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"Treble Horse Noise" ACN Pod 143
691 Plays11 days ago
That was woeful. It can't go on like this can it? Clare, Jon & Tom try and work out which blame belongs where and figure out why we should all remain cheerful.
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Transcript
Introduction & Managerial Challenges
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome the Long Come Norwich podcast, an eccentric, erratic enterprise examining the excruciating evidence of our ever declining energy at Carrow Road, where the home faithful will have enjoyed no excellence and not enough effort.
00:00:32
Speaker
An exasperated fan base enjoys an embattled manager struggling with enormous expectation, while executive Ben Knapper's incomings engage with escalating examination. Today, we sadly must explore the excruciatingly embarrassing loss to Wrexham.
00:00:49
Speaker
Claire, are we a bottom six squad with a top two striker and keeper who have hidden just how badly Manning has prepared this team to win championship games? o what Right in there with the strong ones. and No, do you know what? I think we've actually got a very decent team there that are being badly managed.
00:01:11
Speaker
um I think the players are actually perfectly capable, but they haven't got a clue what they're supposed to be doing. or being played to their strengths. And i mean, it's been two and a half days now.
00:01:24
Speaker
And I've had time to think and I've had an excruciatingly long journey back from Norwich to London via rail replacement on Sunday to just dwell on it. And I still cannot fathom the words to explain what I saw on Saturday.
00:01:39
Speaker
So don't know if you can do any better. But gen Genuinely, I'm like, I don't know what I just saw. Has anyone got a clue what's
Is it Bad Management or Poor Potential?
00:01:48
Speaker
going on? Well, iss is interested increasing it's interesting that I offer you Manning Baddy preparing a squad that aren't up to it because...
00:01:58
Speaker
And that was obviously a bit cheeky. But the point is, listening to Canary Call and listening to what Paddy was saying and and Connor yesterday put out some stats. and because He was on his dog walk, I saw, on on the media of social.
00:02:13
Speaker
i'm And I try and keep off actual fan message boards. I don't do pink and message boards. And and I don't do Twitter very much at all anymore.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah. But the gist seems to be some people have already said Manning out. Some people are saying, in fact, i walking out of Carrow Road on Saturday, Napa was cap like getting it from all angles that it's that there's the team not good enough.
00:02:38
Speaker
ah How many good players is he signed, et cetera. um So it it seems to be everyone's annoyed, punt, but some people have already decided it's the manager. Some people are still across at Napa. Some people think it's a little bit of all three.
00:02:53
Speaker
What say you? I think it's a little bit of all three. ah I wholeheartedly agree with Claire that I think we've actually, I don't think we've signed duds. I think we've signed some players that there's definitely potential there. And actually the, the billing that a lot of the players were given that we signed in the summer where like these lads are championship ready, like they're, they're all going to come in and improve the squad and everything will be fine and brilliant. And we'll hit top six and,
00:03:17
Speaker
away we go to the Premier League. All right, they they weren't as cheery as that. But you know that that was the kind of, right, his' here's the the you know but but kind of yardstick that we want to hit.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I don't know, did they say that because that we weren't going to swallow another year of transition or did they say that because genuinely that that was the aim? um It is really hard.
00:03:40
Speaker
It is an impossible job, I think, to... have so much churn and then expect us to be really cohesive. Now, the counter argument to that is that Wrexham have had that much ch um churn as well.
00:03:56
Speaker
Wrexham aren't a great side, are they? They were shit. Wrexham were basic and looked really good at what they did on Saturday, you know, kind of in terms of exposing our weaknesses. But the the really worrying thing for me is like I can't put my finger on it anymore, ah you know, kind of in terms of where the actual issue is and and where the general malaise is because Norwich have been like this.
Coaching Quality & Team Dynamics
00:04:21
Speaker
Different personnel, different head coaches, different sporting directors, but we've been like this for, you know, nine on three seasons, probably three and a half seasons where something's not quite clicking.
00:04:32
Speaker
And maybe this is just championship football, right? There's loads of championship clubs so that just bob about for a bit and then they either get relegated or they get promoted. Maybe we haven't had our, 15 years in the doldrums or whatever that, you know, kind of that, that, you know, maybe that, maybe that era that, you know banter years are are beginning for Norwich City. Who knows? I hope, sincerely hope we're wrong.
00:04:55
Speaker
What I do know is I feel that, or what i feel like is that we've got, from what i observe, incredibly clued up ownership, um people who are experienced in terms of turning around or not necessarily turning around, but improving, i don't want to call Norwich City a sports franchise, but you know what I mean, you know, kind of if there's this this further Americanisms, you know, kind of of of English sport, that that is, you know, let they've made a lot of really good noises about data, about, you know, kind of making sure that we don't have to sell our best assets unless it's in the best interest of the football club, you know, kind of everything
00:05:31
Speaker
And a lot of people said, careful what you wish for. But everything that people wished for, kind of we've got on our doorstep now. And actually it's like, well, have we got... But have we got the the right people at the helm?
00:05:43
Speaker
And jury's still out on on that, isn't it, really? Because, you know, Napa, if you forensically look at all of the signings that have been made under his watch, you're only really having like and a small handful of of players that you think are meaningfully adding value to the squad now. Now, look...
00:05:59
Speaker
there could be loads that turn out to be absolute world beaters. you know I wasn't massively hot on Gabby Sarra for the first four or five games that he played for Norwich, but look how he turned out. um you know Josh Sargent has had a massively difficult first season um for Norwich and probably struggled a little bit beyond that. And you know he's he's our priced asset now.
00:06:20
Speaker
So a lot of what Napa has signed could could be good. But we just, I think for me,
Manager's Future & Fan Sentiment
00:06:26
Speaker
we look really poorly coached. We've been out-tacticked by Frank Lampard and Phil Parkinson.
00:06:32
Speaker
And that worries me because as much as Frank Lampard has Coventry going right now, he has not you know his body of work doesn't demonstrate to me that he's know kind of some kind of master coach or tactician.
00:06:43
Speaker
He's just got a half-decent squad going. And my worry behind all of that is I don't know whether we've got the personalities in the squad or the personality in the inner head coach to then go and kick on.
00:07:00
Speaker
Now, I want to be proven massively wrong. I think there are talented individuals at the club. I think Manning, if you look at if you look at his body of work, every club he's been to, he looks to have improved, possibly with the exception of MK Dons.
00:07:15
Speaker
So, I'd like to think you'll get it right here, but I just don't think there's going to be loads and loads of patience afforded to him because we've got a block of three games now coming up where but that goes wrong.
00:07:31
Speaker
he The patience will have gone. it Carrow Road will turn. i mean, even West Brom, if we lose on Saturday then we go 1-0 down to to West Brom and in the week, it's going to go and it's going to go badly because it was, and and I didn't anticipate it on Saturday, but it went, didn't it? You know, kind of there was points where I was just like, actually, you could get really nasty.
00:07:49
Speaker
If, if Wrexham had scored a fourth, which by no means was beyond the realms of possibility, it would have gone and it would have gone really nasty. think it was because it was so terrible. The goals were so bad. The third goal they scored, Josh Windus, great goal. You can't really argue too much with that one.
00:08:08
Speaker
You can close him down. Yeah, you can, but you' a bit more yeah it happens. The other two were absolutely diabolical. like yeah And carbon copies. That was the thing that was so frustrating. you just just you's got the He's got the freedom of the county to stroll down the right-hand side.
