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Daniel Brigham

Where do Norwich go from here? - latest blog

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Norwich are in real trouble and blaming the strikers for missing

chances in the last three games is missing the point, says Daniel

Brigham.
Have you ever played Whac-A-Mole? We’re not talking

about casual rural violence here but the arcade game where a mole pops

up out of a hole and you whack it back down, only for another mole to

immediately spring up in its place. Norwich appear to be

suffering from acute Whac-A-Mole-itis. They’ve spent all season looking

as creative as Peter Andre in a science lab and when they finally whack

that problem on the head up pings another one: the chances are being

created, but now they’re not being taken. This is a giganti-mole, and if

it isn’t walloped on the head soon then big, bad relegation beckons. It''s

hard to blame Chris Hughton for Tuesday night’s defeat, for us missing

the sort of chances that Geoff Boycott''s nan would have scored.

Tactically he set the team up well from the start, we dominated midfield

in a manner we''ve seen on too few occasions this season and we played

with far more wit than West Ham. Simply, his strikers haven''t done the

job that should come most naturally to them. That''s not Hughton''s fault. Hmm.

Or is it? Perhaps, on a macro level, Hughton is to blame for all these

moles popping up. He manages them, he coaches them. Plus, Norwich''s

strikers have scored just 16 goals in the 62 Premier League matches

Hughton has been in charge of. That''s one every 348 minutes across

nearly two seasons. Or, to be less numerical about it, that’s Nigel

Farage levels of awful. So there''s a precedent there, a pattern

across 18 months of misfiring strikers playing in a system that sees

goals as a bonus rather than a necessity, like feeding tigers pedigree

chum. If you haven''t had a drink for a few months you''re more like to

make an idiot of yourself after a couple of pints. Strikers are no

different with taking chances. Because of this there is enormous

pressure on us to take advantage of the all-too-rare occasions that we

batter teams, which makes the muggings by Cardiff and West Ham even more

painful. But let''s not play the victims. We may have been mugged but we

were staggering down a dark alley with our pants down and our wallet

hanging out of a pocket. Every team will have matches in a season where

they dominate the opposition, miss chances and come away with nothing.

The difference is that most sides create a healthy number of chances in

every game. We don''t.  If you were thinking positively, and

ignoring that stat of 16 goals in 62 games, then you could logically

argue that now we''ve started playing well and creating chances the goals

will soon come when our strikers stop being so shellshocked. These are

good forwards after all.It would be great if that happens. It

may well save our season. But Hughton''s history suggests it''s unlikely,

that we won''t cut teams open as consistently as we did against Cardiff

and West Ham. The evidence from Tuesday night showcased Hughton''s

mindset in a nutshell. Nathan Redmond, creator of our best chances

against Manchester City and West Ham, who breaks at speed and stretches

terrified defences, was taken off ''for fresh legs''. Meanwhile Robert

Snodgrass, who had a decent game while creating little and attacking

ponderously, was once again kept on the pitch. Maybe his legs don’t have

a sell-by date. Snodgrass was excellent last season and a lot

of the criticism of him this season has been over the top. But defenders

have got wise to him, they know he will invariably cut inside and

attempt to dribble into the box, and he has so far failed to add to or

adapt his game to compensate. That Hughton refuses to even consider

substituting Snodgrass speaks volumes for his attacking mindset. It''s

all about the set pieces, innit. For Norwich''s strikers, watching

Snodgrass attack must be similar to the frustration a hungry baby feels

when their parents decide to ‘do the aeroplane’ at dinner time. All they

want is for mum and dad to stop faffing around and bloody feed them. It''s

becoming increasingly odd that we signed Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Gary

Hooper. Both of them are poachers, at their best when allowed to roam

the penalty area. But Hughton expects his strikers to forever track

back, to defend before attacking. He wants to turn them into something

they are not. At the moment it is crippling us. It''s been crippling us

all season and nothing has changed. Hughton might be trying to whack the

mole, but he keeps missing again and again.He looks

increasingly anxious and an anxious manager means an anxious team. The

players appear to like him but perhaps they are losing faith in his

rigid, timid methods. It can only be so long that a team is happy with

being shackled by their manager, however well meaning the shackling is. Releasing

those restraints, whether with a huge change of philosophy from Hughton

or with a new manager entirely, could be the only thing that whacks the

final mole. It could be the only thing that saves a good side from

relegation.  Daniel Brigham is features editor of The CricketerYou can follow him on Twitter: @cricketer_dan

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Daniel, that is one damn funny post. I agree with just about all of it too.

Only comment I would make is that Redmond gets worked out just as much as Snodgrass - but that''s probably because he''s the only player they need to concentrate on.

Robert''s nay a bad player, but I think his overall style is a large part of our problem.

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Another excellent post Daniel.

I just hope some, any, members of the board will read it. Well I suppose they will, then sit on their hands knowing we could put out 11 sheep on The Carra and we would still bring in a crowd of 12,000 :-)

Frustrating times indeed

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Ron - Redmond has the advantage of greater pace and is more two-footed. He''s also been hitting the byline more often recently rather than cutting in all of the time. I''ve often thought Snodgrass would be better behind the striker, especially while Howson was out. Would seem to suit his game more,.

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Daniel Brigham "If you were thinking positively, and

ignoring that stat of 16 goals in 62 games, then you could logically

argue that now we''ve started playing well and creating chances the goals

will soon come when our strikers stop being so shellshocked. These are

good forwards after all. It would be great if that happens. It

may well save our season. But Hughton''s history suggests it''s unlikely,

that we won''t cut teams open as consistently as we did against Cardiff

and West Ham."
This sums up what I have been saying, except for the last sentence.  "Hughton''s history suggests it''s unlikely" - I would say that the opposite is true. His history is that he has free scoring teams.  The "work in progress" that so many of us were hoping to see coming to fruition is imo on the verge of being successful - if we carry on playing well and creating chances.    The long time where goals have been difficult to come by is one of the reasons why they are struggling to get going, but once they do we will have a very good team.  It has to start happening soon though.

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Daniel Brigham wrote the following post at 14/02/2014 3:32 PM:Ron - Redmond has the advantage of greater pace and is more two-footed.

He''s also been hitting the byline more often recently rather than

cutting in all of the time. I''ve often thought Snodgrass would be better

behind the striker, especially while Howson was out. Would seem to suit

his game more,.

Daniel - the only reason Redmond has been hitting the byline more recently, and long may it last, is because he has played more on the right wing instead of always the left.

Even at West Ham he had a run on the right in the first half but was rarely seen there in the second.

At the end of the day, Daniel, Redmond is a RIGHT winger, and that is where he should play. Unfortunately that would mean a change of position for another player  .................. or that player being dropped.

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I hope you''re right LDC but there isn''t all that much evidence from it. Hughton has managed in 80 Premier League matches, his teams scoring 87 times. For Norwich it''s 60 goals in 64 matches.

My stat above of our strikers scoring 16 goals in 62 matches is slightly wrong - it''s actually 16 in 64 (my maths isn''t great!)

There''s not much there to suggest we''re going to become regular scorers any time soon. I hope I''m wrong.

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