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"Ready & Able" ACN Pod 119
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Praise for the new boys, the atmosphere, the hardness, the bastardness. What's this, confidence going into an away game against one of the pre-season favourites? That'll never do. Enjoy our optimism whilst it lasts, we are!
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Transcript
Opening Day Success and Russ Reunion
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to Long Come Norwich podcast as we reflect and react on a rare opening day result for Norwich and research the reality of a reunion with Russ. I'm joined by Claire, Fion and John to review what happened on Saturday and look ahead to Saturday.
Jack Stacey's Performance Review
00:00:38
Speaker
Claire, who do you want to really single out for some praise?
00:00:43
Speaker
I was really, really pleased with the way that Jack Stacy looked. I think, you know, he's always got a tough act to follow with Max being such a legend for us, but he actually played so well that I didn't miss Max at all and almost preferred, dare I say it, Jack Stacy on the right. Wow. And although the news today about Max possibly going to Leeds is quite disgusting, however, I think,
00:01:11
Speaker
I think we've got a very ready and able replacement already on the pitch. It was really refreshing to see the crosses going in really early rather than kind of cutting back going in again. Jack Stacey just got there and crossed the ball in and I think that added added bit of height that he has as well is really positive. So yeah, I thought he was very, very, very good. In fact, I voted for him as the man of the match, although obviously Johnny Rowe was brilliant, but I did vote for Jack Stacey as
00:01:40
Speaker
man of the match. So yes, definitely him. Yeah. I, how much Vion do you think, uh, it's a case of Max was so drilled into him that you get to the edge of the box and then you look for a short pass as opposed to Jack Stacey, who's never been in played football, who maybe was easier therefore to get. So maybe, do you think maybe that's coaching or do you think that's Stacey's way?
00:02:01
Speaker
I think they're kind of different players and that I really noticed on Saturday, Jack Stacey has a really good burst of
Johnny Rowe's Impact Against Hull
00:02:07
Speaker
pace. There are a few times where he was sprinting after balls that, you know, last season I'd have thought, we never get into that, that's gone for a goal kick. And yet he made it. So I was really impressed with that. And yeah, I mean,
00:02:22
Speaker
The whole team, really, I thought looked a lot fitter than last season. But yeah, certainly Stacey's fitness and intensity kept going for the whole game. And yeah, maybe he's got that bit more freedom that he can sort of play that way. And there isn't some kind of invisible line to go to. Yeah, he was definitely one of the players I was most impressed with on Saturday. And yeah, it just adds a bit of a different dimension, doesn't it? It's interesting. Is he is there anyone else that you would pick out alongside him?
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Johnny Rowe has to be the main one, especially first half. I mean, I hadn't seen much of pre-season, so I hadn't seen much of him then. But he just really stood out, didn't he? Absolutely terrified whole.
00:03:08
Speaker
Um, the, the one where he hit the post early on, uh, showed his confidence and then the goal, I mean, it just, I had the best view of it right behind it in the Berkeley. And yes, just to see a player do that, have the confidence to do that at that age.
00:03:27
Speaker
And yeah, I loved his whole attitude to the game. He was confident, he was taking players on, he was tracking back really well. Yeah, just absolute star of the show, really. Yeah, I think that's fair. What about you, Punt? Two obvious ones taken that are both obvious
Dimi Anoulis' Best Game for Norwich?
00:03:46
Speaker
but very correct. I think there is one more that deserves a shout out. See if you go the same place as me.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to go the same place as you. It's Dimi Anoulis. He was absolutely fabulous. I reckon probably the best game he's had in a Norwich City shirt, maybe since like early stages of when he joined the club and he looked so promising.
00:04:06
Speaker
But I think something that Fionn just said there, you know, he looked physically way fitter than he ever has for Norwich before. He looked like he had license to kind of burst through the lines and then just feed wingers quickly. And it didn't matter, you know, he got the assist for the first goal because it was quick and clever ball to row. But actually, when he stepped out several times, he was looking for, you know, kind of Hernandez or
00:04:30
Speaker
a creative midfielder, he just looked like, and I know this is potentially like, you know, vulnerable and the way in which he plays, but he looked like the attacking full back, you know, the kind of bombing on that exactly what we needed and was perfectly complemented by Jack Stacey, who looks a bit stronger, looks a bit more resolute. But at the same time, you know, they both offered massive outlets for us.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's exactly what we need. And I thought it was interesting that both of them, Stacey and you noticed, were getting forward, were putting crosses into the box really early, because we've just got two, not necessarily lumps in there, they're a bit more considered than that, but two players who can get on the end of things. Sargent nearly got himself an excellent head of goal. Barnes had one that flashed over.
00:05:19
Speaker
And it just felt like, all right, we're seeing the semblance of what a Wagner side should look like. And we didn't get that for 11 of the last games last season. Well, I'd say I was trying to be positive before the season. And I was trying to positive on our kickoff pod. But it was a little bit more in hope than expectation. To your point on Wagner ball and that being the way Wagner wants to play,
00:05:47
Speaker
you know, the chap that sit next to me just kept saying throughout the first half, can't believe how many of these are the same
Norwich's Strategic Gameplay
00:05:55
Speaker
players. And that was kind of the case. I mean, it really was, it was the logical way with which we went about our business, really progressively and forcefully and aggressive, but controlled aggression. One thing I want to pick up on what you said, Fiona, about the way that Johnny Rowe played the game,
Leadership and Key Players
00:06:17
Speaker
Is gonna team up with someone who is kind of in my next tier down of and deserves much praise and and and we'll kind of kick off a talk about the other new boys now clear did you spot during the celebrations of rose equalizing goal and.
