A 46th minute penalty miss by Lewis Grabban cost the Canaries dear this afternoon as Neil Adams’ high-fliers found themselves slipping back into the play-off pack following a narrow 1-0 defeat at Fulham.
Craven Cottage has never been the happiest of hunting grounds of late for the Norfolk side, but refreshed and relaxed after the international break the City faithful travelled to the capital hoping that such minor irritants as an inability to fire on all cylinders in the opening 45 minutes and the question as to quite what to do with Mr Hoolahan had been resolved by Adams and his back-room team in the interim.
Alas, the questions will only continue back up the A11 tonight as Sean Kavanagh’s 22nd minute strike again found City trailing at the interval. And, indeed, at the final whistle.
Grabban’s big moment from the spot came almost immediately after the restart follow a foul on strike partner Cameron Jerome.
Had his aim been three inches lower and the contest would have taken on a completely different complexion. It wasn’t and it didn’t – the width of a crossbar giving Adams and Co more thinking to do before Norwich entertain Leeds United on Tuesday night.
Momentum is slipping. And that would be a worry, as Adams himself admitted afterwards.
“It’s been three games now – and it can’t go on,” said the City chief, left frustrated by events against both Rotherham and Charlton – and now Fulham. “And there’s obviously a lot to be worked on; we’re still dominating games in terms of possession, but we’re just not scoring the goals that we were. We have to take games by the scruff of the neck.”
Grabban “just wasn’t himself today”, the manager admitted. He certainly has lost that purple run of form that saw him flying out of the blocks with his new employers. As then did Jerome. But the goals have dried up for the pair of them of late and everything is going a little south.
“The small details need to be ironing out. That’s three games now we’ve dominated – but only taken the one point. And we’re not keeping clean sheets which is also a concern.
“We tick all those boxes in terms of possession,” he told BBC Radio Norfolk. “But we haven’t won again. And we can’t carry on like that. It’s still fine lines again; the penalty and we’ve hit the bar again. But for me the disappointing thing is that we haven’t created too many clear-cut chances for the amount of possession that we’ve had.”
The sense was that Fulham were a club on the turn following the exit of the eccentric Felix Magath and with someone as solid and as simple as Kit Symons in charge, the players were always likely to respond to a ‘decent fella’.
Which the Fulham caretaker has always seemed.
Likewise the have one Scotty Parker in their midst who has run the show against Norwich all-too many a time before. So any pre-match assumptions that a trip to Craven Cottage this season was going to be the proverbial walk in the riverside park were always likely to be a little on the side of wishful thinking.
Plus City have toiled of late – in particular with regard to just how do you fit the mercurial Hoolahan into a flat midfield four with Jerome and Grabban up top.
It is the age-old question that dogs players with the individual build and talent of our Wesley – particularly in this division when time and space are in even shorter supply than in the Premier League.
Damned for playing him wide in a four, he needs the Dubliner to make a diamond his own if he is to leave Grabban and Jerome up front; it is all one of the tougher challenges Adams has to face, and resolve, this autumn.
He might not have that decision to make mid-week as Hoolahan disappeared injured just before the hour-mark to be replaced, inevitably, by Master Murphy.
It didn’t look too clever afterwards, either. The Republic of Ireland international twisted badly on his ankle and knew immediately that a change would need to be made.
“He’s gone over on his ankle and he’s on crutches at the minute,” Adams reported.
“We won’t know the extent of the damage until we get it scanned tomorrow. He knew straight away, so its definitely a concern and, hopefully, its not a bad one. But he’s certainly doubtful.”
Gary Hooper would also get his opportunity to re-boot his Norwich career after a difficult summer injury-wise. But he, too, failed to prise a leveller out of a stubborn Fulham side – one re-born under caretaker Symons.
He can do no wrong right now; for Adams it is more a case of remembering what he was doing so right to get the Canaries to the top of the table.