00:08:24
Speaker
And then he had ah he had his choice of who which open player in the box does he want to pass to. And I did boo the second one. And I'm not a booer normally. in my Now, we've had exchanges on Twitter about you booing Claire. I mean, bloody hell.
00:08:36
Speaker
I was like, no, boo. was like, it's just an expression of displeasure though, isn't it? It's a human reaction. And I'm sorry, but who the hell would have, you know, who was pleased with what they just seen? Not me, not anybody. So that's just, you know, that's why people booed in that moment.
00:08:52
Speaker
But I think the biggest worry for me was that Liam Manning talked all summer about high class basics and doing the basics well and, you know, making sure that we're doing the fundamentals well and, you know, having this base to build from.
00:09:05
Speaker
And that was the plan. And I can get behind that, you know, kind of if the messaging is right, we're going to were to sort out the defence. We're going to be, you know, kind of rugged. We're going to be obdurate. we're You know, we're going to be workmanlike. All right. In his defence, we had that against Coventry, right? Against Coventry. But I don't even want to get into Coventry because we were fucking bad. No, I know.
00:09:28
Speaker
No, I know. we this But we haven't been. So we haven't been that in... maybe what, four of the last five games? Yeah, maybe Coventry. we We defended our box really, really well. That's all we did really well against Coventry.
00:09:38
Speaker
you know kind of like But against Wrexham, the shortcomings were so obvious, I felt. I mean, how Jose Cordova doesn't get hooked after 25 minutes, to be honest with you. Or we change shape or we do something to adjust.
00:09:55
Speaker
And Kellen Fisher must be sat there on the bench. You're not right. you he's a right back and you know you'd be shoving him in at left back. But his instincts are full back-ish, whereas and Jose's just aren't, and that's evident.
00:10:07
Speaker
Did Kellen play on the other side? and I didn't really pay much attention to
Defensive Shortcomings & Player Performance
00:10:11
Speaker
the Coventry game, but someone he was playing on his wrong side in that game, was so he? played right he started at right back. Krizena got injured, so he switched to left and Stacey came on. And he and he actually looked probably better that game at left back than he did at right.
00:10:25
Speaker
So a couple of things. So what I was saying about the Cove game um was the that that was, you know, thou shalt not pass, you know, really, really ah strong in the tackle, great mentality, high fives for every clearance, you know, celebrating clearances like a goal.
00:10:47
Speaker
And ah you hit the nail on the head when you say, cool, if the messaging is we're going to become hard to beat and then we'll try and sort out what we do with the ball, then fine. However, to with to your point around we don't look well coached, how many times have we said it Like to us mere mortals, to us punters who just have played a bit of Sunday League and and are not tactically adept at all,
00:11:12
Speaker
Um, the only way really that we can, uh, diagnose good coaching is if we see things again and again. So if we see Norwich turn up and we keep seeing that type of pass or that type of shape or that type of goal or that type of defensive display or, or, oh, Harry Darling somehow is always at the front post to clear those corners or whatever it might be, that points to coaching, right? And i know that might be basic, but, but that is the way that we have measured the last several managers on this podcast.
00:11:41
Speaker
Because again, like I say, to, to those of us in the pub, that is kind of our way of, of going, well, that they must be being told to do that because they do it all the time. They keep creating those chances. Whereas, whereas if you follow up a defensively fantastic, one of the best rear guard actions we've had in a long time, such a shame that we were rubbish going forward at Cov. and If you follow that up with,
00:12:03
Speaker
like schoolboy Sunday league, like under eights, just wide open spaces. And we've got to start going through the personnel because Manning came on... Can just touch on Cov though, just for a moment, mate, before go through the personnel?
00:12:18
Speaker
Because I do think there was some really good last ditch defending... But I think i think personally, the kind of us digging in and and being, you know, kind of really hard to beat is being slightly overplayed because Coventry missed a hatful of chances. And that was their, you know, they were just profligate rather than, you know, kind of us being brilliant defensively.
00:12:39
Speaker
So I think there are patterns starting to emerge because Wrexham, I mean, we were porous against Wrexham. It was just unbelievable, you know, kind of how how badly we got exposed. you know Not so much in the first half. Not so much in the first half. I thought we we they did turn us around a lot.
00:12:53
Speaker
and I mean, even well does that Josh Windass and Kiefer Moore are turning us around. I mean, both lads, you know, kind of probably early to mid-30s with very little pace. I mean, Wrexham are a team...
00:13:06
Speaker
Josh Windass is their captain. but Yeah. One thing that disappointed me was that Kiefer Moore really did seem to have a sort of a good sense of humor, which annoyed me ah because like he he enjoyed being a pantomime villain, and played composer to the drum saying that he was fucking shit.
00:13:25
Speaker
And like he is fucking shit. But he he will he his ability to hold the ball up against us at times when we were being frustrated because... yeah The possession shows, that the completed passes.
00:13:37
Speaker
we We as Norwich fans have been here before where we say where where the manager will say data-wise, we had more of the ball. But if you look at like the meaningful passes, like so again, Conor did a great job but and on the pink in talking about ah how you have...
00:13:52
Speaker
and you know, the the the meaningful passes and the XG both for and against and how we're bottom six in basically every stat that points to we're good to watch or we look like we might score in a minute.
00:14:04
Speaker
that And that was why that that was why the intro was the way it is. It's effectively, you take Josh and you replace Vlad with George Long and you replace Josh with anti-Cernat's we are in the bottom three.
00:14:17
Speaker
Like, if not, we're just already relegated because the rest of the clubs have just come together and said, come on, let's save ourselves the effort of travelling to Norfolk. Like, they are covering up a world of ah pain right now. So I want to go through the personnel because Manning actually made the point that he's going to make changes and he made...
00:14:34
Speaker
to your point of him not being bombastic and he is a little bit underwhelming and he doesn't shout rant and rave as much as I like my managers And was a lot closer to him on Saturday than I usually am at a different vantage point.
00:14:46
Speaker
yeah But it alarmed me. You know when there's like a break in play the manager will kind of give it the, you know, come here, come here, I want chat. And, you know, they weren't,
00:14:58
Speaker
You can tell when players are engaged with their coach, they will sprint over, they will be listening, that you know kind of they they will want to take on that instruction. It didn't look like that on Saturday. Now, some of that might be game state, some of that might just be it was 3-1.
00:15:10
Speaker
But, you know, kind of it they feel like the game's gone. But even then, attitudinally, if that is the case at 3-1, you know, if they've given it up, then, you know, that's worry about the players. But with 20 minutes to go three against a team who have just come up and are almost certainly going to be bottom eight.
00:15:25
Speaker
And that's being kind. Like that is, yeah we've already created chances in the game. Like we had five shots on target. Like we have... You know, we it's not like there hadn't been a single shot. we You know, we had other chances well.
00:15:38
Speaker
and You know, Joe McCormick on another day gets his brace and, you know, it spares our but blushes, missed an open goal at the end, which again, to be fair, would have meant we came out of it with a point and it would have been, oh, good fight back, but the stands were empty by then and it it would have, that again would have papered over some of these cracks.
