Premier League 2021/22

[Colly]

Lawro just said Norwich haven't scored an away PL goal since 2020, which between Covid and their season in Championship is a stat I can't even begin to interpret. Fucking Lawro.

[Naitch]

Covid doesn't even factor into that, it just means they haven't scored an away goal this season.

Norwich are playing with everyone behind the ball except Sargent and Pukki, so hopefully it stays that way!

[Szumi]

Norwich really are an embarrassment to the Premier League

[gunnar hendershow]

Norwich are on pace for something like a -85 goal differential and 8 points.

[Baddar]

They'll get 6pts against us.

 

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

Norwich really are an embarrassment to the Premier League

I mean, that’s pretty harsh.

What exactly are they supposed to do? 

The last time they came up, they didn’t spend, and got blown out of the water. This time, they’ve spent a decent amount relative to the resources they have available, strengthened, and brought in some decent people. All it really does is shows the gap between the Premier League and Championship. 

[Naitch]

To me, the signings they've made have been with a mind to dominating the Championship next season and then selling someone for £30-40m, exactly what they've ended up doing with Buendia.

[Szumi]

58 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

I mean, that’s pretty harsh.

What exactly are they supposed to do? 

The last time they came up, they didn’t spend, and got blown out of the water. This time, they’ve spent a decent amount relative to the resources they have available, strengthened, and brought in some decent people. All it really does is shows the gap between the Premier League and Championship. 

Harsh doesn't mean it's not true. 

This Norwich side looks even worse than the one 2 years ago. They're woefully bad, and they don't remotely belong in the league. Their model is not to stay up, it's to get the Prem money for a season and then come back up after getting relegated. Just yo yo and profit.

[Kyle]

So now is the time I give up on the season. Good to know. Nothing more Everton than an ex-striker of ours who couldn't get game time scoring a hat trick against us when both of our first choice strikers are out injured.

[Cymbols]

25 minutes ago, Naitch said:

To me, the signings they've made have been with a mind to dominating the Championship next season and then selling someone for £30-40m, exactly what they've ended up doing with Buendia.

 

10 minutes ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

Harsh doesn't mean it's not true. 

This Norwich side looks even worse than the one 2 years ago. They're woefully bad, and they don't remotely belong in the league. Their model is not to stay up, it's to get the Prem money for a season and then come back up after getting relegated. Just yo yo and profit.

Literally though, what else are they supposed to do?

If they don’t sell Buendia, they don’t have £40m to buy players to at least give them a fighting chance (in theory). 

And however bad they look now, it’d be a whole lot worse if they hadn’t brought in the likes of Sargeant, and the Greek players. 

[Naitch]

I imagine that Angus Gunn was signed as a long-term replacement for Krul. Sargent and the Greeks seem like the most likely new players to bring in the money after next season, even if it's only one of them. Then there's Aarons and Cantwell, who should both bring in at least £20m when sold.

The only question mark is around who replaces Pukki when he inevitably stops being able to deliver.

Perhaps Sargent can deliver in the Championship, or maybe Adam Idah will be developed into the new talismanic forward (though I think he should've been loaned out to a Championship or League 1 side for development this season). Hugill will also likely be back after a season on loan at West Brom to pad out the options.

The Norwich model is clearly working financially, if not so much on the pitch when it comes to the Premier League. I imagine the long-term goal is for that financial stability to eventually result in a team strong enough to stay up, it's just a case of how long that takes, and the Norwich board clearly don't mind yo-yo-ing in the meantime.

I'll be shocked if Farke makes it through the entire season but, if he does, it shows that the club are committed to something along the lines of what I've outlined above.

[Szumi]

I'm just curious what the difference is between Norwich and say, a West Brom? I've seen posters here absolutely shit on West Brom in years past for how they are in the Prem and the league is better off without them in it.

I totally understand why Norwich operate the way they do. It's a business first for the owners, and this model is giving them long term stability. It doesn't mean that they're any less an embarrassment to watch when they're out on the pitch.

[Cymbols]

I’m still waiting to find out what you think they should actually do though.

I don’t think a team spending within their means and getting blown out of the water by teams with x25 times the budget are an embarrassment at all.

 I mean ffs, Norwich went to Chelsea with two players up front, that’s clearly not shelling up and playing for a 0-0. 

 

[Adam]

Norwich should clearly be trying something different. The gap between the PL and the Championship is widening but it isn't like every other side that comes up just gets tonked every week and goes straight back down. Brentford have made a more than decent start to the season, Brighton have made it stick for a few years now. Watford have become one of these yo-yo teams and they won 5-2 away at Everton today. You struggle to see Norwich scoring five more goals before Christmas.

[Lineker]

Doing something different might work for a year (Sheffield Utd with wide CB's, and now apparently Leeds this year (sorry Matt)), but even then teams adjust for you and you get found out.

[Naitch]

14 hours ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

I'm just curious what the difference is between Norwich and say, a West Brom? I've seen posters here absolutely shit on West Brom in years past for how they are in the Prem and the league is better off without them in it.

I totally understand why Norwich operate the way they do. It's a business first for the owners, and this model is giving them long term stability. It doesn't mean that they're any less an embarrassment to watch when they're out on the pitch.

I'm from Norwich so, despite not being my main team due to family loyalties, I have much more of a vested interest in how they perform than another team based more than 150 miles away.

Knowledge and understanding also factors in, I couldn't tell you a single thing about the West Brom squad for the last decade, other than them having Ivanovic last year.

[The Lusophone]

Feels like Doomsday for Ole today.

[Jimmy]

13 minutes ago, MadJack said:

Feels like Doomsday for Ole today.

don't they always win when this comes round 

[Lineker]

It's going to be a shit nil-nil, it always is.

[Colly]

I like the fact that Norwich are an embarrassment but Newcastle and Burnley on no wins and 2 points more deserve all our respect.