Frank saw enough of Sheaf/Eccles/Torp the other day and has just registered himself to be available for this one.
Imagine that, a goalscoring midfielder that can do more than pass it back to the centre backs.
Match Thread Norwich City - Coventry City Match Thread - Saturday 4th Jan (26 Viewers)
- Thread starter Nick
- Start date
Frank saw enough of Sheaf/Eccles/Torp the other day and has just registered himself to be available for this one.
Imagine that, a goalscoring midfielder that can do more than pass it back to the centre backs.
Bad Boy
Well-Known Member
Serious question PVA.....
Do you think they're coached that way or that they play to the limit of their ability and thought process?
I've not been able to go and watch us home and away since early October last year and will be out of action for most of this year so I watch us on the TV and I just get so mad and I get so angry at the pitiful performances I'm seeing.
I don't know how the SBA stomach it week in week out.
play_in_skyblue_stripes
Well-Known Member
Going around Cambridge. Looking forward to visiting history of Computing museum as started in that as a 16 year old, a long time ago. Then look around Centre and University.
Only two previous visits just for a couple of cup games, League cup win in Nov 79 and 92 (Lee Hurst OG after Oggy saved Dion Dublin's penalty)
Oh dear, back onto last visit to Norwich for football, 'Harry' Roberts last minute of extra time OG.
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I don't know really, I think it's a combination of things...
- Distinct lack of movement from forward players
- Bassette not a target man or able to really take the ball into feet
- Moving the ball far too slowly
- None of our midfielders are able or willing to pick the ball up on the half turn and drive forwards with it
Teams have worked out they just need to sit in a low block against us and we can't break it down, and they just have to wait for the defensive howler at the other end to nick a goal or two
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Thinking on Milan. If it is progressing and as such he doesn’t play, would be better moving to a 5-2-3 like Lampard played at Everton.
Could line it up:
Dovin
Thomas-Lati-Kitching
Eccles - Dasilva
Torp - Sheaf
Rudoni - BTA
Simms
Could line it up:
Dovin
Thomas-Lati-Kitching
Eccles - Dasilva
Torp - Sheaf
Rudoni - BTA
Simms
Calista
Well-Known Member
All these bogey teams really get up my nose.
Going forward, maybe. At least his England teams could defend.
lord_garrincha
Well-Known Member
To be fair... Aren't Norwich, Preston & Swansea counteracted by Sunderland, Barnsley & Wycombe.
Just buggered that the league is 3-1 against us!
Just buggered that the league is 3-1 against us!
TomRad85
Well-Known Member
Sort of but i suppose our 3 (and you could include Burnley too) are teams regularly around our level who you'd expect to beat occasionally. Its almost worth it just to have Sunderland on the other list though, makes them fume!
Skyblueweeman
Well-Known Member
Don't nose which one to pick as my worst bogey team
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Is the club having a press conference today? Normally see it by now?
ccfcricoh
Well-Known Member
just seen an injury update so looks like its on its way!
edgy
Well-Known Member
City Head Coach Frank Lampard looked back at the busy festive period, ahead of his side travelling to Carrow Road this weekend.
The Sky Blues are unbeaten in their last three outings, a run they will look to extend this weekend against Norwich City
Ahead of the clash, Lampard spoke about the last three fixtures, what he has seen from his time at the Club so far and the latest fitness of Haji Wright.
Looking back at the run of games over the festive period…
“Very nice to be unbeaten that’s for sure. Plymouth was obviously very good; it was a great performance and a really strong win.
“Millwall, I felt we deserved to win the game, albeit a difficult game, I was pretty happy, and I think I said that after the match, could we have been a bit more clinical, yes for sure.
“Cardiff felt a bit more frustrating, probably because of the circumstances of the game. We were not so good in the first half and that can happen. We addressed it in the second half and against ten-men, we probably wanted more out of the game, but we couldn’t take our chances.
“So, it’s good to be unbeaten, we wanted more, but that’s what happens and now we look ahead to the next game.”
The first half performance against Cardiff…
“Those performances can happen in this league, there are a lot of potential inconsistencies and we’ve been here a short time as coaching staff and some games you can see progression and sometimes you can see things you don’t like as much and that’s normal in my jobof it and at half-time against Cardiff we changed some things and that led directly resulted in the goal in the second half. I know it was a kick from Ollie and a second ball as such that gets us the goal, not a beautiful goal, but we have to understand we can score those goals in this league.
“I felt in the first half we played too deep and too low and too many passes in our own third rather than further up the pitch so those are good things to see and correct as we go.”
Jack Rudoni’s influence and playing on the left…
“For me he can play different positions because of his level. He is a fantastic player, and he has a high ceiling for me.
