It’s easy to get blasé over a win in the Premier League – especially when you’re in the midst of your third consecutive campaign – but those who scoff or take them for granted should think again. They’re hellishly hard to come by and – as proven yesterday by the league’s bottom club – every single one has to be earned the hard way.
Equally, those who agonised over yesterday’s stop-start second half had a point – Pele’s vision of the beautiful game it was not – but if anyone had offered us a 1-0 win courtesy of a deflection off Chris Foy’s backside before the game we’d have taken it without question.
As it happened the goal was a good one and, while he’d have expected to score from ten yards, Gary Hooper’s second goal in as many home games suggests we may indeed have the ‘poacher’ on our hands we’d been promised. His overall contribution was certainly a step up on anything we’ve seen before and his ability to make the ball ‘stick’ when back to goal and bring others into play, especially in the first-half, was doubly pleasing.
Wes Hoolahan’s contribution to the goal was also worthy of note and – as mentioned by Chris Hughton post-match – few would have had the vision and composure to put it on a plate for Hooper in that same situation. Also heartening to see was that for a good 70 minutes, until the legs got heavy, Wes’s feet were dancing and his brain ticking; a timely reminder for the manager – and the rest of us – that when he’s on song everyone’s favourite Dubliner still has plenty to offer.
Of course, had it not been for the double injury blow to Snodgrass and Pilkington, his main contribution would have been to warm the bench and take the applause of the Snake Pit, but with fate handing him an opportunity Wes took it and pushed himself, again, to the forefront of his manager’s thinking.
Mercurial he may be but with that comes a sprinkling of magic… something that’s been in a little short supply of late.
Those of us (ahem) who questioned Hughton’s wisdom in playing him as a wide man in a 4-4-2 were made to eat our words with his ability to ‘float’ inside and get enough of the ball to be a nuisance proving an art all of its own.
As my dad reminded me pre-match, our first sighting of Wes *was* as a traditional left-winger while playing for Simon Grayson’s Blackpool against Glenn Roeder’s City (sorry to mention that) – a match that ultimately served as his Norwich City interview – but since adorning the yellow most of the magic has stemmed from central positions.
Either way, I’m glad he played yesterday and even more glad he gave us more than a few glimpses of him at his best. With said dearth of fit wingers I’m expecting to see plenty of those dancing feet in the weeks ahead and that in itself can be no bad thing.
Nathan Redmond is another who excited in glimpses, although being the traditionalist my preference would be to see him ply his trade more often on the right flank where he could he could take his full-back on the outside. All too often – for my liking at least – attacking momentum is lost when he cuts inside from the left only to run into ‘heavy traffic’.
With the passing continuing to be fairly ponderous I wonder whether by switching him over to the right we would attack with a little more oomph?
Just a thought, although probably says more about my out-dated views than anything else. It is after all trendy to have your wingers cutting in from their ‘un-natural’ wing in 2013, so what do I know. But don’t ever get me started on those multi-coloured boots…
In my post-match Metro blog I took an admittedly cheap shot at some English central midfielders who have managed to get themselves on Roy Hodgson’s radar ahead of our own Jonny Howson, but behind it was a serious point. There can be few who are performing better than the ex-Leeds man right now and with his level having been consistently high since the closing weeks of last season I can’t be alone in thinking he deserves a shot.
He was excellent again yesterday, even in the turgid moments of that second half, and has been a steady 8 of of 10. That Hodgson will doubtless ignore him says more about his penchant for those who frequent the top six than it does about Howson’s abilities to mix it with the best.
Talking of which, Wednesday night’s date at Anfield promises not to be one for the squeamish. While the Yellow Army will be there again in numbers they’ll be anticipating a buttock-clenching evening, with City’s recent record against the red half abject in the extreme – the only bright spot being the point earned by Grant Holt’s header in 2011.
While the ‘in hope rather than expectation’ cliché is wearing a little thin, it certainly rings true for away trips to Liverpool – even more so off the back of a miserable run of away form and with a snappy little Uruguayan lying in wait.
In all honesty it could turn ugly quite quickly, but let’s hope lessons have been learned from the Emirates and Etihad and that Team Hughton can come up with a plan that offers some hope to the travelling faithful… and that the players deliver.
