At the heart of discussion throughout this tournament has been David Wagner and his view: as the tectonic plates in other areas of the club are shifting, this was inevitable will fall on him.
The city is in a really difficult situation the severity of this condition does not escape anyone Simply taking the pulse of the atmosphere briefly is enough to gauge the level of disillusionment and disappointment among supporters.
Worrying trends: two wins in 10, fourth-worst expected goals in the league and highest total goals conceded.. They have given up 82 shots in their last four games alone – only Blackburn have given up more in the entire campaign.
Then turn your eyes to the form table – where only QPR, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday, the current bottom three teams in the Championship, have won fewer points than Norwich in their last six matches.
Add to that an eye test where City consistently create high quality chances for their opponents and look too open structurally – the combined result of all the factors This factor is the type of performance we are seeing today.
Norwich’s defense is among the worst in the Championship this is the bleak picture painted by the data and the eye test.
Yes, better attack numbers.. Norwich are seventh.. But that doesn’t matter if you give the opposition more chances than you give yourself – that’s a recipe for more defeats than wins in a campaign.
There have been improvements in preparation, but the defensive transition has caused them problems time and time again.. That’s the structure.
This is built and monitored by the head coach and his team..
There is a form of injury mitigation.
The absence of Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes has had a negative impact on their style of play and their pressing – but that should not be used as an excuse for opponents to get past them with the ease they have.
Every coach has to deal with injuries it’s about adapting and adjusting your tactical setup accordingly.. Which coach had the best starting XI throughout the entire season?? Few.
Doesn’t go on to press Daniel Farke’s point – but after his Norwich team were demolished 4-0 by Millwall at the start of the term, he signed Grant Hanley.
He reinstated Alex Tettey but his fundamentals remained the same..
Norwich were a possession-hungry team before these changes and remained so after – but in the long run the results were completely different.
Wagner can throw in an extra midfielder, not allow the full backs the licence to attack at will and the team could still function in the way that he wants.. The evidence shows that if they can halt the disconcerting defensive numbers they could enjoy real success.
But ‘could’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting For that to be a reality, there needs to be a recognition of the problems and solutions offered to negate them.
Dean Smith was hammered for his lack of playing style and failure to create a team identity – Wagner has created one.. But he will suffer the same fate as his predecessor unless he shows a willingness to adapt and improve the team’s performance.
Wagner has his fundamentals the debate seemed non-negotiable to him.. The theory is correct, but the reality is completely different.
Norwich looked more assured in the first half of Tuesday’s defeat to Middlesbrough.. But it takes visitors 15 minutes to solve the problem and then they take advantage of the additional space provided in large areas.
If nothing changes, this pattern will continue.. If nothing changes, the credibility that Wagner needs to continue will evaporate.. If nothing changes, Norwich will continue to slide down the rankings.
Wagner is a man he has been through difficult races before – he understands the reality.. But there needs to be an understanding of the crash collision course that Norwich are currently on.
If Norwich fail to beat Sunderland this afternoon it’ll be one win in their last 10 matches.. Throw in the form at the back end of last season when they won just once in 11 matches and that combines to two in 21.
Given Farke was measured partially by his form in the Premier League as a whole it is hard to see how that same metric wouldn’t be applied to Wagner in this current situation.
One of the criticisms levelled at the decision-makers at Norwich often has been their inability to make swift decisions.. Smith limped longer than he should have – the fear was that the same thing would happen again.
Other clubs are getting ahead of Norwich partly thanks to their ability to read trends and spot the signs that things are going wrong and act accordingly.
With changes in other areas of the club, these do not help the perception of a lack of rudder – and let this situation persist for another four games if nothing changes 4,444 supporters contributed their share.
They backed the team when they conceded against Hull, cheering them on with a blistering start to the campaign – they even came so close that they had to push for an equalizer in midweek.
Whatever the spin – the common consensus is shared – this cannot continue.. The trends are frightening, the performances consistently underpar and the results are following suit.