00:15:58
Speaker
He was offside anyway, wasn't he? he was offside. No, McConaugh had a header that missed an open goal. I think that was still at 3-1, wasn't he? He had his header. I think I might be wrong. Anyway, point was, it was nearly empty when it happened. And the and the point still stands that had he scored that and his other tap-in, we wouldve we
Data-Driven Strategies & Ownership Expectations
00:16:14
Speaker
would probably be saying, holy moly, we got a point. But that was Tross.
00:16:18
Speaker
on the On the thing about your um ah the way that we're run and and and the leadership, I think... some of the tone with which, ah some of the way with which the, um the way the manager has started saying, we're going to need to change players and play. People are letting me down and people going need, you know, people have had their chance.
00:16:40
Speaker
I think some of that rhetoric from him comes from the fact that he probably knows that he hasn't got all season to, to get this right. You know, the, the Brewers have just, who he shared, you know, who are our siblings in, in baseball or whatever,
00:16:52
Speaker
owned by the same people. They've just clinched their third straight division. Like the Atanasio lot, they know how to put together a roster of players in whatever sport is. Yeah, okay, they're going to be leaning on the data in the analytics. And and and if Napa is not building a squad in a way that, i mean, I'll be honest, I haven't looked at it. I can't stand baseball, but and that's not fair. I've not really given it a chance. I don't need to spend seven hours watching and another sport.
00:17:14
Speaker
and But who whoever they've got, um you know, Jenny Evans or whoever it is who's putting together an amazing squad to win three straight titles over in in baseball. mean, know it's not the World Series, but still their their division to go through the playoffs whatever. that's what That is their bar for what you should be able to do. You should be creating a playoff-ready squad.
00:17:33
Speaker
and if and And I think that Napa might go before Manning does um from from that point of view because if we go through the personnel, I have been so underwhelmed by so many of the signings. Now, the fact there's been so many signings means that I'm almost in a position to be underwhelmed because there are so many players.
00:17:52
Speaker
But Vlad, I think you can say, i mean, he stopped at being six or seven. i mean, he made two or three outstanding saves again. And what's he going to do with easy shots from eight yards out? Windas, if he's given that much time on the edge of the box and he hits it that crisply,
00:18:08
Speaker
99% of goalkeepers in in world football are not going to get there. I mean, he took it brilliantly. um he shouldn't have had that much time. He shouldn't have been able to have the ball there. But whatever the point is, yeah you take your hat off to him. you know And to your point, we're in the championship. This championship football. There are good players in this division who can score goals if you give them time and space.
00:18:25
Speaker
And as we as we say when people are being really pantwetty about it, um the other team are allowed to try and score. like They are allowed to try score goals and and we're not going to get loads in those clean sheets because clean sheets aren't very rare aren't very common in the Championship because most players aren't good and most teams aren't good enough to routinely get them. Burnley was a real anomaly the other year.
00:18:44
Speaker
So... I think, Vlad, you say, yeah, tick, tick, tick, well done. um Across the back line, Darling, I still think is a really good sign-in. Medici was at fault for so many of other people's and either mistakes or nearly mistakes.
00:19:01
Speaker
So but it's one of those things that once you start noticing something, you then see more and more examples of it. But one against Wrexham, the ball, he spends so much time deciding what he's going to do.
00:19:14
Speaker
He then plays the pass that was on and was probably the obvious pass when he first got the ball from Darling, who he usually is receiving the ball from, um that when he then finally plays it into Topic or when he then plays it into Mattson, they've then got someone breathing down their neck right on them and they're having to hurry to try and do whatever they otherwise would have done quite easily when they still had that extra couple of yards.
00:19:34
Speaker
So even though his pass is incomplete, like ratio or or total probably doesn't look that bad. Again, if you actually watch the game, he is, he's delaying so much the ball that we play when we do that horseshoe thing, which is boring if you do it too often, but Norwich have been doing it since Farca.
00:19:51
Speaker
And if you do that, ah rusball Russ Ball, Russ Martin Ball, then and you at least have to do it quickly so that there's the opportunity to take. So if the players don't on the other team don't shift across in time, you can you can progress it.
00:20:04
Speaker
and Serious question, right? Serious question on the back line. Yeah. Would you rather Harry Darling, right centre-back, stick Cordoba, left centre-back, or pivot to Shane Duffy?
00:20:21
Speaker
I think I'd rather have Cordoba purely because of the pace. So even on Saturday in the first half, he eased people out of out of... Usually when he was slightly more inside on the left, he was showed he was capable of making up ground.
00:20:37
Speaker
The number of goals last year that we don't concede if Duffy has even 10% more pace than he's got. his His lack of pace means that any time he's turned, he might as well not be on the pitch. yeah He's just out of the equation. And it might depend who's right fullback as well, you know, kind of to to cover his blushes in that regard. But I don't know. I mean, you know, if it was a straight choice for me on a footballing level right now between, say, Medich and Duffy and the Duffy of last season and the Medich of what I've seen so far this season, I'm probably taking Shane Duffy. Now, you know, there's many other reasons why I i don't personally pick Shane Duffy, you know, kind of in a Norwich City starting XI and would not have picked him in the Norwich City starting XI in a playoff semi-final, you know, but
00:21:18
Speaker
we're way beyond that. And actually, you know, kind of, it feels like we're, um we're at a point where changes need to be made. Claire, what say you? I mean, yeah Shane Duffy, did he was pretty decent last year, but he's not played at all.
00:21:35
Speaker
So to put him in now, um i i know what you're trying to say is one, you know, is he better than Medici in terms of they're both immobile and slow and,
00:21:46
Speaker
Possibly the version of him last year, yes. But right now, I think Medici is improving compared to what I saw at the very beginning. i actually thought he he was okay on Saturday.
00:21:59
Speaker
ah so just i was so fixated on Cordova, to be honest, and how terrible... Yeah, he's he's the biggest issue in that backline, definitely. i But if you play him at left-back, right, then he's going to be like... No, I agree, we agree. he would yeah i blog in cordoba and I would pick and Darling, I think...
00:22:16
Speaker
and But I almost feel like you have to drop Cordova to the bench on Saturday, irrelevant of who's injured, because you can't send a message to the squad that you can be that shit. Irrelevant if you're playing that position. i don't care if you've got him in goal.
00:22:27
Speaker
If you're that bad in the job we've asked you to do you don't get a shirt on Saturday. I think it might have led to one of the goals where he went up for a header and he didn't really have anyone around him. And he had the option of Norwich player to his right, Rexham player to his left, who were quite spread out.
00:22:45
Speaker
And he headed it straight to the Wrexham player. Yeah. And I just lost my shit at that point. And my sister's like, calm down. he didn't He couldn't see. He was like looking up in the sky. was like, I'm sorry.
00:22:57
Speaker
He's a professional footballer. It's his job to see. It's his job. He had plenty of time check out where they were before he looked up to the ball. I just, oh, my God. No. so So I think... Can you tell it I'm angry?
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah. but but but this is So we we we were talking whilst we were waiting for but pun Punt and I have been exchanging having difficulty with our children in the last couple of days, which is why we're a little bit late this this week. um So apologies for from us both.
00:23:22
Speaker
However, and mostly my fault. ah Claire and I were talking before we came on about the the phrase that was... there was trotted out by Rob Budder on Saturday you're here after games like that. um you know Fans have spent their hard-earned money.
00:23:39
Speaker
For me, it's less about the money. It's ah just a hobby that I choose to fund and I can't afford to go and see them 46 times season, but I can afford a season ticket. and It's not about so much the money, although yeah that's ah a nice thing to say.
