Second Half Of The Season

After the recent run of poor results, I started the New Year by holding a team meeting to allow everyone to have their say and clear the air, to help us move forward. It went very well indeed and the team emerged with renewed heart.

Given the next match was against Chelsea, I still had limited expectations. I changed up the formation to a 4-3-1-2 dropping the DM for an extra CM,  in case teams were getting wise to our tactics, and to my joy we took a precious 3 points at home with a 3-2 victory with a brace from Kweuke and a header from Ryan Bennett seeing us home.  

Then disaster struck, as Kweuke got himself injured for 4 weeks (though we’d have lost him to the African Nations anyway). A kind FA cup tie away to Championship Blackburn in theory allowed me some respite, so I rested some players, but we were dreadful and lost 1-0 to a late goal, annoying the board. However a second consecutive league victory 2-1  (away to Newcastle: Sidibe and Holt) eased the pressure and kept us comfortably mid-table exceeding the boards expectations in that area at least.

In on loan: Inter's right back Jonathan

                                                           

My scouts had been out and about working hard and having carefully looked at all the reports I signed a few players on pre-contracts (if you’re not a footy fan this means they would join us when their contract expired in June). Acquired in this way, all on very sensible wages, were target man Denis Stracqualursi (long term Holt replacement), goalie David Ospina, and right back Nelson and I felt they would all help us next season.

My 4-1-2-1-2 was working well, and I mixed it up with 4-3-1-2,  4-1-3-2 and 4-2-2-2 so I finally felt safe to shed my last wide players. Snodgrass and Pilkington joined Championship teams reflecting my view of them (in the game not real life I hasten to add) for a total of 4 million plus add-on clauses. Surman joined Reading for 1.3 million, and Chris Martin, whose contract was winding down, joined Derby on a free getting his wages off the bill.

Trying to solve the problem right back position I loaned Brazilian Jonathan from Inter. He played brilliantly on his debut before getting injured in the second half putting him out for 6 weeks. Oh well, back to Stalteri!

                                                                 

                                          Portugese U21 International Bebe joined on a free

Back in the league our consistently inconsistent form continued with a 1-1 draw at Everton (Morison getting some game time with Kweuke injured),  a 1-0 loss at Stoke and then a 4-2 victory at Southampton (Hleb and a Grant Holt hattrick).

As the transfer window closed I brought in Sully Muntari on loan. In retrospect I think this was a mistake as the loan fee and wages were high, and centre midfield was an area we were strong in. On deadline day another I picked up Portugese U21 international Bebe on a free. I couldn’t quite accept someone Man Utd had brought in could be useless, so I thought I would give him a shot. 

With no cup games, and the transfer window shut, it was just league games between now and seasons end. The team took a well deserved rollocking after losing 1-0 at home to Wigan and so it was with enormous relief that I welcomed Kweuke back into the fold for our next match, at home to Manchester City.

                         

                                      Sulley Muntari came in on loan but didn't make much impact                            

Whether it was the rollocking or Kweuke’s return, I don’t know but we were a team on fire. We beat City 2-0 and we deserved it. Kweuke, of course, scored on his return and Howson got the other. You can view the goals here.

Draws at West Brom (1-1  Holt) and QPR (2-2  Hleb + og) followed by a 2-1 victory at Sunderland (Kweuke and Jonathan, excellent on his return from injury) continued the mini run and barring a miracle I knew we would achieve our base-line goal of avoiding relegation.

About this time I became aware of a clause in Michael Turner's contract meaning I would have to pay 500K to Sunderland if he played 5 more games for us, and so I used him sparingly.

 I didn't see him in my long term plans and felt I'd rather keep the 500k for other players. This gave Ryan Bennett a chance to continue his excellent development.

Losses to Tottenham (2-1  Kweuke) and Liverpool (3-0) were at least understandable, but after we then contrived to throw away a 2-1 lead against Reading to lose 3-2 (Kweuke x 2), I held them back in the dressing room afterwards and didn’t mince my words.

I called another team meeting the next morning and it cleared the air. Everyone agreed a 4^th loss would be unacceptable.

Swansea were on the receiving end of that determination as we ran out 4-1 winners (Kweuke the goal machine 2, and Hoolahan 2).

