Norwich City's opening day Championship defeat at Oxford under Johnannes Hoff Thorup was a performance that underlined this project is going to take time.
Ben is a City season ticket holder and author of the NCFC Analysis social media account, who unpicks games with an analytical report highlighting tactical strengths and weaknesses.
This is what Ben made of a first competitive test for the highly-rated Dane's methods at the Kassam.
Oxford Vs Norwich: Game model versus execution
Score: 2 – 0
Possession (%): 51 – 49
Passes: 501 – 485
Shots: 12 – 10
xG: 0.91 – 0.83
- Sloppy turnovers.
- Settled-play patterns.
- Pressing problems.
- Second-half changes.
Base formations:
The build-up to Thorup’s first league game at Norwich was dominated by the news of Rowe’s voluntary absence, with Fassnacht replacing the England Under-21 international in Thorup’s 4-3-3 setup.
Led by Des Buckingham, Championship newbies Oxford United also lined up in a 4-3-3 base formation, with Brannagan occasionally dropping alongside Vaulks to create a double pivot.
In Norwich’s deep build-up phases, Nunez (26), McLean (23), and Gibbs (8) dropped to the edge of the penalty area in a narrow midfield three, while the full-backs advanced in the wide areas.
In response, the hosts matched up with Norwich’s 4-3-3 and pressed with their usual intensity, creating a 3v3 in the first line when Gunn (1) waited for Harris (9) to press.
When the visitors played out to one side, Oxford pressed aggressively as the front three blocked passing lanes and the ball-side centre-midfielder backed up the press on City’s full-back.
On Norwich’s left, for example, Harris (9) blocked a pass to McLean (23), Goodrham (19) limited access to Gibbs (8), and Rodrigues (20) pressed Doyle (6). City occasionally overplayed in these build-up phases when a more efficient escape was available.
Given the host’s high press, Thorup’s men mixed playing out from the back with long balls into the last line. Within the first five minutes, for example, Gunn (1) played directly to Fassnacht (16), while Stacey (3) overlapped to create a 2v1 overload against the host’s left-back.
The following turnover represented a perfect example of a tactical trade-off, as former Norwich winger Placheta (7) advanced into the space vacated by City’s overlapping right-back.
These attempts to play over the host’s press, combined with countless sloppy mistakes, created limited situations of controlled possession, instead creating numerous avoidable transitions.
When Thorup’s men did advance into settled phases of possession, however, Doyle (6) shifted infield to become a third centre-back, while Stacey (3) advanced into the last line, Fassnacht (16) inverted from the right, and Gibbs (8) advanced in the left half-space.
In the first ten minutes, with Oxford initially creating a 4-3-3 mid-press, Norwich demonstrated two clear settled-play patterns designed to profit from the 5v4 last-line advantage created by their 3-2-5 structure.
With Doyle (6) in possession, the first pattern saw Sainz (7) drop towards the touchline, dragging Oxford’s right-back into the wide area, before Gibbs (8) advanced into the space behind.
But when Doyle (6) chose to recycle possession, before McLean (23) received the ball and advanced over the halfway line, another settled-play pattern appeared.
With McLean (23) drawing two centre-midfielders forward, Gibbs (8) became free to receive in the space behind, while Sainz (7) made a run infield, forcing Oxford’s right-back towards his own goal and creating space for Doyle (6) to overlap and receive out wide.
After the opening fifteen minutes, Oxford’s 4-3-3 mid-press started to become more of a 4-2-4 as Rodrigues (20) joined the first line to ensure both Norwich pivots remained occupied.
Even after this change, however, Norwich repeatedly came close to completing patterns of progression, only to be impeded by their own poor execution. With McLean (23) finding Nunez (26), for example, the Chilean played through pressure to access Sargent (9).
With Sainz (7) out wide on the left, Gibbs (8) advanced into space between the lines in the left half-space. In this situation, City were one pass away from accessing a dangerous last-line overload. Instead, Norwich’s number nine was forced backwards by Moore (5).
Later in the first half, a similar situation saw Duffy (4) access McLean (23) behind the first line of pressure by virtue of Norwich’s staggered double pivot.
Receiving on the half-turn, McLean (23) advanced and waited for Oxford’s midfield duo to press before finding Fassnacht (16) in space between the lines. Yet again, City were now one action away from creating a dangerous situation, but an intercepted pass foiled any such opportunity.
While sloppy mistakes were the story of Norwich’s Saturday in possession, a lack of fluency in their press made it difficult to reliably force turnovers and complete efficient ball recoveries.
With the visitors creating a narrow 4-3-3 in high pressing phases, Oxford built from deep with a double pivot of Vaulks (4) and Brannagan (8), while Rodrigues (20) advanced towards the last line between two wide wingers.
In these phases, City’s ball-side winger pressed the receiving centre-back, while the ball-side midfielder jumped out wide to press Oxford’s full-back.
On the visitor’s right, for example, Fassnacht (16) pressed Brown (3), before Nunez (26) jumped onto Bennett (12) out wide. At the same time, McLean (23) shifted across to press Brannagan (8), while Stacey (3) backed up the press on Placheta (7).
Even when they managed to force Oxford long, however, Norwich often failed to win second balls and frequently conceded possession soon after regaining it, allowing United to rebuild.
With the hosts targeting space to the side of City’s narrow 4-3-3, Thorup’s men were occasionally slow to shift over and close spaces out wide. As such, they found it difficult to force turnovers, and the home side were free to advance into settled phases of possession.
In such phases, Oxford’s 4-2-4 deep build-up structure became more of a 2-3-5 when Brannagan (8) advanced in the left half-space, leaving Vaulks (4) as a single pivot.
The hosts frequently targeted the space behind the back line of City’s 4-3-3 mid-press; indeed, in the build-up to their opening goal, Hanley (5) failed to deal with a long ball from Brown (3), as he and Duffy (4) allowed Harris (9) to cut inside to make it 1-0 from twelve yards.
With Oxford advancing towards the halfway line and Norwich in their 4-3-3 mid-block, Brannagan (8) often dropped to the side of City’s defensive block to receive out wide before playing through to Placheta (7) or Harris (9) running beyond Hanley (5).
On the opposite side, when Goodrham (19) received a pass out wide before being pressed by Doyle (6), he found Rodrigues (20) advancing into a 1v1 against Duffy (4).
Oftentimes, analysing your opponent’s gameplan is one of the best ways to identify your own weaknesses. Asking questions like ‘what or who did they attempt to exploit’ is a useful exercise. In this case, they attempted to run in behind City’s centre-backs and isolate them in 1v1s.
Like Norwich, Oxford also attempted to exploit a 5v4 last-line overload. They did so by drawing the visitors to one side before switching the play to a 2v1 against City’s far-side full-back.
In the second half, after replacing Gibbs (8) with the impressive Amankwah Forson (18), Norwich went on to introduce Adam Idah (11) on the left, who became a second striker when Doyle (6) advanced to create a 2-2-4-2 structure, in one of a few second-half adjustments.
After an underwhelming start to the season, there’s an important distinction to be made between game models and execution; Thorup’s game model is not inherently flawed, but the execution remains suboptimal. The same could not be said about David Wagner’s approach.
It was a risk for sporting director Ben Knapper and Thorup to state in such clear terms that City should be aiming for promotion this season despite the transition. Be under no illusion, this project is going to take time; players need to adjust, and Thorup needs to decide who’ll be joining him on this journey.
You can read all Ben's previous analysis of Norwich City games via his social media accounts.
Web: NCFC Analysis
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