Norwich City: Ben Lee’s tactical analysis of Watford

Ben is a City season ticket holder and author of the NCFC Analysis Social media account that analyses games in an analysis report, highlighting tactical strengths and weaknesses.

Ben turned this into a step forward in performance and – more importantly – in the result for the Dane.

Norwich vs Watford: A convincing victory

Score: 4 – 1

Ownership (%): 55 – 45

Passes: 538 – 436

Shots: 19 – 11

xG: 2.72 – 1.67

• Man-to-man pressing situations.
• New position rotations.
• Asymmetric pressing patterns.
• Avoiding disadvantages in the structure.

Basic formations

After a promising start to the season for Tom Cleverley’s Watford, the Hornets travelled to face Norwich hoping to secure their first home league win during Thorup’s tenure.

Cleverley made four changes to his side as the visitors lined up in their usual 3-4-3 formation, while Thorup introduced Fisher, Cordoba and Crnac into Norwich’s 4-3-3 base.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

On Norwich’s goal kicks, the hosts set up their play in a 4-3-3 formation, with both wingers positioned high and wide in the back line and three midfielders positioned deep.

Watford responded by deploying a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Sissoko (17) moving up towards the first line of attack to keep McLean (23) busy, Chakvetadze (8) dropping back while Vata (11) and Jebbison (18) applied pressure from the front.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

While Watford put pressure on Norwich’s two centre-backs, with Dele-Bashiru (24) and Chakvetadze (8) chasing Nunez (26) and Schwartau (29) respectively, the visitors’ full-backs were ready to support the pressure on Fisher (35) and Doyle (6) on the flanks.

Given this high man-to-man pressing, it was difficult for Norwich to find a free man. As a result, City targeted the wingers in the space behind the first lines of pressure, where the visitors left a 3v3 in the last line.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

In the open build-up phases, Norwich’s new positional rotations began. While Jack Stacey is more suited to overlapping into the widest channel on the right, the introduction of Fisher (35) meant that City had technically skilled full-backs who could invert on either side.

The hosts thus formed a 2-3-2-3 formation, with Nunez (26) and Schwartau (29) advancing in the half-spaces, while Crnac (17) stayed wide instead of moving to the right. In response, Watford’s full-backs dropped back and the centre-backs were ready to push into midfield.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

Due to early injuries to Sierralta (3) and Bachmann (1), Porteous (5) and Bond (23) had to enter the field, while Norwich dominated in its 2-3-5 formation with long periods of solid possession.

Watford dropped back to a 5-4-1 midfield and the tight 2-3 rest defence created by Norwich’s inverting full-backs allowed for sustained possession, while City moved the ball from side to side to gain access to the wingers in wide 1v1s and to Schwartau (29) or Nunez (26) in the space between the lines.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

On occasion, Watford managed to switch from their 5-4-1 central formation to a more attacking 5-1-3-1 central press, with Vata (11), Sissoko (17) and Chakvetadze (8) moving forward to put pressure on McLean (23) and City’s inverting full-backs.

But when Jebbison (18) put pressure on the centre-back on the ball side and Vata (11) stormed into the first line to put pressure on Duffy (4) on the opposite side, Norwich’s 5-on-4 advantage in the build-up meant that Fisher (35) was free to receive the ball.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

In addition to City’s initial 5v4 advantage, Watford’s pressing structure found itself trapped in a 2v1 situation when pressuring Nunez (26) on the ball side.

While City develop clear positional structures under Thorup, his players are free to rotate as long as each position remains occupied. In this example, Fisher (35), after being received by Duffy (4), found Sainz (7) centrally after the Spaniard had swapped positions with Schwartau (29).

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

In the second half, this positional flexibility led to Doyle (6) playing out wide to Sainz (7) before crossing into the space behind the pressing full-back. After dropping deep to receive the ball, Sainz (7) played into midfield to McLean (26), who shot the ball back for Doyle (6) to chase.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

Another benefit of Thorup’s positional change – Fisher (35) played alongside McLean (23) – was the more advanced role of Nunez (26), as the Chilean midfielder was more involved in finishing moves rather than remaining in City’s remaining defence.

In this case, Nunez (26) was able to advance unhindered into the final third and put the ball into the net with an excellent direct shot after Doyle (6) had passed into the penalty area from the left.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

While Watford’s goalkeepers came back on, the visitors developed a 3-2-4-1 game structure with the full-backs advancing and the wide centre-backs moving to the edge of the penalty area.

In Norwich’s high pressing phases, Thorup’s team operated in their usual 4-3-3 formation; this time, however, only Crnac (17) immediately applied pressure, while Sargent (9) and Sainz (7) initially stayed close to Dele-Bashiru (24) and Sissoko (17).

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

Unlike in previous weeks, when both wingers pressed from the front as the opponent built up play and Sargent (9) was isolated in the 2-on-1 situation, Sainz (7) waited for a pass to the right center-back before pressing.

This gave Sargent (9) time to put pressure on the ball-side pivot, allowing Norwich to successfully push Watford to the side, where Schwartau (29) put pressure on the retreating full-back and City created a 5-on-4 advantage.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

On the other hand, the dynamics of Norwich’s pressing were different, with Crnac (17) responsible for pressing the goalkeeper via Pollock (6). On this side, City did not have numerical superiority, but all players were busy on the ball side in a 5v5 system.

When Bond (23) managed to evade the pressure and play the ball back to Pollock (6), Nunez (26) was forced to dive to the left centre-back, while Fisher (35) increased the pressure on the full-back and McLean (23) moved over to keep Vata (11) busy.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

While Watford should have done more to gain access down the left flank – where Norwich did not often play with a numerical advantage – their attempts to do so were hampered by the tight spacing between players.

For example, when Pollock (6) played directly to Morris (22), the distance between them was so small that Crnac (17) was able to cover both of them. Nunez (26) was able to jump on the full-back, leaving Vata (11) to play in a 2v1 against McLean (23) and Fisher (35).

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

While proximity is important in possession, spacing should be large enough to stretch the opposition’s pressure. Instead of taking up similar positions, Bond (23) and Pollock (6) could have split up to give the full-backs the freedom to move to either touchline.

Although this is a risky approach, this formation would have forced Nunez (26) to put pressure on Morris (22) every time, thereby preventing Norwich from having numerical superiority in front of the ball.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

In the build-up phases of open play, Watford switched to a 3-2-5 structure, while Norwich alternated between a 4-3-3 middle press and a deeper 4-5-1 middle block.

In Norwich’s central press, the wingers put pressure on the wide centre-backs, allowing Nunez (26) and Schwartau (29) to jump out to the side to pass to the full-backs as they dropped back to receive the ball.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

However, when Watford regained possession, City’s wingers dropped into the second line of pressure to form their 4-5-1 midfield. During these phases, Watford often looked to isolate the opposition full-back in a wide 1v1 before playing him with a long diagonal pass.

Norwich City 4-1 Watford: Ben Lee Championship analysis (Image: Ben Lee)

Even though they played too passively without the ball at times in the second half, this was undoubtedly a dominant performance from Thorup’s men.

It may take a while to fully master his approach, but all indications are that the Dane’s playing model will lead to more sustainable success than City’s approaches over the last few seasons.

This is still a work in progress for Thorup, but after a bleak recent past, the future looks bright for Norwich City.

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

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