It really seems to me that we have switched from 4-2-3-1 to a standard 4-4-2 which has coincided with the drop in form. I would really like to see a switch back, it seems the aim is to accommodate Grabban and Jerome together. To my mind it doesn’t work because it lets the opposition flood the midfield. Especially at Carrow Road that’s what seems to happen in my eyes. I appreciate chances have gone close, a bar hit there a post the other day, but at the start, playing 4-2-3-1 we had chance after chance. Get back to what worked, even if that means sacrificing one of the strikers.
OTBC hoping the dip is nothing more
I listened to the game on Radio Norfolk and if the commentary was anything to go by we are deluding ourselves if we think we’ve got the strongest squad in the Championship.
Strong squads don’t give the ball away,they make crosses tell,and they know how to hit on the break or get behind defences. We did’nt seem to do any of that today.
Apart from one of our youth team (Josh) nobody wants to shoot and someone needs to tell our potential match winner (Nathan)how to deliver a killing final ball.
Finally one or two of our players are in the comfort zone and the answer lies with the management who seem to me to be too slow to react.
Why let a man desperately short of form or confidence at the moment take the penalty!
Answers:
Start E Benno on the right (who can cross)
Josh must start on Tuesday.(Redmond in reserve)
Martin must go to right back (Whittaker too suspect defensively)
Howson must come in (but I fear Johnson will not be dropped)
Pray that Lafferty is fit.
Play Miguel alongside Turner.
Consider Garrido for Ollson (not sure)
Team:Ruddy Martin Turner Miguel Olsson (or Garrido)
Bennett(E) Howson Tettey (Or Odjidja) Murphy
Lafferty Jerome
Question
Does Hooper want to be here?
Rant over.
I am not at all surprised we have lost this one. Fulham are exactly where they were last season – much further down the league than their wage budget and quality of squad suggests they should be.
Just like last year they started abysmally, changed manager, improved – and then played us. Why don’t we get them in the first couple of weeks for goodness sake?
Even so, with 63% of possession plus a soft penalty we should have had at least a draw.
But frankly, had we not given away 9 out of 12 points in our last four home games it wouldn’t really matter. Holding on to even 5 or 6 of those points would have given us a healthy lead.
On the whole I like Adams’s strategy, like his dealings in the transfer market, like his style of play. But I do wonder if he has used his squad as wisely as he might.
Gary O’Neill has hardly been seen. Isn’t he just the kind of experienced player you need to marshal things when it’s not quite going your way for a few games?
Odidja-Ofoe, per the Canaries website – “He’s a player we tracked all summer with a view to signing, particularly if we lost one or two of our players in the transfer window,” said Neil Adams. “I’m absolutely delighted we signed him. He’s a versatile and very attack-minded midfielder who can play in a number of positions.” Good, so isn’t it time he stepped up to the plate for us?
Miguel we’re told came here for games, isn’t it time he got one?
Maybe today, following on from the last 3 or 4 weeks, will see a bit of a shift in thinking. I believe Adams needs to freshen things up.
Josh Murphy to start ahead of Redmond for example. Just to see what happens. Howson and O-O to replace BJ and the (presumably injured) Wes. O’Neill instead of Tettey even.
Whatever else happens, we have to get back on track on Tuesday. I think we will.
“The Curse of Craven Cottage” – sounds like a Hammer Horror production – we didn’t get hammered but it was horrible..again.
Don’t know about the players but I had to lie down in a darkened room after the game to regain my composure.
It could be worse i.e. we owe Blackburn one for stopping us slipping below Ipswich or the 4000 fans could have travelled 350 miles to see an 8-0 defeat but the boys need to put in a big one on Tuesday night to stop the slide.
The first half was poor. The team barely played a successful team to each other. They gave to earn the right to play. Giving fulham a lead gave them something to defend and we’re not good enough to break down a well organised defence. IMO we play two very similar defensive midfielders, Johnson and Tetteh, neither of whom can pick a pass. I’d play how don every time. Grabban is not good enough. Play hooper now he’s fit. He gas much more knowhopw. Lastly there is no need to pick Redmond just because we paid good money for him. Murphy is head and shoulders over him, just play him. Lastly they have to come out of the blocks quicker. Give teams something to hang onto and we’re not good enough to break them down.