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Ruddy and the revamped back-four emerge unscathed from the sternest of Hawthorns' tests

8th December 2013 By Gary Gowers 8 Comments

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At last… something for the travelling Yellow Army to celebrate. And don’t they deserve it.

The sight of more than half the Smethwick End being swathed in yellow was a heartening one – remarkable really given what’s gone before – and will have given the players a much needed boost before a ball had been kicked.

Given their staple has been to witness thumping – sometimes humiliating – defeats and listless, half-hearted performances, the unswerving loyalty of those who travel is unquestionable and, regardless of any incentives the club may have offered, yesterday’s turnout was superb.

It’s those hardy souls, more than anyone else, who deserved yesterday’s win and it was somehow fitting that Leroy Fer was able to celebrate his late goal with them.

While some have described it as the ‘perfect away performance’, I’m not quite so sure. As alluded to by Chris Hughton afterwards, while it’s OK to soak up pressure and look to hit sides on the break, ideally you still need to have the odd spell of possession that acts as a release valve.

With the second part of that equation not happening, City had to endure a second-half siege of Alamo proportions and therefore even more credit should be given to John Ruddy and his back-four for keeping the unlikeliest of clean sheets.

The return to the defence of Michael Turner and Steven Whittaker worked better than even Hughton could have imagined, with both surviving the sternest of tests; Ryan Bennett and Russell Martin both paying the price for tired looking performances on Merseyside.

Lady luck for once donned a yellow shirt and her feint nudge on Sessegnon when through one-on-one with Ruddy was just enough for him to side-foot wide, similarly Mark Clattenberg’s obscured view when Martin Olsson looked for all the world to have blocked a goal-bound effort with his forearm suggested that for once she was on our side.

But even when blessed with some rare good fortune there is still work to be done to acquire a Premier league win and City’s two goals were both out of the top drawer.

Gary Hooper’s unerring finish for the first was quality and acted as another reminder of his qualities if afforded an opportunity in front of goal. He’s clearly not the type who will regularly create something out of nothing – a la Suarez and Aguero – but give him the much discussed plentiful supply and here is someone who, based on what we’ve seen in the last few weeks, could get 15-20 goals a season.

Straw clutching it may be, but a mini-run of three in the last five suggests there is a little something about the ex-Celtic man that says ‘goals in the locker’, especially when provided with quality service like Leroy Fer’s slide-rule pass. As discussed on Twitter last night, it will be interesting to see the response if supply of a similar ilk can also be afforded to Fer’s compatriot, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, on his return from injury.

The second goal was of course – and please forgive the cliché – the classic sucker punch, but rounded off perfectly an interesting afternoon for Fer; who had been asked by Hughton to perform a slightly different role.

With the manager opting to play two up top, Fer was asked to patrol the left side of the midfield four with Bradley Johnson slotting in alongside Jonny Howson in the centre. When in possession Fer’s job was to tuck in and make a three in the middle although when the Baggies had the ball it was his job to provide support for Martin Olsson wide on the left.

It worked to a degree but there were several nervous moments in the opening forty-five with the bulk of the West Brom threat coming from down their right flank; Olsson too often left exposed one-on-one.

In the second half the home side’s thrust wasn’t confined to their right flank of course, and came from all angles, although even the addition of a City nemesis in the form of Shane Long was insufficient to force the breakthrough; the Irishman having a rare off-day against the Canaries.

It’d be unfair to close without mentioning Ruddy, who looked back to his imperious best yesterday. The Big Man, probably by his own admission, hasn’t been at his England best of late – a little difficult when you find yourself picking the ball out of the net so often – but his overall dominance yesterday was just what was needed.

While he was tested far less that the Baggies’ faithful would have liked, the save from Long’s glancing header, the block with his legs following Olsson’s horror clearance and his general command of his penalty box made for a fine afternoon’s work.

Of course the pain of victory was a little too much for some. The same folk who attributed the win to pure luck. The same folk who are only happy when they’re miserable.

Credit that should be due to Hughton has been scarce from those same factions, with the ‘lucky’ card having been played numerous times in the last few hours. He simply can’t win – pardon the pun.

With City having dominated at home against Villa and Cardiff without picking up three points, many cited the need for a win as being greater than the need for eye-catching football. Well yesterday was one of those. Not a great performance, but three valuable points.