“Of course, when he plays on the left, he maybe doesn’t open as many open up as many opportunities as we’ve seen him score this season.
“At the moment he is a player who is having to do a job for us, and it can affect the balance of the team and that was one of the issues in the first half against Cardiff, so we have to be creative and find ways around it.”
Reality of the current league position…
“It’s a squad that has changed in the last couple of seasons. We’ve seen that from the outside, reaching the play-off final and there are minimal players left who played in that game who are in the squad now.
“In that slightly transitional phase, it’s probably normal that you look and go ‘we want to be better than where we are’. The reality is that and we have to work and us as coaching staff we have to work, and the players themselves have to and they’re quite a young squad.
“We’re eight games in and it’s good for me to starting to see more from them as we’ve played, because training time has been very minimal because we’ve had a tight turnaround since we’ve been in.
“That’s been challenging in the sense that you see players in game, because a game like Cardiff is like a training session in the first half where you don’t like it so much and you want to correct it, but that’s the game, so those are the things happening at the minute.
“Our league position is a reality, and we want to improve it that’s for sure, but that will only come with work.”
Facing Norwich City this weekend…
“They play good football. We’ve had a lot of possession in our games so far and this will be a different challenge for us in terms of the opposition that they are for us, and we have to respect them completely.
“They have threats in their team which are quite clear to see in terms of dangerous and their style of play, because they have a lot of possession, and we have to be ready for that.”
Update on the fitness of Haji Wright…
“He came out on the grass yesterday for his first sort of steps outside with some mobility work to get moving. We’re hoping he’s back in the next two weeks or so, but it’s been a fair amount of time now, so I want to be conservative about how I say he will be on the grass and then with us.
“He has to get his fitness up and the staff have been doing a good job of doing what they can to keep him as fit as he can be without being out there doing the stuff he really needs to do.”
The Sky Blues are unbeaten in their last three outings, a run they will look to extend this weekend against Norwich City
Ahead of the clash, Lampard spoke about the last three fixtures, what he has seen from his time at the Club so far and the latest fitness of Haji Wright.
Looking back at the run of games over the festive period…
“Very nice to be unbeaten that’s for sure. Plymouth was obviously very good; it was a great performance and a really strong win.
“Millwall, I felt we deserved to win the game, albeit a difficult game, I was pretty happy, and I think I said that after the match, could we have been a bit more clinical, yes for sure.
“Cardiff felt a bit more frustrating, probably because of the circumstances of the game. We were not so good in the first half and that can happen. We addressed it in the second half and against ten-men, we probably wanted more out of the game, but we couldn’t take our chances.
“So, it’s good to be unbeaten, we wanted more, but that’s what happens and now we look ahead to the next game.”
The first half performance against Cardiff…
“Those performances can happen in this league, there are a lot of potential inconsistencies and we’ve been here a short time as coaching staff and some games you can see progression and sometimes you can see things you don’t like as much and that’s normal in my jobof it and at half-time against Cardiff we changed some things and that led directly resulted in the goal in the second half. I know it was a kick from Ollie and a second ball as such that gets us the goal, not a beautiful goal, but we have to understand we can score those goals in this league.
“I felt in the first half we played too deep and too low and too many passes in our own third rather than further up the pitch so those are good things to see and correct as we go.”
Jack Rudoni’s influence and playing on the left…
“For me he can play different positions because of his level. He is a fantastic player, and he has a high ceiling for me.
“Of course, when he plays on the left, he maybe doesn’t open as many open up as many opportunities as we’ve seen him score this season.
“At the moment he is a player who is having to do a job for us, and it can affect the balance of the team and that was one of the issues in the first half against Cardiff, so we have to be creative and find ways around it.”
Reality of the current league position…
“It’s a squad that has changed in the last couple of seasons. We’ve seen that from the outside, reaching the play-off final and there are minimal players left who played in that game who are in the squad now.
“In that slightly transitional phase, it’s probably normal that you look and go ‘we want to be better than where we are’. The reality is that and we have to work and us as coaching staff we have to work, and the players themselves have to and they’re quite a young squad.
“We’re eight games in and it’s good for me to starting to see more from them as we’ve played, because training time has been very minimal because we’ve had a tight turnaround since we’ve been in.
“That’s been challenging in the sense that you see players in game, because a game like Cardiff is like a training session in the first half where you don’t like it so much and you want to correct it, but that’s the game, so those are the things happening at the minute.
“Our league position is a reality, and we want to improve it that’s for sure, but that will only come with work.”
Facing Norwich City this weekend…
“They play good football. We’ve had a lot of possession in our games so far and this will be a different challenge for us in terms of the opposition that they are for us, and we have to respect them completely.
“They have threats in their team which are quite clear to see in terms of dangerous and their style of play, because they have a lot of possession, and we have to be ready for that.”
