Despite missed chances and some avoidable defensive errors, Norwich City comfortably defeated a struggling Stoke City side. Ben Lee breaks down a 4-2 Championship victory.
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 return to winning ways at Carrow Road.
Norwich versus Stoke: Settled-Play Dominance
Score: 4 – 2
Possession (%): 60 – 40
Passes: 616 – 416
Shots: 16 – 7
xG: 2.87 – 1.65 (0.86 non-penalty)
- Half-space escapes.
- Sticking to the 2-3.
- A passive mid-block.
- Late missed chances.
Base formations
Hosting a struggling Stoke City, Johannes Hoff Thorup made three changes to his Norwich side, as Dobbin, Nunez, and Cordoba came into his 4-3-3. Mark Robins also made three changes, with Baker, Seko, and Stevens coming into his side’s 4-2-3-1 base formation.
During Norwich’s goalkeeper restarts, Thorup’s men played out through a 4-3-3 shape, with the full-backs advancing out wide as the midfield trio remained deep.
In response, Stoke transitioned into a 4-1-3-2 structure when Baker (8) advanced into a front two and Seko (12) moved from centre-midfield into the second line of pressure.
Typically, Gunn (1) received the first pass, but instead of pressing high, Stoke allowed Norwich’s goalkeeper to move towards the edge of the penalty area. As the host’s full-backs continued to advance, the outside centre-midfielders moved wider on both sides.
Stoke’s front two were responsible for pressing the centre-backs, while the wingers were ready to press the outside midfielders, and Seko (12) was tasked with closing down Sorenson (19).
Mark Robins’ men only applied pressure when Gunn (1) played to one of the centre-backs. This limited Norwich’s ability to create a free man, but the hosts found success playing out quickly.
On their left, for example, Cordoba (33) advanced towards the touchline, where Mahovo (47) dropped to receive. But Stoke shifted across and continued to successfully prevent progression.
When Norwich moved the ball across to the opposite side, however, Stoke failed to complete their shift to the ball side, with Moran (24) caught in the space between Slimane (20) and Mahovo (47), allowing the former to receive and advance unoccupied.
The home side could then move towards settled phases of possession, where the full-backs advanced into the last line on either side of City’s inverted wingers.
To support this transition into settled-play, Sorenson (19) occasionally dropped between the centre-backs to create a 3v2 first-line advantage, leaving a double pivot in midfield.
A slight adjustment to Stoke’s press partway through the first half saw Baker (8) drop to create more of a 4-2-3-1 shape in an attempt to limit the time and space Sorenson (19) had to receive and support Norwich’s escape.
In the build-up to Stoke’s equaliser, the remaining centre-forward rushed Duffy (4) into a pass. The following turnover saw The Potters counter and score from the space vacated by Norwich’s temporarily injured right centre-back.
Perhaps the most intense moment of Stoke pressure came towards the end of the first half, when they jumped into an aggressive high press backed up by the full-backs out wide.
But a moment of brilliance from Nunez (26) saw him evade pressure before finding Dobbin (22) dropping into space between the lines. These escapes via wingers dropping to receive in the half-spaces were common for Norwich on Saturday.
Once Norwich advanced beyond these moments of pressure and into settled phases of possession, they moved into the same 2-3-5 structure they created at Hull.
Unlike some of City’s settled-play structures, this setup saw both full-backs move into the last line, as the wingers inverted ahead of three deep-lying midfielders. In response, Stoke dropped into a passive 4-4-2 mid-block.
As was the case with Norwich’s deeper escapes, Stoke’s passive approach meant the home side often found the wingers dropping into gaps between the visitor’s second line.
In one of many similar instances, Slimane (20) dropped to receive before playing a simple pass to Sainz (7) in space between the lines. The Spaniard then cut inside and played to the feet of Sargent (9), who shifted the ball out to Fisher (35) overlapping into space on the right.
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