Due to their inability to keep the opposition out, the Norfolk team is currently four points outside of the play-off spots and finds it difficult to gain any kind of momentum.
New Year’s Day’s 1-0 victory over Luton Town marked just the fourth time this season that Johannes Hoff Thorup’s team had maintained a clean sheet, with defensive lapses and
mistakes working against a strong offensive team.
In light of this, Goodman believes that strengthening the backline might be the difference between a drive for promotion in the second half and mediocrity in the middle of the
table for the rest of the season.
Don Goodman outlines Norwich City January priorities
With wins over Millwall, Luton Town, and Coventry City, as well as a 1-1 tie with Queens Park Rangers, City had one of the best holiday seasons in the entire division. The East
Anglia team also cut the gap on those with Premier League hopes at the top of the table.
Despite not scoring in those games, top scorer Borja Sainz’s goal-scoring prowess has been a huge boon for the team moving forward this season. With 15 goals in 26
Championship games, the Spaniard lit up the division early in the campaign.
Nevertheless, a porous defence has often seen those talents go to waste, with a run between October and December seeing the Canaries concede twice in eight out of their nine
fixtures, with lowly Plymouth Argyle also finding the back of the net once in the other fixture.
An injury to goalkeeper Angus Gunn didn’t help earlier in the campaign, with George Long struggling to maintain the standards between the sticks in his absence, but Goodman
is in no two minds about where Thorup’s priorities need to lie in the coming weeks.
Speaking to Plejmo.com, the pundit said: “Norwich City have scored 43 goals this season, only Leeds United have scored more. They’ve got the most potent player in the
Championship in Borja Sainz and Josh Sargent isn’t too far away from returning, too. So, they haven’t got too many problems at that end of the pitch.
“But they’ve let in 37 goals in 26 games, with just six teams in the league conceding more. That’s a problem. Only Hull and Plymouth have kept fewer than Norwich’s four clean
sheets.
“Their four-game unbeaten run has edged them closer to the play-off spots again, so this window is crucial for City. The problem is they’ve only beaten one team in the top-half, a
4-1 win against Watford. That could be an indicator of where they are as a team at the moment.
“I think their recruitment should be focussed on players that will make them harder to beat, as we’ve seen a few costly goalkeeping and defensive errors during the first half of the
campaign.”
Norwich City’s defensive struggles are affecting Championship play-off push
There are shades of the 2018/19 Championship winning side about this City group, with an attacking philosophy resulting in the side throwing caution to the wind, and relying on
a defensive line to mop up any issues at the back when needed.
That may work when you have Tim Krul donning the gloves, with Timm Klose and Christoph Zimmermann in front, but this current guise simply don’t have it in them to restrain
the attacking talents in the second tier, and have been found out time and time again this season.
While Gunn [pictured] is a highly rated glovesman, the former Manchester City man has not covered himself in glory this season, with his 63.2% save percentage ranking among
the lowest in the division as it stands, with only Plymouth Argyle’s Daniel Grimshaw (62.9%) and Middlesbrough’s Seny Dieng (55.3%) ranking below.
Performances from Gunn and Long have contributed towards the Norfolk side conceding more goals than expected, with FBRef estimating that a further 6.3 goals have been
allowed than predicted this season, with only Coventry City (-7.1) measuring worse in that metric.
Norwich gives up too many shots on goal during a game, as evidenced by their 97 conceded this season, in contrast to teams with significantly superior defensive records, such as
Leeds United (52), Burnley (64), and Millwall (75).
With the correct players in the system, the aggressive, forward-thinking style of play can be very effective. However, Norwich is currently losing when they are out of possession,
so defensive additions are essential moving forward if they want to make a serious run at the playoffs this season.
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