A new era begins... Dean Smith will be in the dugout on Saturday at Carrow Road to take charge of his first game as Norwich City boss. In a record breaking season for Norwich, we will yet again set a new record at the weekend with Dean Smith becoming the first manager to take charge of different 2 teams against the same opponent in consecutive matches, a game which Aston Villa lost 1-0. As for this weekends game we will need to hope for the new manager bounce as Southampton are a team in decent form with 3wins and a draw from their last 5 games. Lots of questions will finally be answered at the weekend in terms of how Smith will look to get us playing in an effort to escape the bottom 3. In his press conference on Wednesday he seemed to indicate a focus on making us much harder to beat, but he isn't a manager that tends to opt for 5 at the back so I think we are likely to see a 4-3-3. Then comes the question of who will feature in that line-up. Both Hanley and Kabak were back in training on Thursday indicating they could be available as starting CB as well as Ben Gibson. Omobamidele did travel for international duty but was only a late sub for the second game due to a knock he had picked up. Pukki and Normann didnt take part in Thursdays training session as they both played for their respective nations on Wednesday night. Gilmour played 2 games in a week for Scotland, for someone that hasn't had a lot of football recently it may be a stretch to start a third but he could certainly feature from the bench. Todd Cantwell was welcomed back into first team training - with Webber stating he had been in training all week so he could be in line to start under the new boss. Abu Kamara was an interesting inclusion in Thursday's training - he could simply have been making up the numbers with several players still due back from international duty, it could be recognition of his performances in the u23s, or perhaps Dean Smith has made a very early call to have him train with the first team squad. It will be interesting to see if the old 'favourites' or 'undroppables' continue to feature as regularly under the new man or whether others can force their way in - can Gunn usurp Krul, could Omobamidele become the number 1 CB, who will nail down the LB position, does Normann and Gilmour become our regular CM pairing, will Sorensen finally get some game time, what happens to Rupp, will Mclean play as often, will Rashica play on the right instead of the left and vice versa with Cantwell, can Tzolis nail down a position and will Pukki start every single game that he is fit for. I for one am looking forward to the new era full of hope that we can survive...27 games to go and all to play for! Positive vibes time! ON THE BALL CITY!!!
Excellent summary, Suffolk - more questions than answers for sure! Expect we'll only find out when the line-up comes out. In spite of the Saints' form, I'm feeling confident about this new beginning all around. They scraped 3 wins over Villa, Watford and Leeds and drew against Burnley at home. The loss was to Chelsea.
Listening to DS at his introductory press conference, the impression I got was of a "softly, softly" approach to these early games. HIs take was that the team will have drawn a bit of confidence from two draws and a win in the last 5, and those green shoots should be nurtured rather than trampled on. So no major surprises in set up or personnel, just analysis of how to tweak and improve on what they've been doing to bring the recent (modest) upturn, with, for example, a detailed look at the second half against Watford when things unravelled badly. The thing that will have the biggest effect IMO is if he makes the players feel he comes with a real idea of how he can get us climbing the table.
Certainly the theme at the presser was that of no radical changes, but that's not surprising given his preference for variations on a 4-3-3. Against Brentford our 4-3-3 morphed into a 4-2-3-1 when we had the ball and moved forward. That made Normann's goal possible as Rashica got behind and crossed the ball into our players on the edge of the box. Pukki's penalty came from Normann's deep through ball to Teemu breaking away from his defender while still in the 4-3-3. There are plenty of tweaks Smith can bring in to enhance those formations, including drills to snap back defensively when the ball is lost. He may also bring in tweaks to use when playing the ball out of defence. It may not look drastically different, but it could make all the difference.
Interesting to hear (I think) that Todd, Gilmour and Dowell have all been using the Soccerbot already.
Apparently Smith watched 5 of our previous games back to back on the plane back from New York. That must give him some idea of who's who and what's what.
Surprised he didn't ask the pilot to turn back But he's work ethics, and determination to jump straight back, is impressive. Really hope it works out for him, and for us. Not often, I look forward to seeing the starting 11, I'm really interested and excited in seeing what team he puts out.
Big chance for so many players to get back in the frame - Todd, Dowell, Billmour, Sorenson, Tzolis etc. So many quality players that have struggled for minutes. Really looking forward to seeing what Dean Smith can conjure up. Hoping for a new manager bounce against Saints and a wave of positivity around the club that can help propel us to safety and beyond.
Otherwise it's me up I think so , keep going SuffolkCanary the rest of us were mere skittles other than Gozo
I think the starting XI in week 1 will be fairly safe. Minor tweaks to the team from the last game, if that. Wouldn't be surprised if it's unchanged. The bench may well be more interesting. Todd straight back in the 18 would certainly be popular, and as pointed out, there's several players who may benefit from a reset. Maybe in a few weeks time we're playing 4-3-3 with Sorensen, Normann and Gilmour in the middle...
Team news from the presser this morning is good. Hanley and Kabak are fit again and available with Zimmerman the only player not fit to play. Even Sam Byram is going to play 45 minutes for the U23s tonight so let's hope that goes well. Be like getting a new player if it does (his last appearance was in February 2019). In addition to normal training the squad did special work on defending and attacking set pieces so hopefully that'll help tomorrow.