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"Leg Mood" ACN Pod 128
901 Plays9 months ago
Jon & Tom chat about #BooGate and look back on the fantastic results but bonkers vibes of the last 10 days of #ncfc. We chat Carlos Cuesta, guarantee the result(s) against Blackburn and preview a March full of must-wins.
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Transcript
Introduction and Tone Setting
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the Long Come Nourish podcast. The brief, blathering, banter's bollocks brigade has replied we bother ourselves on the bothersome brief of belting our booze, our beloved endured of late. I'm not sure that made sense, but it's just me and thee, pun. So let's get at it.
Impact of Leadership and Team Unity
00:00:37
Speaker
It was brilliant on Saturday, and the only booze were sarcastic booze, am I right?
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right. It was night and day in terms of the atmosphere and the fact that, I don't know, Wagner came out and he almost, has he played a blinder? Has he, is it a complete master stroke? And the fact that he's drawn a line in the sand and gone, get behind us. I think the players have perhaps reinforced that message as well. Everyone just seemed to be on board. Everyone was like, yeah, we're going to get behind you. Like we understand.
00:01:12
Speaker
the remit, despite what might happen, and we'll maybe get into it a bit later, but despite what might happen in the summer, it just felt like everyone was together. And that isn't even as a result of, oh, look, actually we're winning 3-1 and everything's fine. It was at 1-0, like the people genuinely got behind the plane. And it felt, Carrow Road felt like
00:01:36
Speaker
a together place again. Now, that might only be one game. You know, we've said on this podcast before that, you know, Wagner does still always seem to be like two results away from it all turning. But I think it's probably he's gone a bit further than that now. And it feels like people are invested. People feel like we can make the top six. And the season could end in something that, let's be frank, we didn't really expect, you know, kind of like two, three months ago.
00:02:05
Speaker
So it all feels a bit rosy. It all also feels a little bit like it's completely reliant on Josh Sargent. And that in of itself is a bit of a worry given that he's being managed and he's nursing an injury and you know, kind of all of those types of things. But whilst he's fit, whilst we've got this momentum, whilst Norwich are in a good place, it's great, isn't it? It suddenly feels really, really different.
Key Players and Tactical Strategies
00:02:34
Speaker
Well, he's a Jenga piece. We've got two. We've got Johnny Rome. We've got him where I mean, I also feel that if you took Kenny or Sara out of the team, we would have a similarly massive drop off as well. But, you know, those two have kind of been demonstrated as massive Jenga pieces because when they're taken out, you know, we've seen that just how much.
00:02:54
Speaker
not just the tea. Do you think that's the same with Kenny anymore? Sorry to interject, but do you genuinely think that's the same with Kenny anymore? Given how good Marcelino Nunez has been since he's come back?
00:03:05
Speaker
I actually think it's more the case now than I have at any season before. I mean, I've always been a Kenny Stan and some of that's in jest because it's a bit, but yeah, so I play up to it. But really, objectively this season, Kenny has been so impactful on our performances and setting the tempo. And I think sometimes when we are going through those
00:03:29
Speaker
loles in a game and there were a couple on Saturday against Cardiff City and when we did start to go a bit slow again and it did start to get a bit ponderous the atmosphere stayed good and I do think it tends to be Kenny who goes no come on let's actually fizz the ball instead of just rolling it
00:03:48
Speaker
I agree that Nunez has been terrific of late and he seems to really have understood the role that's being asked of him and I'm giving him the benefit and the compliment rather than saying he's being used in a better way because I don't think he's
Substitutions and Tactical Adjustments
00:04:03
Speaker
I think we've tried to play him there before in the season. I don't think that there's been some great tactical masterstroke in terms of what the coaching team have done around masterly. He just seems to get it. He just seems to say, okay, so I get to this point and then I hand it off.
00:04:19
Speaker
the positional discipline, the way that he unlocks Sara to be a menace going forward, drifting out to the left as he tends to do from that central position, Sara, and putting in brilliant balls, winning corners, and obviously having license to shoot from anywhere, he really does seem to be allowed to do that without anyone complaining.
00:04:41
Speaker
And he's shown in his free kick the incredible ability that he has. So I do think Kenny and Sarah would be similar. Luckily, we have here in Touchwood, luckily we haven't had to endure massive gaps without them in the team this year. But the thing with Sergeant, maybe more so than Johnny, is Sergeant makes such a difference to how much of a useful asset Ashley Barnes is.
00:05:05
Speaker
You know, Ashley Barnes, when we are playing well as a team and and Josh Sargent is in it, looks like one of the best second strikers in the championship. He is the perfect complementary striker to play in a four for two. He does not have the skill set to be a one. And I'm not sure he would say I mean, I'm sure he would have the confidence to try and do it. And we've seen him try and do it. And, you know, he would have scored goals when he's been on his own up front, you know, Bernie, for example, where they weren't exactly prone to playing lots of players in forward positions.