00:06:34
Speaker
the fact that he was maybe milking the applause a bit too much. Nearly everyone else was back and ready to get going. And it was Ashley Barnes who smiled completely went and he properly volleyed some abuse at Roe to get back because actually it's not half time yet and we've got a game to get on with. And I thought, yes, please. That's exactly what Wagner thought he signed with him.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah I didn't see that but yeah that's good. I don't blame Johnny Rowe for milking it because it's been a long hard road for him to get there. Obviously he was out most of last season injured and I think he's had to do a lot of hard work off the pitch to get back to where he is and to come back so brilliantly. You can't blame him.
00:07:18
Speaker
But yes, absolutely. There was a lot of criticism for the players that we signed for being old, but I think that's absolutely what we needed. Just the experience, some leaders and Barnes has been around the block and he's a winner as well. He's just come from a team that absolutely smashed the championship last season. So he knows exactly what's needed, keeping those young kids feet on the ground as well. So yeah, brilliant. I didn't see that. I'll have to watch it back again now. But yeah, that's great. That's good to know.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, and that was one of several things and it's not necessarily a great person to compare him to, but the last time I saw a veteran in his first game be that much of a
00:08:04
Speaker
knowing and show that much experience around when things are going well, we still need to keep our heads and get on it, was Naismith. He's the last person I saw tear strips off other people. Now, Punt, normally handsome, has just pulled a rather unattractive face when I've said that name.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I get it, he didn't have a great period of time at the club. But I think Barnes is similar to what we thought we'd signed when we signed Naismith if you see what I mean. It is that guy who, as you say, has been around the block and has hundreds of age appearances, has seen through lots of games and knows how to manage situations. So, Fionn, tell me about Duffy, please.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yes, so Duffy, I think what summed up Duffy's performance was, I think it was very near the end, possibly start of injury time, a whole sort of we're on the halfway with a potential break on.
00:08:53
Speaker
and Duffy just went in and took out their man on the halfway line. Chest height. Pretty much. Yes, he got booked for it, but that's fine. Sometimes you need to do that. Obviously, the screw up for the goal was not good. That felt very last season Norwich, and he was the main Cobbleborn for that.
00:09:18
Speaker
Other than that, I thought he was really effective. Both him and Barnes, you can tell us of leaders. Both spent the whole game sort of pointing and shouting at people and telling them where to go in a good way.
00:09:35
Speaker
I was really impressed by Duffy and yeah, it's just nice to have someone who's willing to do that sort of thing when you need it at the end of the game to just take one for the team. It was the fact that he did it so high up the pitch and basically you could see that he'd made the decision before, it was Connolly wasn't it, the little sort of number 44 little lad who came on with sort of 10 minutes to go.
00:10:00
Speaker
he made, he made the decision clearly, right, well, this could develop into something and that, you know, it's two on two and it, and, you know, they're going to have the adrenaline that they've got a chance to go and win it. Um, I, I'm just going to stop this before it starts kind of thing. Um, but I, I'm interested punt on, on your take. I left the game.
00:10:19
Speaker
or rather went into half time, cross with Gibson, not Duffy, for that mix up. To me, there was only one place that Duffy was going to go with that ball, and that was to pass it back to Gunn. And then Gibson crossed over and sort of wandered into his path. So, I mean, maybe I've bought my own worries about Gibson to that, and I've seen it through Gibson critic eyes.
Defensive Analysis: Gibson and Duffy
00:10:42
Speaker
What will say you?
00:10:45
Speaker
Because my new seat is slightly further away than I'm used to, they just merged and became the same human at one point. So it just seemed like Duffy was very much a right-sided version of Gibson. I'm quite far back in the Buckley upper now. But then they do look...
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they do, they made me get the glasses changed, but they do look like similar humans from a distance, I guess is the point that I'm trying to make. So I didn't know originally who was culpable. I knew it was the person, well, I perceived it as the person who passed it into the other person, which as we now know, was Mr. Duffy. I completely blame Duffy. Yes, I think you're right that that was the
00:11:23
Speaker
the correct path to take in terms of going back to Angus Gunn. Did he need to go back in such a direct fashion like that? Probably not. Could Gibson have got out of the way? I'm not so sure. So, you know, he has to consider, well, do I take a different angle or do I just clear my lines because that path isn't on? And I think, you know, if they develop as a partnership, and that's questionable, given the fact that Omar Bamadeli came on and they didn't really seem to be any kind of knock that Gibson had taken.
00:11:50
Speaker
But if they do develop as a partnership, then that's the kind of thing that you would expect to be ironed out in time. Although we do say that a lot about Nari City central defenders and that doesn't seem to sort itself out. But that aside, and actually Dilap's snapshot from, what is it, 25 yards where Angus made a absolutely tremendous save. He didn't really trouble us, did they? And defensively we looked
00:12:14
Speaker
really, really sounding. And we had a proper ability to keep them at arm's length. Now, that is either because the, you know, the new first team coach Pilach has come in and had an amazing effect on our defensive duties or Hull were a bit shit. And I guess time will tell on that because I think Hull were a bit shit. And so maybe it's a little bit or a little from column A, a little from column B. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, on that, this is the final point on the goal that we conceded.
00:12:43
Speaker
I think that it was obvious where Duffy had to go with the ball before Gibson decided to leave his left centre back role and decide to start wandering across. I think Gibson has to cover that just in case Duffy doesn't make it. It's almost like he's trying to snuff out stuff before it happens. We won't. It doesn't matter. Hopefully, as you say, we put it down to, do you remember when we didn't know what was going on centre back? I think there were other
00:13:09
Speaker
I think that Gibson was the only person to come out of Saturday with more of a negative report than a positive one. Personally, I think he did look suspect a few times and I think Wagner agreed. Otherwise, why on earth do you take him off from a Vamadelli? If you're looking to try and cement a centre-back partnership, as many minutes as possible and to experience either holding onto a draw or eventually getting a win is what you want to have as an experience for the two centre-backs.