Otherwise it could be a Black Wednesday.
Of course it’d help if that bloomin’ ball wasn’t so light… give me one with a lace in it any day.
Good read again Gary, I must admit, I was one who thought our Wes was past his sell-by date, but that was a vintage Wesley performance until he had run himself to a stand-still. Redmond is slowly getting less selfish and it was good to see the two wingers swapping sides from time to time, thst bodes well for the future!
TP & CP came to battle and made it hard,
A wHOOse-wHOO combined and starred,
Wes squared it for Gary to score,
City fans roared but wanted more,
Let’s hope later today, Suarez sees a red card.
Great title Gary – one of your best.
Wes was good in the first half, as were most of them. Wes was plainly tired in the second and the rest of them demotivated and almost frightened of Palace by the end.
Until yesterday I was a Hooton “IN” man. Yesterday I saw: (1) Norwich forsake a terrific 87th min. free kick opportunity to take the ball to a Carrow Road corner flag to waste time against that lot;(2) a team that in the second half contrived to make Chamakh look an almost decent player and (3) yet again a team that CH got playing with intensity for 45 minutes but whom he cannot persuade to do it for 90.
Finally, I am a little concerned that out fitness regime has suffered? General conditioning looks a little off; and too many on the sick list.
3 points welcome, but ………..
Sapper – priceless! You’ve gone in through the out door after they win and keep a clean sheet! That really does take the biscuit. You give your reasons but I’m not sure you were watching the same game as me.
Reasons 1 and 2 are the thinnest of explanations for a total U-turn and no PL team plays full speed for 90 mins. Are you blaming CH for the injuries we have?
Even against CP, we cannot get 90 minutes of effort. And we were hanging on at the end desperately wasting time , at home , afgainst mighty Crystal Palace. We did get 90 mins of intensity against Stoke. Yesterday we hade a chance ( a first half lead) to finish the job professionally, and they left their spirit in the dressing room/dugout. We got away with it, but it would have been tough to complain if they had grabbed a draw; its not as though we weren’t bossed off the park in the second half.
Palace are championship standard and the worst side I have seen at CR for the last 2/3 seasons.
On fitness, I don’t blame CH personally but he runs the show. But the club changed sports fitness guru some months ago, so we must expect something to have changed. And to me, Wes looked exhausted after half a game; Cafu looks half a yard slower than last year; ditto Whittaker.Bassong ( good yesterday) seems to be carrying a touch more weight. Wes was exhausted after half a game ( that never used to be the case with him………….he would charge on until the 95th)
The higher the levels of physical and mental fitness the greater the resilience of athletes to niggles ( eg “toe muscles” It is hard contradict that we are not seeing the intensity levels over 90 minutes that we used to see?
there will be a price to pay for accepting partial levels of commitment only.
However Mr Greedy, as a post script, if what we aspire to is hanging on to a squeaky 1 – 0 clean sheet win against teams the standard of Crystal Palace, then I concede we plainly have the right man at the helm. And then putting in half a shift is plenty
It was fantastic to see Wes still on his game despite his lack of game time. He does get caught with the ball but that is because he is trying to make things happen. While not comparing City’s midfield with Arsenal, there is no reason why they should not interchange positions as Arsenal did at Cardiff. Let us hope that we maintain the fluidity that saw Wes on the left, on the right and in the centre.
Redmond must be careful not to become a Stewart Downing or a number of other fast and tricky wingers in the EPL. We need end product and to see Redmond outpacing his man and shooting over the bar is too common. A simple ball in to Elmander was the start of the move for the match winning goal. More of the same please.
Sapper(5) – Unless you are some kind of fitness guru yourself, you seem to be blowing a load of hot air on this;
1. Any exhaustion on Wes’s part was obviously a result of him not having started a PL game for a couple of months and therefore he was lacking MATCH fitness (a very different thing to general fitness). Looks like he will have a run now and will get his match fitness over the next game or two.
2. Injuries can happen no matter how fit a person is – both Ronaldo and Messi are out injured at present – do you blame their clubs’ fitness regimes for that?
3. To say they lacked effort or spirit is utter tripe. Palace may be bottom but they are not mugs. They won at Hull and drew with Everton in their previous games.