00:05:35
Speaker
But he is a brilliant second striker because he will drop in behind and clear out space for Josh to run into. He will make aggressively opposite runs to the runs that Josh is making to stretch defences and create spaces. He's really unselfish in this movement.
00:05:56
Speaker
And he showed on Saturday that he will be in the right place and finish a chance when given it. Questionable offside, looking at the kind of screen grabs from after the game, but it turned out it didn't matter. Yeah, I think Josh Sargent gives a better focus for the wide players in terms of the crossing. I think the crossing of the ball is better when Josh Sargent is there.
00:06:19
Speaker
That's partly because of his movement, but I think he makes such decisive runs that it means that Stacey or Demi or Sam McCallum, who's only in a good round of form at the moment, they can have a quick look up and go, oh, OK, he's clearly running in that direction. Now let me look down and concentrate on getting a good contact with this ball. And I know where I'm going to put it.
00:06:37
Speaker
So I feel that is the just Josh Sargent effect is the element that he raises those up around him. I think you're right in terms of Barnes. I wouldn't go so far as to say best or one of the best second strikers in the championship because I don't feel like he's there. But I think what Sargent does, Sargent gives him legs. Sargent seems to give him intensity as well. It was really
00:07:03
Speaker
The actual aggression in Barnes' run-in on Saturday seemed to be different and it was almost like Sargent was leading by example, which seemed weird to me because we were led to believe that it was the other way around and Barnes was this good lad and dressing room character and all the rest of it.
00:07:19
Speaker
As you say, I think his levels have been raised off the back of Sargent just going, no, no, this is how we do it, this is how we play, and this is how I'm going to charge people down or be effective in terms of running into space or just be an option for the long ball. But I think that's the main difference for me, is that Sargent's physicality gives us an option, gives us a different dimension, gives us an out ball.
00:07:42
Speaker
have a massive difference when it comes to Norwich because it's not just as simple as I'll press them high and it's going to be absolutely fine, which tactically, coaches seem to work us out earlier in the season. If it's a Gibson or a Kenny or whoever at the back, who knows that they can dink when in behind and Sargent is going to
00:08:05
Speaker
at best get onto the end of it and at worst cause a bit of a nuisance so that the ball coming back to us you know kind of is is maybe able to be contested in in a better fashion it just i i have i don't think i've seen a nourished city side this reliant on one individual since darren huckabee maybe 0304
Opposition and Fan Communication
00:08:29
Speaker
Well, there may well be similarities if the season goes well in terms of a post-Christmas dragging us up and bringing everyone up around. Just a quick note on the weekend game in terms of everything going through one player and one player being key.
00:08:44
Speaker
I was really impressed with Reuben Colwell, the Welsh kind of attacking midfielder forward. I thought he looked a real player and there's been two or three times this season when we've played teams that have been having a bad day and there's been one or two that have really stood out for those teams.
00:09:04
Speaker
He's one who is only 21, six foot two, and almost everything he did in terms of receiving the ball, creating space for players, playing reverse passes, and anything that was positive happened around him, I thought he was brilliant. So he's a name to look for in terms of potential transfer activity, if we were to buy from the championship.
00:09:27
Speaker
But anyway, just wanted to mention that in terms of the booze, then let's touch on that. Claire of this parish made the suggestion, perhaps when someone goes off, it should be announced or communicated somehow if it was a tactical or an injury related substitution, which I thought was quite an interesting idea.
Injury Management and Fan Reactions
00:09:55
Speaker
Sarge was almost trying to do that though, wasn't he? He was like, no, if you see the replays back, he's like, no, no, no, no, I'm injured, lads. But I think that was misconstrued at the time of don't boo, don't boo, rather than there's a reason why I'm being taken off. You know, it's a tiny thing, but how do you have done the sit down and do the wheel your hands and wiggle your fingers around each other? You know, I need to come off substitution.
00:10:19
Speaker
as a sign language, then I don't think the booze happen. I really don't think they do. It's then a disappointing thing. And it's a really interesting point you made right up off the top 10 minutes ago about, has he played a master stroke?
00:10:38
Speaker
At the time, I thought it was a really bizarre thing to focus in on. After a 4-2, it felt like a come from behind win. We were never losing. And then also to slag supporters off on the eve of, oh look, do you want to renew your season tickets?
00:10:56
Speaker
Oh no, actually you fucker stay at home. Like, you know, that just completely bizarre in terms of his choice of language. But in retrospect, he has received no long-term, well, we can't say long-term since a week ago. He's received no short to medium term blowback because the performance was just tremendous on Saturday. I mean, if we'd have got seven goals against Cardiff,
00:11:19
Speaker
it wouldn't have been against the run of play or unfair. We could have been three up before they scored. We really were all over them, including that offside goal we talked about. Josh should easily have had a hat-trick. The one in the second half, which was for the hat-trick, you could see how frustrated he was by that chance, because he just thought that was the hat-trick right there. And there's one early door that Barnes pulls back from, which is probably his best chance of the afternoon in fairness.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that the players, we've talked about this during the ship run. The way they came out and said, it's on us, it's not on him. We're not doing the things we're being asked to do. Duffy said that, Kenny said that. We heard that from multiple places in the team. Barn said it. Be angry at us. We are letting ourselves down. That is where you should
Fan Engagement and Community Involvement
00:12:08
Speaker
be angry. It's not the coaching stuff. We are being given the tools to do the job kind of thing.
