From inception to early signs of positivity at Norwich City. Ben Lee analyses the start of the Johannes Hoff Thorup and Ben Knapper project.
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.
Ahead of the return to Championship action at Swansea this weekend, Ben takes a look at the journey so far under the Danish head coach and the club's sporting director, from a tactical perspective.
Turning the page: Developing a clear identity
Arriving at Colney in late spring as Norwich’s new head coach, Thorup was taking over a club that had lost its way.
The days of a clear tactical identity and a thriving academy pathway felt long gone. Yes, there were exceptions – Jonathan Rowe’s rise to the first team, a notable example – but something didn’t feel right. This wasn’t the club Norwich fans knew and loved.
Whether it was the ageing squad, the inconsistent and often dull style of play, or the lack of connection between the club and its fans, who were left with little room for optimism.
In such an environment, positive results became essential to maintain the peace. The absence of any long-term vision meant there was no mitigation or justification for bad results.
It was, therefore, no surprise that losses were met with boos from the most vocal corners of Carrow Road.
“Yes, we lost, but you can see what we’re trying to do, and there’s a clear long-term vision,” was not a take you’d readily hear from Norwich fans last season.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
“Yes, we won, but we rely on moments of individual brilliance, the style isn’t good to watch, and there doesn’t seem to be a long-term plan.”
Focusing on results as a starting point is rarely an optimal approach, particularly for a club like Norwich. Instead, building a culture, a clear and consistent tactical identity, a strong academy pathway, a smart recruitment strategy, and a long-term vision should be the primary aims.
If you get all that right, good results should follow thereafter. But if they don’t, at least there are reasons for fans to be patient and optimistic in the face of short-term disappointment.
Credit must go to sporting director Knapper for changing the narrative at Norwich City and for identifying a coach like Thorup, without whom the strategy would be incomplete.
But, from a tactical perspective, what exactly has Thorup done since his appointment? What is City’s new tactical identity, beyond the well-documented shift to possession-based football?
‘Inverting the pyramid’
Although it remains the most common structure without the ball, in possession, there’s been a shift away from the old 4-4-2 formation in modern football. Its replacement became known as ‘inverting the pyramid’ – a phrase coined by sports journalist Jonathan Wilson.
Increasingly, modern tacticians favour structures inspired by one of the most fundamental tactical concepts: one should make the pitch as big as possible with the ball and as small as possible without it.
Given this logic, the classic 4-4-2 makes little sense in possession. It’s wide at the back but narrow up front. Conversely, more modern 2-3-5 and 3-2-5 structures provide a compact rest defence and horizontally stretch the opponents back line – they ‘invert the pyramid’.
While there is concern regarding the ‘copy and paste’ nature of modern football – where coaches attempt to clone the structures’ of the elites without contextual consideration – Thorup inverts the pyramid in his own way.
It’s not an attempt at an exact replica of Pep Guardiola’s Man City, complete with the box and instructions; rather, it’s a combination of modern positional logic and contextual insights.
Thorup has an impressive ability to find players’ best positions while creating subtly different structures between games. Adjustments are made to expose opponents’ weaknesses and to access his own players’ strengths.
Individual player roles
While the general approach remains constant, Norwich’s specific structure in settled phases of possession depends on the players selected, which itself may depend on the opponent.
With Callum Doyle starting at left-back, Norwich tend to create a back three with the Man City loanee shifting infield. As a natural left-footed centre-back, Doyle is well suited to this role, with a natural passing angle between his strong foot and the pivots.
On the opposite side, Jack Stacey is a very different profile to Doyle, instead preferring to advance ahead of play into the last line before overlapping in the widest channel on the right, using his right foot for crosses and cut-backs into the box.
With Doyle and Stacey starting as two very different full-backs, in order to maintain the occupation of each of the five vertical corridors, the left-winger remains wide, and the right-winger inverts to create space for Stacey.
As such, Thorup tends to select right-wingers suited to playing centrally. Whether it’s Gabriel Forsyth, Ante Crnac, or more recently Oscar Schwartau, City’s right-winger should be capable of playing between the lines in the right half-space.
The opposite half-space remains free for the left centre-midfielder. Most recently, Forson Amankwah has been used in this advanced eight role, leaving Kenny McLean and Marcelino Nunez in their optimal positions as a double pivot in City’s 3-2-5.
In recent weeks, however, Ben Chrisene has started at left-back with Doyle at centre-back. This change typically sees Norwich shift from a 3-2-5 to a 2-3-5 in settled possession.
To create this structure, Chrisene inverts from left-back alongside McLean, while Nunez shifts across to the right, and the usual rotations take place in the last line.
With Borja Sainz also suited to moving infield, the structures can be fluid. When City attack the final third, Sainz often cuts inside onto his strong foot to attack the eighteen-yard box centrally.
In City's 3-2-5 structure, the left centre-midfielder can move out wide, creating space centrally for Sainz. Similarly, in Thorup’s 2-3-5, Chrisene can overlap from full-back to allow Sainz to come inside onto his right foot.
The primary requirements of City’s attacking five include wide players who excel when attacking the full-backs in 1v1s, and players occupying the half-spaces who are suited to receiving the ball between the lines on the half-turn.
Players in the half-spaces play a crucial role in facilitating ball progression, and they should be aided by a striker who can pin the centre-backs, creating space between the lines for players to receive – a role Josh Sargent thrives in.
Pressing adjustments
But it’s not just Norwich’s work in possession that deserves attention. Thorup has also made some adjustments to City’s press.
Beyond their highest pressing phases, where Norwich consistently create a 4-3-3, Thorup has had to fine-tune the mid-press. On occasion, the mistimed dynamics of their typical structure have been exposed by opposition double pivots.
The usual 4-3-3 mid-press often sees the wingers close down the centre-backs, while Sargent stays tight to the ball-side pivot, and a midfielder jumps out wide to press the full-back.
But the wingers’ advanced positions began to allow line-breaking passes to the far-side full-back, who was free to access an unoccupied pivot on the same side, with both Sargent and the nearest midfielder caught between pressing two players.
Often in-game, Thorup has responded by switching to a 4-2-3-1 mid-press, with the wingers dropping into the second line and Forson moving into a number ten role. This reduces the distance between players centrally and eases the demands of the press.
A return to Thorup’s usual 4-3-3 mid-press cannot be ruled out once the dynamics become well-rehearsed, but the adjustment demonstrates the Dane’s tactical nous, as does his ability to subtly modify in-possession structures to accommodate the strengths of his players.
This tactical prowess is at the heart of Knapper’s long-term strategy. Norwich finally have a clear and consistent overarching tactical identity and structure, but it’s the frequently unnoticed subtleties that give it strength.
You can read all Ben's previous analysis of Norwich City games via his social media accounts.
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