CM97Norwich

Part 2 of @CM97/98 Norwich save is here

Hello and welcome back to one man’s disastrous attempt at learning FM24. In the first episode of what might turn out to be a very short series, I took over at Norwich City in the Championship. Things started quite well but went massively downhill and after 11 games we sit 17th, a long way short of our media prediction of 5th and more importantly, a lot less than the playoff position Delia Smith demands of us.

I was expecting this but some members of the squad have come for a chat, lead by Grant “not kicked a ball for me yet” Hanley.

To be fair, it’s fairly obvious we need to make a change. I tell the unhappy bunch that I’m going to change things tactically and I have a plan. I don’t but they don’t have to know that. It’s an International break so we do at least have two weeks to train something.

I took to X (Twitter) to ask for advice. Am I the moron? Yes, it would seem so. Ideas came flooding in but a tactical angel appeared on my shoulder. His name is Ross, and he’s been in my corner for a long time now. “Don’t worry,” the 6-foot 7, bald angel said. “I’ve devised a tactic that even you can’t fail with.”

It’s not massively different to what we were playing before. The attacking midfielder becomes a striker and the left winger is, in old money, an AMLC.

 

It’s attacking and plays football at a tempo which satisfies my requirements but also more crucially what the board want. Oh and our next game is against local rivals Ipswich, for goodness sake.

Thing is though, most of the world’s best managers are bald. Ignore Ten Hag. And Brian McDermott. But focus on Pep. Zidane. Christian Gross. We’ve got this. 3-0 up after 40 minutes before going down to 10 and giving ourselves a tricky second half. Local bragging rights secured, you just try and sack me now Delia.

Hmm well maybe she will. Seemingly beating local rivals isn’t that good news to some. Cooking up a sack or not, all we can do is keep winning.

Plymouth turn out to be no match for us.

Clearly this style works at home but how will it translate away from home? A meeting Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Blackburn sees us dominate the game but end up having to snatch a late draw through Ashley Barnes. The goal is well worked, the advanced Stacey slide in Rowe down the right channel of the 18 yard box who was able to square is for the unmarked Barnes to slam home. Encouraging signs, Barnes is one singular star in the role we’ve given him but he’s taking well to it. A reasonable way to round off September.

Or is it? The fans aren’t exactly chuffed.

Leeds, Middlesbrough and Southampton are our next three which is really quite foreboding.

At Elland Road though remarkable things happen. After conceding from an early penalty (not remarkable at all), Leeds shoot themselves in the foot twice in four minutes. Actually that’s not remarkable either. Firstly a short backpass is seized upon by Idah, who round Meslier well outside the area and equalises. That’s followed by this incident, where Meslier plays out from the back…it’s hard to capture the perfect still of this but here we go:

That’s Idah intercepting the pass and shooting into the unguarded net. We go on to win 3-2, Delia silently seethes.

Some of that hard work is undone as we somehow lose this game to Boro. Yes, they are going well but we make so many chances. The Sara injury is potentally awful news.

 

At 2-0 down at home to Southampton I can already feel the knives sharpening again, and I don’t think it’s for Delia to slice up a lovely ham. Thankfully the actually-not-injured Sara and Gelhardt earn us a point and we live to fight another day.

I feel like this could be worse?

Rotherham should be absolutely battered but our profligacy plus their…the opposite of profligacy leads to a nervy finish. 25 shots on the road though, impressive.

 

Giannoulis complains about lack of game time and like every one on one conversation I have, it ends in him wanting to leave. I don’t mind though, I tell him he can go. Panathinaikos are keen and we’ll net £850k in January. He won’t be the last departure, I’m starting to learn who I need and who I don’t.

We’re a different animal now. Against three lesser sides, we pick up three wins and score 10 goals. Unrecognisable from the mess we were at the start of this update, I am aware that this is mostly Ross’ work.

The table looks very healthy now but there is still work to do.

A nice spell.

 

I’m going to pause there, the middle of December means we have a lot of games to come and also the January transfer window. Yes, I should have planned for that long before now but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m going to evaluate the squad, sell the deadwood and fill the gaps. We’re on the up but we can be better for sure.