00:12:12
Speaker
And at the time, we recognize that they certainly had not at any point down to tools. They weren't not playing for him. And it may well be that he's kind of gone with a siege mentality. And it may well be that we saw Barnes with an angry reaction when he scored a goal a while ago, as the transition from the latest David Wagner bag streak went into the latest David Wagner good streak.
00:12:37
Speaker
You know, again, this is the bargaining experience, you know, 12 games good, 12 games bad, that's what you get. Don't say that, because that means we're about to have the other last 12 games of the season, yeah. That means we get one more good one, yeah. And then it goes downhill. But he's clearly got, and likewise, we've always said he seems like a super bloke. I think that is a really united dressing room. The way they celebrated the goals, the way that they seem to be trying to
00:13:05
Speaker
let the crowd into the celebrations just a little bit more. It's been a little bit more insular some of the celebrations in the last few games whereas now it seems to be a bit more kind of facing outwards to the crowd to celebrate and I think maybe he has been playing that siege mentality card maybe behind closed doors for longer than
00:13:24
Speaker
that we've been letting on. And that has maybe been a big part of the narrative of the season for the players. Um, that, you know, we need to, we need to show these guys they're wrong and you need to prove these guys wrong. And maybe that's what they've done. And it's a weird thing to have a season mentality against your own fans. But if that's what's driven this, this increased hunger, this increased fight for the second ball and because that, that's one of the tangible things that's different in under good streaky vibe there.
00:13:48
Speaker
the number of turnovers of possession that are very quickly ruled out by us winning the ball back, that is just note the last few games, the last 10 games at home unbeaten. That is what's so noted should be different. We spend longer in possession, meaningful possession, and when we do make a mistake like Kenny's bizarre sort of scissor kick across his own penalty area on Saturday,
00:14:14
Speaker
Then why he was trying to kick it out Kenny anyway and Things like that tend to be nullified by his three or four mates Swarming around the ball and making sure it doesn't turn into something worse
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'd completely agree with that. And to go back to the booing for a little bit, I know we're like nearly 15 minutes in and we're still talking about the boos, but I think it's, look, we didn't talk about it afterwards, after it immediately happened. We're in the aftermath of a couple of games where we've scored eight goals at home. So maybe this shouldn't be the area of focus, but I think it's just worth highlighting, right? So there's two strands for me. One, booing during a match, especially a match that we are winning,
00:14:56
Speaker
is never really going to be conducive to brilliance on a football pitch. And it was clear that it visibly affected the players. Is it understandable in terms of maybe the fact that Sargent went off, that there is some muscle memory from Wagner's poor substitutions earlier in the season, that there was the spectre of the QPR game where we just dropped points? Did it look like perhaps substituting a striker for A. Midfielder?
00:15:23
Speaker
Did that feel like it was a backwards move? Yes. With hindsight, was it? Probably not. But that is all against the backdrop of what did equalise. That game was massively in the balance. It had become stretched at two all and it was essentially next goal wins. It was
00:15:42
Speaker
fortunate for us that the ball ricocheted for Barnes and then Barnes had a bit of quality about him to put in Sarah and then Sarah produced an excellent finish because it wouldn't have surprised me at that point had Sarah missed that that we'd have gone on to lose that match you know and and these those are the kind of moments where seasons turn so I think you know the first thing to say is like it is booing productive absolutely not but and this is the but
00:16:09
Speaker
It wasn't just a reaction to Wagner. It wasn't just a reaction to the retreat into our shells. It was more suggestive. And this is what I tried to articulate in a piece I wrote on the website. Probably went out on Wednesday or Thursday. I can't remember. But what I was trying to articulate is that this is more suggestive of an undercurrent of negativity that has been swirling around.
00:16:34
Speaker
four months, if not years, in terms of Dean Smith's tenure, Wagner's tenure, poor runs, perhaps ill-advised kind of PR. And people have felt disconnected and people have felt that there is a toxicity around Cara Road.
00:16:53
Speaker
And for whatever reason, when things aren't quite going the way that people want it to, or, you know, decisions being made that are baffling, and let's be honest, it did look baffling at the time to take off Sargent and maybe not put a striker on, or, you know, fresh legs with Van Hoydon or whatever it might be. I can get why people did it. And I think for me that, like, remove all the noise about the individual being withdrawn or the manager or all the rest of it.
