Mike Taylor: The holes Dean Smith needs to fix in January at Norwich City

The Villa game ought to be a lesson in what our short to medium term future might hold.

For those who don’t know, that was a team that Dean Smith built.

Jacob Ramsey exemplified the qualities of a wide player in 4-3-3 and what a fabulous goal he scored. There is currently no player in our squad capable of scoring that goal.

However, a goal like that perhaps explains why we’ve seen early chances given to Przemyslaw Placheta by Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare, because he at least has the running metrics absent in more technically talented players like Todd Cantwell or Kieran Dowell.

Smith and Shakespeare are also responsible for the other star players of Villa on the night.

Pound for pound, they built that Villa squad to mirror the overall quality of top teams like Liverpool.

Sure, Villa spent a lot of money, but the value for money in the modern transfer market shouldn’t be sniffed at. Matty Cash and Matt Targett, Ezri Konsa, John McGinn, Ashley Young, Tyrone Mings… Steven Gerrard has inherited a team of real quality and it is a testament to what Smith and Shakespeare know is required of players at this level.

Subscribe to Pink Un+ here

The lesson about Smith’s transfers is that you don’t need to match quality, only match output. It is about achieving effectiveness in a certain position.

For example, Matt Targett and Matty Cash bring identical attributes as Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold, but within a viable budget. All aforementioned full backs ensure a tactical brief is fulfilled; at Liverpool you get world beaters but Villa have full back capable in any game in the Premier League.

Do Mathias Normann and Billy Gilmour fulfil the tactical need that Alex Tettey and Mario Vrancic completed? Does Dowell enable transitional play like Stiepermann could? Transposing these concepts into the budget at Norwich has always been paramount in my thinking. It is almost about ratios, you don’t need world beaters but you do need round pegs in round holes. I believe that Smith and Shakespeare will wisely apply our budget to appropriate, effective, signings in the future.

Speaking of round pegs, Jacob Lungi Sorensen. I think we have all been united believing in Sorensen’s abilities. I love the guy, but my opinion has always been that he is a player that needs to ‘face’ play.

He reads the game superbly and is so calm on the ball. I don’t believe, at this level, he can establish himself in central midfield or as a full back but when he faces the ball the lad is a revelation.

I always said I’d prefer him on the left of a centre back grouping and his performance against Ronaldo confirmed it. Lungi was absolutely brilliant. Partner that lad with Grant Hanley and City have a defensive partnership sustainable even in the Premier League. A natural left and right footed pairing. It might not be sensational, but it would be good enough. Like Cash and Taggart to Roberson and Alexander Arnold, Sorensen and Hanley would provide a central partnership well within our financial means.

Elsewhere, Kenny McLean is also proving his worth. The incontestable quality for midfielders within the budget confines of a club like NCFC are the running metrics and other physical markers of strength on and off the ball…. I promise that even in the modern game, Gary Holt would still make the grade, unlike Rupp and Gilmour who are inconsistent from match to match.

McLean is so fundamental to this team because he is the only midfielder with stamina and reliability. Sure, Normann is a better technical player, Gilmour too, but McLean never ever shirks a challenge and he is effective in what he does. McLean is a character that is fundamental to the operation, he sets an example, he is a leader. Smith and Shakespeare will know enough, they will want to find the right mix around him in midfield. But I think they have recently over-estimated his abilities when they’ve pushed Kenny into the advanced areas, almost as a number 10, which is technically beyond him, in my opinion.

It has also been well-documented about ou, frankly, impotent attack, and that is where I see the greatest challenge.

I was adamant early in the season that 4-3-3 was inappropriate to the City squad, and I retain that opinion. Primarily, I said then and I reiterate now, Pukki is not the ideal foil for a three-man attacking group.

I’d argue the case for him playing a bit wider, he would still be ‘good enough’ anywhere in a 3-4-3 or variation, or if he started deeper and went beyond a target man… But in 4-3-3, I don’t see that Norwich have the quality in wide areas to exploit Pukki’s threat. Pukki anywhere other than centrally in 4-3-3 does not work, and Pukki isn’t at his optimum in that setup with the players available in this team.