00:23:52
Speaker
For me, it's far more about even if it was free, I would still be absolutely furious because I've had a really hard stressful week. I have a job that puts loads of stress on me. I don't do a real job like Claire actually helping and saving people. and But i yeah I still feel ah quite a lot of stress and I work really long hours.
00:24:08
Speaker
And there are times during my busy weeks when I think, oh, home match on Saturday, go to the pub beforehand, have a chat, you know, me and me and my lad will go on to the game and cheer and Sarge will score because he always does. And when you are greeted with that level of...
00:24:25
Speaker
abject poor performance and lack of discipline and lack of energy and players with, like I say, the freedom of Norfolk to just canter down the right hand side. it' still That shouldn't happen at the championship level.
00:24:39
Speaker
And if it does happen, it must be because someone's either off the field or has become injured. And therefore, when that person gets to the edge of the box and looks across, there certainly won't be two people free in the middle and the ah opposite wing of, oh no, they're all available as well.
00:24:52
Speaker
I mean, like you said, oh John, about being badly coached, that can't happen. ah sir i mean, and again, every now and again, you have a, everyone has a brain fart and these mad things happen in football, right? Like that goalkeeper who probably isn't going to, from the first game, Middlesbrough was it, he's not going to kick a ball against Josh's arse, against the player's arse again.
00:25:12
Speaker
However, these things do happen. But with bad coaching, They happen again and again. Three in 15 minutes. I don't know if that 13 minutes, right? I don't know if that was poor coaching or whether it was just complete
Midfield Dynamics & Player Expectations
00:25:25
Speaker
heads gone. Because I'm sorry, any centre-back in the world, any right-back in the world who, when your left side has been flooded and exposed...
00:25:36
Speaker
been flooded and exposed You sprint back and you mark the man. i mean, that's Sunday league defending. in And there was just none of it, but just absolute none of it. and And so when Manning's come out, and you're right, he has gone early on the, you know, players are disappointed in me, they're not really putting it in properly card.
00:25:53
Speaker
And, you know, you can't play that card that many times before it you know it starts reflecting really badly on him. But he's right. like you know Where were they? like you know And this is Harry Darling. where's toy darling you kind of absent where's Well, Topic as well.
00:26:07
Speaker
Where's Mattson? Mattson. ah thought I thought Mattson. I know you were you weren't big on Mattson, sadly. I thought he was really poor. I thought he was okay. I thought Topic was really poor. I thought Mattson was fine for the kind of game that we've thrown him in. Was it not Diallo, though? He did absolutely nothing to help Cordoba. Yeah, he was hopeless. And that's why Cordoba was so exposed the whole time because Diallo absolutely nothing. Diallo looks like he's been signed on stats.
00:26:33
Speaker
he looks like he's He looks like he's been signed on the back of a top trump a top trump card. I mean, he's fast. I actually said, can we not just get O'Neill Hernandez back on a game-by-game contract? His end product is good so and more fun.
00:26:46
Speaker
We've had a few minutes in flashes of him where there's clearly ability and there's clearly technical capability. But if he's going to do it one in six games, like you say, well, O'Neill does it one in six games if you played him as often as...
00:26:57
Speaker
you know, if you started O'Neill in six games, you would get two good crosses out of him. So might as well do that because he will certainly run back. I mean, he might accidentally slip over and knock a player over and give away a red card, but he tried. I think little bit harsh.
00:27:10
Speaker
That's the first time I've seen him and thought, well, hang on. Like yeah he hasn't had a great game. I thought that was his first poor game um on Saturday. so i I don't, I think d think he was good against Coventry.
00:27:21
Speaker
don't think he was good, but I don't think he was terrible. And I think that's the difference to me. I think he was awful against Wrexham, like genuinely awful. It's the lack of outlet that he is. so And this is my this is my key issue with Mattson on Saturday.
00:27:35
Speaker
the The role that he needs to play, and he is unfortunate that two of the best to do it in a Norwich shirt of late are not available. So Nunez, sorry i said his name, so he said we weren't going to. oh i thought we got I thought we'd go this season without doing that.
00:27:51
Speaker
And you fucked it on the second pod. Let's just start again now. Sorry. Edit it out. No, no, no. You can't be asked to do that. I'm talking about it in a positive light from back when the old times when we thought that he wasn't filth scum.
00:28:11
Speaker
When he was my favourite. yeah I stopped myself going using the full phrase for your benefit, Claire. But him and it and Kenny... the but him and it and kenny are both examples of and finding a way to give, whether it be Duffy, whether it be Medic, whether it be a darling, whatever, just either drop between the two of them, come and take it from the goalie sometimes, like make a run so that Diallo, there is a route through to Diallo.
00:28:44
Speaker
The number of times Mattson and Topic, but particularly Mattson, who's supposed to be the ball player of the two, when Medici and Darling had the ball and the crowd were getting restless, this is know one ni and the crowd are getting restless and we're playing it really slowly and there doesn't seem seemingly there seems to be no one to pass to.
00:29:02
Speaker
but they are your That is where your two central midfielders are supposed to make a run, drag them in. There was a blonde lad, Markin Mattson, and which is noticeable because they sort looked the same.
00:29:14
Speaker
But there was a bright blonde haired lad for Wrexham, didn't get get the number, don't care, don't know Wrexham's players apart from Doyle, who was who had an awful game um and should have been sent off for an elbow. That was right in front of the Paul and Samarish brigade punts. We'll come into that in a minute.
00:29:26
Speaker
But he was constantly of six yards away and just stood watching the action. No running, no taking his man anywhere, not moving around again and again and again and again and again.
00:29:37
Speaker
And it's another those things that once you notice how little and how ineffectual he's been. Now, did he drop a shoulder a couple of times? Yes. He set up one really good chance in the second half, which I messaged you about having said at half time he was crap but in the first half and you disagreed.
00:29:51
Speaker
and the um Did he show that he's a bit tenacious and he's got a bit of um swagger and a bit of strength in the channel challenge? yes But the the problem was what we needed him to do in that game was play the snake or Kenny role.
00:30:08
Speaker
And he did he was not fit to lace either of their boots. And I know it's his first game. So it's his first game. yeah, no, get it. And I thought you still thought he was a six out of ten, maybe a five out ten for his first game. ah from Comparatively to some of his colleagues on the pitch, ah and and compared to Topic, Topic was...
00:30:25
Speaker
his that That was Topic's worst game in a yellow shirt by some distance. the same And he was so good two games ago. can't yeah but Yeah, it's weird, isn't it Two games ago, Topic was saying how we think Topic is starting to get better. but I do feel like Latsun got better when he went off because maybe they're too... We were supposed to be buying one of them and we end up with both of them. Are they actually very similar players in that maybe...
00:30:48
Speaker
He was like, well, I'm supposed to be doing that and then ended up doing not much. But as soon as Topic went off, he was like, okay, this is my job now. And he was much more connected. I think that's because he yeah he had industry around him at that point, didn't he? Yeah, the subs were much – they were really good, the subs. they were him um Gibbs really good is probably, you know, kind of in terms of from a technical standpoint, is the most limited – midfielder that we've got on the books, you know, kind of like, but actually, did he put it in? Did he get his foot in? Did he bust a gut? He did all of those things. And it suddenly, immediately made the midfield's job or, the you know he's the you know, kind of ah Mattson's job a little bit easier.
