apportion any blame onto Omo there, maybe the slightest amount because of the pass but Sara (I think it was) takes a touch and gives it away. You can account for giving away the ball but you can't account for Kenny and Hanley standing near enough side by side on the other side of the pitch to the play. As soon as Omo makes the move forward with the ball then they should be reacting and rotating into proper positions, instead they both stood there watching.

Maybe I'm misremembering so I'd have to see the goal again but that's how I saw it.

[HB1989 27]

14 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

I don’t know but if Hanley is our leader then it’s no wonder we show zero sign of any leadership. He doesn’t communicate well on the pitch, he is very quiet and he f**ks up about twice a game so you can hardly say he leads by example. Yes he’s quite good at headed clearances, last ditch defending and in a foot race bit his defending for that Sunderland goal on Sunday was schoolboy stuff. 

I don’t think Hanley is quiet, I quite often hear him speaking on the pitch and giving encouragement?!

So you’re blaming just Hanley for the Sunderland goal now? This is exactly what I’m on about. What about Gibson not being close enough to his player and what about Gunn’s positioning, he should not have been so far over the other side of his goal leaving himself no chance of getting back.