00:17:20
Speaker
I kind of called for the club to use that as a catalyst to go, right, something's wrong. And something is wrong. But let's not dress that up. Like they have, I feel way less connected to Norwich City Football Club as a result of maybe the club's actions over the last couple of years. And I know for a fact, and we've talked about it on this podcast, a lot of other people do too. I think some of that sentiment was coming out in that particular moment. And it's
00:17:48
Speaker
That's where I feel like the club is the only one with the agency or the ability to now go, right, that happened. We need to acknowledge it. We need to acknowledge that fans perhaps aren't as engaged as they should be and that maybe the core values of the football club aren't as pervasive as they want to be in terms of transferring over to the fan base.
00:18:09
Speaker
what can we do about it, what conversations can we facilitate, what what can we do because the club are the only one that can get all of a lot of support groups in a room or do some more phone engagement or you know all of those bits or just actually walk the walk and live their values and demonstrate that they are what we hope that the football club is.
00:18:30
Speaker
and I think that's the point for me is that actually use it as a positive use it as something to channel so that we can have the football club that we want and you know look that might already be doing being done behind the scenes the club have done some brilliant work in some aspects this season if you look at you know kind of mental health videos if you look at the work that they've done with the women's team if you look at all sorts of things that you know do they understand do are there people at the club that understand
00:18:56
Speaker
that we need to be steeped in the community and embrace our roots and all of those things. Yeah, they definitely are. Do the club communicators that as well as they should do, probably not. And that's the bit for me. It's like, right, use it as an agent for change. Don't just write it off as, oh, if we win a few more football matches, everything will be all right. Let's stick our heads in the sand. Because that did not help under the Dean Smith tenure. It has not helped under the David Wagner tenure.
00:19:23
Speaker
It is, I think it is still a problem that will be there.
Upcoming Fixtures and Playoff Chances
00:19:27
Speaker
And as much as it felt brilliant for it to be completely united on Saturday, I think that is temporary. And I think it's a 13 game. Well, depending on how long the good run goes on for, but this is a, it's almost a stay of execution. Let's all band together towards the end of the season and then see what happens rather than overall one again. And everything's brilliant.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's some some good points well made there. And in terms of the the run we've got coming up, we've got one game left in February. But including that and then throughout March, which is busy as it always is in the championship, March as we actually pointed this out a couple of couple of pods ago, March is going to be effectively where this season is won and lost. And the way that the way that the fixtures have worked out and the way that form has worked out to get us here,
00:20:15
Speaker
Norwich don't play anyone other than Sunderland up until the 1st of April in the top half of the table. That includes the bottom club, that includes no teams that have got more than two wins in the last five at the moment and quite a few with worse form than that. We seem to be playing people. This is if we played them all today. Obviously things are going to happen over the next three or four games. People are going to pick up results.
00:20:34
Speaker
As it looks at it, we have got Sunderland, new manager bounce potentially, et cetera, coming up. But, you know, we know that Borough are a good outfit and they've caused us some real issues, Michael Carrick's team, you know, in the past. But we've got Sunderland coming up, we've got Borough coming up, Stoke, who are, you know, 19th at the moment, rather than at the bottom. Plymouth was 17th, Blackburn was 16th.
00:21:00
Speaker
that if you wanted to build some momentum, if you look at how well we've just dispatched 14th Cardiff, we are not playing any, I mean, Sunderland will argue they are, that's why they've decided to twist for the manager and Middlesbrough are just about in it if you squint and I'm giving them a lot of credit for having a good manager there.
00:21:21
Speaker
I think that we're not really playing any playoff hopefuls over the next five or six games. Then, you know, that run abruptly ends with Ipswich and Leicester, you know, into April. But the point is, at the end of March, if we are not in the playoffs, I mean, I don't mean like, you know, a win out like we are right now, one win away from Holworth, slightly bit of goal defense by goal or whatever.
00:21:44
Speaker
If we are not in 5th or 6th at the end of March, I think that's done. Because you cannot have that run of games that we've got available in the next six years. If you can't pick up, we should be winning all but two of them. If we've got any interest in playoff form, you've got to win all but two of them. Because in theory, on paper, I don't know if it was on paper,
00:22:04
Speaker
like they are games that our, like you mentioned Hux in, you know, three or four, they are games that that team won. I mean, they would have won all of them. They are games that the Lambert teams would win all but one of, and their games at the Farka team would win all but the one that Emmy got sent off in. Although, you know, I remember us beating QPR about three nil when we got Emmy sent off, you know.
00:22:23
Speaker
Unless something bonkers happens as a ridiculous penalty early on or whatever, we win most of those games if this is a playoff team. So if I could keep that streak going, he is being dealt the teams in the order to potentially build an even longer and successful run.
00:22:41
Speaker
And if we are in fifth or sixth when it comes to, you know, those difficult April fixtures, we go into Leicester with a free hit. I mean, as it stands at nine points clear, they could have won it by then. Nine points clear a second. So they might not have won the title, but they're currently 11 points clear of four, which is, you know, Russ's lot.
