P.J. Davitt's Blog, page 7

Smith draws up plans to replace injured Idah

Adam Idah’s season-ending knee injury is a hammer blow for Norwich City boss Dean Smith.

Idah underwent surgery on Thursday after an exploratory arthroscopy confirmed meniscus damage.

The Republic of Ireland international injured himself in the recent 1-1 top flight draw against Crystal Palace, after a breakthrough spell under Smith brought him a first Premier League start and goal in City’s upturn.

“That’s a big blow for us because he’d broken into the team and was doing really well. So disappointing for him and disappointing for the team,” said Smith, speaking at Colney on Friday morning as he previewed the trip to Liverpool. “It is a blow because Adam is a young player with an awful lot of potential who was getting better.

“He had just had his first Premier League start, and scored his first Premier League goal, which had given him an awful lot of confidence. But we’ve got players coming back from injury as well which is going to help the squad.

“We’ve got Josh Sargent who’s recently scored his first Premier league goals as well. There’s plenty of players there that we feel can share the load.

“It gives the opportunity to the likes of Przemyslaw (Placheta), Christos (Tzolis), (Kieran) Dowell and (Jonathan) Rowe, who’s really impressed us since he stepped in and started training with us. They’ve really got to step up to the plate because Adam was doing well.

“I’ve yet to speak to him yet. He went in to see the consultant on Thursday and they just dealt with it there. So I’m yet to speak to him. But at this football club we’ve got the ways and means to make sure he’s people to speak to if he needs to.

“It was actually in the (Palace) game when he did it. I haven’t seen the incident. But there was a tackle where I think he plants his foot and hurt his ankle and knee in the same incident but played on.

“Next day he came in for a recovery session, just felt a little bit stiff, came in the next day, it was still stiff so then it is time to report to the medical staff.

“It seemed a very innocuous one because he got through the game he can go and ran it off. Unfortunately there was a little bit more damage than that.”

A reflective Dean Smith on building a legacy at Norwich City

Dean Smith is planning to be at Norwich City for the long haul.

Smith was keen to return swiftly to the game, in the wake of his own dismissal from Aston Villa last November, to pick up the relegation baton from Daniel Farke.

Despite a festive swing framed by illness and injury to his playing squad the former Walsall, Brentford and Villa chief has plotted a route away from listing at the bottom to being in the mix, with a realistic shot at upsetting the odds.

To pull off a great escape, and preserve his own record of never being relegated in his coaching career, Smith needs to muster more alchemy over the run in.

But such is the warmth of the welcome for him and his experienced assistant, Craig Shakespeare, he is also prepared to take a peak beyond the horizon.

“Hopefully I’m here still in five years time but that process of learning about the players and working with players will still be developing in five years time, because there is always a turnaround in football,” he said. “Players don’t normally stay around for five, six, seven years. In football, it doesn’t happen that way because you’re always looking to get better.

“You’re always looking to evolve as a football club and we also know if players are doing really well some of these top clubs will be looking at them as well. Each player should have their own target to set a goal of where they want to be, and how they want to get there.

“Our job is to help players become better players, but not just better players, better people, because if they’re better people, then they’ve got a chance of being real top players. They become selfless, they become good team mates and that’s what the top players in the top clubs are.

“I was disappointed what happened at Villa. I’ve never worried about losing my job, whether it’s Walsall, Brentford, Aston Villa or here at Norwich because I’m not in control of that. My job is to work with players to help them become better.

“If they become better, the team becomes better. If the team gets better, then you get results and that is the be all and end all for a coach.”

Smith’s track record of improving players was clearly a good fit for the Canaries’ well documented self-funded model.

“I’ve had to do it that way before at the other clubs I worked at, and that is the Norwich model. But you know, we can’t forget we spent a lot in the summer before I came in,” he said. “That is why I knew we would not be doing too much in the January period.

“Our job is to bring in players that have potential. And then our job is to help them fulfil that potential.

Smith thrives on survival scrap pressure

Dean Smith insisted the pressure of halting Norwich City’s Premier League decline was not getting to him.