00:13:37
Speaker
we shall see with who starts on Saturday. So Claire, coming back to you on the new era of Wagner,
00:13:47
Speaker
I actually thought that there was several instances where we kind of played the same pattern of play repetitively. And no more time was that clear than in the kind of middle 20 minutes of the first half, when Sara, I think, had something like nine key passes leading to a shot on goal. And everything seemed to go through him, but not in a
00:14:11
Speaker
We're completely reliant on him. We don't want to do more in a we've been told to get the ball to Gabby and we are going to keep stretching play. And Demi was great at this to make sure there's enough room for him to come and receive the ball. And so yeah, I think maybe a word on just how great Gabby was.
00:14:26
Speaker
Obviously he's great. He's head and shoulders above many many players in the championship and I think he's going to become more apparently a fantastic player as the season goes on because now the players around him in our team are better. We've got the right people in the right places, they've had the whole pre-season
00:14:47
Speaker
to be educated on exactly what they are required to do, which we didn't have last season. And I think Wagner himself mentioned that, that having a pole pre-season rather than coming in mid-season and having to try and get his points across and then also having to worry about the game at the weekend.
Gabby Sara's Playmaking Role
00:15:06
Speaker
It didn't give him the time necessary for the players to really get to grips with it, whereas now they have. We've also kind of got rid of the players that weren't suited to the way that he wanted to play and brought in the players that are. So all the players around Gabby are now much, much better and they will sort of obviously try and get the ball to him. But the whole team now works as a
00:15:32
Speaker
seemingly we've had one game and we don't want to get carried away but it works as a whole system now whereas probably last season we were just trying to get the ball together because we were just relying on him to do something with it whereas now I think we're all capable, the whole team is capable of doing something with it but he is clearly going to be our sort of centre point that we're going to look for and let's hope he stays fit and can continue in that way.
00:15:58
Speaker
So, Fion, the other new boy that got some minutes at the end, our new Swiss hero, he seemed, one, quite tall for a wide player, that sort of seeing him in the flesh, unlike John, I am within distance where I can make out individual human beings from my seat.
00:16:16
Speaker
He looked technically really good, but he did seem rustier than everyone else. He didn't seem to click in quite as well, and there was a couple of times when there was given-go situations with Stacey where they didn't really seem to be on the same page. Surely the hope is that he's the long-term first starter instead of Hernandez.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah, I would think so. I mean, obviously, he's coming later than everyone else. He only joined midway through the trip to Austria, didn't he? So he's not had as much time or familiarity with everyone.
Swiss Player's Potential and Challenges
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah, I thought he looked good when he came on. And yeah, Annelle had a pretty quiet game, really, didn't he? So yeah, I think that position is up for grabs, really. But yeah, I was impressed by Fastenact. He's got
00:17:00
Speaker
really good feet a couple of times. He sort of moved past players really, really nicely. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see on Saturday what we do in that position. And that final, final point and John to you on Saturday's game, I mentioned that the height that he gives us on the wing, we seem a bigger team. I mean, we, you know, all of the changes from this season to last season, we've gone up, you know, five, six inches in each, in each one of them. And
00:17:28
Speaker
every set piece. I mean, I know there was a couple where there was slight miscue, like there was one really nicely worked one with only the header back had have been, you know, accurate, it could have caused mayhem. We looked at me, and again, it's only whole, they could end up being relegation fodder. We're not sure yet. But I don't, I don't remember us looking quite so threatening from set pieces for many a long year.
00:17:52
Speaker
Yeah, and I think some of that comes down to delivery as well. And there was, and I said, this is actually a point that I wanted to make around the whole, the whole show, you know, the whole what Nori City are now is there was variance in what we were trying to do. So tactically, I thought we were really flexible on Saturday, we could go long, we could go direct, we could run with a ball, Gabi Sara could play, you know, kind of an angled through ball, you know, as per Hernandez's chance that he kind of
00:18:18
Speaker
tried to round the keeper and then didn't quite execute. And that was the same for set pieces. I think there was one maybe that was played short or to the edge of the box and then chipped to the far post. There was others that were fizzed in. Nunez kind of at the end, he didn't get his corner quite right, but then actually it was a pretty decent delivery into the box, which then ended up at Eda's feet and then he popped in. It felt like we were more coherent in that regard.
00:18:45
Speaker
we were less predictable. And I think that was the main issue that I had with Norris City, under Smith and Wagner, to be fair, we were completely predictable. And it was very easy for people to work out how to nullify us.
00:18:58
Speaker
And I actually thought ahead of this season, you know, as the last pod kind of bears out, I felt like Wagner was a busted flush in terms of his management. And I felt like people could really work out what he was trying to do quite easily. But if we play like that every week where we're not predictable and it is, you know, there's a real difference in the way in which we attack, depending on which individual picks up the ball or, you know, our trigger movements or whatever it might be.
00:19:23
Speaker
Brilliant. And what I would also say is we executed the press really well on Saturday and that's going to be so important in a Wagner team that you could just tell Sargent and Barnes when
Pressing Strategy Excellence
00:19:37
Speaker
they went, they knew exactly when to go and then the next player knew the next movement after that and the next player, it was, it felt
00:19:44
Speaker
like it was planned and it wasn't, you know, we immediately, when we started winning games like 4-2 and 3-0 under Wagner or whatever it was, it was beautifully chaotic, you know, for a couple of games. It wasn't chaos on Saturday. It was, it was well organized and well coached.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yeah, twice in relatively short succession, we isolated a Hull midfielder with four shirts around them in a diamond, getting closer and closer and closer to the point where they had no... No, one ended up just knocking a hopeful ball that went out for throne and the other time they passed it straight to Kenny. And it was because we sort of had a double pincer movement that we'd managed to work away in it. It looked so...
