At 34, he’s the Premier League’s youngest manager. He’s seen success in the Scottish division as both a player and manager, but for Alex Neil, just over a year in charge of the Canaries has aged him beyond his years as he plies his trade in England’s toughest division.
He experienced three East Anglian derby wins, a Championship playoff victory, 17 wins and 5 draws in the City tracksuit and a win rate of 68% all in his first season in charge. He’s experienced the consequences of a quiet transfer window but has also experienced the uncertainty that comes after a busy transfer window. And just 7 months into the Premier League, lessons have been learnt and things must be changed
2015 seemed to have seen the perfect beginning, middle and end.
It all started with a new managerial appointment and a victory at Dean Court. A switch from the stands to the dugout for Alex Neil would see Cameron Jerome score the 80th-minute winner for 10 men City.
The middle couldn’t have been more perfected than grandma’s recipe – the Canaries would draw Ipswich Town in the Playoff finals and karma return right on time for a Wembley date against Boro. By 4.55pm on May 25, Norwich City was a Premier League team and Alex Neil would be preparing himself for his second season with the Canaries, but his first season as a Premier League manager.
The end of 2015 prompted fans towards optimism – Alex Neil had finally found the working formula, which produced time after time again. They were able to withstand the likes Arsenal and Everton at home, gained a crucial three points against Aston Villa and collected three points whilst sightseeing at Old Trafford.
Upon the new year, Neil knew his point of call and recently told his knowledge of his team’s difficulties:
I think everybody knows what the problems are. Tighten up your defence, keep an attacking threat but without shipping as many goals as you are conceding. It is not as if I am not aware of the problem.
He knew he needed attacking strength – so he brought in Steven Naismith and Patrick Bamford.
He knew his defence weren’t tough enough withstand the easiest of goals so he brought in a Portuguese right-back in Ivo Pinto – labelled “the best right back in the Croatian league” from his website ivopinto.com – and then there’s Timm Klose who has experience in Bundesliga and the Champions League.
If reinforcements weren’t enough, Neil showed a willingness to make change – something fans presumed he was afraid to do.
John Ruddy was demoted to the bench, with Declan Rudd chosen to stand between the sticks against Watford – a move that has yet to be reversed since. Despite conceding more goals on average per game, Rudd is prone to more saves (3) than Ruddy (2.43), along with more saves per goal (1.50 over 1.36), adding to a higher average of punches and catches.
Comparing to the division’s goal stopper’s, Rudd makes the 9th amount of saves per game sitting amongst Tim Krul and Tim Howard and the 12th amount of punches/catches with Hugo Lloris in 11th. However, after five consecutive defeats with 16 goals conceded and a costly error against Villa, Neil faces the question whether he should revert back to his Ruddy.
Declan found himself in the team because John was making errors so where do you go? You change and it works, you change and it doesn’t work, you can’t win. People make mistakes at vital times in games. You just have to suck it up and fight even more.
Another defensive change is mingling his new recruits into his line-up with Russell Martin previously warming the bench against Liverpool and Tottenham, along with Ryan Bennett sitting out for Timm Klose in City’s most recent defeats.
Before that, Steven Whittaker saw his duties no longer required as the defender has no seen a recall since October 27, 2015, as Ryan Bennett was introduced into the first team for the first time since City’s 4-2 victory against Fulham on May 2, 2015 – a move which has seen the Canaries pick up 15 points of their 23 points. Bennett was consequently dropped after two consecutive defeats against Stoke and Bournemouth, with Neil opting to debut Pinto as City’s right-back and Martin to remain in the team for City’s 4-5 loss against Liverpool, before opting for Klose for the two previous matches.
When it comes to attacking, City has become dependent on the goals of midfielders, amid goals from Dieumerci Mbokani and Cameron Jerome – a trait the club has carried for many years but the dispersion of goals can be worrying at times.
So what did he do? He brought in the two strikers who could fill in the missing gaps, including one who was City’s only obstacle last May. Some will worry that Patrick Bamford may not perform in the top-flight but there’s a lot to say the brainy 22-year-old will. The experienced head of Steven Naismith also adds to City’s attack – he’s found himself sitting behind Mbokani in the number 10 spot, a place he’s already created chances and taken an aim at goal just three games into his career as a Canary.