The Canaries’ chief plotted back-to-back wins over Everton and Watford ahead of the current mid-winter break to haul City out of the bottom three.

That broke a spell of six league defeats without scoring that tested the former Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa boss.

“It was a difficult period, that’s for sure,” he said. “I don’t think you can get away from the pressure, it’s always going to be there. Pressure is a privilege at times and it’s how you control yourself and your feelings and your emotions under that pressure.

“If you can maximise your clearest thoughts during those periods, then you get better performances. And that’s what we looked to do. I didn’t worry it was going to turn around, I was worried the fact that we had so many out injured and ill. That was a problem. It did concern me that we were picking up so many injuries.

“I was looking to see if there was any sign of a change in the training load that we had brought in from being a new management group. But a lot of them were just injuries and illness that you can’t account for really. And that was disappointing. I knew once we started getting players back, fortunes would change again.

“When we got the likes of Grant (Hanley), Teemu (Pukki), Tim (Krul), who we have just lost again, back we knew we would get stronger.”

Smith, who has never been relegated in his coaching career, drew on all his experience to keep his depleted squad upbeat.

“You have to believe in your processes that you put in place. I’ve got full belief in them because they’ve worked before, and you go on past experiences,” he said. “We keep driving the processes for the players, and then it’s about putting them into practice.

“I saw bits and pieces that I liked at West Ham. Not enough in the final third, because we got into some really good areas, but never actually created big chances. But we put that right in the next two games.

“The longer you are here, the more you get to know about each other and you become more comfortable around each other. I’m certainly feeling that around the building now. I think the players understand what I’m about and I’ll try and remain as consistent as I can, day in day out, and not change any behaviour.

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘contentment’ but just being comfortable with each other is certainly helpful.”

Klose regret over City exit

Timm Klose regrets how he handled his Norwich City exit but the popular defender’s love affair with the people and the place burns as strong as ever.

Klose’s five-and-a-half year spell at Carrow Road officially ended at the start of this season, although his final campaign was spent back home in Switzerland at FC Basel.

That came after failing to help keep the Canaries in the top flight during a doomed ‘Project Restart’ period, when he rushed back from injury with Grant Hanley and Christoph Zimmermann sidelined.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to come back for the last 10 games. I’m going to save the club, because I couldn’t save the club the last time we were in the Premier’,” he said. “I felt the need to go out and save the club this time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready at all. My body wasn’t ready for playing three games every week. I paid for it.

“I don’t why but I read some of the negative comments during that Premier League spell from those last 10 games. Obviously they weren’t nice and I took it too personally because I always thought, ‘I gave everything for this club, why are people mean to me if I try my best?’ That was a big mistake on my part.

“We had discussions with Stuart (Webber) and it wasn’t quite the same. It didn’t feel the same. If I look back, I probably would behave differently. Periods like those change you a little bit and you make mistakes. You say the wrong things, even though you don’t mean them, but it just happened. And I’m sorry for that.”

Paddy’s Pointers: City 2-1 Everton

Paddy Davitt delivers his Everton verdict after Norwich City’s 2-1 Premier League win.

1. Weight lifted 

No Premier League wins in six. No Premier League goals in six. A squad who had been berated, ridiculed and just in recent days again labelled an ‘embarrassment’ delivered their response where it mattered. A team who had scored eight league goals in the previous 20 matches mustered two in the space of two first half minutes.

Michael Keane’s slice past Jordan Pickford was maybe the stroke of luck Dean Smith and his under-fire players craved. They did not look back.

Adam Idah notched his first ever Premier League goal and the Irishman typified the fight, the endeavour and the energy that ultimately proved too much for an Everton in freefall under Rafa Benitez, who appears to be on borrowed time judging by the toxic reaction of the travelling support.

Smith himself was drawn into a recent episode when he felt compelled to pass comment on the ‘sarcastic’ tone to some of the away support at Crystal Palace and Charlton. But Carrow Road was a raucous, unified bear pit. Particularly in the desperate later stages when those in green and yellow clung on grimly.