00:20:28
Speaker
controlled and again, hold might lose seven nil to everyone else all season, we don't know. But I mean, it's just so reassuring that almost to almost to the to the syllable, everything we asked to see,
00:20:42
Speaker
took place and it's as reassuring as it can be. So we've got a test in theory coming up on Saturday, because again, they've only played one league game. Very odd result last night, a sort of semi-strong lineup for Southampton got knocked out of the cup by Gillingham. They were three nil down until the last minute. And some last year Premier League regulars were in that team, although there were a few changes made.
00:21:10
Speaker
And so, Claire, are you traveling with hope expectation? You know, what's your feelings around going to see RX, Norfolk Caffoo's new team?
00:21:26
Speaker
I think it's going to be a very interesting test. They obviously had, what was it, 900 and something passes on Saturday, broke records, which is quite incredible, but they were playing a very poor team. It might work in our favour because I think we're going to be able to counter-attack really well this season. And I'm hoping that they may have all the possession in the world, but that we might actually come away with something from the game.
00:21:57
Speaker
Well, that was the first Swansea game, wasn't it? So away at the Liberty, they had loads more possession than us, but we ended up with the win. But then it was a bit of a schooling in the Carrow Road game. Yeah, I mean, it's a different team, though, isn't it? Our team, particularly, is not a team. Yeah, I'll very much show you. It's their last season. So, you know, last season would have helped absolutely no hope whatsoever. But now, after seeing Saturday,
00:22:23
Speaker
I think we've got the team, the tactics, the players that could go away and get something from it. They're going to lose Ward Prowse, it looks like. I think he's got to West Ham as of today, hopefully, so he won't be playing, so that will help us as well. I don't know.
00:22:44
Speaker
I think they looked amazing in the first half against Sheffield Wednesday, not so much in the second half. And I don't think they're going to have it that easy, because I think the team they were playing was very poor. They were two leagues apart last season. So you've got to factor that in as well. I think it will be a lot harder test for Southampton against us on Saturday, I hope. Yeah, and they haven't. I was hopeful that they wouldn't
00:23:13
Speaker
you know have like a five six nil drubbing of jilling in which you you know you've you've seen plenty of times when a lower league opposition is is rolled over by a recently relegated championship team um because that would have just meant extra confidence on top of the you know the win on the weekend
00:23:31
Speaker
They actually got, he was really unhappy with them last night and he's kind of slated them a little bit already saying, you know, these are Premier League players or they think they are, you know, they've got a behaviour idea. It's like, blimey, in the second game, that's pretty strong words. It's interesting. It's a really interesting situation there because of the, he's in a kind of win or win or that's it, see you later kind of position. He knows that. He will never have had, I mean, they said it in the commentary,
00:23:59
Speaker
And in the part of the game that I saw at the weekend, you know, he's never obviously had the scrutiny on a position that he's had. He's always been, he's always had the full back of having got any money. I'm losing all my best players. Yes. Okay. You can argue he's going to lose his best players this season. However, he started a game away with Shay Adams up front.
00:24:19
Speaker
know, you would expect goals against Duningham with, you know, Stuart Armstrong and Field, you know, Alex McCarthy in goal, that's a really strong lineup. So it's interesting how he's going to choose to kind of play that. Fionn, what say you on Saturday? Are you, are you confident that we can go and, you know, replicate the kind of strong performance we had on Saturday?
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think I certainly think that Southampton result last night has helped us because there's going to be a bit of a bit of rattledness now. They're going to have the pressure of a home crowd. Yeah, I think just.
00:24:59
Speaker
If we go into it, if we start strong, do the same sort of intense pressing as far as we can, restrict them from just passing it around for 90 minutes. And I think we're far more capable of that than Sheffield Wednesday were. Yeah, I think it's a really good game to have this early in the season, as a test of that.
00:25:25
Speaker
And yeah, certainly it looks like waterprows will be gone by then. And again, that's something that's unsettling for them, I guess. Yeah, I think it will be a good contest. And I would probably take a point now. But I think that would be a pretty strong away point if we got it.
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I certainly understand what you're saying in terms of it looks like a really strong away point at the moment. Once we're tuning it up inside 10 minutes, you might not take a point. But I think the start is really important because to, you know, to Fionn's point about it being a home crowd, it's the first time they've got an opportunity to see them competitively.
Upcoming Southampton Challenge?
00:26:03
Speaker
They've obviously gone away and then away in the league.
00:26:06
Speaker
Um, last time, uh, I mean, I remember seeing on match of the day that the highlights of their last, uh, game, you know, with all the empty seats at the start of the game, let alone by the end, they've seen a lot of losing. Um, and therefore if they, if we could impose a bit of up and at them, Saji Baji early doors, uh, to coin a phrase from our friends, Gorham and Butler on daily on the radio, um,
00:26:32
Speaker
you know, if we could get a fast start and even if it's not a fast goal, just, you know, get up them and at them, maybe we can get the crowd on a bit nervy, a bit quickly. What say you? That's the thing that really surprised me about Saturday, actually, is how quickly the crowd bought into what Norwich were doing. And all right, it did involve a
00:26:55
Speaker
tremendous 45-minute performance from how we were 1-0 down, when we were 1-0 down, and the fact that we recovered. But actually, how good did it feel? I know I'm supposed to be talking about the weekend's game rather than the weekend just gone, but how good did it feel that it felt like Caroro was a united place again and it didn't actually take that much to repair some of the damage? So yeah, I think you're right in terms of actually answering your question.
