Norwich City’s loss to Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season grabbed lots of attention, mainly for the questionable decisions made by referee Simon Hooper. In this article, I analyse the tactical side of Norwich City’s game.
Norwich set up in a 4-4-1-1 formation, which on paper looks a more negative formation than perhaps it is, especially as Norwich City looked to exploit the full backs in Steven Whittaker and Robbie Brady, who are both attacking minded and like to get balls in the box. The midfield was vital to Norwich’s good start.
Graham Dorrans played the role of deep playmaker, spreading balls across the pitch and was dictating the tempo of Norwich attacks one he came on as a sub. Alex Tettey was in there in the nitty, gritty side of the game, combating the Palace midfield duo of Yohan Cabaye and James McArthur. Tettey and Dorrans complemented each other really well, as Tettey’s game lacks distribution, the playing of the football is not his strong point and Dorrans was pinging balls for fun, especially in the first 20 minutes. Tettey acted as a cover blanket for the defence and kept Jordan Mutch quiet for the majority of the game, however, Tettey’s games was somewhat halted by a yellow card. At that point, manager Alex Neil tweeked Norwich to become narrower, with Howson and Johnson tucking in to create a tight midfield four.
That’s when Wilfred Zaha and Jason Puncheon got 1 v 1 situations and tormentted the Norwich full backs, had Norwich of stayed wide in their shape and tightened up within midfield, Palace would have found the two banks of four very difficult to break down, especially with one up front.
Jonny Howson down the right hand side worked wonders for the first 20 midfields. His ability on the ball as well as stamina allowed Norwich some great creativity down the right through Whittaker overlapping, and Wed Hoolahan created a third person in the lot and the triangles worked several opportunities, none better than the one for Lewis Grabban’s miss.
Palace failed to contain Norwich down the right and Souare in particular was struggling. Norwich’s dynamic play and high intensity made the formation fluid and it created a lot of chances. Norwich were ordered to press high early on, forcing the Palace back line to drop deep, and with Glenn Murray, they had no pace up top and thus it was dificult to create counter attacks against a stubborn home side. Tettey’s yellow card forced Norwich to go narrow, and then things went wrong.
The defensive line of Norwich were caught ball watching for the first Palace goal, with Brady pressing, and the defensive line all moved over to cover, the midfield weren’t present and an unmarked Zaha was left unmarked and Palace took a deserved lead. Shambolic defending allowed Palace there second goal, with a mix of zonal and man marking, Norwich were left bamboozed as Palace took advantage of City’s woeful set piece defending. Personally, John Ruddy has to take charge. He has to be monitoring deep runs and to have nobody on the post is criminal, to be honest.
The 4-4-1-1 system needs a striker who is going to run all day. I was shocked and bemused at the fact Cameron Jerome wasn’t starting. If he is fit, he has to start in this system. You require a striker who will press high and compete and battle and not give the defenders a second rest. With Grabban, I think he better suits a 4-4-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) formation. He needs someone to work hard and generate chances for him. That being said, he had chances and he had to score. When Jerome came on, suddenly Norwich had an outlet and purpose for going forward. The intensity increased and Norwich looked increasingly dangerous.
How would I set up for Sunderland?Generally, I’d keep the same shape. I think chopping and changing tactics isn’t needed right now. A few changes player wise is needed, away from home.
My team vs Sunderland:
Ruddy, Wisdom, Ryan Bennett, Bassong, Toffolo (Olsson if fit); Tettey, Dorrans, Redmond, Hoolahan, Brady; Jerome.