Update on the fitness of Haji Wright…
“He came out on the grass yesterday for his first sort of steps outside with some mobility work to get moving. We’re hoping he’s back in the next two weeks or so, but it’s been a fair amount of time now, so I want to be conservative about how I say he will be on the grass and then with us.
“He has to get his fitness up and the staff have been doing a good job of doing what they can to keep him as fit as he can be without being out there doing the stuff he really needs to do.”
Cov98
Well-Known Member
Quite like that actually. Think Rudoni and Torp would compliment each other well in this formation.
Rudoni could sit slightly wider and Torp more central.
skybluecam
Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Goblin
Well-Known Member
Actually quite like the box approach
PUSB-We_are_going_up
Well-Known Member
We frequently beat Middlesbrough
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
Against my better judgement I'm going to this as I've never been to Norwich.
Leaving the house before 6 tomorrow as my local train service keeps cancelling trains due to the rest day working issue. Don't get back to Manchester until 2342.
Hard to see us getting anything at this point, but Norwich aren't as good as previous sides they've had, so hope springs eternal!
Leaving the house before 6 tomorrow as my local train service keeps cancelling trains due to the rest day working issue. Don't get back to Manchester until 2342.
Hard to see us getting anything at this point, but Norwich aren't as good as previous sides they've had, so hope springs eternal!
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
Best of luck FP, hope I'm wrong but think train travel over the weekend might be pretty challenging.
SkyBluePower
Well-Known Member
He was quite guarded about Wilson’s injury I thought. No return date yet.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
I'd go with the box midfield and Simms as lone striker.
Dovin
MVE
Thomas
Lati
Kitching
Bidwell
Sheaf
Eccles
Allen
Rudoni
Simms
Dovin
MVE
Thomas
Lati
Kitching
Bidwell
Sheaf
Eccles
Allen
Rudoni
Simms
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
Wouldn't it be terrible if my train was cancelled!
I don't think the box with a back four gives us enough protection. If the midfielders don't do their jobs then MVE and Bidwell would get doubled up on and get terrorised, then the centre backs are going to get pulled out of position.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Lati at RB and MVE ahead of him to try and keep Sainz in check.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Lati at RB and MVE ahead of him to try and keep Sainz in check.
Matt smith
Well-Known Member
Trained today by the looks of it (club latest instagram post)
Gibbo
Well-Known Member
The decline in the form of MVE as much about Tats as him.
Repeating myself but yet again on Wednesday MVE declined to go right because he could see Tats hugging the line with a man on him so MVE did the smart if unspectacular thing and turned inward to at least retain possession. Tats movement off the ball is a contributory factor. He needs to take the ball 10 yards in so there is space for MVE to overlap. The injury to Tats could be a blessing in disguise. The Championship's coaching staff and defenders have got Tats' number.
Rudoni & Bidwell have been much more successful at engineering space for one another. Unsurprisingly midfield funnel the ball that way. But then we come predictable....
Repeating myself but yet again on Wednesday MVE declined to go right because he could see Tats hugging the line with a man on him so MVE did the smart if unspectacular thing and turned inward to at least retain possession. Tats movement off the ball is a contributory factor. He needs to take the ball 10 yards in so there is space for MVE to overlap. The injury to Tats could be a blessing in disguise. The Championship's coaching staff and defenders have got Tats' number.
Rudoni & Bidwell have been much more successful at engineering space for one another. Unsurprisingly midfield funnel the ball that way. But then we come predictable....
TomRad85
Well-Known Member
OK good. I don't think he's had a great season like most of them but that's the last thing we need.
edgy
Well-Known Member
I think the full backs have been told to be inside the wide players and not overlap. Makes sense as both Bidwell and MVE aren't as good at crossing as say EMC, Rudoni and Sakamoto. MVE mentioned it in a previous interview.
The issue isn't that Sakamoto is not positioned correctly. It's that the ball doesn't get to him quick enough from Thomas or MVE. And then in turn when they do get around to looking to release the pass, it's too late and he's marked.
junglej13
Well-Known Member
Think some posters have been a bit harsh on Tats personally. Over the last couple of months (13 games I think), he's got 3 goals and 3 assists. His assists in particular have been superb quality. Roll that out over a season and I'd snap you hand off for our wingers to be hitting those figures. He probably has been more tightly marked but think he's done a bit better than people are giving him credit at the minute. 2nd half at Cardiff I thought he was the only one who managed to drift in and get between the lines to actually offer any threat.
TomRad85
Well-Known Member
He makes up part of our best front 3 which in my opinion will prove to be EMC, Wright, Sakamoto. I do wish we'd invested in another right sided forward though rather than stocking up on central strikers.