Wins over any Paul Lambert team are not to be sniffed at. Wins over a Lambert team when you wear yellow and green are literally unheard of, so it’d be unfair to dismiss this one as a case of Wolves not turning up.
That the Old Gold (or lurid green) were the wrong end of average needs to be recognised but in the context of them being made second best by a City display that epitomised the qualities needed to win a Championship game.
And in the rocky ride that has been 2016/17 that’s been a rarity.
All too often the resilience and grit needed to succeed in the second tier have been fast-tracked and City have headed straight for the free-flowing, fancy football, only to be met by unwilling, unaccommodating opponents.
Yesterday they made no attempt to circumvent the ugly side and instead, dare I say it, appeared even to embrace it. It was pretty horrible to watch at times and it would have scored lowly if points were awarded for artistic impression but it was committed, functional and sufficient to get the job done.
It helped too that for once the breaks went in City’s favour and it made a pleasant change to watch our opponents toil in the face of adversity. For too often, especially of late, we’ve been on the wrong end of cock-up followed by disaster followed by catastrophe, and to observe from a distance as Wolves suffered a similar fate was mildly cathartic.
And the irony of Lambert’s bullishness ultimately costing his team was lost on no-one, with three substitutions inside 66 minutes leaving left-back Matt Doherty as his goalkeeper of choice once Carl Ikeme had seen red for his two-handed shove on Wes.
Sometimes it pays, sometimes it doesn’t. Yesterday Lambert, as is his wont, was quick to grab the bull by the horns when changes needed to be made but it cost him. A cautious Alex Neil type approach would have afforded him a new goalkeeper.
But, for all the talk of hero worship amid a potentially acrid atmosphere, the Wolves manager was a peripheral figure in the afternoon’s proceedings, and the prospect of the bloodbath many had predicted (and some had hoped) was realistically quashed by Steven Naismith’s nicely executed 13th minute opener.
And no-one illustrates the this mini-transformation from prima donnas to scrappers better than the Scot. For too long he has been at the heart of a group who gave off a disdainful air – one that idly screamed ‘we’re too good for this league’ – but of late we’ve seen glimpses of the player who once graced Goodison Park and who thrilled us on his City debut.
Over the last month the Scot’s form curve has been upward, in line perhaps with a belated realisation of what it takes to prosper in the Championship, and it culminated yesterday in his best performance in yellow since his opening day against Liverpool.
Naismith’s natural inclination to niggle and be petulant is now being harnessed in a positive way and is being pointed in the right direction, and allied to his Premier League quality we’re finally seeing more of the player we hoped for. It’s just taken a year.
Right now he’s forcing Alex Neil to pick him and it’s the first time I’ve been able to write that.
Wes, of course, had one of his really good days and was at times unplayable – just how the Wolves manager remembers him and why he courted him so publicly while in the Villa hot seat – but it would have been an interesting one to see the two exchange pleasantries post-match given his role in Ikeme’s sending off.
Jonny Howson was another who brought his A-game to proceedings and, for all the salient talk of blooding youngsters and adding hunger to the ageing group, it’s worthy of note that two of the names that spring to mind when we mention ‘stale and in need of a refresh’ were key protagonists yesterday.
It’s impossible however to ignore the current Carrow Road atmosphere and it’s clear it’s going to take more than a wins against Wolves, and hopefully Birmingham, to reignite what has become eerie and library-like. The reasons are clear and even in the midst of a thoroughly decent win there remains a sinister undercurrent.
It took the Barclay and Snakepit just three minutes to remind City’s CEO of their take on his tenure to date, and there’s no escaping the fact that Carrow Road, rightly or wrongly, is just one rotten performance away from exploding – some merely awaiting that eventuality.
All of which makes for an uneasy peace but peace it is – at lest for the next six days.
Quite how, or even if, this impasse can be resolved is a good question but having just achieved something that we thought impossible (I.E. Beating a side managed by Lambert) it’s perhaps a question for tomorrow.
Right now it’s only fair to recognise that Alex Neil did get it right yesterday. And credit where it’s due.
“Never mind the danger…”
Agreed gary, yesterday it looked like all the pieces fell into place, nice to see and hear. But it is only a few short weeks behind us when people were saying the same things after dispatching a Derby side, who like yesterdays opposition had been on an up. As it goes yesterday’s triumph was pleasure and there not been many games we can say that about. Like him or not it is the fact that Alex Neil is staying for the rest of the season, we may as well just get on with it. But performances and results must be in a similar vein as Derby & Wolves or the feeling will go from bubbling to boiling over
I agree that Howson, Hoolahan and Naismith were the stand out players yesterday.
When talking of penalties , Wolves’ penalty was a soft one in contrast to a penalty which should have been given for a foul on Murphy just inside the box. The ref gave a free kick outside the box when the slide marks on the pitch were clearly inside. The sending off was inevitable for a two handed push on Wes’s chest. Perhaps the recent dubious sendings off of City players (Oliveira apart) are being evened up!
Overall City looked as though they were determined to win which demonstrates to me that they are playing for the Manager. A win next week and a resounding victory against Ipswich will help restore faith in the club and its management.
It was good to see Brady playing through injury when he could be forgiven for having half an eye on a big money transfer. That grit and determination should add more £££££ to his value!
For once I travelled back on the train to London in a good relaxed mood. Bring on Birmingham. Remember we owe Zola one.
It might sound strange but i am gutted we won why ? Because its just papering over the cracks at the moment delaying what needs to be done and addressed at our club ….Don’t get me wrong if we suddenly buy some good defenders ,another striker and a left winger and start roaring up the league in a consistent manner then hey that’s different .
It does sometimes make me wonder whether something substantial has happened in the dressing room which has had this effect and so why the board are so understanding to alex neil , it wouldn’t surprise me .
