A message from The Times

Norwich City
It’s not looking good for Norwich, who are yet to pick up a point and have now lost 15 consecutive Premier League games, stretching back to the season before last. There is not a lot to cling to for Daniel Farke’s team. In terms of expected goals, they rank 19th for chances created (4.63 xG) and 19th for chances conceded (10.64 xG). If you take out set pieces, and look solely at open play, then they rank 20th at both ends. They can’t create good chances, and they can’t stop conceding them. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Defensively, part of the problem for Norwich is that they exert very little pressure on the ball. Farke’s team allow 17.3 passes per each defensive action they make — only Newcastle allow more. But Newcastle have by far the deepest defensive line in the league, and so they get away with playing like that, to a certain extent. Norwich still have a tendency to get caught too high, and as we saw in the Euros, scant pressure and space in behind makes you a magnet for through balls. Sure enough, only Leeds have conceded more than Norwich’s 17 through balls so far this season.

Before the season, there was some talk that Norwich were better equipped for survival than they were two years ago, and it’s true that they’ve made some decent signings, in the likes of Ozan Kabak, Billy Gilmour and Milot Rashica. But that is more than counter-balanced by the loss of Emiliano Buendía, who was comfortably Norwich’s best player last time out. In 2019-20, Buendía ranked fourth in the league for open-play chances created, behind Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Sadio Mané, and Norwich still finished a distant 20th. It’s very hard to be optimistic about their chances of survival now that they no longer have one of the best creators in the league, and don’t appear to have fixed the fundamental issues which sunk them last time.

Posted By: Malkybarneedledick on September 22nd 2021 at 13:17:43

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