We should have know better than to expect victory on opening day. Thirteen seasons without a win suggests it’s never going to happen.
But this was no no-show.
Instead it felt like the archetypal first game of the Premier League season for a side newly promoted from the Championship:
– Play with verve and energy ✔
– Enjoy long spells of possession ✔
– Miss chances ✔
– Get caught with late sucker punch ✔
– Be on the receiving end of some awful officialdom ✔
When I began football writing I vowed never to stoop so low as to blindly lament referees, given it’s the most godforsaken job in the world, but in the case of Simon Hooper I’m granting myself an exception.
The first question to ask is why Hooper was given the gig in the first place? The warning signs were there before a ball had been kicked; five days ago in fact when former ref Mark Halsey wrote a piece questioning the appointment.
Not only was this Hooper’s first game at the top level, he’s not even on the select list of referees from whom the Premier League appointments are usually made. This was, it seems, a trial, which serves only to make the appointment appear even more odd.
In the words of Halsey; “I just hope he has a really good game because if he doesn’t they’ll be an outrage.”
Well he didn’t. And there is.
And it wasn’t just about the disallowed goal and the denied penalty appeal. It began with Glenn Murray cleaning out Graham Dorrans with studs showing, for which he earned a light-hearted slap on the wrist, only for minutes later Alex Tettey to earn a yellow card for something that, from the River End at least, looked no worse.
Sadly that set the tone and from there on in it felt like each decision was a 50/50 toss-up as to whether or not it was the right one.
The penalty decision was possibly not helped by Seb’s theatrical, arm-flailing fall but, even minus the yellow and green blinkers, it was one you’re often given.
The disallowed goal was one that will go down in the Carrow Road annals as one right up there with Andy D’Urso’s denial of a penalty for that blatant shove on Adam Drury in, I think, the Roeder era.
It sticks in the craw, no question, but we must accept that it probably did cost us a point, possibly three, and move on. At least I’ll try.
Elsewhere there was plenty to offer hope for the months ahead and, while the aforementioned verve and energy of the opening half an hour did level out (it was almost impossible to maintain that momentum), there was more than enough about the overall performance to suggest we’re going to be competitive.
As ever, it’s what happens at both extremities of the pitch that counts and whether playing in the Anglian Combination or in the Premier League a combination of missed chances and ordinary defending is never going to end well.
Yet I felt a tad sorry for Lewis Grabban. Yes he should have scored – a lunge with his left foot instead of his right would have been enough – but his overall game (contrary to popular opinion it seems) was in my view more than decent.
His movement was good, the ball ‘stuck’ quite well and he worked the channels in the way Alex Neil would have requested. But strikers are judged on goals alone and, in truth, he looked less likely to score than Cameron Jerome, whose physicality offered Messrs Dann and Delaney a different type of challenge.
Alex’s other big call, to leave Nathan Redmond on the bench in favour of offering the right-sided role to Jonny Howson, was a brave one and ensured that when the former entered the fray he was bursting to make an impact, which he did.
Neil’s post-match comment, that Redmond was ‘less ready’ for the opener than others was presumably a reference to his late start to pre-season, but if a game or two on the bench also keeps him away from prying Premier League eyes until September 1 then so be it – although to have rattled one in from 25-yards didn’t help.
Defensively, City coped reasonably well for the most part against a side that is perfectly equipped to soak up pressure and hit sides on the break but the first goal will end up in the file marked ‘too soft’.
Robbie Brady, who was otherwise excellent on his debut, was for once caught wrong side of Jason Puncheon and to offer him time to stand one up at the back stick as he did was always asking for trouble.
The second, to concede from a basic set piece, will likely end up in the file marked ‘disaster’.
But, in true footballing tradition, there were plenty of the proverbial positives to draw on. Work to be done, yes, but still good things to build on.
As a paid-up member of the Graham Dorrans fan club I marvelled at the quality of his passing and he’s now starting to resemble the West Brom player of the Roy Hodgson era, and that can only be a good thing for all of us.
One of the failings of City’s last Premier League foray was their inability to keep the ball. I may be jumping the gun but based on the evidence of pre-season and yesterday that’s not going to be a problem this time round. The trick of course will be to ensure there is a product at the end of the possession – aka ‘the tricky bit’.
Not for the first time, Alex summed it up far better in one sentence than I have in 800+ words; “…we didn’t help ourselves at times – in terms of defensively some of the goals we conceded were extremely sloppy and when you have to score two and three to get something out of a match it is tough.”
And there it is – in a nutshell.
“On the Ball City…”
Seems like Lewis may also have become this season’s social media scapegoat for our failings yesterday after less than 90 minutes game time.
That’s somewhat unfair, as he did some good work in the channels, as you rightly point out.