00:27:22
Speaker
get into them early, don't let them settle into a rhythm. The only thing that I would say about Russell Martin side, and I've watched plenty of his teams now, is that they seem to be really good in possession. They seem to be really good in terms of retaining possession. And whether it's because he hasn't had the forward-thinking players at his disposal, or whether, I don't know, maybe it's the type of coach that he is,
00:27:49
Speaker
They've never really scored loads of goals. They've never been prolific. They never really looked like they've created loads and loads of chances. And actually, for the 70 minutes of that Sheffield Wednesday game that I watched, similar patterns were emerging. It was excellent play, loads of really good interchange up until the final third, and then it wasn't clicking. So I think it is a brilliant time to play Russell Martin's Southampton team if we can just
00:28:15
Speaker
If we could keep it to nil-nil to half time, I think that would be a massive result. I do think a draw would be a tremendous result for our morale, but I think it's really important to, especially the way in which we're set up, especially the fact that we've signed experienced, hardened professionals, like let's rough them up a bit. Let's get into them. Let's not let them settle. Let's disrupt. And I think if we can do that, we've got a real chance of coming away with something. I mean, also- I think the, oh, go on.
00:28:44
Speaker
I was going to say I'm really interested in Claire's point. I hadn't heard Russell Martin's comments post-match where he seems to be throwing players under the bus because that seemed to be like the criticism of Farka almost early days when he was throwing players under the bus. Like, Russ doesn't strike me as that kind of bloke. So if that's going on dead early, you know, he does strike me as the kind of bloke who'd come out and resolutely defend his players. So then maybe that's some kind of red flag as well that, or he was just apoplectic that they'd just lost to Gillingham. Who knows?
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think that the seasoned professional side of things will help us again, comparing it back to that Swansea kind of whitewash last season, where it was to your point around the chances, it was to it could even, you know, a more efficient side up front, more ruthless side up front, we'd lost six and all that. I mean, it really wasn't a competition. I think
00:29:36
Speaker
We've now got some experienced heads to look around at the others and the team and just go, you can have 900 passes if you want. It's nil and nil, mate. Don't care. Don't care how many passes you've got. And I hope, I expect that to be what the coaching staff are telling them all week.
00:29:53
Speaker
And so we will keep possession and we'll have possession when we are able to. But actually, don't dive in, don't jump forward. That is an element that I think is strong around having that season mentality around the team. So let's do some guarantees. Claire, can I have a guaranteed score line for the weekend and a guaranteed Norwich scorer?
00:30:18
Speaker
I'm going to say one all and Ashley Barnes is going to score it. Nice. Fionn. That was exactly what I was going to say. Oh, great. It's double guaranteed, so there's no chance. It is guaranteed now. And John. I think we're going to lose two now.
00:30:40
Speaker
I don't know if you're going to score. I just think Saturday was so perfect that it wouldn't be an orange if there wasn't a healthy dose of reality early on in the season.
00:30:52
Speaker
I'd say, hmm, Saturday first half was perfect. Saturday last minute and a half was perfect. There was 15 minutes where both teams just seemed to complete. Yes, we did look fitter to start with. There was 15 minutes in the second half where both teams seemed to kind of go quite hard in it, running up and down for an hour and a half. Like it wasn't even slowing down. Like if it was 25 degrees, you'd be like, fair enough. I think it was quite a high tempo first half, which we drove, which is great.
00:31:20
Speaker
And I do think that maybe if we are without the ball running around, that is something that we need to work on. If we're not going to have possession. But then we've had a whole week. We haven't had to travel anywhere or do a League Cup game, which might help us. So I think you're bang on the money, Claire, and Feon, in terms of a score draw.
00:31:40
Speaker
I think it will be. I think it's going to be 2-2 though. And what I would really like is if that does play out, I would like a last minute Barnes equalizer. So, you know, because if we're going to draw, let's nick a late one and kind of really twist a knife on them and come home happy. We've got some listening questions, which we'd love to get to. So, choose the best one first.
00:32:04
Speaker
It's the best one for, oh, I don't know what the, I don't know if it's for me to judge what the best one is. Okay, let's, I tell you what, let's start off with the, yeah, fair enough. Well, let's start with the first one that has come up on my phone and this is from Mick Saunders on Twitter and he asks, your choice, one option, A or B? A is promotion and five years in the Premier League, but playing defensive percentage football with constant infighting between the club, press and fans. Sounds delightful.
00:32:34
Speaker
4b, five years, challenging for the playoffs or top two with exciting progressive football, great atmosphere and fan engagement. Theon, I think I know, I've got a feeling I know what your answer might be, but you know, kick us off.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yes, it's B for me, I have to say, because the Premier League's not that exciting, is it, when you get in it and you sit there for ages and don't go up and don't go down. So it's B for me, a few Wembley trips. I mean, there's no mention of cup runs in there. I think I'd need to know what the cup situation was as well. I think you know, it's Nori Titty. Come on.
00:33:18
Speaker
Claire, any advances on B? Oh no, 100% B. I go to watch my team play football and win games and enjoy it. The Premier League is not the promised land at all, so 100% B for me.
00:33:36
Speaker
And I think seasoned listeners of this podcast will know exactly what Tom and I think of all that is definitely option, but I'm talking for you, Tom, but I'm pretty sure it's option B for you as well, mate. Isn't it? Yeah. Um, so I would ask you next.
Championship vs Premier League Debate
00:33:49
Speaker
I was just going to say the only, the only thing I was going to add to that is, uh, yes, failing in the championship is as miserable as failing in the premier league. So I would almost take, I, I, you know, my usual thing of changing the question, um, I would go option C, which is.
00:34:07
Speaker
two of five being up there and challenging with three relatively boring kind of finishes like last season. It sprinkled in amongst it. Having two really exciting near misses where we win more games than we lose for kind of two or three out of five, I would take over that Premier League existence of nothing. Again, unless there was an unbelievable FA Cup triumph thrown in.
00:34:36
Speaker
I'm going to come back to you on this next question, Tom, first, just because it's about your boy. But Phil, the roaming anglian on Twitter asks, with the new formation and tactics in place, just how up shit creek are we if Kenny McLean gets injured?
Kenny McLean's Role in New System
00:34:52
Speaker
And are there any other championship clubs so reliant on a single, slightly above average player?
