Our first foray back into the Premier League is done and dusted and all I can simply say is, I’m furious. The performance that we put together was fantastic, albeit not without its faults, and we are far from deserve to be sitting at the foot of the table on the first day of the season. I want to address a few points, most notably the referee, which may be more akin to a rant, Lewis Grabban and the number one caller on Canary Call.
The Referee
Simon Hooper, a referee who had never before officiated a Premier League game struggled throughout, and really we should have seen it coming that he would make a poor decision that would decide the outcome of the match. It’s difficult to find a way of defending his performance when you look at his approach to the fouls early on in the game, his failure to book Glenn Murray and the two game-changing decisions in the final third of the game.
Cameron Jerome’s denied goal was something which, with Norwich glasses on, only seems to happen to us and sadly it is something we will have to get used to over the coming season. The penalty appeal is something I have not yet had the opportunity to see again but from how I saw it – from the Jarrold Stand – and reaction from those who have been able to see it again, I have a sneaking feeling we were robbed of the opportunity of a spot kick.
Lewis Grabban
An hour after the game and after a period of reflection I have decided he didn’t have an entirely bad game – but only measured against his own standards. Compare that to what you would expect from a Premier League striker and I would have to argue he didn’t offer enough over the game to warrant another start and I also have my doubts that he will be able to prove himself at the highest level.
Aside from the obvious where he missed an early sitter, Grabban didn’t offer enough in and around the box, especially when Robbie Brady and Steven Whittaker made bursting forward runs to put in crosses. Also, with the ball at his feet Grabban looks like he struggles to see the space to take defenders on and have the skill to cause them problems.
With our current strike-force I would prefer to see the following hierarchy; Cameron Jerome, Gary Hooper, RvW and then Grabban. I’m sure many will argue that Ricky should be bottom of the pile and I would be interested to hear some thoughts on that.
Canary Caller
Where do I begin with him, “Alex Neil is out of his depth”, Rob Butler presses “Would you sack him?” and he mumbles an unconvincing “yes”, where did this opinion come from?
Utter naivety.
Little over two months ago we were celebrating one of the greatest days in Norwich City’s recent history, a day that may never have happened if Alex Neil wasn’t appointed when he was and 90 minutes into the new season there are fans willing to throw him out? Unbelievable.
I, hopefully, will have the majority of Norwich fans back me up on this but I would give Alex the guarantee of two seasons regardless of whether we are relegated this season or not. All too often the first reaction is to sack the manager when things aren’t going to plan but it is clear that the players respond to his methods, respect him and strive to win football matches under him.
Where do we go from here?
All in all, we put in a very positive performance and this season will be far from the dismal performances of the Chris Hughton era. With the unlikely assumption that we make no more additions, our side will inevitably struggle and safety may hang in the balance but I am confident that under Neil’s guidance we will be enjoying Premier League football this time next season.
We clearly need a centre-back who is going to be able to cope with the likes of Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa. Similarly, at the other end of the pitch we need a proven Premier League striker that is going to be a threat and score us 15-20 goals this season.
The away trip to Sunderland will be extremely important and if we come away with at least a point and we’ve replicated our performance of today, and offer a more clinical service up front I have no doubts that we will come away with our first points on the table.
I’m very much in agreement with your view of things.
Chatting in the car, on the way home from the match, we were talking about our own propensity to see things “through green and yellow tinted specs” – not surprising, we’re NCFC supporters BUT sacking AN? Predicting the drop after one match? I could start wondering if these “fans” are, in fact, planted by other teams to try and destroy morale. The sad fact is that we have supporters who pay their money to enjoy a good old moan – that said, if I was that unhappy, I’d save my season ticket money and spend Saturdays doing something I loved!
Simon Hooper got it wrong and, had the card come out, the goal been given and the pen awarded, things may have been different. They might also have been different had we converted some of the very clear opportunities we had. I believe AN and the team will learn from this – the Prem is a very rarified place to be and we need to adapt PDQ. Let’s keep playing our game – we are played some wonderful football on Saturday – and not get sucked in by the histrionics of some of the sports prima donnas [Zaha and Souare had my blood boiling with their little games]
Keep the faith, City fans … It’s early days.