This did however, especially in the first half, leave us with Wes, Whittaker and Johnson, as target men for crosses into the box, either from Grabban himself, or the full backs. As a consequence, the outcome was fairly predictable.
More positives than negatives and onto Sunderland next week.
In my ‘fears’ contribution to last Friday’s look ahead, one was “dodgy ref decisions”! You might expect the 50/50s to go against you away from home but not the way they did yesterday at home.
I thought we gave it a right good crack, clearly weren’t clinical enough (yes, the “Ricky would have scored that” messages soon got an airing), Palace were clinical and we had a perfectly good goal chalked off.
Defeat is never a good thing but positives a plenty and lessons to be learnt.
One thing AN has always done after a defeat is bounce back.
Isn’t this the same ref who sent off Martin Olson at Wolves last season? Not saying it was intensional but he did seem to favour C.P especially with some of the ‘challenges’. I hope the PL seriously reviews this game and demote him to National League games
Sid (3) – Yep, the very same
Mr Hooper (Simon, not Gary) didn’t have a good game yesterday; unfortunately, most of his important errors and 50-50s went against us. Very frustrating.
But if the conspiracy theorists want to link it to last year’s dismissal of Olsson, they should take another look at that game. Olsson committed two bookable tackles then pushed the ref. After yesterday we might all have wanted to push him, but it’s not on. The ref was right to dismiss him; Olsson was right to apologise to us all afterwards.
A spot on summary! We have to score these chances in the championship it would be forgiven but the PL has no such mercy. Shots have to be converted into goals. Defensively yet again we look weak I hope AN brings someone in(preferably a CB) quickly. But impressive possession rate some good work rate put in and Brady looks to be a great signing…. It’s a shame Palace had that extra player in the black!!!!
It just struck me – while Palace fans are cock-a-hoop, the ref Hooper is a co**! There, it’s done.
Palace are probably a top 10 side this season, so let’s not write off the defence so quickly. Some of the ‘supporters’ comments after 1 game boggle the mind.
We’re only 1 point behind Watford but let’s not let it get any bigger – mind the Watford Gap.
Good post Gary and I agree whole-heartedly with much that you say. To me, plenty of good points from yesterday’s game but plenty to work on too. On the positive side it was great to see City control possession and dictate the tempo for large parts of the game. Many of the interchanges and pass-and-moves looked good showing a sound cohesion in the team. I also think they created chances and one or two individual performances looked very encouraging – Dorrans for me looked so comfortable on the ball and I think will prove to be a real asset. On the flip side, with the referee’s help, we did contribute to our own downfall with some poor finishing and errors at the back which contributed to all three of the goals.
All-in-all the result does bring us back down to earth with a hefty bump which perhaps isn’t too bad a thing. For much of last season, we dominated possession in most games but errors at the back and poor finishing up front ultimately generally didn’t cost us too badly in terms of the overall result – there was always going to be another opportunity for us to score a goal and often we did. In the Premier League, yesterday’s game was a reality check – if you don’t take your chances or concentrate at the back a mistake can cost you heavily. In that respect Palace taught us a lesson which we need to learn from – but, still lots of positives.
With regards Lewis Grabban I think many of the negative social media comments are over-the-top. Overall, I think he contributed well to the game, worked hard, ran the channels and got himself into good scoring opportunities….but, he should have scored! With just over three weeks to go in the transfer window – a new striker and centre half are a must. If we can get a centre half with real leadership so much the better….OTBC
Jon (8) – Nicely put – agree 100%
The early caller on Canary Call yesterday was saying that Neil should be sacked – two days after Neil himself had commented that City fans were too either up or down, and that if we won the first game, they’d be predicting a Champions League place, and if we lost, we’d never get another point all season. Seems like Sir Alex has summed up some of number pretty accurately!
Having said that, I saw enough yesterday to have confidence in him and the team (plus maybe one or two new additions) that we will survive.
Is Simon Hooper officially now more unpopular in Norwich than Walter Palmer, the lion slaying dentist?
Mr. Hooper has been in charge at Carrow Road once before last season – for the Blackpool 4-0 win when his namesake scored a hat trick. Relevant? No. Spooky? A little.
I suspect he won’t be coming back anytime soon.
We lost 1-0 at Wolves first game last season, draws first up against zEverton & Wigan also spring to mind. Performance was best seen in an opening game and 2-2 would have been probable result without ‘Gary’s cousin’ 6x removed. In an odd way it was a positive defeat and so much better than watching Hughton game plan. How good was Dorrans? A.N. Must be shown 100% support and Grabban too.
Yet again a match that proves Norwich never get a homer ref,still on the positive side we played well and missed good chances otbc