00:31:25
Speaker
but But that should be the bare minimum. That should be what everyone's doing. To be fair to Manning, that is what Manning said. it should be the bare minimum. That's what he expects. But going back to the Napa thing, I am as big a Kenny McLean fan as you will find anywhere on planet Earth. You're joking, aren't You're joking, boy.
00:31:43
Speaker
the We shouldn't be in a situation where someone of his age gets a back injury and we are unable to progress the ball. And long-standing back injury apparently as well.
00:31:54
Speaker
Well, yeah but but yeah. So even so, which is even worse, right? You know that he could sort he needs to be managed. He needs to like an Alex, like Alex Teti never used to pra train or whatever, but you know, it needs to be managed.
00:32:05
Speaker
We, and okay. So Mattson is, maybe they were a little bit surprised by the fact that Snake actually did go and they couldn't talk him around and maybe Mattson was their first choice, which they sort bigged up and hoped that we believe or whatever.
00:32:17
Speaker
you know, originally, and it was that they were playing silly buggers with the transfers. And that's why he wasn't the first one we signed. But if you think about the fact that in 2025, 26, again, going back to the Atanasio's Norfolk Holding Ventures group, whatever they're called, looking at Napa and his job is to build a squad that can challenge for the playoffs.
00:32:40
Speaker
we can't be relying on a 30-whatever-year-old who um is is good for, even when he's fit most of the time, you know he is he will try as hard as anyone. He'll point more than anyone.
Management's Impact & Coaching Alternatives
00:32:52
Speaker
he's He's allowed to have a couple of bad games every now and again because he's an international butt for Scotland and he's a really good footballer, but he is a championship footballer.
00:32:59
Speaker
So he isn't going to do 46 amazing games because otherwise he wouldn't be playing the championship, Yeah. if if you take him out and we suddenly look completely incapable of moving the ball forwards progressively and we don't seem to have a clue of how to do it, that is the really disturbing thing for me. is and So Paddy said this on his um ah in his his review of the game, that the players don't look like they know what they're trying to do. No. But do you think, so Manning kind of talked about
00:33:30
Speaker
He's talked about basics and this week is going to be back to basics. And he it keeps using the word basics when... he's tried to employ an incredibly fluid system, you know, kind of through throughout. So it's is it three at the back?
00:33:43
Speaker
Is it four? Have we, you know, kind of like it in terms of the forward line, but no one really knows what they're looking at. And does that back to basics thing mean, and um you know, he's not going to go full Mike Bassett and, you know, full, full fucking two whatever, but you know there there might be an element of that, you know, that he has to go, right. Okay. You all,
00:34:02
Speaker
if I put you in this shape, you all know your jobs, just do the basics, you know, hit the channels, you know, we've got enough pace. I don't know. Maybe that's what we're going to be looking at on Saturday, you know, kind of the right to be fluid. Like basically get us in, get us into the season, get us mid table and, but mid table by playing some okay football rather than mid table by scraping a few victories and then go, just going to try this lads in, you know, in the FA cup third round, let me try this or whatever.
00:34:29
Speaker
and rather than maybe it was arrogance to try and do that with a bunch of people who were also trying to learn the city, learn the language, learn the culture, learn the league, learn each other's names. it's It's incredibly frustrating because if you think about where we've come from with the and the projects,
00:34:48
Speaker
and you know we they they will he will have been briefed. to say, don't say project, don't say transition, don't say it's going to take time any of that stuff. Cause this, you know, this is where as Norwich fans, we almost think to your point, punt, I still think they made the wrong decision. Um, I still would have kept Wilshere.
00:35:12
Speaker
And the reason is our expectations would have been lower because we would have, it would have been like, well, of course he's still working it out. This is his first ever club. Rewind even further. Do you think some of these signings might have suited Johanneshoff a little bit better than they would Liam Manning?
00:35:27
Speaker
Some of them must have already been lined surely. If we'd signed Kovacevic and Darling and just given them to Johannes... Yeah, they're great. I want to talk about, i know we've got some list of questions. We'll come to them in one sec.
00:35:40
Speaker
I just want to talk about the the the forward line. So, you know, Chris Govan typical, gets scores his goal and then gets injured. and Sarge missed the chance that you would expect him to score, but, you know, he's earned himself enough brownie points. he he Again, should he you can't have a striker who, unless you see unless he scores, you lose. that That can't be your game plan. You only you only have to score every week, Josh.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah. That can't be like the bare minimum of him. um Whereas I want to talk about Sinats because we said at the start of the season, we feel like the whole squad and all the fans, I can't remember the last time people wanting a signing to work out. and maybe I feel like he's been given so much, but he's been toilet this season. Like he huffs and puffs, but he his his the number of times...
00:36:27
Speaker
that he is expecting a ball and he goes left and the ball goes right or vice versa. And he does that. He seems to be on a different page to everyone else, almost every game. And he's not creating chances for himself, which we can expect to this level because Borja does it.
00:36:42
Speaker
That number 32, I think he was on the right side, did it twice for Wrexham. I think if you look at his highlight reel from when we signed him, that kind of was his thing. He would be able to pick up the ball from deep. He would be able to run. He'd have a pot shot with his left foot from 20 yards. You know, he was pretty good at that. And weirdly enough, so one of the listener questions we have, Thomas, is probably, it's from Jamie Ellison, with his tongue firmly in his cheek. And it says, is Tom still enjoying this, what it, the brand of football? I think it is. Because in the first kind of couple of pods,
00:37:13
Speaker
you were all in on Manning ball. And we I think, I mean, you know, I ah couldn't believe that you you were you felt like it was better than what Torrup's, you know, kind of start of play was at that that stage of the season. But look, you know, we were getting results and it was all right.
00:37:30
Speaker
But I went back to the corresponding weekend gay under Torrup, which was a 4-1 victory against Watford at home. And Sernach was really effective in that game. Like, if you look at the highlights, he was properly effective. And and it's like,
00:37:44
Speaker
What's gone wrong for that lad? Is it just that, I don't know, there's something in the way in which he's been asked to receive the ball, the positions that he's been asked to take up that just don't suit him as an individual? But it isn't different, surely. He's played in the same place as Tom played him.
00:38:01
Speaker
but it what It's not like we've switched him to left-back. We switched him to the left once, didn't we? And I was like, actually, that's because we never really seen him in off the left. know he's a left footer. So so obviously the um the answer is no. And a part of that yeah yeah but part part of that is early season euphoria.
00:38:19
Speaker
Mate, if you don't get carried away, it's not on the Long Come Nourish podcast, is it? Well, the the the point is, what you know, it's... if you i like the I liked some of what I was seeing. The the issue is, to your point of being regressive, we've seen less and less of it. like If you go back to those those early kind of three or four games, we we were hanging on a little bit, but yeah there were bits of the Portsmouth game, nowhere near enough. But yeah we played Middlesbrough.
00:38:45
Speaker
First 25 minutes against Middlesbrough, we were excellent. We played some really good stuff. Then Middlesbrough got back in the game and you know they the second half was was far more even. and But I stand by the fact that yeah that they in those first three or four games, we were on, I thought Millwall, individual mistakes aside, we were definitely the better team in the first half.