Matthew: context – we’ve played one game against one of the better sides in the league. Arsenal lost yesterday (under a vastly experienced manager) and played a lot worse than us.
I think it’s out of order to single out an individual player for criticism (unless it’s the ref) the way you’ve highlighted, especially after the first game of the season!
While some have almost from day 1 berated Grabban for missing chances, others tend to see the intelligent runs, work rate and creative aspects of his game – including the boss most notably. To put him behind Hooper and RvW in a pecking order is bizarre and without any justification other than a personal preference.
Proven 15-20 goal PL striker? Who’s available that fits that description?
“Where do we go from here?” – onto game 2 of the season.
Taking your points as they come:-
The Referee: what can I say that hasn’t already been said by pundits nationwide. He was out of his depth from the moment he allowed a Palace player (Murray?) to block a free kick from only a yard away, and then failed to take strong action against Murray for an out-of-control tackle. Maybe he was getting his own back for last season’s opener, when Olsen manhandled him.
Lewis Grabban: for me, the jury is still out, but I think I’m going to take a lot of convincing. Sitting in the River End, I couldn’t believe he missed that tap in.
Canary Caller: What a pillock (and for once I don’t mean Rob Butler)
Where do we go from here?: Onward and upward, under the strong guidance of Alex Neil. I’m sure he learned a lot from Saturday’s game, and I’m sure the players will learn a lot from him this morning, particularly when it comes to defending corners.
It was interesting to see that Palace invariably crossed beyond the far post, but always had players coming in from wide to meet the cross, something we should learn from. It got them both goals, and while I appreciate that it won’t work every time, it has the advantage of quickly switching the direction of play (and in the case of the second goal, switching it back again). I still think Ruddy could have done better with the first goal – he seemed to try to go for it with his foot, rather than getting his whole body to it.
Positives: good movement of the ball; lots of possession, especially early on; chances created.
Negatives: poor defending, especially for the second goal; failure to convert chances.
I’ve not been convinced by Grabban and don’t see why he should get the nod ahead of Jerome. Robbie Brady failed to make a difference by delivering the killer ball on the occasions he could have. Palace generally looked a bit sharper, even though they had much less of the ball than Norwich.
The linesman’s decision (at least I thought it was his) to disallow Jerome’s effort was an odd one. The shove on Bassong must’ve been hard to see with all those bodies in close proximity. Murray was a lucky boy. No joy from the officials but we acquitted ourselves well against a strong and confident side.
Sunderland will be a wounded animal when we face them at the weekend. Surely they can’t be as bad again?
Hi Bob,
Thanks for leaving a response, I hope Grabban goes on to prove me wrong because like us all, I want the team to succeed and win football matches.
With regards to basing it on personal preference, I would argue that all opinion driven articles will have personal preference surface and I felt it would spark some debate, which i’m pleased to see it has 🙂
On Grabban, I’m yet to be convinced he is the striker who will provide the goals we need. We looked stronger last season when Jerome played and we did yesterday. I don’t think that Grabban would have won the ball to set up Howson v Ipswich nor at Wembley. Grabban’s off the ball winning looks good, but how effective is it? That said, it looks like Jerome is managing a long-term injury, so we do need another striker in. Here’s hoping for good news soon on that front
Dear Norwich Fans.
As a palace fan i thought you were robbed on Saturday, i thought we played ok for last 15 mins of first half and first half of second half, but even i cringed at the decisions the ref made. I sympathise
With regard to Grabban and CamJam, as you know weve had both at Palace. Grabban unfortunately wont ever get you 15-20 goals a season in premier league. Ok at maybe championship level but not premier.
As for Jerome, top player, cant fault his effort, tries hard, but couldnt hit barn door for us. Good hold up player, but again i think he will struggle.
Good luck for the rest of the season – apart from the return game!
re: the striker debate.
I like to rate my strikers using the ‘super six’ qualities method;
1. Pace, 2. Physicality, 3. Finishing, 4. Work rate (off the ball), 5. Space creation and 6. Link-up play.
Scoring each out of 5, Jerome is no. 1 with 25/30 (4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4), Grabban no.2 (4, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4 = 24), Hooper is no. 3 (3, 4, 5, 3, 3, 4 = 22) and Ricky is no. 4 (4, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4 = 21).