00:23:05
Speaker
And it is very, very feasible that with, you know, five games to go, they are 15 points clear. And therefore we might get them the day after their parade or whatever. We might get them the day after their piss up. So, you know, we might get them like a win, a win, get you up, which is the worst time possible. But the point is that is a free hit, whatever it is for anyone playing them, because everyone's just sort of handed them the title now, which is one of the reasons they're winning so comfortably, because no one's going into these games expecting to beat them.
00:23:33
Speaker
And then we've got obviously the Ipswich game, but irrelevant of the Leicester result. If we are in those playoff places, we are going to have such confidence going into those games that you never know what might happen on any given day. And then we've got a relatively straightforward, back to normal, good team, bad team, good team, bad team to finish the season.
00:23:56
Speaker
It's not like we are playing all of the playoff teams in the running. It isn't that. We've dealt with that. We've just had that run. And we've beaten them. And that's the weird thing. We've beaten the teams that we maybe wouldn't have thought we would. But we've actually then, just prior to that, didn't necessarily get the best results against a set of teams that we'd have felt that should be regulation.
Player Performances and Transfers
00:24:16
Speaker
So I don't know. Yeah.
00:24:18
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Again, things can change, but we've currently got Sheffield, Wednesday, Bristol, Birmingham and Swansea are almost certainly going to have nothing to play for meaningfully at the top of the league at least. I'd say Wednesday, possibly, will be fighting still on that. Potentially, yeah, because there's still five games left at that point, so they probably won't be mathematical.
00:24:42
Speaker
And then Preston, they need to start their charge pretty soon if they're going to still be relevant with four games left, but we'll see. And so, again, you look at that, you think there's a couple of decent teams. Bristol, Sydney, and Preston are up a sort of upper-mid table, lower top half, but still decent outfits. To quote a recent Dion Dublin's
00:25:03
Speaker
and video but if you have if you look at that you think well they are all winnable games the majority of these 13 are perfectly that they you know a lot of the playoff chasers will have a lot harder running than us so i feel like it's in it's in our hands if we can keep josh fit we can keep barnes fit we can keep sarah and kenny fit the defense looks looks in in good nick in comparison to what it has looked like
00:25:26
Speaker
And I think Angus is probably not quite getting as much praise as he should. I think he's made some really big saves in that difficult run against some of those playoff teams. It's a bit like when a referee has a good game because you don't really mention him or notice him. I think Gunn is having that kind of season. It's been pretty much howler free. And it's been some good saves when he's been needed. And he comes and gets the ball when you need him to. And he doesn't do silly punches. And he's not slow off his line.
00:25:56
Speaker
we should be the knocks on some of our previous good keepers. I think he's having, he's developed into a, you know, we haven't got to think about the goalkeeping position because he's set for a few years. And what a nice position to be in. I completely agree with the gun stuff and the fact that he's gone under the radar. And it came out in one of my group chats the other day, it was like, actually,
00:26:16
Speaker
because this is the time of year that you might start logically thinking about that. Rowe will have been out for maybe a bit too long for him to be eschewing. Josh Sargent might have been out for a bit too long for him to be part of the conversation for top three. Gabby Sarrow is someone that is definitely going to be top three, like you can't see that, but the bizarre thing is that then you look at, right, well, who's been most consistent, who's been most dependable, and you are left with
00:26:43
Speaker
For me, Angus Gunn, because I think Angus Gunn has been excellent all season. His distribution has come on no end this season. And I always thought that he was pretty decent in that regard with his feet. But actually, the way he's been able to clip balls out to full backs, which has really helped us on occasion where, you know, full backs are pushed on or he's just been quite careful with the ball. You know, the contrast between him and Long in possession is massive.
00:27:09
Speaker
So you've got him, he would be my pick for Player of the Season right now. But then you're probably talking about Kenny being part of the conversation, and that to me just seems bizarre, but it is out of consistency, it is out of dependability, and the fact that Kenny has probably had his best season in an Irish city shirt.
00:27:31
Speaker
I think that no one's going to deny that he has when he's been good. He's been very good. He's still got brain fart moments in him. Yeah, he's not reference one of them. Yeah. Well, and in the Watford game as well, actually, you know, I think it was the Watford game as a couple that, you know, he nearly got us into hot water. And Barnes did as well, I think. So we've still got mistakes in us. But but actually, you know, Angus has been
00:27:53
Speaker
terrific like you know really like lots of people are now just saying that he is comfortably the best goalkeeper in the division and you know i don't know about the other 23 championship goalkeepers in any kind of depth but everyone that you see you know trot out to cara rhoda you know that none of them look a patch on him because he seems like he's got
00:28:12
Speaker
the full package, the absolute full package. And he's one of those players that you now start to cast an eye towards the summer. And you think, will a Premier League club maybe want to take a gamble on him? Because if there are scouts at our games, and you think there is with the likes of Johnny Rowe and Sarah,
00:28:31
Speaker
playing really well this season they're gonna see Angus Gunn and they're gonna see that you know he is he's up there and you know he probably is a 10-15 million pound goalkeeper just like he was in that first season where we had him on loan so yeah player of the season for me
Game Predictions and Fan Dynamics
00:28:47
Speaker
Okay. Well, let's do some guarantees. We've got this interesting looking game coming up against Blackburn at the weekend. Can I have a guaranteed goal scorer and a guaranteed scoreline, please? Given that my predictions went so well on the last podcast where I said that we would score no goals, I think, over the two games.