00:39:06
Speaker
And then again, second half, we got outcoached. Same thing has happened again Wrexham. We were quite poor in the first half, but still I thought, look, just we sort of just shaded it. And then Mark Parkinson made a very slight change, putting two putting someone up next to Kiefer Moore and we didn't have...
00:39:24
Speaker
an answer for it for 15 minutes. I kind of disagree. I think the last two collective 90-minute performances, i think I think we've been thoroughly outplayed. I think that's why it's so disappointing. I think maybe just Wrexham were so bad. maybe Maybe they were doing better than but they were doing better than playing so badly. We've gone backwards. like all and know We were all at the beginning and I was sort of like, we've got to be patient, you know and everyone was saying it. We've got so many new players and new coach and, okay, we'll give it August and before the international break, and then after that, you know maybe we'll stop start getting better and better but we've we've got worse since the international break and that's why I'm like what the hell is going on like this this isn't the plan ah you know people will start to lose patience because by now you'd hope that you would be seeing an improvement and more of a pattern of play that we can you know grab hold of be like okay this is what what we're going to but it is
00:40:19
Speaker
gone completely the other way. It's like he just banged a load of players on the pitch on Saturday and said, run around and see what you can do. though I don't know what the plan was. Well, I don't know what ah don't know what changes he's going to make because...
00:40:33
Speaker
ah not play cordoba at left back course well I mean I think like I say i I think it sends a really bad unless unless there's a ridiculous and ne unless there's two more defensive injuries that happen in training this week how close is Mahovo to it at the moment because i know they were kind of saying he was back in training if he's got one leg put him out there yeah and no me less I mean I chucked the one-legged 19 year old in brilliant no pressure yeah Yeah.
00:40:59
Speaker
Go on, give us another question. um From Matthew McGregor. It can't get any worse, can it? Well, he was apoplectic like two weeks ago. I mean, he was he was at his wits' end. Come on, you're supposed to go for Mick McCarthy. oh It can. like that i mean, it it can because of the because the result they' the teams we've got coming up. I mean it mean, it could be. Either that or it will spare us into life and we'll be hipswitch away and then we'll.
00:41:29
Speaker
that that could be the catalyst performance right you know that it was just so bad and something had to change and we kind of stumbled upon the formula was gonna say it was it like it was a relegation battle the dark the dark the first derby that season it was it was basically these two but what was we were fifth from bottom they were second bottom something like that hardly one again it was it was it was poor ah like character and then away we go I was there. i was there. I was there with Lorne and a couple of other folks. That was that was fun.
00:41:56
Speaker
It was fun because of the way round the goals were. It wouldn't have been as fun the other round. If this continues, the the regression or – I mean it mean, it doesn't have to get any worse than this. If it continues to to be anything like this bad – he won't see the next international break.
00:42:16
Speaker
I mean, he, he will be binned off and and it's a real shame because I, I like the guy. I don't, I would prefer him to be a bit more bombastic. I, I would, he wouldn't have been my appointment, but ah he, he, you know, I like the fact that he's homegrown lad and I like that he, I do like the way he talks about the game and I loved so much of what he said before a ball was kicked.
00:42:38
Speaker
like yeah Yeah, he says all the right things. He still says all the right things. If you take him I'm calling high-performance Liam Manning and that is absolutely it. Oh, don't, because that ruins him. he yeah but but Don't that. Don't put that in my head.
00:42:50
Speaker
He's saying high-level basics all the time. You can't say that and then not expect to be judged Jake. Well, luckily, I don't know if that is a phrase because luckily I block all of that out. I don't have to have any of that. But, i mean, it is... and No, i can't I can't let my brain go there. Give me another...
00:43:08
Speaker
So this is this is the pertinent question then, I think. So so Steve, Steve NCFC on Twitter, ah says, do you think Napa can actually sack Manning this season without Atanasio slash Zoe Weber slash Mr. Carrow deciding that Napa is also the problem. I think they clean house. I think they clean house. I think, yeah, I think he's handcuffed now too.
00:43:30
Speaker
He's chosen two managers and they' they've both been, one's been left field and one was not left field, but um a change when we had someone in the building who wanted to do the job.
00:43:42
Speaker
But do you not think, like on paper... The players we've signed, and i and I still believe they are good players. I just think they're playing a terrible system. And the manager is a proven manager at this level.
00:43:54
Speaker
So I feel a little bit sorry for Napa that he's kind of been mis-sold something here because I don't think any of us disagreed with any of the appointment of of Manning because he'd he'd just done what he'd done with Bristol City.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah, no, that makes sense. And he'd had you know a good sort of track record. Yeah. But think it's the on-paper element, isn't it, right? For me, it's the... No, it is on paper, but he's done it. Everything on the paper seems good. But the the bit for me, that you know not this is listening to people sometimes in the game.
00:44:24
Speaker
And I was saying this on Saturday post-match. I was like, actually, there are loads of managers out there, head coaches, whatever you want to call them, but that are really capable and are really savvy. But actually, a lot of them will say, but you can't succeed without the right environment around them.
00:44:41
Speaker
yeah And I guess that sits with Napa, doesn't it? that you know Is he creating the right kind of environment? ah you know, around Colney, around Carrow Road on match day. And I don't know, you know, he's massively in inexperienced. But going back to would they bin him if Manning doesn't work out, if Manning is perceived to be a failure?
00:44:59
Speaker
ah kind of think they have to. Like he he placed so much of his own personal stock into Johannes Hof Tourer
00:45:09
Speaker
And he was all in on him, like absolutely all on in on him. You know, kind of if you speak to anyone around the club, they were like, he he literally used the language, like if we can get him, the only thing we'll have to worry about is losing him.
00:45:22
Speaker
You know kind of that that that was his mantra for Torep.
00:45:27
Speaker
you know, like, you know, if you if you go that hard on someone and then the next one doesn't work out as well, I don't see, you know, I don't think any Atanasios are going to mess around, you know, kind of like old Norfolk holding or whatever you you call
Accountability & Tactical Adjustments
00:45:38
Speaker
them. I just think they will be like, no, that this says this doesn't this hasn't worked.
00:45:42
Speaker
You seem like a nice fella. It does seem like a really knowledgeable, good bloke, I think with Napa. that That's the thing. I just wonder whether he might be a little bit out of his depth at this stage. yeah i i i he doesn't he has never filled me with any confidence he's never he's never got me like webber had had some real um cons that went with some of the pros and congratulations on your new job in japan yeah so today have you seen his picture with the little kind of you know kind of like crossed arms in his little tracksuit i was like oh that's cute
00:46:13
Speaker
Well, so we've had, look, we he bought he was part of the team that bought us, let's have it right, some of the most incredible footballing years of our lives. Like, you know, I'll always have a soft spot for him and I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for for just how old fashioned he was in some other ways as well. Because it's just funny that someone refuses to be progressive in in a club that is really quite progressive in lots of areas. Hilarious.
00:46:34
Speaker
But anyway, yeah. He did at times have me thinking I would run through brick walls if I pulled on an orange shirt and in your, in your environment. I don't get that from Manning at the moment.
00:46:46
Speaker
And I've, I've never had it for Napa. Napa to me seems like a really cold, um, like he's like, ah he's like a zoo. He feels like he's like a zoom call. and executive. like He would want to have all his meetings on teams. He wouldn't want to be in the office. and i I don't know. ah i Yeah, he seems nice. He clearly is knowledgeable. like You don't get to where he was at, Arsenal, what have you, without but being top boy.