00:35:00
Speaker
full of trigger warnings, isn't it? That's a bait. Why do you think that came to you, mate? Yeah, well, I actually thought Kenny had one of his worst games for a while on Saturday. He didn't do anything that led to, you know, a clear cut chance, but just, you know, the wand wasn't quite in check and it wasn't quite clicking for him, but he clearly was there when he needed to be in terms of the fact there wasn't any whole players parading through the middle, you know, too often.
00:35:30
Speaker
I don't know if we are completely reliant on him. I think we're more reliant on Gabi Sara than him. I do think we're reliant on him in that I don't think you could play. I think it's McLean and Sara is going to be much better than Sara and Nunez or Sara and Gibbs. In terms of other championship teams, I mean, we're about to see how reliant on Ward Prowse Southampton are. I mean, so if they were to have kept it, it's probably gone, mate.
00:35:57
Speaker
No, that's my point. My point is, you've got a team there who, how long has he been there? Eight seasons, is it something? He has been integral to pretty much everything that's been good about that club for so long. He scored, obviously penalties push it up, but with set pieces and all the rest of it, he has been so integral to them from a set piece delivery point of view, setting the tempo. So yeah, he would be my answer when we're about to see whether or not I can cope without him.
00:36:26
Speaker
Vion, give me your views on Kenneth. What was the question that if he gets injured, what do we do? I think at that point we play the Jakob Sorensen card, don't we? That's the answer to that. He's injured as well. Yeah, he is quite injured. I'm assuming they'll sort of plan their injuries to cross over. Oh, excellent. Oh, I see. Sorry, I had to take some questions. What about the Liam Gibbs card as well? I think he's almost the most
00:36:56
Speaker
similar to Kenny, I think, in terms of the current crop of midfielders we've got, but he just doesn't point enough. If Kenny can coach him in terms of pointing, then it might be all right. The armband makes the point look even better. Yeah, I'm genuinely surprised he's been given the armband, but there you go. I'm not. Of course you're not. Claire, do you like Kenny McLean?
00:37:19
Speaker
I do, yes. I'm not, I'm not one of his critics. He does point too much. We will agree on that, but I mean, I think the fact that he's now had, I don't know how many different managers and they all see something in him means that there is obviously something there that lots of fans don't see for whatever reason. But I think when he got injured,
00:37:40
Speaker
Well, yeah, they're idiots, but I didn't like to say that. I'll say it. When he got injured last season, I think we saw how important he was, but I don't think he is integral to the success of this team in that if he doesn't play, we will fail.
00:37:56
Speaker
I think there's a lot more around him this season. Gibbs can certainly step into that role as long as Sarah's fit, as you said, I think he is probably more integral to the success. We've got a lot more leaders on the pitch now as well.
00:38:12
Speaker
The energy Kenny brings in terms of his personality is also something not just the skill he has, but his actual sort of personality on the pitch. But I think we've got a few more of those characters on the pitch now. So I love him, but I don't think we absolutely 100% need him on the pitch for every single game to get somewhere this season.
00:38:32
Speaker
I think you've just touched on the reason that he is picked by every manager is what he is as a human, what he is as an individual rather than what he is as a footballer, because he's perfectly competent at a lot of things as a footballer, but he's not brilliant at anything, is he? Really, you know, kind of he's just Jack of all master of none.
00:38:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's not. He is. He can progress the play brilliantly and he does have like long balls. He is phenomenal at and he does spray some absolute beauties. It's all right. No, no, no. He's really good. And he's not even crooked it, but he is really good at it. And when to our points earlier on our full backs, if Demi and Stacey are going to have a hopefully very prolonged run in the side and both be really keen to get forward when his radar is slightly more up to speed, then I think
00:39:21
Speaker
that could be really interesting way of, you know, being an additional way of attacking the opposition. It would be interesting to see how he progresses throughout the season. I thought, you know, we've touched on it as well with Gibson. I thought him and Gibson were probably the weak links in the side at the weekend, but we know there's more to come probably from both of them. And actually, Gibson's range of passing, you know, he played two or three. Yeah, beautiful crossfield balls. Yeah, he is. And I think that's why he got the nod over on a bad day. I think that's why on balance he gave it to him.
00:39:51
Speaker
but I would not be surprised at all to see Andy start on Saturday. Yeah, especially if you're talking about the lights of Armstrong, Shay Adams up front on Saturday, who are going to be a bit more dynamic and direct? Because I think if he had, I think if, if Wagner was convinced on Gibson being
00:40:10
Speaker
due to have a long run in the team, it would have been Gibson with the armband, not McLean. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Although, you know, we don't know, the future of Alabama Deli is still up in the air as well, isn't it? Until we get into, you know, early September, we don't really know. Anyway, talking about players that may or may not be integral, so Cadarn82 on Twitter asks, he says, whisper it quietly,
Is Norwich Better Without Pookie?
00:40:36
Speaker
But are we a better side without Pookie leading the line? In my view, it's wonderful seeing us playing with such a variety of options and not being grossly reliant on a number 10 sorcerer. Then again, bigger tests await. Theon, how could we possibly say that we look a more coherent side without a team of Pookie in it?
00:40:56
Speaker
I think it's too early to say but I will say I don't feel like we missed him on Saturday specifically and I did think at the end of last season that it might be very upsetting to go to a game at Carrow Road and not have Pookie on the pitch but yeah I think
00:41:17
Speaker
I mean, we'll miss him sort of running through onto those sorts of balls that he always did. And, I mean, some of the balls Gabby Sarrow was playing on Saturday would have been very nice to have Pookie running onto. But yeah, too early to say for me. Tom. Well, if we're going to talk about Pookie, I want to call out the championship highlights on ITV4.
00:41:43
Speaker
Uh, which, uh, you know, went downhill after Colin Murray was no longer on it. Um, most media outlets are worse when Colin Murray aren't on them anymore, but that, um, I mean, I thought it was shambles with, uh, some poor production quality anyway. But, uh, what particularly annoyed me was the voiceover of our three and a half seconds on our, on our highlights.