I’d love to see us win 3/4-0 every week but it’s not going to happen unless we spend about 10 times what we have done..and even then, that guarantees nothing (e.g. Spurs).
I concede. To expect match fitness from a small squad like this is an aspiration too far.
And I agree CP are not mugs when you swim with the Hull’s of this world.
At least we know where we stand and should be thankful, I guess.
wow…3 points (1-0) against a Palace side who look destined for the drop and suddenly things are perfect. I must have watched a different game. Ok yes the overiding emotion is relief and pleased of course with any win. Decent but hardly a display that would have the likes of Cardiff and Sunderland quivering. On another day CP could easily have gained a point. So, as far as i’m concerned we are no further forward other than a week less for the new manager to work his (or her) magic. The effort was good, the application and will was good. The willingness to keep to the tactic, admirable. But how are we to be happy at what we saw, the only good thing truly, was that we gained 3 points. I’m still under excited when we play, under encouraged when the tactic (i state the singular) is announced, almost pleading to the tri-management to make changes. Where every point is a struggle it proves the setup is not working. We are in a league of 13 whereby we could finish 8th at best – 20th at worst….so why don’t we have the right occasionally to win by 2 or 3 goals??? because at the moment we are rigid, mechanical, processed and scared. Let the players we have available dictate the formation and tactics we play not the other way round.
I always find it amusing that when we dominate the first half but not the second it’s all down us – they stopped “playing with intensity” or “contrived to make (insert name of supposedly unimpressive oppo) look a decent player” or they’re not “putting a shift in”.
Ot possibly the opposition manager, having seen his charges outplayed, has found the right words to galvanise them after the break, has given a failing player his confidence back,has even changed tactics (as Malky did in October).
In truth we all have a major concern about Hughton, and that’s related to the style of play. We are one of 8 or 9 teams in the dogfight. As we probably will be next year, and every year we are in the Premiership.
And if that’s what you are faced with at least try to entertain. Casual tickets in the Jarrold for the Fulham game are £55. Much as I’d love to make a trip to CR from afar over Christmas why would I pay that, plus at least the same again in travel costs, knowing the chances are it will be a bor. (Hopefully I’ve just guarranteed you all a 6-0 thrashing of the Cottagers).
People elsewhere are saying, as if it is fact, that if we stick with Hughton we will go down. And so we might. We might if we sack him too because any successor – and there’s a lack of realistic candidates – has to work largely with Hughton’s squad.
If the logic is that changing your manager makes you safe then fans of the current bottom 3 can all relax. And if Malky, Hughes, Allardyce and Hughton all went too then it would worrying for fans of Swansea, WBA and Villa, not to mention their managers.
One man who won’t go is Steve Bruce. Yet I still think he will finish in the bottom 3. Hull’s luck will no last for ever. They had it against us, and 2 heavy deflections yesterday gave them an eye-catching win. Don’t know what the odds are on their relegation but it might be worth a fiver.
Meanwhile I’ll continue to enjoy the fact that our last game was a win, at least until Wednesday night….
Saturday was an interesting one. My first instinct is to moan about how mediocre we were against a poor side. However… all season long I’ve banged on about it not being about style, not being about shots, it’s goals. So for once I am at least partially happy.
Goals alone of course are not enough. We did score against Newcastle and Arsenal. What’s important is for us to take a lead. I know, sounds obvious. Not so much when you see comments week after week about ‘improving form’ and ‘shots on goal’. You’d think those win you matches. They don’t.
On the occasions we have scored and taken the lead we have tended to keep it along with the points, the only exception being Everton.
Again, I know this sounds obvious, but time and time again it has come down to getting that odd goal. If for the rest of the season we got 1-0’s at home, whether it’s CP or Man U, I’m fine with that and CH can continue to lead us.
Sadly, I’m just doubtful that we can continue to do it. I’m also not convinced the win came yesterday from skillful team choices, rather than reaction to injuries. I’ve said we needed Wes on all season. Without him we’ve been passing into feet, lacking creativity, not getting behind the defense. In just one half Wes showed more imagination than I’ve seen all season. Why hasn’t CH seen what’s been obvious to many of us? It’s worrying. My only consolation from Sat, apart from the 3 points, is that Hooper appears to be finding form. Let’s hope he can start getting us those leads we really need.