00:47:11
Speaker
Too many of his players at the moment have underwhelmed me. and That doesn't mean that in three in doesn't mean that in three months' time, Diallo has found his form. Sargent continues to score.
00:47:22
Speaker
Kriskovic comes back and and picks up where he left off. And, you know, I've really enjoyed watching Kriskovic. It's been frustrating how little we've seen him, even before the like the big injury. You know, Jorasek, I thought, you know, did some had some nice flashes, but he can't mean that he wants to change him because he's hardly given the lad a run.
00:47:41
Speaker
So, like, to me, I feel like... No, he was one of the better players on Saturday. Yeah, I thought okay. Yeah, he showed flashes, I thought, yeah. Yeah, and so you think... and ah who There was someone, ah um I did go briefly on Reddit, mainly because I was looking at the post-mortem of the Pax game, and and which was fucking diabolical as well. But never mind, bad weekend for sport.
00:48:00
Speaker
But apart from Roos, Rugby, Wildland Crusaders, they won. What is this podcast becoming? Anyway, look, Norwich aren't doing for me. I can't. got to try and find some... Norwich women won. There you go, look. Great, great win against London Bees. That was excellent.
00:48:18
Speaker
Have we heard about the the potential knee injury? there was ah There was a worry on an injury out there. Yeah, I don't think there's been any news, but Ellie Smith is a phenomenal player. So yeah, get well soon because she's excellent. Yeah, a prepping Cottonmouth.
00:48:29
Speaker
Yeah, so and I did see that someone mentioned and they don't get to the Carroll Road very often. and They're not a Norwich fan, but they get get to Carroll Road couple times a season. Where is your centre attacking McFielder? Where's your 10?
00:48:42
Speaker
And I was like, that's it. They've nailed it. yeah But if if you are an alien or if you are extreme, if you're someone who doesn't watch Norwich very often, you haven't got be an alien. and If you're a human doesn't watch Norwich very often, if you haven't got an alien, and you've probably got other questions if you come to Norfolk.
00:48:55
Speaker
and You would probably say um what you don't have, go back to all those successful squads that we've had. Where's your Hux? Where's your Emmy? Where's your Wessie?
00:49:06
Speaker
You know, where where is that? like Well, and and in that Farker team, where's your Steepi? Where's your Steepi? Because he linked it. Where's your Terrap? Where's your, you know, where's your Ward-Prowse?
00:49:17
Speaker
but but where But where's like your your player who plays mostly in the middle, who's going to do something that you're not expecting him to do? Someone who's going drive you forward and link the play. And that's what we haven't got right now. Who's going to beat three players? Who's going to beat four players? who's gonna like Gibbs did it once and created an opportunity, right?
00:49:34
Speaker
but he just He just went, I haven't really got the technical ability to do this, but we're being overly critical of him. he's he's yeah He's been so held back in his development from injury. is that So who would you play in the 10 come Saturday? I mean, I have an idea who I'd play in the 10, but you know kind of who would you guys play in the 10? Yeah.
00:49:50
Speaker
and
00:49:55
Speaker
Probably before the weekend, I probably would have said Marcondes, but then he was toilet when he came on because he he is one of the few unpredictable players we tend to have. Can I put forward an Oscar Schwartel?
00:50:08
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, he he looked annoyed. to he He played on Saturday. he played like he could not believe that these 11 players got a shirt ahead of him. and that was That was the energy.
00:50:20
Speaker
like he He genuinely seemed to come on in a way as if to say, it's taken you this long to bring me on. I'm 19 and I'm better than this lot. So if he again, he's one that if he but he if he flourishes and blossoms and Eurosek keeps his shirt and does more and more of the good 57 seconds we saw on at the weekend, then you start to look at Napa and you go, yeah, a couple of gems there, well done.
00:50:43
Speaker
But it's going to happen in the next three or four games. It does. But the the one thing the one thing I will give Napa massive, massive credit for is the transfer fees that he's extracted out of other football clubs for our players. like He's done £9.5 million pounds on Adam Eder right now. Looks just ridiculous money, doesn't it? played for Swansea yet?
00:51:02
Speaker
Don't know.
00:51:05
Speaker
Did he actually go there? Yeah, I think he did. was aware of that. Yeah, I'm Googling. um This is great content. Don't care.
00:51:16
Speaker
and Our Premier League is the big aim for Swansea, says Adam Eder four days ago. Oh, wow. Okay. Lovely. Six million pounds. Gosh.
00:51:28
Speaker
yeah ah No, he is definitely there, but it doesn't look like he's done anything yet. I'm not going to appease the fans right now, is it? The fact that he's brought in good transfer fees on some of our players. No, but yeah yeah just for balance, I just want to say he's very good at that.
00:51:42
Speaker
For Billy Balance. Okay, so ah we've got a game coming up on Saturday. I would like your guaranteed scoreline and scorers, please, Claire.
00:51:52
Speaker
Who is it? Stoke. Stoke away. Good grief.
00:51:59
Speaker
I don't think we're going to get anything and say we're going to lose 2-0 because I'm really depressed. So can't, even me who's normally quite positive about things, it's going to get worse.
00:52:14
Speaker
Punt's go it probably going to predict the bus breaks down on the way or something. Maybe it'll get pulled off in the rain. You know, that might. That'd be nice. say were now We're not that jammy, are we? Like other people.
00:52:26
Speaker
and I actually think we're going to win on Saturday. And I think we're going to do a one nil ah And I think Kellan Fisher is going to score. He's going to score a thunder bastard.
00:52:40
Speaker
Someone on Canerical said they should play the diamond. They said they should play a diamond with Kellen Fisher at the base of And I thought, if we' now we're just picking up bastard. When he scores it, please clip up Claire laughing me. Please do, please do, because it will mean we've won and Kellen has scored. That's got to be good, but oh my word. If Kellen scores we won the pitch. I'll run up to Stoke and jump on the pitch. Yeah, I think we're going to win four now.
00:53:23
Speaker
can do a very light-hearted quiz to round things off. And we're actually going to... You two can team up because we're going to try and create some camaraderie. Just got five simple questions. And you can between you, see if you can get them right. So feel free to team up.
00:53:36
Speaker
So I'm going to give you a selection of and some of the finest people to ever manage at least one game for Norwich City. So I'm going to give you the answers. And you just have to pick one. How easy is that? So you should get the full marks here. So Paul Lambert.
00:53:50
Speaker
Mike Phelan, Jack Wilshere, Martin O'Neill and Dean Smith. They're your five managers to pick from. So the answers to the following questions are one of those five. So you've got Lambert, Phelan, Wilshere, O'Neill and Smith.
00:54:06
Speaker
Ready? Yeah. Punt looks really confused. but I am a bit confused. and i'm I'm trying to remember all the managers that you said. I should have written them down. But anyway. yeah Okay. It's recorded. You can rewind it. Oh, no, that's not how it works.
00:54:18
Speaker
So out of those five, Lambert, Phelan, Wilshire, Martin O'Neill and Dean Smith, who is the oldest?
00:54:26
Speaker
O'Neill. It's got to be Mike Phelan, right? Martin O'Neill. No? Oh, no. Yeah, it will be Martin O'Neill. Yeah. Well, yeah're you're playing together. I should have had this against you because then Claire be one up. So we're going to change it. You're playing separately. So Claire's one up.