00:29:12
Speaker
and probably yield one point. I think that was the QPR and Watford games that we were predicting. I got the result right at QPR, I think, and then I said we'd lose to Watford just because it's Watford.
00:29:24
Speaker
I think it's completely reliant on whether Josh Sargent is fit. I know you've asked me for a prediction and I'm going off on a tangent, but it's really interesting that it almost seems like it depends what mood his leg is in when they wake up as to how they can manage him. It's just totally bizarre, isn't it? It's like, I'll wake up, do you feel all right? Yeah, fine, crack on.
00:29:47
Speaker
But it is completely reliant on him. So I'm going to say that I think we will get a score draw at Blackburn. I think it will be 2-2. And I think that...
00:29:58
Speaker
I think I know Hernandez might net. Ooh, that'd be nice. That'd be the Boo Boys. The Boo Boys would be delighted that they were proven correctly. What do you reckon was the percentage of booing? Because it wasn't the 20% that Delia doesn't like. It was less than that. Because the thing is about boo. Boo is such an audible sound. You only probably need about 50 people booing relatively close to each other. And it didn't half carry.
00:30:25
Speaker
So I was I'd moved my seat I was back in the lower Berkeley for the Watford game so I think you know it was way more audible around where I was the maybe then other parts of the stadium.
00:30:38
Speaker
It felt like a good proportion of the Barkley lower that we're joining in with that and not necessarily just the booing, but you don't know what you're doing. I think that came out and also just people just throwing expletives at the manager. Again, we can get into all the reasons for that and it's probably not worth dissecting a bit more.
00:31:00
Speaker
It felt like everyone was, if they weren't doing that, they were looking at their mates and just going, what's he up to? Really? Is that the move? And we can get into whether he was trying to shore up the midfield and give us a bit of a better base in possession. And did Nunez come on and make a difference? All of those things, you could construct a valid argument from that.
00:31:21
Speaker
but it felt at the time like it was regressing a little bit and that's why. So yeah, I think in terms of the Barkley lower, wouldn't surprise me if it was a good 50% of people that were showing some audible signs of exasperation, not necessarily booing, but I would imagine that's different in a wholesale way for the remainder of the stadium.
00:31:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's weird because then on Saturday the jubilation and the singing and the variety of songs and the just positivity again, even at 1-0, which was so against the run of play that I think the players had earned the on the ball city at that point. They'd earned us getting behind them. And it's
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, they talk about a game of two halves. That was a sort of a game week of two halves. The second half of Watford was so different or parts of the booing in the second half of Watford compared to the first half of Cardiff was like, oh, it's forgiven. We love you. We could never boo you guys. But there's definitely some sarcastic booing, which I found that hilarious.
00:32:27
Speaker
And it also sort of occurred to me, similar to Claire talking about potentially going forward, we could make a really big deal of signaling what type of substitution it is. Maybe our thing could just be we'd boo every sub. I just think that, you know, there are these quirks and our mate Andy Lorne has got a few of them in his fantastic book. And like, I think it would be a funny, it would be a funny quirk if, oh yeah, Norwich are those weird, like whenever Norwich come here, they always boo all of their
Playoff Scenarios and Team Readiness
00:32:56
Speaker
own substitutions.
00:32:56
Speaker
It'll be an interesting thing to do and it would also take you can't affect the players then if you boo everybody They won't know who yeah, it's fine. Then it'll take the ambiguity out of it. Yeah, no problem at all Yeah, we will boo who you want. We boo who you want and anyway, right? Okay. Well my guarantee For the Blackburn game is it's gonna be a fantastic three-nil win And sergeant is gonna get his hat trick I mean his goals per game is currently already Incredibly positive and the hat trick that he's gonna get on Saturday is gonna make that even better. Did you see his minutes per game?
00:33:26
Speaker
like i mean it's per goal sorry like uh like almost the best in the country or something ridiculous i know it's only from a sample section of 10 games or whatever no 13 games but yes still crazy if he but if he can stay fit and play nine 10 of the last 13
00:33:44
Speaker
You can only, especially because of the people we're playing in the form of the people whose job it is to provide him with service. I thought Stacey was super mechanical and as I say he's in really good running form at the moment. I thought that, you know, we've mentioned that Nunez was playing really really well.