I hope AN will rotate CJ and LG as starting striker with GH as main back-up.
Matthew (or anyone else) – be interested to see your scores for comparison.
..The 15-20 goals a season from the main striker is a bit of a fallacy in the PL. Take Palace last season – Murray was top scorer with 7 and they finished 10th! Austin scored 18 for QPR – didn’t help them.
Moral is, if you’ve got a striker who can get maybe 8-12 a season, and 3-4 others who can chip in 4-8 (out of Grabban, Hooper, Redmond, Johnson, Howson, Hoolahan, Dorrans), then you’ve got a decent chance of a comfortable finish. 4-5 from the back 4 would also be important..a defender still hasn’t scored under AN.
To write Grabban off after one game is as bad as phoning Canary Call saying you want to sack Alex Neil.
Anyway, Jerome played a blinder at Wembley and would have rescued us (again) on Saturday. Under AN he has every chance of doing a Holty and getting 15 goals this season.
Don’t forget Jerome talked about how AN in the month before the play offs had completely changed his game. And it showed. He will come good for us.
@4 Ben K.- I’m pretty sure that the linesmen had no involvement with the disallowed goal. He seemed to be shuffling towards the halfway line, expecting, like most in the ground, for the goal to stand.
“a defender still hasn’t scored under AN” is but a statistic. Our defence was at fault for all 3 goals Saturday. The first and crucial saw a sharp Zaha alone in acres of space to run in and volley in at the near post. Whittaker was AWOL. Can we make a bid for Ashley Cole? not to mention we need a decent centre back alongside Bassong.
Some interesting points – it is my experience that a persons desire to go on Canary Call (or any other radio phone in for that matter) is in inverse proportion to their intelligence. The more vacuous or downright stupid their views the more likely they are to want to share their stupidity with the world – so it was with caller one on Saturday. No chance for a proven 15-20 goal striker I’m afraid as it’s not financially possible but I have hope for Jerome and for the the team in general after what was a very good performance on Sat. A very important and interesting game next week COYY!
City gave a good account of themselves particularly against a Palace side who I expect to give a lot of sides plenty of problems this season.Referee boss Riley said last week that he thought referees performances dipped last season wonder what he thinks after first week of season.Hooper was way out of his depth unfortunately it was city who copped for it.As for Grabban he didn’t play to badly and his overall play was good,shame that he couldn’t quite reach that ball,who knows what difference that might have made.Still I hope any incoming players arrive very soon.
Sid W (14) – Your first sentence is the best summary of Saturday’s game I’ve seen.
I like Cosmo’s striker scoring system. I have the four strikers in a similar overall order, with somewhat less generous marks:
Jerome 23 (3,5,3,4,4,4)
Grabban 22 (4,3,3,4,5,3)
Hooper 19 (3,3,4,2,3,4)
RvW 19 (4,2,3,4,3,3)
I’ve never listened to Canary Call & have no intention of ever doing so. That caller deserves no air time & nor anything written about it. Otherwise I enjoyed the piece, not sure how you were supposed to write it without giving a personal preference?!
Dave (16) – of course personal preference is inescapable but there has to be some logical footballing reasons behind it. Otherwise it’s, “well, I like him more” kind of thing which is no basis for team selection.
More human factors such as confidence and form come into play for strikers in particular but these aren’t helped by constant criticism.
I challenge any of the Grabban critics to genuinely rank RvW or Hooper above Grabban based upon a ‘Cosmo-like’ system (see 8).
Thanks Bob. Matthew did give some footballing reasons behind his view, I suppose it’s up to us as readers & fans to decide whether we agree with him. As it is, I think along the same lines as you with regards Grabban.
Dave – (17). Good to hear you’re backing LG – to be fair it wasn’t evident from your original comment. Matthew did say he welcomed some debate (8), so i thought I’d oblige.
Individual players such as LG and RM are constantly being criticised (last season, over the summer and now after 1 game) by the same people who swear undying faith in the man who picks them week in week out. I just don’t understand that philosophical paradox.
I think every football club has fans who get on the backs of certain players for seemingly no obvious reason. I don’t really understand it, I’ll back anyone who wears a Norwich shirt – I defended Mike Sheron & Shaun Carey in the past!? If LG is good enough for Alex Neil, he’s good enough for me.