00:54:41
Speaker
and but I just can't remember it all the ones you said. Tell me the names again. I've written four down. There's one more. Lambert. Fee Lin. Wilshire. O'Neill. Dean Smith. right Okay.
00:54:53
Speaker
So, one nil to Claire. Who is the tallest?
00:55:01
Speaker
ahd I'd probably go towards Smudger I'll send it back yeah yeah okay yes it is Dean Smith well done two ones Claire who has managed the most English league clubs
00:55:21
Speaker
punt punt counting on his fingers everybody interestingly got to three and stopped that yeah answer is locked in
00:55:34
Speaker
Would it be?
00:55:39
Speaker
Are you counting caretaker stints? I'm counting Wikipedia says managerial record. Okay. So maybe. Well, it's not Wilshire.
00:55:54
Speaker
Oh, Neil, how did he do? Wickham, Leicester, Norwich. Hang on, who have we got left? You've got Lambert, Phelan, Wilshire, O'Neill, Smith.
00:56:05
Speaker
But for the ones we've had already, could it be one of them again? Yeah, of course it could. Okay. Lambert or Smith, I think. Well, you've said you've said Dean Smith, and that's locked in. right So Dean Smith has what? Had Walsall, Villa and Norwich. Has he managed anyone else? Brentford.
00:56:24
Speaker
Ah, yes.
00:56:31
Speaker
Martin O'Neill's had four as well, at least. Yeah, I regret my answer now. I'll give you a clue. Martin O'Neill has, according to Wikipedia, done seven English league clubs.
00:56:44
Speaker
Well, then there's no way I'd find seven English league clubs with anyone else, so I'd probably say Martin O'Neill, but this could be wrong. afraid it's Paul Lambert. Is it really? Really? Yeah, i was I was surprised as well. Wow.
00:56:55
Speaker
Wickham, Colchester, Norwich, Billa, Ipswich,
00:57:03
Speaker
I'll get it up on the old wiki and read them out no So he did he had Celtic but they don't count because ah there's not any English League club and ah Wickham, Colchester, Norwich, Villa, Blackburn, Wolves, Stoke, Ipswich Totally forgot about Wolves and Stoke Totally forgot that Wow.
00:57:29
Speaker
Stoke only has, you know, on the managerial career thing on the right hand side, it doesn't have the from and to, it was just 2018. It and it was months, not years. Yeah. Before 18 to 21, that's gone.
00:57:42
Speaker
um Okay. And um the ah next one is who has the most international caps? I thought this was a good tester with Lambert, Wilshere and O'Neill.
00:57:55
Speaker
in particular. i mean, you could guess Phelan or Dean Smith. They've got one England cap between them. i was going to say, yeah, Phelan, yeah, definitely not. I'd say it's Lambert or O'Neal.
00:58:08
Speaker
I'd have to go O'Neal, I think. Yeah, because, yeah, I'd say O'Neal as well. Oh, that's a shame. Yes, it is O'Neill, 64. Lambert got 40, though, for Scotland, and Wilshire, 34. Lambert had lot of injuries as a player, didn't think that was the one thing that put me off, and Wilshire didn't out You know, won the Champions League. He never mentions it.
00:58:29
Speaker
The final question is, Lambert, Phelan, Wilshire, O'Neill, Dean Smith, who would you take to replace Liam Manning tomorrow if you had to? Yeah.
00:58:43
Speaker
oh Mine O'Neill. What now? Yeah. I think I'd go Jack Wilshire. Yeah, the correct answer is Jack. So Claire wins.
00:58:55
Speaker
I mean, to be fair, that isn't really how... But ask this question like I asked it at the time, right, when you were like big on Wilshire. Which other the championship club would actually employ Jack Wilshire at the moment? yeah That's not the point, is it? It kind of is. It's kind of a yardstick of where he's at. I think the players really looked up to him.
00:59:14
Speaker
and He's not us. He could have been. He was for him, not Norwich. We had two good performances at the end of the season. think it changes the rhetoric of, it changes it changes the dynamic a bit. I think he gets longer than someone who's just been in the playoffs with ah with a successful team that beat us.
00:59:31
Speaker
Well, think he'd get longer. ago I think you yeah there is an expectation. But, you know, actually, if you'd have said, right, Manning or or Wilshire, who's got a better pedigree? You you know, you'd have gone Manning every single time. but I would have done, but would I would. but that But who's got the pedigree is not the same as who do want to manage football club.
00:59:48
Speaker
Plus he wore much nicer outfits on the touchline. I knew you were going to go back to his cardigans. His lovely little willy hat. His little cardigans. I liked seeing what he was wearing every week. So there was that as well. That's what I'm in sport for. Manning's very disappointing in that respect, isn't he?
01:00:04
Speaker
He's very green. He's very olive olive green, isn't he? He's quite club shopping. He finds him quite dull. Have you seen, right? Daniel Farker's gone full club shop at Leeds. What's going What is going on? I haven't. When Norwich aren't doing as well, I don't tend to watch any football. Daniel Farker's full club shop.
01:00:21
Speaker
it's It's highly bizarre given Sartori, he was quite elegant. Not and cap. No, he hasn't got an and cap. Although given the hairline is is going, maybe he might not be too far off it. I don't know yeah Yeah, maybe.
01:00:35
Speaker
I don't think either you or punt are in a position to start to really criticise anyone. and we No one goes full club shop, like, come on. nay ah yeah If you were manager, starting tomorrow Coney, Claire, what would your first outfit on Saturday's game? If I was man.
01:00:59
Speaker
You're you. Do you not remember the Manageress, the TV series from the 1990s? No, but you have Emma. You have Emma. Like a big power suit.
01:01:11
Speaker
What was the woman in Dynasty? alexis Alexis, was it? No, you probably didn't watch Dynasty. 1980s shoulder pads and a little pencil skirt. I'd look like um um Heather Waddingham in... them ah Ted Lasso. Have you watched that?
01:01:29
Speaker
Okay. yeah Yeah. Power dressing. No, I'd probably wear a tracksuit, to be honest. you So you say you'd be relatively club shop. So what are you saying, a pun? Are you wearing sambas and jeans? Have you seen the women's clothes from the club shop? Oh, not a Norwich City tracksuit. Just like a random... Yeah, I'd wear my own. A round-of-grid one, because they're nicer. Yeah, exactly.
01:01:54
Speaker
certainly wouldn't wear anything from the they are Adidas, Real Madrid. You know, you get lovely retro Adidas. Well, not Real Madrid, though. Thank you very much. um I think I'd just go for a long-sleeved polo and, you know, kind of like nice, smart trousers. need to wear a nice cardigan.
01:02:08
Speaker
Trousers and jeans. You've become mean if want. not that's not those not those smart trainers where it looks like you know they no not those trainers where theyre out they're going to correct some kind of limp or something, you know, with the big white bits at the bottom. I wouldn't do that.
01:02:25
Speaker
I feel like at this point we've got a bit delirious. ah After an hour where it tends to go this way.
01:02:34
Speaker
Well, it's better than the football. Yeah, I agree. So I think what we've concluded if you talk about anything but what happens on the pitch, then generally you have a better time. Yeah, I've cleared Thank you very much for your time, Claire. Thank you very much. i acknowledge you exist, Punt. And God knows what we've dealt with on deal up on Saturday. But enjoy it wherever you are.
01:02:54
Speaker
Mind how you go.