Our final 4 games saw us perform our usual Jekyll and hide act with losses to Fulham (3-5  (Hoolahan 2,  & Bennett..who was developing very well) and Arsenal (3-0) sandwiched around wins against West Ham (2-0 Garrido and Jenssen) and Villa 3-1  (Kweuke, Holt and Butterfield).  View the goals here

To my delight we finished 10^th, exactly mid-table (and 2 places higher than Paul Lambert achieved the previous year).  W  13  D  11  L  14

Kweuke was selected as the Premier league buy of the season with a record of:

Played   31   Goals  17    Assists  4     Rating  7.38 

Now I could begin to play the transfer market and try to push on for season 13-14.

September - December

With the transfer window firmly slammed shut,  I knew these were the players who would make or break my attempts to help Norwich achieve their goal of avoiding relegation. After one point from the first 2 league games it was important we started to get some results before we entered that vicious circle of poor results harming confidence which leads to more poor results. A circle which it is so difficult to escape from.

However a win continued to elude us. We gained 3 consecutive 1-1 draws (against Everton, Newcastle and Stoke) which brought us to 4 points, with Kweuke (2), and Sidibe grabbing the goals, and through careful man management  I was keeping morale up. It didn't help, therefore, that we then drew Man Utd away in the Capital Cup and they chose to play a full strength side. Still smarting from our outrageous steal of a point on the opening day of the season, they ran out 3-0 winners.

                                                          
                           Yussuf: Became a 1st team regular when Tettey got a serious injury

At this stage I still wasn’t sure what kind of season it would be. We had only won once (and that against lower league opposition), and we really needed to turn some of our recent draws into wins.

Finally, away to Wigan on 29^th Sept, we secured our first victory, 2-1. Kweuke, of course, and Bradley Johnson providing the goals. (You can see them HERE ).

I was playing a 4-1-2-1-2 as my first choice with Ruddy in goal,  Garrido, Bassong, Turner and Stalteri along the back, Tettey (or Yussuf once Tettey quickly picked up a 3 month injury) as dm/anchor and 2 of Jenssen, Johnson and Howson in midfield.  The attacking midfielder was Wes Hoolahan and upfront Kweuke and a target man, Holt and Sidibe both battling to make the starting place their own. 

We were lower mid table but not mired in the relegation places, with 7 points from 6 games, and only one loss (but only one win!).

October saw  us picking up points against bottom ten teams, and getting nothing from top ten teams. We got a point at Southampton, and beat relegation bound West Brom 2-1 (Kweuke and Sidibe). We then lost to Tottenham and November started with us crashing 2-4 at Man City (Sidibe and Jonson)

Struggling QPR couldn’t match us with Bassong and Howson grabbing the goals in our 2-1 win and a nice little run continued with a 1-1 draw at Sunderland (Jenssen), followed by back to back victories at Swansea (4-0) Here and Reading (2-0).  The six goals being scored by Sidibe (3), Kweuke, Morrison and Bassong .  Sidibe really was having an Indian summer to his career and he and Kweuke were working well.

                                  

                                       Hleb: Shock return to Premier league with Norwich City                                                     

This was proving to be our best run of the season with 3 wins in 4 but things turned somewhat sour in December. 

West Ham shocked us 1-0 and while draws with Liverpool (0-0) and Arsenal  (2-2) Kweuke getting both) were creditable they were sandwiched with a 2-0 loss at Fulham where we were abject.

I had no real cover for Hoolahan and so spotting that Alexander Hleb's contract was winding down, I brought him in on a free mid-December to provide much needed competition.

We were a thin squad anyway, and it was no surprise that Tettey and Whittaker  picked up fresh injuries just days after returning from their previous ones, as I couldn’t ease them back as gently as I wanted due to the fixture congestion.  Squad players such as Jacob Butterfield, Ryan Bennet and Marc Tierney came in and did well. Tierney scoring excellent average ratings that enabled me to kick an under-performing Garrido up the arse, and Bennett showing real potential. 

Still with our thin squad hopelessly stretched, and me struggling to get 11 fully fit players onto the pitch, never mind subs,  the poor run  continued with a 1-0 loss at Villa and a 3-1 (Holt) loss at Man Utd.  As the January transfer window dawned it was a crucial time. I had to ensure the recent bad form did not send us into a downward spiral, and I had to somehow strengthen the squad, with the very limited resources I had at my disposal.