00:34:00
Speaker
The players around him are putting such good balls into the box and really seem to have got the hang around how to weight those passes, not quite over the top, sort of around the corner passes. Different to how Pookie needed them slid through, but they seem to have adjusted finally to that type of ball through now.
00:34:17
Speaker
that you can see him finishing with, you know, 20 games played and, you know, 17 goals or something, because he's just... When's he going to stop banging them in? He looks so lovely. I think if that is the return and we don't go up...
00:34:32
Speaker
genuinely think that's an issue. But I think he would become someone who's hot property, as is Sarah, as is Johnny Rowe, as might be Angus Gunn. And it's then from a club perspective, I know we've got Sarge signed up on a long term deal. So that's less of an issue. We probably could extract another year from him, but we probably could. But the form he's in at the moment, the age he's in,
00:34:56
Speaker
the AG's in, that's a weird way of saying it. The AG's out and the form is in, I think that the fee will be so big that he'll go anyway. Everyone knows that strikers are worth their weight in gold and you will pay top, top dollar. If you feel that he can bang in goals for you and he suits the way you play, maybe a championship team going up, take him.
00:35:17
Speaker
that you mentioned if we don't go. I have always said this team is good enough to be a playoff team, this squad is good enough to be a playoff team. I think based on those remaining games and based on the way we're playing at the moment, even with probably one more bad streak to come, hopefully it's a small streak, I think we probably will just about finish in the playoffs.
00:35:36
Speaker
I don't think we've got enough in us to go up. I think there's going to be one or two teams that have just got their stuff together slightly better than us in terms of an overall squad that will pimp us. I'm kind of the other way around that. I don't think we'll make it. I think we'll probably still finish like eighth, ninth. Seventh or eighth, yeah. Yeah, like that kind of ballpark. And I think there are teams that are still picking up points around us that will mean that that, you know, given it's a three point gap now and, you know,
00:36:03
Speaker
West Brom have pulled away a bit in fifth as well. Yeah, that win was big for them, wasn't it? Yeah, so five or six teams playing for essentially six. They're only 36 points away, though. It's a two-game swing with 13 games left. You love a two-game swing. This is it. A bad Saturday, Tuesday, which we've seen our team have and West Brom have seen themselves have recently, you have a bad Saturday, Tuesday, and all of a sudden you're out of it.
00:36:27
Speaker
I think if we got in, I actually think we would have gathered enough momentum that I'm kind of fanciest. I'd be like, oh, hang on. We could go and do this now because there will be two teams that are massively disappointed that they haven't made it because they've averaged. Right now, I think if we got four teams that are averaging over two points a game or if not very close to it,
00:36:49
Speaker
but they will be livid. All of the top four are over two points a game, so Legion United 33-69, Scum 33-69, Southampton 33-67, so all three of them will feel like
00:37:05
Speaker
There have been seasons past where we would be comfortable in second without much of a chasing but we went up on my was eighty five eighty six point underline but it was a really low total you know that they will. Definitely exceed so the psychological shift for them to then go right is playoffs now.
00:37:23
Speaker
And also, it really does look like, I mean, we'll see if we'll see what happens, but at least one of scummel or saints or leads, whichever one of the four, I'm not it might not be two of them because one of one of those four might drop away. So saints might not be able to maintain its gun might drop away.
00:37:40
Speaker
But it looks like almost certain that one of them is going to find out there in the playoffs on the last day, not going up. Yeah. And that is the real gut punch because you've then got to go right. That's in that Sunday. And then Friday night, you've got to get yourself ready to play a first leg. And we've seen multiple times that if you if it gets away from you, the first leg, then it's too easy to set your team up to say, hey, we can even lose by two. You know, let's just keep the ball in control again. So, you know, you know, if you were to if you went
00:38:08
Speaker
If you went, if you had a second leg and you had a couple of goals behind either Farka or Russ, the way that they can control the ball, you would, it's a, it's a stiff ask, but they're going to be the teams that are going to probably have to get themselves up for the game.
Future Prospects and Managerial Changes
00:38:23
Speaker
It's going to be interesting. That is, that's the interesting psychological element. West Brom, you feel have pretty much been nailed on for playoffs for such a long time that they, you know, it's playoffs or nothing for them. And so they, they're sort of hoping to get those two legs in a, in a final.
00:38:36
Speaker
And yeah, that may be the team that is in sixth, whether it's Nodge, Coventry, you know, Sunderland managed to, you know, come back from the ashes and have a push for the new manager. Maybe it is that sixth team, Alex, so many teams before, Alec Neal's Norwich and, you know, lots of Norwich teams before and that Sunderland team. You've seen it happen, you build momentum and you become unbeatable and you just have that amazing belief.