00:42:06
Speaker
where the guy said, Oh, now poacher Pookie's no longer here, you know, who's gonna get the good poacher Pookie, what are you talking about? The guy scored all core sorts of different kinds of goals apart from his head, he doesn't score headers. And one, you know, he's scored from so many different angles, incredible finisher to kind of write him off as poacher Pookie made me swear at my television. And so I just wanted to get that off my chest. And I'd forgotten about it until now. So now I'm angry again, whoever that
00:42:30
Speaker
absolutely laughter of a wannabe journalist is. And what was the question? Pookie. No, we don't miss Pookie at the age he was or in the style we were going to play. I miss him as a human and I will always have, you know, I'll always wish that Pookie was up front for my team in the same way. I'll always wish that Grant Holt was up front for my team because, you know, there are people that you root for above and beyond formation and tactics and Pookie is in that kind of Hall of Fame for me.
00:42:59
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you've just touched on the salient point around all of this. It's style of play, isn't it? He wouldn't fit right now, and we do need two players that are going to press from the front, and we definitely have those in in Sargent and Barnes. Claire, what say you?
00:43:16
Speaker
I'd like to agree with the poacher-pooky thing, that it was exactly my response as well. I yelled at the television. Didn't swear though, give it class, yeah. I also sat with my mum and dad, so no, I didn't.
00:43:32
Speaker
I was surprised how little I missed Timu and I will just add the caveat, I love you Timu, into that. But I was surprised how little I missed him on Saturday. I think it became evident at the end of last season that he just didn't really fit with the style of play that Wagner wanted us to play.
00:43:50
Speaker
I think it was exciting to have two players up front that were quite interchangeable, they kept swapping positions, they're athletic, they've got a lot more height, so we've got that added option of going a bit longer, they're both good in the air. I think it just gives us more options and I'm quite excited by that rather than having to try and play that three ball that Pookie thrived on and that we didn't really do enough for him.
00:44:17
Speaker
since Emi left really, I think it was almost getting quite sad to see him towards the end of last season because it just wasn't coming off. So I'm not sad that he's not with us anymore, but I'm glad that he's moved on and that we can move on in a different direction to something that he's going to work a lot better with the way that Wagner wants us to play. So I'm quite excited, not excited that team is not here,
00:44:44
Speaker
Just that we've got something new up front that's different to what we've had for the last four or five seasons. A bit more interesting than we've had for a little while, I think. But yeah, I love you, Timmy. I just want to add that again. Shall we have a couple more, Tom?
00:45:04
Speaker
Okay. So one more from Twitter. Norwich fan, Gegan Ricks, who's a regular questioner. Thank you. Are we becoming a Leeds feeder club?
Max Aarons' Transfer to Leeds
00:45:21
Speaker
This is the long-term karma, isn't it, from when we used to sing that? Football has a long memory. Yeah, it is a little bit galling to see him go there.
00:45:37
Speaker
I'm sort of happy that he, you know, I'm happy for him because he and Fark obviously sort of clicked, didn't they? And I think we can probably say that Max's peak came in that era. Um, you know, I thought Max still had a good season last year and I, you know, I wouldn't say he's diminished particularly, but that, you know, that was his, that was his breakthrough under him. And, uh, you know, Fark sort of grew him as a player and yeah, it's,
00:46:05
Speaker
it sort of shows the strength of that relationship that he's going, you know, he's staying in the same division, but sees that as an improvement from here. So yes, I'll say with gritted teeth, good luck to him. Blimey. That's way more civil than I expected you to be. Tom, get angry. Come on. I mean, you quite like leads, which annoys me all the time.
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah, I quite like these. I am pleased to see, pleased to see him go to somewhere that I don't view as a step sideways with too much anger, if you see what I mean? I mean, it's a step sideways in terms of division, but you know, they are, they have the potential to be a really, really well established Premier League club again. So it is logical that he could
00:46:57
Speaker
his goal is to play international football for the seniors after playing what is it about 506 under 21 appearances. And he needs to be in the Premier League if that's going to happen. And that is a slightly better bet. Also, I think there probably is an element of there is time like he has one to promotions with
00:47:16
Speaker
with Norwich. He has experienced Premier League football with us. He has had a successful young international career with us. He's grown up into a man with us. He's into triple figures in terms of league appearances. What else is he likely to achieve with Norwich? He's only at best likely to win the league at a counter again. That's sort of the best he could do with us, whereas I think maybe Leeds could be a step towards
00:47:40
Speaker
getting back to the kinds of clubs that were talking about him maybe two, three years ago. So I don't regret it. And also just to Claire's point right at the start of the pod, it makes it ever so much easier that Jack Stacey looks so good Saturday. I mean, it's much easier to be kind of civil and be the bigger man about it. Also, you know, FARC didn't come from us. Wootton didn't come from us. Byron didn't come from us. I was in like, it's not like there's a fee or transfer or we were planning on giving him any game time this season. So
00:48:09
Speaker
No, they're no feeder club, not to the extent that genuinely we took two or three of their best players at their peak, like, you know, directly from them that that was proper feeder club territory or B team, as I prefer to refer to them.
00:48:23
Speaker
Yeah. Rezzes, Norwich Rezzes. They're a rightful place. Claire, on a slightly different tangent, if you're Max, are you absolutely raging with your agent that the best move that you could have possibly got was Leeds when in the three or four seasons he's played in the championship, he's been either the best right back in the league or very close to being the best right back in the league.
Max Aarons' Career Decisions
00:48:46
Speaker
How has he not had the move materialised that he probably really, really wanted?
