2022-23 Season

Team news for tomorrow:

"Sam Byram had a bit of a setback but is back on the grass now. He's not joined full training, but is doing rehab with the medical staff and I expect him to be ready for Millwall.” Smith also stated that both Jonathan Rowe and Adam Idah were doubts for the game. Villa loanee Aaron Ramsey could make his debut against Blues, though Norwich are awaiting clearance from the FA.

In further team news, the Norwich boss confirmed that attacking midfielder Gabriel Sara will be handed his first start after arriving from Sao Paulo this summer. Midfielder Kieran Dowell is also expected to be involved; full-back Max Aarons has been declared fit after suffering a cut on his shin against Wigan; and Grant Hanley is available after suspension.

Lineup? My guess:

Gunn
Aarons Hanley Tomkinson McCallum
Sara Sørensen Gibbs
Dowell Hugill Hernandez

Subs: McGovern, Omobamidele, McLean, Núñez, Sinani, Ramsey, Sargent

 

Haven't seen this mentioned previously, but in the context of injuries to first and second choice FBs, Núñez has quite a bit of experience playing RFB (likewise, wide right, as opposed to central, midfield). Apparently he played at RFB in U.Catolica's 2022 Copa Sudamericana Round of 16 game against São Paulo (away), though in the corresponding home leg he played in central midfield.

 

That versatility was emphasized in the expert interview mentioned above. Núñez seems to be comfortable in any of those positions and apparently did well at RB when called upon. He's said to be at his best when picking up the ball deep and progressing it forward to the attacking players or shooting himself in a box to box manner.

 

DS spoke to The Athletic following the Wigan game (to Mark Carey, who is one of The Athletic's data analysts). This is how he characterised the style of play he wants to see:
Forward-thinking
Forward-running
Attacking relentlessly
Good possession
Moving the ball quickly
Winning the ball back quickly when possession is lost
Setting traps for the opposition

It's clear that by "good possession" he doesn't mean simply winning more possession than the opponent (which we did on Saturday, 70:30). He means possession in the opposition half of the pitch and, in particular, the attacking third. This too was clearly in evidence on Saturday; when you strip out each team's possession outside the final third, the ("Field Tilt") figures were 72:28 in our favour. And before anyone puts this good possession down to Wigan parking the bus after taking the lead, the figures before Gibson's aberration were almost identical to (actually marginally better than) those over the game as a whole.
Yes, it was Wigan, and we were at home; against Cardiff, possession was 55:45 in our favour, and the Field Tilt figures more even.

One further interesting comment he made was that this wasn't just a matter of how he, Smith, wants the team to play; he said this is how the team themselves want to play, i.e. forward-thinking, forward-running, attacking relentlessly, etc.

 

Fine words and those are great ambitions, but DS and the players will be judged by how much of that they actually achieve in matches on a regular basis. I'm hoping they do, but until that happens it's only words. I've copied them and will use those as criteria in the evaluation of each match as it happens.

Meanwhile, after 29 matches under DS, I'm still waiting for what we were promised when he arrived:

1. Forward thinking ideas and detailed analytics
2. Coaching to improve and bring on players
3. Entertaining, attacking play and lots of goals
4. Long runs of decent results
5. A well drilled team prepared for each game

The 'EFL Stats Analysis' of the Wigan game suggests that we're not yet reliably achieving our ambitions.

https://eflanalysis.com/analysis/efl-championship-stats-norwich-city-vs-wigan-athletic/12

 

That should be 29 matches, Rick (not including cup games and friendlies).

 

I've altered it accordingly, Gozo. I should have checked.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound punctilious or critical of you, Rick. But for me it's important that we list Smith's history with exactitude and judge it accordingly. There are people who want to spread the myth that Smith was a glorious success at Brentford when in reality he came mid-table for three consecutive seasons having taken over a team who made the play-offs before his arrival. The same people will jump at the chance to reduce his poor record at NCFC from 29 games to 21. He has 18 points from 29 games. That doesn't mean he can't turn it around, but that's a brute fact which no amount of candy-coating can deny.

 

No offence taken Gozo. Your points are well made and important. There's no reason we shouldn't have done better against Cardiff and Wigan.

 

I didn't ,and don't, Exocet anything better than a mid table finish. Maybe just as well because we would just be whipping boys for another season if we were promoted.

 

You'll get a rocket for this post Farked.

 

Not from me he won't. I asked people months ago what they thought was the point of getting promoted straight away again before we had a team equipped to survive. We should be aiming for promotion next season, not this. Yo-yoing is supposed to end with everyone confident that this time we'll survive, not in players, fans and club completely demoralised by three (four if you count 2015-16) successive failures.

 

I didn't ,and don't, Exocet anything better than a mid table finish. Maybe just as well because we would just be whipping boys for another season if we were promoted.

 

(That's 2 own goals in 24 hours .............. )

 

Bloody autocorrect.

 

Third kit revealed tomorrow, and presumably worn at Hull as both our other kits clash.

Rumours are the new kit is "psychedelic"...

 

Heavens! If Hull are in their tiger outfits things could get quite out of hand! I hope the officials are going to rise to the occasion too

 

Know what you mean, but I quite like 'Exocet' to describe the deflation of our expectations by the last 3 matches.

 

I think the term is modern tie died.