Pre season friendlies.

3 at the back...?

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For those interested in shirt numbers, we saw earlier that Rashica has taken Buendia's 17.

Gilmour has taken 8 from Vrancic.

Haven't seen Gunn to be able to tell which shirt he's taken.

 

Nice finish

 

Dowell 1-0, nice finish from the edge of the box.

Classic pre-season stuff so far. All Norwich, attack vs defence against a deep King's Lynn, albeit with little penetration. Hugill had a goal from a Mumba(?) cross ruled out for offside. Nice header though. Tactically:

• Very clear 3-4-2-1, with Placheta and Mumba given full license to get forward. Mumba just broke into the box, had a blocked shot, and it fell to Placheta. Which gives you some idea of how high they're playing.
• CBs are spliting very wide, with Omobamidele almost a LB, Sorensen RB when in possession. Leaving Zimmerman very isolated in the centre (not that it matters). Gilmour and Rupp dropping taking it in turns to drop deeper and collect the ball from the defence and look forwards. Almost a "double diamond" 1-2-1-2-1 formation when building from the back.

 

2-0 Dowell again.

Hugill put through as Norwich break, does well to slide it across to find Dowell in the box who finishes strongly into the roof of the net.

 

Screamer well Don Kings Lynn

 

2-1, Lynn get one back.

Long range effort hits the Norwich bar with Gunn beaten, Gunn can't recover quickly enough to stop the rebound from close range.

 

Any ex canaries playing for Lynn ?

I heard Jarvis mentioned

 

Dowell wants to be knocking on Gareth's door this season

 

Number 43 is a unit

 

Thompkins I think. The American CB from Dallas. I believe he's still 18.

 

Fantastic team goal Idah pokes it in

 

Cameron King came through our academy, left in 2016.

 

He was tidy

 

They mentioned a Jarvis on the commentary. Pretty sure we loaned them a keeper recently

 

I thought so, too. (Actually his name is Thompkinson)

Todd looked good as usual.

 

Archie Mair was there last season I think?

Post-match thoughts (I missed 45-75 mins):

• 3-4-2-1 was a deliberate choice from Farke, he could have had the same XI play a very conventional Farke 4-2-3-1 with Sorensen at LB. So either 3 at the back is a taste of things to come, or it meant he could see certain players in a role he wanted to see.
• The way the CBs split seemed pretty extreme? Omobamidele was pushing very wide to LB, Sorensen RB. Zimmerman probably had 25 yards each side of him. Fine when we're in possession, but I worry a misplaced pass in midfield would leave us very exposed. Curious to see if that persists.
• On the above point, interesting that Sorensen was on the right, despite his LB experience. Omobamidele is right-footed.

In terms of individuals, it was a very low effort game (as you'd expect), so few players really showed that they were miles above the level of this game. Of those that did:
Cantwell really caught my eye late on, he was everywhere and so influential. Has he bulked up a bit? Or was he just surrounded by academy players at the end of the game...?
Mumba, especially in the first half, was our most threatening attacking option, despite a lot of play coming down the opposite flank. Posed much more of a threat than Rashica, Placheta, or Rupp.
Sorensen, played the full 90, I think? Looked very assured, calm in possession, and seems to always manage to receive possession and take a step forward, or play short passes forward rather than sideways.

Other player comments:
Placheta seemed to get his head up a bit more than I've seen previously, kept possession fairly well, first touch was better than mine.
Omobamidele looks very much a part of this squad.
Hugill with a decent assist, and a goal ruled out for offside. Not a bad performance considering he still looks like a square peg. Pukki for example would have had the pace to score easily rather than having to make a tricky pass under pressure to create the second.

 

Giannoulis out for 2 weeks, Byram potentially the same.

Surely we can't trust Byram in squad building this summer?

 

Was also impressed with Mumba who looks very keen to secure his place in the squad. Sørensen did play the whole game - CB in first half and DM in the second. Cantwell sparkled once he got into it and Placheta also looks keen to secure a squad place. Omobamidele looks very much a senior player now. Rashica did well to play the first half after only a few days training and Dowell and Idah scored good goals.