There Are More Questions Than Answers sung Johnny Nash, who had a couple of 1970s sugary pseudo-reggae hits, long before Robert Nesta Marley came along and gave a grateful UK a taste of the genuine stuff that so many of us came to love.
And that was my first thought as I strolled out of Carrow Road on Saturday. We had just smashed a pretty poor Brentford side 5-0 and that warm fuzzy feeling on the long walk home had been absent for so long I could hardly recognise it.
The first question is a little predictable: Is this a turning point with the fabled green shoots of recovery sprouting in December?
I genuinely don’t know. One of the most-used clichés in football is: “you can only beat what’s put in front of you”. How good were we, and how bad were Brentford? Well, Brentford were genuinely poor. They put on a little bit of pressure either side of half time, but that was it and for once we looked relatively in control. When the third went in, it was another question: how many more? Answer: two.
So, how good were we? Jonny Howson and Ivo Pinto returning made a huge difference; the former calm, cool and collected and the latter offering the width on the right we have been sorely missing of late. Alex Pritchard was superb – the pass that put Robbie Brady in for the third was verging on the sublime and oh boy, did he deserve his goal. Sure the defence had a few shakies, but was it a dress rehearsal for the immediate future?
By that I mean playing Ryan Bennett and Seb Bassong in tandem. Cynics might say (and some on social media already have) that is to get them bedded in as a partnership before Timm Klose departs in January. I cannot fathom why else Alex Neil would select Bassong over Klose, although, for what it’s worth, I thought Seb had one of his best games in ages.
And where was Martin Olsson? Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with the thought that both our widely-acknowledged best defenders were absent because they are being kept in cotton wool for the January sales. Again, I have no answer.
A crucial question: Has Alex Neil lost the dressing room? Seeing the goal celebrations, I don’t think so. Sure Jacob Murphy didn’t go OTT after his goal/own goal, probably because he knew the Brentford man had got the final touch but every other goal was celebrated full-on. So the players do care. Or at least the starting XI on Saturday yesterday appear to.
Was the selection of that starting XI inspired or enforced? I suspect enforced, but it certainly worked. Against Brentford, anyway. I’d hardly object to the same selection again.
And was it good to have the crowd back onside? After Brady’s wonderful goal, the Barclay came to life and there were a few choruses reminiscent of the Lambert days. I can answer that one – yes, it was better than good.
So, despite not largely being able to answer my own questions, it should not be long until I will be in a better position to do so. Barnsley, Huddersfield and Villa will provide the answers. This trio of fixtures will point towards our season’s-end destiny.
These three clubs are genuine promotion contenders and each one of them will give us a tougher test than the Bees. If Neil has indeed managed to restore the collective mojo and we can get, say, seven points from these three games I believe he will justifiably retain his position and I will be a happy little bunny. Until the ‘window’ opens.
It seems to be an open secret that it’s “sell to buy” for City in January and given our recent track record I don’t hold out too much hope for much of any use to happen in terms of ins-and-outs. But if Saturday is anything to go by, things are looking a little more towards the skies than the floor.
Just like the only time I have ever been to Barnsley, which I remember for two heightist reasons. Firstly, the wonderful Paul McVeigh scored our second goal – and with a header!
That was our Worthy promotion season and in fairness to what is to follow, the Yorkshire side were redeveloping Oakwell at the time. At half time I asked one of the Barnsley supporters where the Gents was. He pointed in the general direction and said “mind your head, it’s a low ceiling”. Yeah, sure. A five-foot brick wall, half drainpipes in the crucial area and a cloudless sky above. Yorkshire humour at its best.
And let’s hope we have three points to be laughing about after Saturday’s match.
Otherwise Alex Neil might yet be getting the Barnsley Chop.
The exclusion of Timm Klose does seem a mystery – as far as I’m aware there’s no injury issues to consider.
The City back four were also assisted by Brentford often playing with just Hogan up front, making life considerably easy at times.
As for Hogan, despite his frequent isolation, his movements on and off the ball was interesting to watch. One for January perhaps?
Thanks, Martin – a pretty perfect summation of our reasons to be cautiously cheerful.
Gary (1): Given the rumour-mill, I was also keeping a special eye on Hogan. Impressed with what he made of generally poor service.
If Klose has made it clear he wants to go it’s not so much us wanting to protect a saleable asset, more that if he does play HE isn’t of a mind to put his body on the line when he needs to.
I do love the rhetoric so many writers use that if we win we’ve beaten a “poor” side, if we lose it’s always to an “average” one.
It will be interesting to see what Barnsley do in the transfer window – already on the up they received a £7m sell-on from the John Stones move to Man C. Don’t see them getting beyond the play-offs this year but might be a good punt for next season.
Keith B (3): Spot on about Klose and his mentality.
At his best he’s a better choice than Bassong, of course. But Bassong’s performance on Saturday was better than any of Klose’s recent ones.
I think that a significant aspect of Saturday’s win, was that Brentford didn’t come here to park the bus, as some other teams have done. They tried to play a bit of football, albeit within their limits.
I too tried to keep an eye on Hogan, and thought that he did well with very little service. His second half first time volley which dipped just over the bar showed real ability, and an eye for goal. He reminded in some ways of a certain Grant Holt. Be interesting to see how he’d do with the sort of service he would get from Pritchard, Pinto, and others.
Thanks to all for your comments.
#3 Keith B: I agree with #4 Stewart about your take on Klose. You are indeed spot on.
I’ll just defend myself a little on the rhetorical front if I may. I was obviously at the game and I thought Brentford were poor virtually throughout. I walked back towards the Train Station talking to a couple of their supporters and they said it was the worst they had seen from their side in ages.
Then Brentford Manager Dean Smith came out with his own comments, which kind of confirmed it.
It may well be a writer’s cliche to say the opposition were poor, but I think in this case the comment was justified. That doesn’t mean we didn’t turn in an excellent performance. As I wrote, beat what’s in front of you. It’s all we can do and long may it continue.
It felt it was like going to a funeral walking down to the game on Saturday, & I thought it was a strange atmosphere all afternoon. For me AN does not convince at all. That team was forced on him due to injurys etc. Ask any manager in that league & they would give their right arm for a squad of that quality yet Neil cannot get any sort of consistency or confidence out of them. Other teams know we will play 1 up front & therefore have sussed us out, that said the main difference on Saturday was the quick passing & general movement up front which was good to see. If he can get a 10 game run going then I am happy to be proved wrong but hes got a long way to go yet
Ben B (7): A bit harsh on AN, I’d have said.
Even if injury dictated that Jerome wasn’t available, most fans would have picked Lafferty. AN chose Oliveira and (knowing the doubt over Jerome) practised a style that made use of his mobility.
Similarly, he picked Dorrans rather than Mulumbu to replace Tettey. Fully justified by the game.
The selection of Pritchard in place of ‘undroppable’ Wes was key to the win, and had nothing to do with injuries.
The key point is who will he pick this week. I think this week is the acid test for Neil. If he now recalls Jerome, Tettey and an Olsson recall moves Brady up (for Naismith?), then we will be back to square one. Surely the 5 nil should mean unchanged.