Indeed, after so much well deserved critism Norwich finally came out on top of a game that night have gone either way. Wolves aren’t the greatest team in the world but they came to win and employed tactics that have beaten us before.
This time we actually stood up to them, matched them and overcame them. We then played good football. It was a pleasure to see. We finally seem to be improving at Carrow Road at least. Away from home the failures are still very much in evidence. If this season can, against all expectation, be salvaged away from home will need to deliver lots of points.
Nevertheless yesterday was an entertaining game, filled with incident, Norwich deserved the win and got it. I left Carrow Road extremely happy, that’s something good.
The flat atmosphere, however, showed very clearly the views of the faithful. Work is still required to bring everyone onside but this was better.
OTBC
Good summation Gary. For the third successive match, I’ve actually enjoyed the experience.
Plenty of endeavour, no little skill and an abundance of battling qualities underscored a comfortable victory. Not quite hitting the heights of the Derby performance but still enough to go home smiling about.
Naismith still gets criticism, in spite of a solid month of improvement and good form. Some people haven’t noticed the sea change in the player. Unlike January, when I would happily have seen him leave, I would be disappointed to see him go now, such is his Damascene conversion.
Hoolahan and howson were simply too good for the standard of opponent they were pitched against and it showed. Elsewhere the back four looked stronger, particularly Klose who made many majestic headed clearances.
Regarding your point about the atmosphere, it will take a remarkable turn of events to return it to the cauldron that paul lambert described in his pre match interview. For every Derby there is a stinking Rotherham to crush the mood. In short, bank this win, repeat it next week and keep doing it. The position is still vastly short of acceptable.
To portray this as a victory for Neil over lambert would be stretching the point. Does anybody seriously believe that if the protagonists had switched dugouts at five to three that the result would have been any different. It was a victory over inferior quality players, which should have been much more prevalent this season.
Much better as you say, and felt like we would actually win yesterday once we showed a bit of mettle after the first. The transfer dealings will determine if this continues or not. Replacing the entire left side is only one concern.
Chris – I’m positively intrigued to know what a majestic clearance looks like.
Leaping like a salmon and heading to another team mate or well clear jeff i should imagine 😉 strang you can’t :/
I wasn’t at the game but in a desperate attempt to salvage something from the shambolic season, I put my 2 year old daughter in a new Norwich t-shirt. In doing so, I can safely say I’ve been more pro-active than the board in trying to turn things round.
Well-balanced stuff as ever, Gary.
Just one quibble (perhaps a misunderstanding on my part). After praising Naismith and Howson, you say it’s “worth a note that two of the names that spring to mind when we mention ‘stale and in need of a refresh’ were key protagonists yesterday”.
Has anyone ever had cause to say that about Jonny Howson?
Stew (10) – Was indeed a reference to JH but only on the basis that he, along with Ruddy, Martin, Wes and co form part of the senior group, all of whom have been in situ for two relegations. Hence the calls for a refresh and a focus on ‘young and hungry’ – not intended as a slight on Jonny, who’s of course been excellent as per.
True, Jeff, much will depend upon which players are ushered out before February. It’s getting late in the window and I suspect we haven’t got much going on with regards to incoming players. In the context of this season I think a majestic header would be one where our centre half actually wins the ball above an opponent!
I would love to see some stats to back up my theory that when Howdon doesn’t play we lose. When he plays we seem to win more often than not. When he was injured we seemed to lose every game. Is this just my imagination?
A good win over a fairly average Wolves team – you can, of course, only beat what’s in front of you.
This remains, in my opinion, a very average Championship and, the fact that we remain in with a shout of the play-offs, even after such a poor run, just reinforces that view.
But, lets not get ahead of ourselves, because, interestingly, if you do separate home and away form tables, we’re 4th overall in the home table, but 17th in an away form table. The latter clearly needs to be improved significantly if we’re to finish 6th place, or higher over the remaining 19 games.
Decent summing up Gary, but personally, after 45 minutes yesterday, I would gladly have seen the back of Hoolahan who (for me) messes things up for us as much as he creates. OK, second half he was much improved but surely the time has come where we can ill afford to carry a player? I’m sure that given game time, Pritchard will prove to be a more than capable replacement. Jacob looks very tired and devoid of any confidence, surely it’s time for Josh, or even (perish the thought!) a change of formation? Tettey would be brilliant if only he was able to pass the ball; in fact, I was quite looking forward to seeing Godfrey play there yesterday in Thompson’s continued absence after his performance at Southampton. Unfortunately it seems that unless you’ve done at least a couple of stints away on loan it doesn’t happen for you at NCFC.
Nevertheless, 3 points was most welcome, and Howson was (as is often the case) quite magnificent – one of those people you don’t miss or notice until he’s not there.
O T B C
John #14. Pritchard or whisper it (Maddison) who had an excellent game for the under 23s against Villa under 23s the other week could play that role. He took a very good goal and some of his passing to Morris/Middleton was superb.
I’m hoping Thompson should at least be on the bench next Saturday.
Stew & Gary – of that senior quartet JH would be last out of the door for me.
Agreed Gaz (17)
Thanks, Gary (16).
I don’t automatically think of Howson in the same cohort as Ruddy, Russ and Wes. He’s significantly younger, has been a City player two years less & made 100 fewer appearances.
But you’re quite right he’s in the ‘two relegations’ group.
If we are talking about four veterans of the two relegations, we should also note that all of them have been part of two promotions and in the case of Wes and russ, three promotions!
Douglas Millar (20) it’s a fair observation but there comes a stage where they can’t live just upon past achievements. Squad refreshing becomes far more important – something we rather failed at last time around.
Not a bad result but I’d feel better if we were beating teams with 11 men on the pitch.