MONDAY MARDLE: Hornets hit for four but Thorup still not satisfied
Yesterday at 02:07 AM
This week's Mardle is a tricky one to write. Saturday found me in Madrid and I was only able to watch the first 30 minutes or so of the game before I had to leave my hotel for work.
It was just long enough to hear Chris Goreham utter the immortal words 'Let’s hope that City don't regret scoring a second' as Sainz tucked home from an adjudged offside position.
By the time I had reached reception, my Canaries app pinged to tell me what I already knew would happen. Watford had equalized.
From that moment on, all I know is what I have seen on the highlights and have read across the various media – social and mainstream.
What I can say though, is that I am beginning to really like Johannes Hoff Thorup.
How many times in the past have we seen City managers who 'felt that the lads deserved another chance' after a defeat, or simply shuffled personnel within the same system'?
Thorup rung the changes after the Swansea setback. And they were certainly eye-catching.
It was only a matter of time before Jose Cordoba was given his debut, and moving Callum Doyle to left back wasn't a tricky shout at all.
What was bold though, was to drop Jack Stacey who, let’s face it, hardly had his worst game against Swansea. Kellen Fisher came in and certainly, in the short amount I saw, looked classy, composed and comfortable on the ball. Thorup asked him to play the role of the fullback who tucks inside, and he did this with aplomb.
Oscar Schwartau and Ante Crnac both also started with Anis Ben Slimane still out injured.
The effect was dramatic. City came out of the traps fast. Within 90 seconds Josh Sargent should have scored, but for an amazing save. Within four minutes Doyle had scored.
And all of this in a week that saw the departure of three key members of his backroom staff.
I understand that much of the football was easy on the eye but that at 3-1, City sat back too much and invited pressure upon themselves.
How do I know this? Because it's pretty much the first thing Thorup brought up at the Press Conference. Not 'the lads did great today' or other similar vacuous platitudes.
His level of honesty is not only a breath of fresh air, but it is also exactly what was needed, coming as it does immediately after a period when, shall we say, a few bridges between the club and supporters were burned down.
Time will tell if he can continue with this level of openness while retaining the support of the players if, or more likely when, we have a run of poor results and performances.
City are undergoing a transformative season. Progress will inevitably falter at some points, as it did against Swansea. And just as that game didn't make us relegation candidates, one home win, no matter how impressive, hasn't yet got me reserving hotels in Wembley for May 2025.
First, there's the small matter of a trip to Derby to contend with – vital to keep momentum going after such a good performance.
And then there is a Tuesday night at the start of October when a certain German brings his Leeds side to NR1.
Like it or not, Daniel Farke will continually be used as the yardstick against which Thorup is measured. And most particularly whether this season is 2017-18 Farke or 2018-19.
The next two games could be the ones that define which way it goes. It feels like City could be on the cusp of something good… or equally another period of three steps forward, two steps back.
All I will say is that this week is the first time I've looked at the league table this season.
The other news that I have already touched upon is the loss of Narciss Pelach to Stoke.
Some have suggested that 'something must be wrong' at Colney with players asking to leave and now the first-team coach. I would direct those doom-mongers to the interview that Pelach did when he was first appointed.
He was quite clear then that he saw a Head Coach position as his next natural career move, and that he was keen and ambitious to make this happen. It should be no surprise that he has left when presented with such an opportunity.
What this does mean is that in the space of a few short months, almost the entire first-team coaching team has been replaced. A far cry from the Costa del Colney days of yore. It also means that Ben Knapper and Thorup can bring in their own man.
Surely that can only be a good thing?
Given the glorious weather on Saturday and the mildly moist conditions that have followed it, I think this week we might need something to keep us going until Derby, so it can only be Katrina and the Waves, Walking On Sunshine!
