And the heartbreaks keep on coming.
If Yohan Cabaye missing a penalty to take two points off the Mags wasn’t enough, we’re then treated to shots of shirtless, euphoric Mackems celebrating an injury-time, equalising penalty from Jermaine Defoe (who else) in a game Stoke should have won at a canter.
And then when it was our turn the Yellow Army were offered the cruellest, most tantalising glimpse of a priceless point only for it to be heartlessly whipped away courtesy of one – just one – moment of hesitant defending.
Don’t you just hate football sometimes? I mean *really* hate it.
It’s easy of course to blame the conspiring football gods – and at 7:30 that’s precisely what I did – but if we are to sink it’s not going to be heroic defeats at the Emirates, the Etihad, Stamford Bridge and the King Power that did for us.
It’ll be the ones where we didn’t turn up… like at Watford, Bournemouth, Swansea, Palace, Southampton and Newcastle.
I fully expect another Arsenal-type performance against Manchester Utd next Saturday. While unconvinced it’ll be good enough for the three points we desperately need, I do expect there at least to be desire and intent; qualities that went missing in the aforementioned dark days.
It’s those afternoons where instead of grinding out points, we ended up with exactly what the performance deserved where we’ve come unstuck and where we’ve failed to realise value in old adage of not playing well and still getting something.
The cynic in me would probably say we’ve actually failed on both counts: picking up wins when playing well and the odd point when playing poorly. And which is why we are where we are.
There were naturally positives to be gleamed from yesterday and the stats tell us that a back-four that was understandably derided in the hour prior to kick-off did a great job, restricting the Gunners to one clear cut chance and a few half-chances.
And on a normal day to concede just a single goal at the Emirates would, when you’re Norwich City, be lauded.
What it needed of course, from such a platform, was a chance to be gobbled up and that’s where – not for the first time – City were found wanting.
Twice Nathan Redmond would sting the palms of Petr Cech – both good efforts. But Danny Welbeck, from his one chance, didn’t sting the palms of John Ruddy. And there’s the rub.
For the umpteenth time this season, what happened between the two penalty areas was actually quite good and, always assisted by the fact we allow ourselves a five across the middle of the pitch, we looked composed… comfortable even.
But the combination of playing a lone striker, not having one of the quality (or cost) of Defoe and not having unearthed another Vardy means when the ball does get into the opposition’s box the threat is insipid.
The cross invariably misses its target or is over-hit, the through ball is intercepted, the one-two is just a one or the shot misses the target. None of which is a direct criticism of yesterday, although it’s a fair depiction of the second-half, but rather a crude synopsis of our play in the final third over the course of the season.
Again, that’s why we are where we are.
The optimists quite rightly point out that we are probably still only two wins away from safety (although I do wonder if another point will be needed) and buoyed by that level of performance it’s not an unreasonable shout.
That is until you consider that we have now lost three on the bounce and at a time when, whether we like it or not, Benitez and Allardyce have started to get a tune out of their boys.
In the cold, dispassionate light of day to ask for two wins out of Man Utd (h), Watford (h) and Everton (a) off the back of three defeats is, in truth, one mighty ask. But it can be done.
We’re certainly not yet in the realms of needing miracles but we do need to rediscover how to win fairly swiftish and if ever we needed a break or two or three…
My heart still believes; my head is less convinced, partly skewed by the fact the the Toon and Black Cats both emerged successfully from games yesterday where City failed.
But we battle on and if nothing else yesterday showed that, while no long-term plan, Bassong and Martin can put together a largely blemish-free 94 minutes; something they simply must do three more times.
And it showed that, despite online chatter to the contary, City are neither yet ‘down’ nor ‘hapless‘. We’ve been written-off, dismissed, derided and, with Villa long since departed, are now the butt of the gags. But we’ve not gone yet.
This weekend always promised to be a painful one and it didn’t disappoint. Next weekend simply has to be a better one.
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Great summary again, Gary.
Just one correction. It may feel like we’ve lost four in succession, but it’s only three. That, and more importantly yesterday’s performance and the lack of incentive for our remaining opponents, might be some grounds for keeping hope.
Let’s make it a hot atmosphere at Carrow Road on Saturday.