That old debate about whether it is the players who need to lift the fans or vice versa had long been settled on this desperate run. City’s support needed a spark. They got it in that first half from a squad who performed with an urgency which suggested they still believe.

2. Lift-off for Idah

What a moment in the young man’s career. You could see the joy on his face as he leapt airborne in front of a delirious Lower Barclay after a first Premier League goal.

He still had work to do when he gathered Brandon Williams’ angled pass but held off the last Everton defender to roll a shot past England international Pickford.

Both in the movement and the clinical finish it underlined everything about his game that most who have seen Idah progress through the ranks felt was possible. There is a natural goalscorer. But that last step, that last top flight hurdle had proved elusive. Idah had to survive on a diet of cameos in recent seasons as Teemu Pukki retained the star billing.

A first start under Smith at Tottenham was a tantalising glimpse, but his all-round display at West Ham in midweek hinted Idah was reaching a tipping point.

Only a bout of cramp cut short a probing shift that could have brought a landmark career goal, but for Lukasz Fabianski’s agility.

What is another three days when you have been waiting your whole life since those first dreams of being a footballer. With confidence surging, Idah’s general play was also suffused with the air of a young man who perhaps now truly believes he belongs in this company.

By the end he was being hailed as ‘one of our own’ from the terraces.

But the big question mark for the rest of this Premier League campaign is how far and how high can he soar?

3. Who’s the Daddy? 

Josh Sargent of course, after his partner gave birth during the week. The US international missed that midweek trip to West Ham as a result but was restored to the starting line up by Smith against the Toffees.

His all-action display belied the lack of sleep he may be getting at present. It was not the goal he craved, but he took the congratulations from his team mates when Keane diverted his low cross beyond Pickford to put Norwich in front.

This was another demonstration of what he is, rather than what he is not at this stage of his young career. Park the price tag and the nominal label as a forward. This was a return to the vital role within the team unit he performed to turn Smith’s first game in charge against Southampton.

The unfussy, unseen, maybe unappreciated closing down of players, helping out Max Aarons or defending his near post at set pieces were all key components. The yellow card for hauling down Andre Gomes, as he desperately tracked back, was perhaps taking things a step too far.

His lack of end product will continue to dog him, magnified in fallow periods of Premier League activity for the Canaries, but in the role Smith currently demands of him – in those wider midfield areas – he can have a positive impact in the top flight. Those in attendance rose to afford him a standing ovation when he departed late on.

4. Hail Hanley 

Idah rightly was able to flash that beaming smile at a round of post-match media commitments after his starring role. But captain Grant Hanley was epic.

The amount of headed clearances alone, as the balls rained into his own penalty box, would have merited glowing praise. But his work on the floor, the way he clearly defied the pain from the shoulder injury he is managing and the leadership he showed through his actions were top class.

His was also the block tackle that sparked the flowing counter which led to Idah’s match-winner.

Hanley has his detractors. Much like the majority of this Norwich squad. But when he is at this level, when he is able drag the rest of his defence with him, he is a real asset to Smith.

The way Ben Gibson provided reassurance alongside him and Williams and Aarons threw themselves fearlessly into combat was a testament to Hanley’s pervasive influence.

When games get dragged into the trenches, there is no one you would rather have alongside you. One hopes the medics can keep him patched up and on the park from here until the end of the campaign.

5. Take a bow, boys 

Kenny McLean’s Covid-related illness absence, allied to the unavailability of Billy Gilmour, Lukas Rupp and Mathias Normann left Jacob Sorensen as the only cab on the rank to partner Pierre Lees-Melou in his more favoured position. Neither covered themselves in glory on FA Cup duty at Charlton.

There was some uncomfortable moments in the early stages as the likes of Demarai Gray glided past City’s makeshift central midfield duo.

But how they responded. In that frantic seven additional minutes of added on time, plus a bit more, Sorensen twice foiled Everton as they surged into the Norwich box.