00:39:01
Speaker
I don't know. It's the narrative. I've got a feeling we just we just fall short this season, but we'll see. And what's great is that we are playing some football that's worth watching and we're creating some atmospheres that it's worth enjoying. And, you know, I'm I'm really disappointed that it's an away game that I can't get to this weekend. I wish it was another home game. I wish I was going back again. I mean, I'm currently I'm right back. The club, the Coke.
00:39:26
Speaker
the team and the coach, not so much the club, have got me back to the point where I cannot wait for the next home game. And we've been saying the polar opposite of that for most of the season. So well done them.
00:39:39
Speaker
It is a very nice feeling. Just to go back on the playoffs a bit, it's the narrative that worries me going into it because say we sneak into sixth, let's just play that out now. We are going to be playing one of an ex-manager, an ex-player in terms of coaching them or
00:39:58
Speaker
a direct rival and then the probability is if it isn't West Brom that we would be we would be playing one of them in the final as well. So it would just like Sky Sports would be all over. It would absolutely love it, especially if it was someone like Farka, like Leeds versus Norwich in the playoff semi or playoff final. It would be it would be ridiculous. I mean, that's the bit that petrifies me. Yeah, I mean, I
00:40:22
Speaker
I think FARC has got our number better than Russell Scum. I'd agree. Russell's team outplayed us for passages of our games against them more than Leeds did. However, somehow you just don't quite feel like we are sussed by them as a coaching group, as a team. I think this is Russell Martin team's full stop apart from maybe that Swansea game where they rolled us over but we were so shit.
00:40:51
Speaker
at that point. But they don't seem to have an awful lot of thrust about them, like Russell Martin's team. They're brilliant in terms of possession and going side to side, actually, against organised teams that are going to be obdurate. I'm not sure I've seen enough for them to go, right, they're going to be really clinical. And that might be where they fall short this season and then maybe walk away with it next season after he's got a bit more coaching into them. And a couple more players.
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah, essentially, you know, maybe like someone like if they had a Josh Sergeant, I think they've got some fantastic strikers. I don't know. I don't know if it's the strike that's missing. I think it might be a it might be a 10. It might be someone to link the side to side of the of the back six. Maybe they'd like Ashley Barnes, but they've got they've got Armstrong. They've got, you know, they've got some proper, proper strikers there.
00:41:41
Speaker
friendly strikers. Yeah, it's not a lack of lack of scoring ability. I think it is the transition. And like you say, that may well be coaching, you know, another another preseason of coaching them that in here's how we flick the switch and go from side to side to a diagonal. That's just Russell Martin teams. And that's why they haven't, you know, like he hasn't won playoffs before. He hasn't taken a team to promotion before. But because, you know, that that's the kind of the missing ingredient, which he's still a fledgling coach, if
00:42:10
Speaker
If we do fall slightly short, it's been a really entertaining season in terms of actually playing some great stuff eventually and getting some good results and performances. It will be a very interesting summer for both
00:42:27
Speaker
That's where moving on from Vardan, which we haven't talked about, the interest in Arsenal. Is that how we pronounce it? I think so, but I may have absolutely butchered the pronunciation.
00:42:45
Speaker
I'm all in on him. I'm all in on him. Of course you are. He's a coach from another country. He's already in the Hall of Fame. Carlos, my mate, if he is to come in a period where we are selling the family jewels and all the assets are going and Sara's off and Sargent's off and Rose off and we get a bunch of cash to stabilize things and he's got a chance to build something,
Conclusion and Positive Outlook
00:43:13
Speaker
then it makes sense to move on from Wagner if he's going to have all of that taken away from him and we've got the opportunities on with that coaching pedigree. But if he gets us into the playoffs and we get knocked out by Leeds over two legs or whatever,
00:43:29
Speaker
But, you know, we've got to that stage. It's a big call, really, to kick him out. To kick him out when he's had a squad that's clearly imbalanced, I think has got the ability to get there, and they've shown that in lots of games. It would be a big call for Napa to say, actually, we want this Carlos Ladd to come in and oversee a rebuild. I think the only way that he doesn't leave in the summer is if we get promoted. Yeah, it's interesting that, isn't it?
00:43:56
Speaker
It's a really interesting situation for him to feel because that was made very public and we know that there's lots of truth in it and it's an interesting thing for him to face knowing that his boss has got wandering eyes and he probably knows himself. If I don't get these guys up I am back on the management merry-go-round over the summer.
00:44:20
Speaker
OK, well, it's been a pleasure talking about the football team that we love the most. And I'm looking forward to the guaranteed victory I predicted on Saturday. Enjoy it, Yellow fans, wherever you are. And please do mind how you're going.
00:45:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Long Come Norwich podcast. I'll start again. Welcome to the Long Come Norwich podcast. A brief blathering banter's bollocks brigade as we blithely bother ourselves on the bothersome bay. This is a hard one. Welcome. Don't laugh over me. Welcome to the Long Come Norwich podcast. A brief blathering banter's bollocks brigade as we blithely bother ourselves on the bothersome...