Annother promising performance, with tactical and technical quality complimented by moments of individual brilliance. Ben Lee studies Norwich City's 4-0 Championship win over Hull.
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 comprehensive victory at Carrow Road.
Norwich vesus Hull: Collective promise
Score: 4 – 0
Possession (%): 57 – 43
Passes: 539 – 400
Shots: 19 – 16
xG: 3.83 – 0.99
- Accessing the free half-space.
- Verticality and hybrid pressing.
- Horizontally stretched midfield.
- Advancing centre-backs.
Base formations
In the last game before the break, Johannes Hoff Thorup’s Norwich hosted Tim Walter’s Hull City in another clash between two in-form teams with tactically interesting head coaches.
Both sides lined up in 4-3-3 base formations, with Thorup naming an unchanged eleven following City’s 1-1 draw against Leeds. Tim Walter made two changes to his side, as Zambrano and Mehlem replaced Simons and Palmer.
During Norwich’s goalkeeper restarts, the hosts created their usual 4-3-3 structure with Nunez (26), McLean (23), and Slimane (20) dropping deep, while the wingers remained high and wide.
In response, Hull initially pressed from a 4-1-3-2 structure, with Mehlem (8) joining Bedia (9) in a front two, and Zambrano (25) positioned behind the second line of pressure. Hull’s wingers occupied Norwich’s outside midfielders, while Slater (27) tracked McLean (23).
When Norwich played out to the right, Mehlem (8) applied pressure to Duffy (4). Once City’s centre-back found Fisher (35), Millar (7) jumped from Nunez (26) to press out wide.
In response, Zambrano (25) advanced into the second line to prevent Nunez (26) from becoming the free man, creating a 4-4-2 structure. In the last line, Drameh (23) backed up the press on Crnac (17), while the centre-backs were ready to follow Sargent (9) into midfield.
On occasion, Slimane (20) and Doyle (6) swapped positions, as the former dropped towards the touchline while the latter inverted alongside McLean (23) early in the build-up.
When Norwich played out to the left, Hull’s right centre-forward pressed Cordoba (33), while the winger stayed tight to Doyle (6). This forced Coyle (2) to back up the press on Slimane (20) from right-back, while Sainz (7) was followed infield by Jones (5).
The positions of City’s full-backs and outside midfielders were interchangeable, with Fisher (35) and Doyle (6) free to invert or stay wider to allow Nunez (26) or Slimane (20) space centrally.
In the first half, the hosts were able to overload the second line of Hull’s high press before Zambrano (25) could jump to prevent the free man. On one occasion, for example, McLean (23) found Fisher (35) inverting from the right, with Millar (7) moving towards Nunez (26) out wide.
With Millar (7) caught between Fisher (35) and Nunez (26), Norwich’s inverted right-back was free to receive and dribble towards the halfway line.
As Zambrano (25) advanced to engage Fisher (35) in one half-space, Slimane (20) ran beyond Belloumi (33) to receive in the other before he was fouled by Hull’s Algerian winger. The visitors may have prevented a dangerous attack this time, but it was a sign of things to come.
Just a few minutes later, Norwich doubled their lead after accessing the same space between the lines, albeit via different patterns. This time, Fisher (35) moved wide, dragging Hull’s left winger with him, while Nunez (26) dropped with Zambrano (25) not far behind.
Duffy (4) played straight out wide to Crnac (17), who cut inside past the left-back before combining with Sargent (9) to find Nunez (26).
City’s Chilean midfielder then played the ball across to Slimane (20), who advanced beyond Doyle (6) into the vacant left half-space.
Faced with Hull’s high line, Slimane (20) forced the visitors back towards their own goal with a through ball to Sainz (7), before City’s in-form winger played a first-time ball across the face of goal to Sargent (9), who made it 2-0 within twenty minutes.
In some deep build-up moments, Doyle (6) inverted beyond the second line of pressure and into the left half-space ahead of Slimane (20).
In one such moment, Hull transitioned from their 4-1-3-2 into a complete man-to-man press. Zambrano (25) jumped alongside Slater (27), creating more of a 4-4-2 shape, as Millar (7) moved wide to press Fisher (35), and Jones (5) jumped into midfield to occupy Doyle (6).
Despite this intense pressure, Thorup’s side achieved yet another final-third entry after playing over the visitor’s press to Crnac (17), who played across to Doyle (6) advancing unchallenged in the left half-space. Doyle (6) then found Nunez (26) free on the opposite side in the final third.
This wasn’t the only time Norwich escaped an intense press with verticality on Saturday. On another occasion, as Hull moved from their zonal 4-1-3-2 into a 4-4-2 man-orientated press – a combination known as hybrid pressing – the hosts escaped with a slick pattern out wide.
As Fisher (35) received against the touchline, he found Crnac (17) dropping towards him, who then backheeled the ball into the path of Nunez (26).
Aiming to exploit Hull’s high defensive line, Nunez (26) played a through ball into the visitor’s half for Sargent (9) to chase. After advancing towards the byline, Norwich’s centre-forward cut the ball back to Slimane (20) in space on the edge of the box.
In settled phases of possession, Thorup’s men created their usual 2-3-5 structure, with both full-backs inverting on either side of McLean (23), while Slimane (20) and Nunez (26) advanced.
Hull continued to transition between two pressing structures as they moved between a 4-4-2 mid-block and a more man-orientated 4-1-3-2 mid-press. In Norwich’s left half-space, Jones (5) was quick to jump onto Slimane (20) once the mid-press began.
In one instance, with Slimane (20) temporarily switching positions with Doyle (6), one of Hull’s front two pressed Cordoba (33), who found the free man with a bounce pass from McLean (23). Slimane (20) then chipped the ball in behind, leaving Nunez (26) in a 1v1 chance worth 0.53xG.
The visitor’s strategy involved horizontally stretching Norwich’s midfield. On the left, for example, when Nunez (26) jumped to press the full-back, Mehlem (8) moved over to the touchline behind the pressing midfielder to receive before McLean (23) had time to engage him.
Tim Walter’s side also incorporated several interesting positional rotations in their build-up. On occasion, one of the centre-backs advanced into midfield and was replaced by the goalkeeper.
This rotation created an 11v10 situation and aimed to generate a numerical advantage in front and behind the first line of pressure. Once Norwich shifted across to the ball-side, Hull created a 3v2 against the remaining midfielders and a free centre-back behind the host’s front three.
Despite creating these advantages, however, the visitors frequently failed to access the free man, and they made numerous mistakes in possession, often leading to avoidable turnovers.
In settled phases of possession, Hull created a 4-1-5 structure, with Slater (27) and Zambrano (25) advancing into the last line. In these phases, Norwich transitioned between a 4-3-3 mid-press and a more passive 4-5-1 mid-block.
In yet another promising performance, tactical and technical quality was complimented by moments of individual brilliance. But make no mistake, this is individual brilliance on the back of collective quality. It’s very different to what Norwich fans saw last season.
This is not merely papering over the cracks of tactical shortcomings; this is no longer a reliance on isolated moments; this is part of something bigger – this is collective promise.
You can read all Ben's previous analysis of Norwich City games via his social media accounts.
Web: NCFC Analysis
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