The tackle on Richarlison had to be perfectly timed or it was a penalty to the Toffees, while he rose to head clear Gray’s corner at his near post. Lees-Melou did not neglect his defensive duties in that second half either, allied to a series of long range strikes.

In an area of the pitch where City have too often been found wanting this season, they delivered.

City pal jumps to Billy Gilmour’s defence

Kenny McLean insists giving Billy Gilmour stick is out of order, after the Norwich City loanee was targeted in the 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

McLean conceded the early spot kick at Selhurst Park that set the Eagles on their way, but it was his Scottish international team mate who was singled out by some sections of the travelling support at the final whistle.

City’s scheduled Premier League fixture at Leicester City on New Year’s Day has been called off due to Covid-related and injury absences in the Canaries’ camp, but McLean hopes the Chelsea youngster is supported when Dean Smith’s squad do return to action.

“Being an older player and playing next to him I feel some responsibility in that. I don’t appreciate him being singled out. At all,” said McLean, interviewed by Sky Sports. “Maybe the expectation that everybody has put on him, but he is a young boy doing everything he can to help us. We need him going forward because he is something that is needed at this football club.

“He would be the first to admit he is not doing as well as he can. But nobody is. As a young player getting singled out I would rather it was a more experienced player like myself.

“An experienced player can take the brunt of that a little bit more. He won’t obviously have experienced something like this in his career. This is his first full season in the Premier League.

 

Smith’s glowing praise for Gilmour, Rashica and Cantwell

Dean Smith is no miracle worker. Norwich City’s Premier League survival hangs on the players.

Smith has been tasked with breaking the cycle, and ensuring the Canaries do not make another swift return to the Football League.

The former Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa coach believes he has the personnel to pull off a great escape. He just has to get them to believe it as well.

“It is not just me. It is the whole group. It has to be a culture thing,” he said, speaking yesterday at his Carrow Road unveiling. “You never know what the culture is like until you have lived it, so I won’t be the one to judge what happened here before.

“But maintaining belief and gaining belief as a group is key, firstly for the players, because they are the ones who have to go onto the pitch and perform, and as I have seen already, that Brentford win should give them that confidence.

“It is a group of players who have known how to win games in the Championship and get promoted the last two times, and comfortably as well. What they have found a little bit harder is how to win games at this level.”

Smith’s priority is finding the defensive platform to unleash City’s attacking weaponry.

“Top of the in tray is not to concede goals,” he said. “We have conceded too many already and defensively we want to make our structure and organisation a lot stronger. We certainly won’t go away from the type of football the club has been known for.

“We have recruited a squad who can handle the football all over the pitch. We probably need to solidify at the back and be harder to beat. But we have the flair players to cause teams problems at the other end.

“We have got talented players. We haven’t scored as many as we would have liked but there are certainly players who can do both sides of the job.

“We need to create a lot more than we have been doing. That is for sure. We have a number of players who can score goals. I don’t think we have to put pressure on just the forwards to score. We need goals from other areas and (Mathias) Normann scored at Brentford. We can’t be as reliant on one player.”

That sounds good news for the likes of Todd Cantwell and Billy Gilmour, who now have a fresh start under Smith.

While the new City chief revealed on Wednesday big-money summer signing Milot Rashica was a player with plenty of admirers at his old club.

“He is a player I was very aware of. Our previous sporting director at Villa really liked him and I watched him a number of times and they were very close to getting him in,” he said. “He is a player I am certainly well aware of.

“I think he (Gilmour) is an outstanding footballer and he has shown that in the two Scotland games he has just played. I had John McGinn (at Villa) and he was telling me what a good footballer he was and how he surprised him when he first joined up with the national team for the first time.

“I know the talent is there and it is our job now to get that out of him.

“Both him and (Cantwell) have a big role, along with the rest of the squad. It is a new start for them, in terms of a coaching team coming in. We get to see them at training on Thursday and it is down to them to impress us.

“We can’t do anything until January (transfer window) anyway and we haven’t really discussed that. We have spoken about this squad and I feel it is a good enough squad to stay in this league.”