Very good point Stew… thanks. Amended.
But yes, feels like more!
Gary that beautifully sums up yesterday and indeed our entire season.
As, actually, did the goal. Not just us switching off for a second, but the way Giroud, who hadn’t scored in countless games, still had the wherewithal to look for a team mate, knock that ball down perfectly and set up the chance for Welbeck. None of our forwards have had that kind of nouse all season and that is partly why we are where we are.
Gary, whatever happens on the pitch, your form never dips.
We deserved a point against a flailing Arsenal but down the bottom you rarely get what you deserve. The Gunners may have been poor but were still stuffed with World Cup winners and top internationals – that must be kept in mind before firing off any volleys against our boys.
The Cabaye penalty miss following Pardew’s “hate to see Newcastle relegated” comments gets the conspiracy juices flowing and a 94th penalty equaliser for Sunderland just about sums up the relative fortunes.
Add in Klose’s knee and it seems the stars are not aligning in our favour (on top of struggling for goals).
Difficult to see us rising from the season’s ashes here on in but we can but hope..
I’m off to a quiet, dark spot – I can’t stand all this Leicester love-in overload.
Re: Mr Baker and the word ‘hapless’. When I want to get even, in my own head anyway, with Metropolitan geezers, who know nothing about us, and who only watch us when we are defeated by a London team, I often resort to etymology, the derivation, history and meaning of words. Yes, sad I know. Hapless means unfortunate. It’s derived from the Old Norse ‘hap’, which means good fortune. I am always struck by the way perfectly good Norse words were demeaned by our Norman loving culture after 1066. So I would like publicly to announce that Baker is right, we are indeed ‘hapless’, and but for some star-struck referees and other twists of fate, we may not have found ourselves in such a mess.
Top work Gaz, but I also believe it goes beyond the word “quality” now being banded with greater frequency.
The Premier League is also about speed and ability to counter teams with pace, especially away from home.
Put simply we don’t have enough.
Yes, Redmond is very quick, but it only has just over 20 starts this season. Jerome has pace too and has started fewer games.
However, it’s the supporting players, whether Mbokani, Wes, Brady and Naismith who don’t. (I’ve not seen enough of Bamford to pass judgment.)
Whatever formation you use, you have to have three or four players, either up front or out wide, who can hurt the opposition with pace. We just don’t and that reduces our attacking threat considerably.
Sue (5): Brilliant! A Wes-like demonstration of running rings round an opponent.
Gary: Sue would be wasted on most social media sites, but can we sign her up as a columnist here?
5 Sue, brilliant writing. Agree Gary, sign her up!
Just listened to radio 5 chat about relegation battle and City barely given a mention by the pundits, it seems only Newcastle & Sunderland involved and we’ve already been dispatched….how hapless it would be for them if we delivered!
Next week, Hucks in for Brady, Holty for Jerome, Crook for Hoolahan and Peters for Howson and we’ll be just fine!
Colin (8) – Good thinking, but you forgot Dave Stringer & Duncan Forbes.
Thanks Gary. The fat lady does indeed appear to be warming up her vocal cords but as we know it’s a funny old game (Bolton 1 Hull 0) , here’s hoping
Norwich City are simply not good enough at this level. How much of that is the players, or the board, or the mangers fault is open to question, but ‘Hapless’ is a very good way of describing the team.
I am tired of the clubs ‘Oliver Twist at the ball’ way of looking at the top tier of English Football and we will be happily back to our comfort zone next season, where the board are most comfortable.
We may not require snookers just yet, but sticking to the snooker analogy, we probably do need to make the equivalent of a 147 break in the final frame…
Darren (11) – Can’t agree. As disappointing as it undoubtedly is, in my view we’re the Oliver Twist of the PL simply because of the depth of our pockets. The board view living within our means as important… which it clearly is. They would I’m sure dearly love us to retain our PL status.
Gav (12) – Perhaps not 147, but certainly circa 125!
Agree to disagree Gary! The board are not serious about staying up and come across as well meaning, but naive. I’ve always believed in actions rather than words and the board have let the fans down as they do not take the PL seriously because they do not do what is required to stay there.
Unless they can dig out a Lambert-esque appointment, the club will be at absolute best, a yo-yo club.