Ahead of the Championship kick-off against Hull City at Carrow Road this weekend, Ben Lee has looked at the club’s summer recruitment, and those tactical clues in the pre-season games, for how the new faces fit into David Wagner’s strategy.

Ben is a City season ticket holder and author of the NCFC Analysis twitter account, who unpicks Canaries’ games with an analytical report highlighting tactical strengths and weaknesses.

This is what he makes of the new blood and how Wagner could use them

Identifying suitable player profiles is a crucial element of developing and successfully implementing a tactical system, as is what is often described as the ‘socio-affective’ element. In other words, how strong are the relations between players within a tactical system.

Before assessing the strength of Norwich’s 2023/24 squad, it is important to analyse the system they will be required to fit into.

While his philosophy remains constant, Wagner seems to have made some minor tweaks to Norwich’s tactical system.

These tweaks represent an acceptance that the disappointing conclusion of last season was not merely a reflection of personnel but rather a combination of tactical and individual weaknesses.

Since taking over in January, Wagner’s tactical ideology has been clear. One of the clearest tactical developments after his appointment was the implementation of a concept known as ‘La Salida Lavolpiana’, involving a midfielder – often Kenny McLean – dropping between the centre backs to build-up with a back three.

This rotation allows the full backs to advance without leaving large spaces undefended or creating a numerical disadvantage in the build-up.

Ahead of Norwich’s temporary back three lies a single pivot – typically Gabriel Sara – behind two overlapping full backs, two inverted wingers, a second striker, and a number nine.

This shape ensures each of the five attacking channels are occupied. This concept is associated with positional play, or ‘positionism’, where players positions are determined by zones.

 

The idea behind this shape is related to what became known as ‘vertikalspiel’ in Germany.

Literally translating to ‘vertical play’, vertikalspiel is known as verticality in English tactical discourse. While many positional coaches focus on controlling space and gradually creating superiorities around the ball, the notion of verticality involves creating and playing quickly into areas of superiority further ahead of the ball.

The 3-1-5-1 (3-1-6) shape allows Norwich to create a 5v4 against a back four and a 6v5 against a back five. When playing with verticality, these numerical advantages are crucial.

 

But Norwich have had a tendency to transition into their 3-1-6 shape too early in the build-up, leaving Gabriel Sara isolated in midfield.

This structure has made Norwich vulnerable during defensive transitions. For a manager whose philosophy depends so much on coping with defensive transitions, Wagner’s Norwich have conceded far too many chances from exactly those situations.

In pre-season, however, Norwich’s inverted wingers have been dropping deeper in the build-up. While the structure in the first build-up phase (with a double pivot) looks relatively unchanged, Norwich’s 3-1-6 has become more of a 3-3-4 in settled play.

 

 

With players in closer proximity, this 3-3-4 structure maximises the relations between players and allows for an effective counter press when possession is lost, thereby reducing Norwich’s vulnerability during defensive transitions.

It also allows for an element of fluidity, with the full backs occasionally inverting to allow the wingers to occupy the wide areas.

These rotations may depend on the requirements of a certain situation, but they can also allow players to move into their optimal positions.

For example, the left winger may be more suited to hugging the touchline and overlapping, while the right winger might prefer to invert and occupy the right half space.

In this example, the left winger could stay wide while the left back inverts, and the right winger could invert allowing the right back to overlap in the wide area.

Therefore, the profiles of the wingers affect the roles of the full backs.

 

Therein lies the value of assessing player profiles and the ‘socio-affective’ element.

Shane Duffy, Jack Stacey and Kellen Fisher

Norwich’s three defensive signings this summer provide a perfect balance between experience (Duffy), a player in his prime (Stacey), and a youngster with obvious potential (Fisher). All three have clear roles in Wagner’s system.

Norwich’s primary centre back pairing last season included Andrew Omabamidele as the right centre back and Grant Hanley as the left centre back. With the former linked with moves away and the latter injured for the foreseeable future, Norwich needed to identify a new centre back pairing this summer.

The new left-sided centre back would appear to be someone already within the Norwich squad, with Ben Gibson starting in six of the seven pre-season friendlies.

Left centre backs receive the majority of passes, from inside to out, on their left foot; with Gibson being a left-footed centre back, his profile is most suited to filling the place that Hanley has temporarily vacated.

A potential replacement for Omabamidele has arrived in the form of Duffy, who has spent most of his career as a right centre back.

While Duffy replaces the experience Norwich lose in Hanley’s absence, the Irish international is likely to take Omabamidele’s position should he leave the club.

The signing of Stacey also suggests a potential departure, with Max Aarons touted with a Premier League move this summer. Stacey is a direct replacement for Aarons and, as an attacking full back, is perfectly suited to Wagner’s system.

Upon his arrival, Stacey explained that “playing intense, fast, forward football” suits his style.

Perhaps the most surprising feature of pre-season was the ease with which Fisher settled into the first team. Fisher already looks like an exciting talent with exceptional movement in wide areas.

Fisher also looks confident with the ball and possesses many of the qualities needed to be an attacking full back in Wagner’s system.

Ashley Barnes, Christian Fassnacht and Borja Sainz

As with Norwich’s defensive signings this summer, their attacking additions include an experienced domestic signing (Barnes), a player in his prime (Fassnacht), and a younger player with potential (Sainz).

The signing of Ashley Barnes offers tactical flexibility, with the former Burnley forward capable of playing as a number nine or as more of a second striker.

In pre-season, Barnes and Sargent have alternately dropped deep during the build-up. In the first build-up phase, this turns Norwich’s double pivot into a staggered midfield three, while it creates a midfield diamond in the latter phases.

 

Against Olympiacos on Saturday, Norwich’s inverted wingers stayed slightly higher to occupy the space between the visitors defensive and midfield lines. This created a familiar 3-1-6 shape in the build-up.

But Barnes occasionally dropped to provide support for Sara with McLean in a back three. Barnes’ positioning created a 3-2-5 structure at times.

 

The signings of Fassnacht and Sainz add an element of mystery to Norwich’s squad; neither have played in England, but both have had prolific spells in Switzerland and Turkey, respectively.

While Fassnacht and Sainz both have experience in numerous positions, the former tends to operate as a right winger while the latter predominantly plays on the left.

Both have spent much of their careers playing in systems with attacking full backs; wingers in these systems are often required to occupy the half spaces rather than the wide corridors we associate with traditional wingers.

Given their experience as inverted wingers and their promising goal records, Fassnacht and Sainz could be vital additions to Wagner’s squad.

Not only do their profiles fit perfectly into Wagner’s system, but both players could provide goal contributions from midfield…something Norwich have lacked over the last few years.

While Sainz’ fit is purely theoretical, Fassnacht should be able to settle into Wagner’s system quickly given his time under the German’s management at Young Boys.

Aside from Norwich’s transfer business this summer, there have been promising signs throughout pre-season. There have been minor developments in possession but also, and perhaps most significantly, out of possession.

Norwich have consistently transitioned into vertically and horizontally compact 4-4-2 mid and low blocks after the higher pressing phases.

This shape offers very little space between the defensive and midfield lines and makes central ball progression difficult for opposing teams.

 

While many Norwich fans may have expected a few more signings, it is important to recognise the tactical improvements we have seen during pre-season.

It is also important to consider that the signings a team makes need to have profiles suited to the manager’s system and to the existing players within it.

Norwich’s depth in a few areas will be tested this season – with the fans judgement likely to come in the weeks after the window closes – but when assessing Norwich’s summer signings, player profiles and the ‘socio-affective’ element have clearly been considered.

You can read all Ben’s previous analysis of Norwich City games via his social media accounts.

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