Smith arrives at Norwich with the same reputation as Daniel Farke for trying to develop his players on the training pitch.

“Each day in training is a day for me to educate and help the players learn but also for them to enjoy. We all know you get more out of people if there is an enjoyment element and hopefully the supporters can enjoy some really good performances.

“The fans can expect an organised, hard working team. We won’t leave anything out on the pitch.”

City confirm Dean Smith appointment

Dean Smith is Norwich City’s new head coach, after signing a two-and-a-half year deal to replace Daniel Farke at Carrow Road.

City confirmed the news on Monday morning, with the former Aston Villa coach’s assistant, Craig Shakespeare, joining him in Norfolk.

Smith was dismissed by Villa last than 24 hours after Farke was sacked prior to the international break.

“It has been a whirlwind seven days, but I’m really pleased to be back and working for Norwich City in the Premier League,” he said, quoted on the club’s official site.

“Clearly, there has been some wonderful work that has gone into this football club over last four and a half years. It is now the job of myself and Craig to continue and improve on that work with the ultimate aim of surviving in the Premier League.

“Norwich City is a big club, with a massive hardcore of supporters who are fully understanding in what it means to be part of the club and its community.

“I was brought up in an era when Norwich were competing in Europe – I remember those times well and whenever I’ve visited Carrow Road and Norwich you can really sense the connection between the fans, staff and players. Together, we all have to make Carrow Road a really tough place for visiting teams.

 

“From the age of 16 I’ve been working in football. I think in that time I’ve had four months out and didn’t enjoy it. It’s great to get straight back in with a club that are determined to be progressive.

“I’ve always worked to improve and develop players – with that obviously comes improved performances. I was really impressed with the idea, structure and vision that is already in place at the club.

“I’ve also been really impressed with the work Stuart has done at both Huddersfield and Norwich and he is someone I’ve known of for a while.

“A lot of my background has been working with sporting directors at both Brentford and Aston Villa. It’s an important relationship I’m sure we’ll work well together here.”

Smith is expected to meet the playing squad from Tuesday and his first game in charge will be Southampton’s visit to Carrow Road this weekend.

Paddy Davitt: A brutal divorce and a new City era

Daniel Farke deserved one final hurrah. One final orchestrated moment with the travelling support, after Norwich City finally won a Premier League game.

All that emotion, all that elation, all that weight lifted from the shoulders of him and his players after grimly repelling Brentford in a second half that must have felt like an eternity.

If Farke knew what fate would befall him on his return to a euphoric away dressing room he would never have wanted this game to end.

Stuart Webber, and by definition, the City board had decided time was up. After the manner of an insipid defeat to Leeds the only question was when, not if.

But the end was brutal. The end was swift. Webber headed to the away dressing room to dissolve a partnership which had brought two Championship titles, a talent pipeline which kept the club afloat and weathered the financial fallout from a pandemic, and served up some of the most thrilling football seen by a modern Norwich team.

You can rightly question the manner the dagger was twisted.

For Farke to celebrate with his players and away fans before undertaking media duties, while oblivious to what was in store, marked a shoddy end to his Carrow Road tenure.

There will be those who argued he was on borrowed time, that he was not up to the task in the Premier League and that he had not extracted the most from ample resource.

But the timing of the decision in the afterglow of that top flight win he craved felt a cruel final act.

Webber has now embarked on a search for his successor. His own future will officially be resolved later this month. It has been known for weeks. The sporting director will be here beyond the end of his current deal in 2022.

Who is in the dug out is of far greater importance at present.

The net has been cast wide. The groundwork already done. The usual suspects can be discounted. There is no hard or fast preference for a clone of Farke, or even another foray to foreign fields. For all Norwich’s struggles at the wrong end of the Premier League this remains an attractive proposition.

Webber’s phone will be hot in the days ahead with all manner of middle men and agents touting their clients. But there is a confidence the vacancy will be filled ahead of Southampton’s Premier League visit the other side of this international pause.

Whoever is unveiled has big shoes to fill.

The class act from North Rhine-Westphalia, who bled yellow and green and discovered a second home in Norfolk, is gone.