When it came to the signings of Bamford and Naismith, there was definitely a running theme in persuasion from the 34-year-old manager.
He was quite positive about the club, so he sold it to me… It gives you confidence if you know a manager wants you. It is better than going to a club where you are not sure if you are just making up the numbers.
They’ve been very persistent. They’ve been fantastic in the sense of showing how much they wanted me.
As for City’s formation, Alex Neil has refused to use anything other than one up front. All but one of City’s points have come from two ideas of the 4-5-1 formation. We’ll name them formation A and formation B.
Formation A came off the back of City’s Wembley victory against Middlesbrough, where a player sits behind the striker – usually Wes Hoolahan. With this formation, City has won four, drawn one and lost seven.
However, Formation B has seen City pick up 5 points over the festive season and 9 points in total – it’s a formation used at Portman Road in the PlayOff first leg – a formation which sees the lone striker supported by three players and the defence with the support of two defensive midfielders. Despite a disastrous defeat against Newcastle, this could be City’s most successful formation out of the four ones piloted this season.
But, despite a victory against United, Neil reverted back to formation A for six of the following fixtures, which have prompted a downhill spiral and one very telling story against Liverpool when formation B was put into place.
It was the closest City came to getting a point for a long time – a performance which at least hinted at the team’s mentality. It was a thriller for neutral watchers. 2-1 ahead at half time, with a debut goal from Naismith, before a penalty would see City 3-1 ahead. A comeback from the Merseyside would be the result in abysmal defending but City could have nicked a draw through a Bassong equaliser in extra time to make it 4-4, but Adam Lallana stole all three points late on in injury time. There was a hint at winning mentality, a hint at a comeback or fight – a hint of what could happen if everything in the puzzle fits – even the manager knew.
At 3-2 up, we were the better side. It’s a shame people’s lasting memory will be for the last 25 minutes when you consider how well we moved the ball, we looked threatening and we defended relatively comfortably. Then we transpired to be the makers of our own downfall.
Maybe City’s most recent defeat against Villa using formation B may cause questions regarding whether we have more hope playing this way but many arrows point towards City’s mentality, and it’s seemingly so that Alex Neil may have to rely on holding his player’s hands more than most managers, along with making crucial decisions – something he will be no stranger to in the coming weeks.
What I have to do is get my players organised, get them drilled and make sure they know what the task is, with and without the ball, and hope they have the skills and quality to go and make the difference in the game.
You just want to make sure you fight and do everything in your power to turn it around. They have to show that passion that everyone else has for the club.
Some may believe Alex Neil is blinded because of his choices but for him, he’s adjusting to losing after two successful seasons previously. And as a previous player himself, he knows all too well the mentality he must drill into his players heads to find some consistency. Problems he may have avoided and left to the fans to complain have been acknowledged in Neil’s learning and now it’s time for him to switch back his playing days to find a way to wake his team up before it’s too late.
When I was a player I went out and fought tooth and nail and gave everything I had got until the whistle ends. You give everything you have in your body and if that is not enough then at least you can look yourself in the mirror and know you have done everything you can.
Do it on the pitch where it matters. I know what type of men they are and how much they want to do well. You have to have enough fire in your belly. I am sick of coming out and saying the same things. We have to be brave.
For Alex Neil, it’s his most testing season. He’s discovered the pain of falling down the hole with no ladder or way of getting out. He’s had to make the toughest decisions and use the most recent transfer window wisely. He’s had to switch and shuffle before he’s settled and even that’s not enough sometimes. But maybe that’s City’s only way of survival – to keep changing it until the puzzle finally fits.
As a young manager, things will make and break for Neil. He’ll undoubtedly get his decisions wrong – it just happens to be in the Premier League. But he’s still capable of finding the fire in the bellies of the Canaries.
As fans, instead of rushing to book his plane back out of Norfolk, we shall wait, because Norwich never do anything the easy way and to get out of the hole, Neil may have to dig the tunnel before he finds the ladder out.