00:48:53
Speaker
I think he stayed with us probably two seasons too long is how he hasn't got the move he really wanted. It was Covid wasn't it? Yeah and Covid I guess. He probably would have moved if it wasn't for Covid. His peak was that that depressed transfer window. Yeah, I think after Farka left and he was horribly reigned in by Dean Smith to the extent he wasn't allowed to cross the halfway line
00:49:20
Speaker
It made him look like he'd become a worse player, which he hasn't. He just wasn't able to play in the way that played to his strengths. But it must be pretty galling for him when he'd been linked with
00:49:37
Speaker
Was it Roma and, you know, various teams? I'm not sure that was real, but yeah. No, it was real. And Premier League teams on the radar of some of the big teams to go to Leeds.
00:49:56
Speaker
who I'm not so certain are going to find it easy to get back up this season. I don't know how long term your thoughts were there, John, but I don't think that they necessarily are nailed on prospect for promotion this season. They've got a lot of squad problems. They've got a lot of injuries. I've been paying far too much attention to Leeds, obviously. It keeps popping up on my feed. I'm like, no, I don't want to read about this.
00:50:26
Speaker
But, you know, they have I think Somerville's now injured and out and he, you know, they haven't got any strikers fit, I don't think. So I don't think it's going to be that easy for them this season, I think. And it might be a bit of a transition season with Faka like we had as well. Yeah. So I'm happy in a way that he's going possibly going to be back with Daniel Faka. But that alone, the fact that they're at Leeds just still physically makes me feel sick. So I don't want to think about it.
00:50:56
Speaker
I think he'll score the winner on the 26th of August. No. They've got a game coming up in East Anglia on the 26th of August. Oh, that's great. Oh, OK. Yeah, I think Max will score a winner that day. That's fine. But he can't play against us. There needs to be some clause in the contract. I'll just look away. I mean, any time the ball goes near him, I'll just divert my eyes and do not look at him. Anyway, John won't have a clue who it is.
00:51:21
Speaker
So my point was that Ben Gibson and Shane Duffy just look like, almost like mirror images of each other, like one's right foot, one's left foot. Yeah, Duffy's a whole head bigger than Gibson. He's massive. Gibson's like six, three, but it's only two inches. He's a head taller, he's a shoulder wider, he's the giant of a man.
00:51:41
Speaker
He is a John Everman. Second half, after Gibson had gone off in the second half, Duffy played a dodgy ball back to Gunn and someone shouted, fucking hell, Gibson, even though he sat on the bench. It was behind you. I think the voice did come from behind me in the upper Barclays. There you go. Any idea what he said? Well, I did know it was Gibson that had gone off, but only because John Speksey was coming. We know whoever the announcer man. We should have one more question.
00:52:11
Speaker
Yeah, go on. Ben Rollinson on Twitter, not on Twitter, he's on Instagram. He asks, will we see a Norwich no longer given such media expectation thrive under the radar? And I guess we've always, like whenever we've done well, apart from maybe the championship season where we coasted it with Olly Skip and Wyndia and Dow, Cantwell, Pookie, but like any other time we've done well, we've always flown under the radar ahead of time, haven't we?
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. And I think it probably helps our fans as well. I thought the atmosphere was good on Saturday and may be helped by expectations being a bit lowered. I don't know if that meant that when we went 1-0 down, there wasn't such a sort of, you know, what a disaster the season is over, sort of, you know, actually everyone.
00:53:05
Speaker
everyone could see what we were trying to do and kept going behind the team. And yeah, just the hype usually doesn't help, does it? I mean, the thing is, it's a league now with a lot of big names compared to last season with the teams that have come down and certain teams who have come up who are self-appointed big teams. And yeah, maybe it'll help us to just sort of sit in the middle a bit there.
00:53:34
Speaker
I think that's a good point about the atmosphere and it certainly helped. I felt it helped with that. That was one of the first games I've had outside of being a Barkley lower regular. Claire, was that, you know, sat in the upper? Did you feel like the atmosphere was maybe significantly better than last season? I felt like the drum really helped with that, actually. It kind of kept you as a relentless atmosphere throughout the game.
00:53:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think the real test was the whole goal. We'd played really, really well up to that point and then silly mistake in the goal and it would have been very easy for the fans to revert back to type to last season at that point. But I was really, really pleased that there was like a slightly strained
00:54:16
Speaker
first of on the ball city after the goal but we did sing it and I thought okay that's positive there's not any booing or anything you know and then the team also won the pitch the way they reacted to the goal I think the whole the fans and the team it was like this is different to last season you know this isn't last season it's like a whole new sort of clean slate this is this is a new team this is a new season and
00:54:39
Speaker
I think that really shone through on Saturday which was really really positive and one of my favourite things to take away from the game was the reaction of the fans to the goal and the drum definitely helped. I think it was a good atmosphere anyway but when there was just that little lull during the game there was that period in the second half that Tom mentioned that
00:55:03
Speaker
that nothing was really happening. It was all a little bit stagnant. And then the drum kind of kicked in again and the fans kept singing. And I know the whole fans were kind of taking the pee a little bit, but who cares? Because, you know, it was a really good atmosphere and obviously helped by two late goals in the first half and the second half, which is always brilliant. So I think that really bodes well for the next game, the atmosphere in the next game as well. I think it's a lot more positive, a lot more positive. Yeah.
00:55:32
Speaker
Nice. Tom, over to you. Yeah, that was a very nice to do a pod that reflects back on a win and the fact that we've got so much kind of clean slattery and so much clean sheetery, although we didn't get a clean sheet, although Angus deserved a clean sheet based on how brilliant his save was in the second half.
00:55:52
Speaker
So thank you very much, Claire, Theon and Punt, for giving me your guarantees for Saturday. Looks like it's going to be a mixed bag in terms of for a prediction point of view, but I'm confident that we're going to come out on top and surprise a few people. And when I say come out on top, I mean, get a well-deserved score draw. Enjoy the game. Mike, here you go.