I suspect if a surly Scot had masterminded such a victory he’d have been lauded as a tactical genius…


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Filed Under: Column, Gary Gowers

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Comments

  1. David Bowen says

    8th December 2013 at 11:03 am

    Thanks again Gary for a good, honest read, yes, we are a work in progress, but we’re getting there!

    The most pleasing sight of the whole match for me was in the 89th minute, to see Fer racing through on goal and Redmond actually chosing the right option and boy, what a ball placed through to Fer and the finish was perfect!

    Many more like this please!

    Reply
  2. Jon Dunn says

    8th December 2013 at 11:06 am

    I must be cracking up…I could have sworn I saw the words “top” and “drawer” used in a match report about NCFC playing away from home??

    Typical, I’m going to have to read the whole article again now to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks!!

    Reply
  3. GazzaTCC says

    8th December 2013 at 11:43 am

    There are still some who view this as a “papering over the cracks” victory, this is, ultimately a results based business, even if the methodology leaves something to be desired. Let’s bask in the glory of victory but not loss sight of the fact that it’s a foundation that needs to be built off, starting next Saturday vs Swansea.

    Reply
  4. Rick Lime says

    8th December 2013 at 12:04 pm

    A big response from Hughton & the boys,
    Hooper & Fer struck with class and poise,
    Clark’s Baggies were bagged,
    The CH-outers tightly gagged,
    Just 5 points off Man U. – taxi for Moyes!

    With the flippin’ decorations to go up, the Ashes going up in smoke and the comet of the century fizzling out prematurely, I needed something to keep my pecker up and that win (and Man U’s and Chelsea’s defeats) will do nicely.

    Reply
  5. Dave B says

    8th December 2013 at 2:10 pm

    @3 “ultimately a results based business, even if the methodology leaves something to be desired.”

    Agreed. But you also must remember that many people were talking about encouragement and improved ‘form’ while we were losing game after game.

    To repeat a previous point I’ve made, when we get a goal and get the lead, our results are fantastic. We have never lost after going ahead and have won 5/6. We have however only come from behind once to get anything. I believe this says a lot about our team. Today we gave everything to keep our lead, I could not knock any player for trying. But when we go behind, we give up and loss by 5 or more. That’s what worries me. We only play when we’re winning. I’m not sure we have the determination anymore.

    I’m glad we’re picking up points against the lower teams but we need to be doing more against the top half. Last season we avoided the drop by 8pts. What’s troubling is that meant taking points from 8 of the top 10 current teams. I would be stunned if we repeated that.

    Reply
  6. Gary M says

    8th December 2013 at 8:33 pm

    I have a question about the game? Leroy Fer, who could be as effective as Yaya Toure if used correctly, did he have a change of position? He’s been mostly a holding midfielder but was he playing off the front man?

    Reply
  7. Mick Dennis says

    8th December 2013 at 10:56 pm

    As Gary Gowers says, Fer started wide left of the midfield four. Presumably this was because, with E Bennett, Snod and Pilks all injured, there were only two options for that role: Wes or someone who normally plays central midfield. CH opted for the latter, probably because Wes’s preponderance to lose possession would be a liability away from home.
    Putting Fer there left Brad and Johnny H in the centre. Both did well.
    Fer struggled a bit in this wide role, and wandered inside a lot.
    Unremarked upon by anyone, as far as I have seen, is that Elmander was moved to wide left during the second half and we went to 4–5-1. He too struggled, but when Murphy went on it was a straight swap (ie he came on and went straight into the wide left role in the 4-5-1). So Fer was sort of inside left in the 5, and broke forward from that position for the second goal.
    Something similar happened against West Ham. The much vaunted 4-4-2 left us swamped in midfield in the first half and Fer’s goal (our third) arrived after we’d gone to five in midfield.
    It seems that as long as CH starts with two up, his critics don’t notice when he adopts a different system to secure the victory!

    Reply
  8. General Norwich says

    9th December 2013 at 12:21 pm

    I enjoy this site for many reasons, but mainly a) because its reasoned & b) you don’t get the moronic comments which clogg up so many of the other Norwich fan message boards. Always some valid points made on here, and always a balanced view. Good stuff keep it up.
    By the way how ironic to talk with mates of mine this morning about the game, and to hear them say he’s been on an awful run since Christmas, only 7 wins in a calendar year to date. He’s only playing one up front, and hasnt got a clue regarding tactics. All the money he spent in the summer we should be doing a lot better. He has to go. Sound familiar? Yes that’s right, they are West Brom fans talking about Steve Clarke.

    Reply

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