Norwich City: Tactical analysis of Millwall Championship comeback

Ben is a City season ticket holder and author of the NCFC Analysis twitter account, which unpicks every Canaries' game with an analytical report highlighting tactical strengths and weaknesses.

This is what Ben made of a statement win from the Canaries.

Millwall Vs Norwich: How David Wagner fixed Norwich's build-up structure

Score: 2 - 3

Possession (%): 46 - 54

xG: 1.91 - 0.46

• Norwich's intelligence in possession.
• Norwich's shape out of possession.
• An improved build-up structure.
• Set piece routines.

Base formations:

Under Wagner, Norwich have typically set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. But with Jacob Sorensen coming into the side, this became more of a 4-1-4-1. Millwall were set up in a 4-2-3-1.

The introduction of Sorensen led to a number of structural changes for Wagner's side. In their build-up, Norwich were set up in a 2-3-2-3 with a staggered midfield trio of Kenny McLean, Sorensen and Sara.

Millwall pressed in a 4-2-3-1 with elements of man orientation. Bradshaw (9) acted as the first line of pressure, with Honeyman (39), Flemming (10) and Burke (7) just behind him. Honeyman and Burke were ready to press each full back, while Flemming and Bradshaw pressed the centre backs and McLean. Saville (23) stayed tight to Sorensen, while Leonard (18) marked Sara.

A staggered midfield – like Norwich’s against Millwall – is much harder to press, and allows a team to exploit space between the lines. It is associated with a concept called shadow manipulation, whereby players create space by dragging their marker away from a teammate. Players then occupy space on the blind side of pressing opponents.

Norwich were then able to utilise this space through bounce passes and third man runs. Bounce passes, also known as wall passes, effectively involve passing two steps forward and one step back to find a free player. A third man run involves a player moving into space to receive while two other players exchange passes.

Millwall built-up in a 2-4-3-1 shape with a double pivot of Saville (23) and Leonard (18). Norwich pressed cautiously in a 4-1-4-1, clearly aware of Millwall's ability to play over a high press. Sara and Sorensen allowed Millwall's double pivot very little space. Rather than pressing high, Norwich focused on controlling space. This is known as space orientated pressing. In their own half Norwich dropped back into a 4-2-3-1, with Sorensen moving alongside McLean.

But the most significant features of Norwich's win on Saturday were the tactical adjustments made to Norwich's shape in possession. By adding Sorensen to Norwich's midfield, Wagner significantly improved Norwich's structure in possession. To understand Sorensen's impact on Saturday, it is important to consider how Norwich have set up in previous weeks.

Previously, when McLean dropped between Norwich's centre backs, he left Sara alone in midfield. This created a 3-1 build-up structure; a shape which left Norwich vulnerable to counter attacks after turnovers.

Against Millwall, Norwich were often able to create a 3-2 build-up structure. A 3-2 structure provides more security during defensive transitions, additional passing options between the lines, and better connections into the final third.

Norwich created this 3-2 shape through two primary rotations. The first rotation saw Max Aarons invert from right back to join Sorensen in a midfield two, leaving Onel Hernandez in the wide area on the right. When Hernandez received the ball out wide, Aarons was in a perfect position to underlap through the half space.

The second rotation, which created the 3-2 build-up structure, was possible thanks to Norwich's new formation. With Sorensen and Sara both in central areas, they were in ideal positions to drop in front of Hanley, McLean and Gibson to create the 3-2 shape.

Sorensen's selection also provided McLean with cover, allowing him to roam forward into the midfield and attacking thirds. When he did, Sorensen dropped between Hanley and Gibson to take on McLean’s original role.

Interestingly, there were signs of another variation of the 3-2 shape during the first phase of Norwich's build-up. This was an asymmetric rotation. Aarons dropped to create a back three, while Giannoulis stayed higher on the left. McLean and Sorensen occupied the space in front as a midfield two.

In the second half the 3-2 structure became more staggered, as Sorensen or Sara pushed higher to provide a passing option into space between the lines.

Saturday's win was also a day of set piece routines. Both were thanks to Norwich's clever manipulation of space. The first set piece goal saw Norwich line the edge of the box with six players. These six players all sprinted towards goal, taking five Millwall players away from the intended destination of the corner. Sorensen was left free to shoot.

The second goal from a corner involved exposing space just in front of the Millwall goal. Five Norwich players stayed on the far-left corner of the box, leaving space at the near post. The corner was played to this near post where Hernandez was free to play the ball across the face of goal.

From a tactical perspective, Saturday's win was extremely impressive. Since his appointment, my only criticism of Wagner has been Norwich's weak build-up structure. But in the past few games, there have been notable improvements; against Millwall there were significant improvements.

The performance of Sara is also worth a mention. Under Wagner, the Brazilian is one of numerous players to have shown rapid improvement. He, like many others, is benefitting from having a clear role under a manager with a clear philosophy. Sara has all the attributes to play at the highest level of football, he has: physicality, technical ability, vision, positional intelligence, aerial ability, and – as we saw on Saturday – he is a great finisher.

Wagner's ability to improve players and make beneficial tactical adjustments between games is incredibly impressive. It will be interesting to see Norwich's build-up structure in the coming games, especially if they face a more intense press.

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

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