Even Farke’s harshest critics would surely not dispute he left Norwich in a better state than the wreck he inherited. Only on Friday he bullishly declared his first season was tougher than the growing focus on his own job status; an ageing squad, a club in a parlous financial state burdened by the weight of expectation from bouncing between the top two tiers.

His legacy should not be tainted by struggles in the Premier League.

Webber himself admitted he failed to back Farke first time around in the transfer market. Those ‘sins of the past’ remained a blight on the here and now two seasons ago.

His successor will inherit a squad packed with internationals and fresh talent. There are no financial clouds, despite the on going impact of the pandemic on the balance sheet, and the infrastructure at Colney is light years away from the tired facade that frankly was an embarrassment for a club with pretensions to establish itself in the Premier League.

Farke, and his closest coaching aides, should leave with the warmest of wishes.

His track record will ensure he is a valuable commodity – in all probability back in the Bundesliga after a spell to lick his wounds in Germany. One hopes the bruises fade quickly from a sacking which, with hindsight, was inevitable once Webber’s clarion call pre-Leeds failed to produce the desired effect.

Why the tipping point only came in the wake of a spirited, battling victory at Brentford may remain one of the hidden mysteries of this final, sad chapter in an uplifting story which swept up Norwich fans and transported them on an unforgettable ride of dashing football and attacking verve.

The manner of how it unravelled against Leeds last Sunday suggested Farke had lost his way.

In his quest for defensive resolution he appeared to abandon the principles that had brought so much success. But there appeared enlightenment in the manner he then identified the need to re-discover Norwich’s DNA prior to his Brentford swansong.

There was even tantalising glimpses in the clinical manner of Norwich’s first half goals on Saturday, but the second half was a grim, backs-to-the-wall effort.

Yet even such toil and sweat, and a communal sense of togetherness on the park, illustrated this was a set of players who, by and large, were still behind their head coach.

Farke’s stubborn refusal to utilise either Todd Cantwell or Billy Gilmour were threads that with each passing week became ever more frayed, compounded by a downward spiral in results that highlighted the lack of creativity or control both could have brought.

What next for those two is just one of the fascinating elements to a new chapter under Webber.

But that can wait a little longer.

Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Farke.

Norwich City sack Daniel Farke

Daniel Farke has been sacked by Norwich City.

The Canaries confirmed on Saturday night head coach Farke, assistant Eddie Riemer, first team coach Christopher John and head of performance Chris Domogalla have also left the club with immediate effect.

Farke was informed of the decision by sporting director Stuart Webber after City’s 2-1 Premier League win against Brentford.

The club will now embark on a search for Farke’s replacement, with the expectation an appointment is made before City’s next home league game after the international fortnight against Southampton.

It is understood head of football development Steve Weaver will oversee training sessions while the club embark on their search for Farke’s successor.

Aside from the club’s international contingent, the rest of City’s first team squad was already due to be off until next Friday.

The club released a statement at 7:30pm, in which Webber spoke of how difficult a decision it was.

It said: “In continuing to demand the very best for our football club, this decision was not an easy one.

“I know how determined Daniel and his staff were to succeed at this level, but we feel that now is the right time for a change to give ourselves the best opportunity of retaining our Premier League status,” he said, quoted on the club’s official site.

 

“All at Norwich City should be forever grateful to Daniel and his staff for the significant role they have played in our journey. They helped deliver two Championship titles, many memorable moments and they all fully bought into our philosophy and what it means to be part of this football club.

“Daniel and his staff will always be welcome back here. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work and wish them well for the future.

“It’s important that we now look forward. We have 27 league games remaining and a long way to go in the current season. We know we have the ability within our playing squad and staff to start picking up points and climbing the league table.”

Farke’s position had been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks after a dire start to the Premier League season.

The German and his coaching staff signed new long term Carrow Road deals in the summer, following a second Championship title win.

Former Borussia Dortmund II chief Farke was hand picked by Webber in 2017 to become the club’s first overseas coach.