Next time:  Shock results, shock transfers and more

July and August 2012

July and August 2012

As a manager I'm not a huge fan of wide players, and prefer to play a fairly narrow 4-1-2-1-2 with attacking fullbacks providing the crosses and any width required.

Looking at the team I had inherited i was happy that I could make this formation work. The board had told me I could only keep 15% of player sales as money was tight and whilst I could have challenged that, I felt that if I could force myself to be prudent now, it would sow the seeds for long term financial stability.

Ins and Outs

In July I offloaded wide-man Elliot Bennett to Southampton for a generous £4 million.  I also felt offers for defensive midfielder David Fox and Russell Martin (right fullback) were too good to refuse and allowed them to leave.

As July turned to August my transfer targets were a striker of real quality, a strong central midfielder (who could also cover as a DM) and a right back. 

First in was Ruben Jenssen. A central midfielder from Tromso for 3.7 million. He had a strong average rating (it was mid-season in Norway) and he was young, and professional. I felt he had good skills and could develop, and very importantly his wage request was realistic. I had determined I wanted to preserve Norwich's very sensible handling of wages as much as possible. After negotiating his agent down, Jenssen signed for £16k per week. 

First in: Jenssen

                                                     

Unconvinced that Simeon Jackson was a Premiership striker, he was offloaded to Huddersfield for £1.6 million.  The following day I signed Mamady Sidibe on loan from Stoke as cover for the injury prone target man, Grant Holt.

With the season about to start I had yet to sign a right back or a marquee striker but I was determined not to be rushed. Our first two games were against Man Utd and Chelsea and realistically I wasn't expecting them to yield points in our fight against relegation anyway so I determined to take my time.

                                                Sidibe looks pleased he's off to Norwich on loan

Season kick off vs Man Utd  (Don't Scare De Gea)

We started with Holt and Sidibe up front, and Steve Morision on the bench. Having failed to find a right back I wanted, and with Steven Whitaker long term injured, I put 18 yr old reserve Ewan McNeil in.

As you would expect Utd dominated the match going 2-0 before the game was even one quarter old, and overall having 29 shots to our 8. However we completed the great escape with Hoolahan scoring a nice goal with a quarter of an hour left, and then 5 minutes from time De Gea making an outrageous howler from a Bassong defensive hoof from his own half.

With a valuable point from our first game, the hunt for players continued but no-one went in or out before our trip to Chelsea the following week. There we played like a team without a top quality striker, and with a reserve team player at right back and were whipped 4-0. 

By now it was 25th August so we had one week to bring in players before the transfer window slammed shut.  I offloaded Leon Barnett, a central defender who was not in my 1st team plans) for 1.7 million and then two days later I signed the striker I had been looking for.

Leonard  Kweuke was a complete forward, and had scored goals wherever he had gone in his career. He was only 25 but he and Sparta Prague had fallen out of love, so they accepted an offer of 2.3 million. After some tough negotiations he signed for 18.5k per week, which was fair and reasonable and within our wage structure.

  

                                                 Goal Machine?  Kweuke signs for Norwich                  

He made his debut the following night in a Capital Cup tie vs Sheffield Utd. Clearly it was a different level of opposition with Utd 2 divisions below us, but the difference was palpable. He scored on his debut, and he and Holt worked terrifically together as I believed they would. Holt bagged a hat-trick, and we ran out with a confidence restoring 5-1 win.

With no more fixtures before September, there was just time for a few more deals. 

In came right back Paul Stalteri on a free transfer. He brought experience, and a good attitude. Of course he was only a stop gap but I wasn't going to be rushed into paying big money for someone mediocre. Stalteri would see us through to November/December by which time Steven Whittaker would have returned from injury. I could then look for real quality in that position in the January transfer window. The only other addition was the loan of Ayila Yussuf, who I brought in as defensive cover, but who could play equally well as DM which was a big help when Tettey got injured.

On deadline day out went Remi Matthews and Chris Martin on loan, Matthews for development and Martin to get him off the wage bill. I also offloaded Simon Lappin for 750k as I was only keeping a bare minimum of wide midfielders/attackers just in case the tactic didn't work out.

So that was July and August. the transfer window was shut and the real meat of the season was about to begin. 

                                                                   
   Norwich's transfer window in full. Very prudent but has Simington got the players to avoid relegation


Next time: September and October