Obviously, we no longer have Buendia and we cannot afford a Buendia replacement either, but nor should we. A number 10, within City’s budget is easy to defend against. For example City could probably afford Elias Chair at QPR but he would not yet impose himself on the Premier League. A number 10 comes with other tactical impositions, it enforces other qualities into the starting 11, and the bottom line is that City don’t have those players. And whatever system is employed, Smith needs to consider Pukki’s age, and future proof, tactically, for Pukki’s ultimate retirement. Something City didn’t do with Tettey and under different circumstances, future proofing they didn’t do for Buendia’s inevitable departure.

Cantwell is also worthy of a debate. I’m amazed at his performances recently, which have not been anywhere near good enough. As I stipulated in the summer with my surprise at Daniel Farke setting up initially with 4-3-3. Cantwell is not a winger and he looks hopeless in this formation. Physically, I’m also a bit confused…. he sprints and dribbles so much slower than he did two years ago.

This isn’t about match sharpness, there seems to be something physically restricting with Todd and I’m afraid that the consequence is that he is not presently suitable to play. Todd can rescue his career but he needs to be physically better.

Drawing conclusions to all of this, with 4-3-3, I still see the same limits that I saw previously in the summer, and with this squad those limits are profound. However, Smith and Shakespeare have made us far more tactically robust and the team is far more resolute even if the results haven’t been good enough yet.

Maybe there will be a big revolution in January but to play 4-3-3 effectively, I think too many changes are required for it to be viable. Just review that Villa performance on Tuesday…. Sure, you can fairly compare qualities in Douglas Luiz and Normann, but City simply don’t have the wider midfielders to compare with Ashley Young or John McGinn. We certainly don’t have the wider attacking players either.

McLean, Pierre Lees-Melou, Rupp or Gilmour can’t play like defensively inclined wingers, like McGinn or Young, and to compare attacking athletes like Cantwell to Jacob Ramsey is… incomparable. You can’t even compare Cantwell with other lower league players: Nathan Redmond? Allan Saint-Maximin? Maxwel Cornet or Conor Gallagher? Even Bryan Mbeumo is twice the athlete. This isn’t about fitness levels, it's about pace and power appropriate to a tactical position in a base formation.

I think the way City score more goals only comes from adding a striker to the mix alongside Pukki.

It is hard to tinker the midfield without forfeiting McLean or Normann and if we could unearth the perfect player to best merge Normann and McLean, then that player probably isn’t Gilmour (and it certainly isn’t PLM or Rupp). Dimitris Giannoulis was sensational against United but we lack a left-footer ahead of him, let alone two others needed in 4-3-3.

Brandon Williams, in my mind, naturally moves to the right if we cash-in on the brilliant performances from Max Aarons, but in all honesty, do we even have right-footed attacking player of good enough standard ahead of either?

With so many holes to fill to make 4-3-3 viable in an attacking context, I think it is an unrealistic proposition for January. 4-3-3 is an end-of-season rebuild project. Instead, to be ‘good enough’ with 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 or even with a classic 4-4-2, only a few holes need to be filled. That is within a January budget and within the technical limits of the existing squad, especially given the contacts that Smith and Shakespeare have within the game.

Effectiveness in position, not necessarily brilliance in a position. Round pegs in round holes. This is the challenge to Smith and Shakespeare in January and beyond, and what we end up settling with as a base formation will be based around what is financially viable. Partnering Pukki, forfeiting attacking midfielders, exploiting the different qualities of Normann and or McLean. Pairing Hanley with a better left footer. Doubling up on Gianoullis to extract his offensive instincts. It’s all about answering these questions with the fewest possible signings…. quality over quantity.

The self-funding model at our club is viable with Smith as long as they are left to pick their own players. Their appointment is a subtle evolution in the sporting director/head coach model but it is the one where I expect Norwich to fulfil that Premier League ambition…. but it might not be this time around.