Morgan Amalfitano’s 16th minute strike proved all that it needed to condemn the Canaries to a potentially fatal 1-0 home defeat against West Bromwich Albion this afternoon.
Given the four, formidable fixtures that lie in wait after a trip to Craven Cottage, today’s contest was the proverbial ‘six-pointer’. With bells and knobs on.
And while City might have hit the woodwork twice in a brief rally after the break, such welcome urgency was notable only by its absence in the first period when the Canaries once again failed to hit the heights required of a Premier League side – particularly in front of goal where, once again, the greatest gap in the armoury was laid painfully bare.
The club’s record strike signing didn’t even make it off the bench – testament to a miserable season given the importance of this afternoon’s result.
Fulham’s late away win will not have helped the fearful mood; they now lie just five points distant. Victory next weekend will carve that gap down to two with just the four games remaining.
Given the form and fortunes of the principal title contenders, Norwich’s last remaining hope will be that Arsenal’s interest in proceedings will have dwindled sufficiently to give them a hope of a final miracle.
But it is all very slim pickings on a bleak weekend for the Norfolk club.
They are right up a certain creek – and all without a strike paddle to be seen.
For what was – by anyone’s standards – a huge game in their recent history, boss Chris Hughton made a big call from the outset when the luckless Ricky van Wolfswinkel found himself back on the bench as Gary Hooper finally got the nod ahead of the misfiring Dutchman.
Joseph Yobo was the other returnee – back in at the expense of Ryan Bennett, whose performances of late had looked less than assured.
Given what lies in store for the Canaries in those final, forthcoming weeks it was all-but imperative that they keep it tight in the game’s opening exchanges and try and get themselves onto the front foot goal-wise. As hard as that might be given the paucity of their resources in the final third.
Johan Elmander’s horrible, miscued side-foot effort from near the penalty spot underlined their issues in that regard. A point that the Baggies merely hammered home two minutes later when they stole into the lead – an advantage that they would then cling to for the next hour and a quarter.
Amalfitano was the man with the sure, right-foot finish across John Ruddy and into the far corner. Given everything, it was the last thing anyone needed – particularly given the disjointed manner in which the home side had started. Defensively they were equally unsure; Ruddy looking less than confident as the City back line made another change at its heart.
And there lay another story of their season. Both at centre-forward and centre-half, Norwich have found nothing that works.
And with inconsistent selection comes inconsistent performances; no-one appears sure as to what they are doing.
The break arrived with City still lost for an answer as to a way back into the contest – Elmander’s 39th minute header failing to beat the keeper. Hughton’s management would, as ever, come back under the spotlight if events failed to improve after the interval.
Robert Snodgrass linked well with Elmander to force two, quick corners as his 20-yard effort drifted wide off a deflection. It was better. Once again, however, it was a winger offering the greatest attacking threat.
Hooper tried to make amends for that fact in the 58th minute when his fierce, angled drive fell back off the junction of bar and post. City had, finally, found an urgency to their game. Two minutes later and Baggies keeper Ben Foster was finger-tipping a Snodgrass free-kick onto the bar.
They were, in fairness, in charge and on top. But the visitors were refusing to yield their lead easily. And the more Norwich pushed forward with ever more desperation, so the danger remained that West Brom would steal the killer second at the other end.
The exit of Wesley Hoolahan for Nathan Redmond didn’t wholly appease the natives; there was even a rare outing for Luciano Becchio as van Wolfswinkel’s fall from grace continued; the one-time Leeds favourite being granted 20 minutes to fire his own Carrow Road career into life.
It was all a little desperate with the Canary faithful knowing all-too well that this was a ‘must win’ game on the club’s calendar. If the results elsewhere stood as they were going into the final 15 minutes, City would be 17th this evening.
And while there might be a five-point cushion between them and Fulham, everyone else would be taking huge heart from their final four fixtures of the season. Cardiff and Sunderland included.
Not for the first time in the club’s history, Fulham (a) could determine their destiny.
It feels like we are down after today. Spineless, guileless, unacceptable capitulation in a ‘must win’ game.
Now, we just need Mick Dennis to come on here and tell us that we are idiots to even think about changing the manager.
The Board have allowed us to sleepwalk into this position.
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A few month’s back Jon Rogers said outers calling Hughton clueless were “blinkered” and “unreasonable”.
Well called me blinkered and unreasonable because this guy doesn’t have a clue.
At the time we most looked most dangerous we brought on Redmond to boost the left wing, great! But rather than move Wes to where he does his best work and sacrifice Elmander or a central midfielder, we took him off.
Then rather than allow Olsson and Redmond to work together, which could be a great partnership, we took off Olsson and put on the useless Gutiérrez.
And then we took Elmander off for… Becchio? Now, I’m glad he got a run out, but I don’t understand why it’s this late in the season, why it’s ahead of the previous number one striker, and exactly how we were planning on using him. Give us a clue.
Can someone explain those decisions to me? Because they all had a negative impact on our play.
Our defence and midfield have no chemistry, neither do our midfield and strike force. We had no energy, leadership, plan, or commitment.
Hughton’s driven us slowly and steadily into the ground.
I’ve got a twenty year old copy of Lord of the Rings with this quote on the back…
“the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them.”
For me the Norwich-City world is divided into those who think we should sack Hughton and those who are going to. Can’t imagine there are two many in the latter camp left.
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Bringing Becchio on did not do Luciano any favours, Hughton may as well have invited McNally and Delia to replace Hooper and Elmander, if there’s no service what difference does it make. A very sad day indeed.
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I’ll openly admit to being a Hughton supporter in the past& I’ve defended him on here. I can’t do that anymore. I can’t defend those those 2 performances and I can’t explain those decisions. We can still stay up but I can’t see Hughton staying in the job. Nor do I think he should.
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Hughton has been able to transfer his teams appalling away form to carrow road. Today was shocking
But don’t just blame him. McNally and the Board have sat back and watched. The cost of not acting stares us in the face…Relegation!
Our only hope however slim is to get rid now and try to unite the team before Fulham…but I fear it’s all too late.
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There’s so much wrong with Norwich at the moment it’s hard to know where to start, but what I would say is that the way the club operate in this charade of the last two seasons, they do not deserve the support they are getting.
In hindsight, Hughton was the one of the worst appointments made by the board and when it became clear that he was never going to move the club forward, he should of been sacked.
Instead we have the desperate figure of a man so clearly out of his depth, clearly lacking the tactical nous and motivation that is needed. Couple this with a board who clearly lack the acumen required at this level we end up in the situation we are currently in.
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Until now I thought that Hughton at least still had the backing of the players. But after failing to get out of first gear in a must-win game, it looks as though he has lost the dressing room – they are not playing for him now.
In which case, he may as well go. Put Adams in charge for the final 5 games. The worst that could happen is that we loose all 5. But we are going to with Hughton there anyway.
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One word beginning with F springs to mind..Fu..Fulham.
We had it in our hands and dropped the ball. That was a hammer blow. 3 points at Fulham is not an impossibility but thanks to Villa (of all teams), they now have a sniff of safety in their nostrils. Maybe they’ll tense up like we did today but our boys have to turn up and fight for their PL lives now.
The Hughton rants are entirely expected but Dave B. – all you’ve done is list the things that happened and then say obviously they were all mistakes..congrats on taking the Hindsight Award for April.
Surely it’s now..”those that have seen the films and those who will see them.”?
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Russell, Dave B has consistently made this point about Hughton throughout the season. These past 2 games have demonstrated exactly what he has been saying all along.
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A dark shadow has descended over our land – the evil Lord Hught-on has led us to the foreboding netherworld. We seem listless, devoid of hope and fight – what is to become of us? Even the clappers have been cast aside in anger and frustration.
We must now follow the rock-strewn road heading south to SW6 to do battle at the place known as ‘the Cottage’. 3 golden points dangle before us – they must be grabbed before the Giants visit our homeland. Will there be a happy ending? Hmm..not so sure.
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A win away to fulham would surely keep us up, a loss would surely send us down.
Hate to remind everyone but this has happenned before and nobody needs telling what happened then. He should have gone months back and I’m afraid that now it might be too late.
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9 – Dave B. has indeed been throwing the ‘verbal clappers’ for months. His all seeing eye may well have got it spot on but that doesn’t stop me putting up my view. This site is in serious danger of being overrun by the shouty brigade who have us down already.
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I too can’t defend Hughton any more. I was never his biggest fan, but I thought he deserved a lot of credit for the 11th place, with inferior players, at a time when the club could have been left reeling after the loss of one of the best managers in its history.
But he’s now had almost 2 years, and a few million quid, to build his own team, and the stat of no back-to-back wins all season is all too telling.
Why was Snodgrass playing down the middle, almost as a striker, in the 1st half? Why was Howson playing deeper than Tettey? Why did we persist with high balls into Hooper when it was clear the gigantic Brom centrebacks would win every one of them? It was shocking.
I don’t solely blame Hughton though. I think we’ve criminally under-invested in the squad for these 3 years. lts obvious to everyone, and not least the opposition, that we have a serious lack of QUALITY all over the pitch.
Staying in the Prem is worth 90 mill. We should have spent like we BELONG there, instead of the small club mentality of spending the minimum and hoping for the best. The debts are paid, which is great, but scrimping on the playing staff is a false economy.
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Russell – As you can see from my earlier comment, I think we can stay up so not everyone on here thinks we’re down. However, it was inevitable that there’d be plenty of negativity after the past 2 games
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