As 0-0 draws go the latest tale of two cities was quite entertaining – a statement that will with have some RiverEnders foaming at the mouth – and far removed from the Burton equivalent, which did scream bore draw.
Unlike Cloughie’s men, Bristol City arrived overflowing with confidence and, orchestrated by a lively Korey Smith, looked every inch a side who had gone eight games unbeaten – a run which included a thumping win over Derby and a cup win over Stoke inside the last week.
So to come away thinking we could and probably should have won is not, in my eyes at least, the end of the world. It was disappointing, of course, but it didn’t leave the slightly numb feeling we all felt a week and a half ago.
Angus had precious little to do – aside from one fine second half save that proved to us all that his concentration levels are spot on – and City created two first-half chances that were simply there for the taking. If either had gone in it would likely have been game over – the margins, as ever, were fine.
That Marco Stiepermann made a better connection with the goalpost than he did with the ball was not only a huge source of frustration for him, so too when not-so-super Mario found the outside of the post instead of the corner of the net.
Talking of whom, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in Vrancic’s offering yesterday, especially after his eye-catching brace at Brentford in midweek.
My assertion that his ‘star was hopefully rising’ was evidently a bit hasty and compared to the way in which Stiepermann, Tom Trybull and, latterly, Christoph Zimmermann have adapted to the brutalities of the Championship, he’s clearly still coming to terms with with pace and power of it all.
Give him time and space to pick a pass and he’ll do it. Give him a set piece and he’ll deliver. But to see him struggle when the pressure is piled on and the tackles are flying is (and I’m sorry) a little hard to watch right now.
Marley Watkins is another who struggled to make an impact yesterday but for very different reasons. Out of necessity, Watkins is one who suffers – or at least is suffering at the moment – from being able to play in a variety of positions. And after what sounded a very decent shift in midweek as the lone striker, his efforts to play on the right of the three supporting Cameron Jerome came up a little short.
Unlike Vrancic he’s well schooled in what it takes to negotiate the Championship but right now he appears one a little unsure of his place, or if he has one it’s on the fringes. What he doesn’t look like at the moment is someone who scored 12 goals for Barnsley last season and who built his reputation on pace and power. Hopefully once he’s netted his first league goal the confidence will start flowing.
And then of course there’s poor Josh who had an afternoon to match his Bramall Lane experience, although Greg Downs’ Canary Call assessment did feel a little harsh. He’s clearly a sensitive lad – not necessarily the norm for a pro footballer – who thrives on confidence, which at the moment is in short supply.
Alas the fillip of a goal at Griffin Park was short-lived and yesterday was one of those where the decision-making was wayward and the dropped shoulder largely ineffective. However the negative body language of which Downs spoke was, for me, a fragility of belief rather the evidence of him not being ‘on it’.
Part of the Josh conundrum comes from the reliance on him to deliver in the current set-up. Take him out of the equation and it’s a squad not blessed with blistering pace and one more designed to shift the ball methodically from A to B and onto C through the thirds. Josh offers something different; the ability to knock the ball into the grass behind and leave a full back in his wake. And we need that variation.
To be fair, Yanic Wildschut offers something similar on the other flank, albeit his skill-set is of a less graceful ilk, and the impetus gained from his driving runs did impact on the game in the second half. Unfortunately by then Bristol City had retreated and lost any genuine interest in winning the game; their sole intention being to keep it at ‘nil’. And they did it very well.
Wes, when he arrived, was unable to break down an impenetrable red wall and found himself shuffling sideways rather than forwards, and all afternoon Cameron Jerome was unable to impose himself physically against centre-backs for whom the whole 90+ minutes were probably just a little too comfortable. It was clearly one where Cam had run himself into the ground by 70 minutes and was crying out for a strutting Portuguese alternative to offer a different type of threat.
It was that type of afternoon. A nearly afternoon. But it was also one where we earned our fourth Championship clean sheet in a row – and that’s something not to be sniffed.
We could with hindsight question the head coach’s team of choice but it’s clear he was looking to maximise his resources in order to have some fresh and energetic legs available for Boro on Tuesday night and then for Reading next Saturday. So the benefit of the doubt should be granted.
That two thirds of the team is functioning like a well oiled machine right now has to be a good thing; that the attacking third is struggling to break teams down at Carrow Road is, at the moment, the payback. But it’s one that’s worthy and at least means there is a solid base from which the team is performing.
Boro will naturally be a massive test and will be a good barometer of progress but to progress from from the nightmares of Millwall and Villa to where we are now in a very short space of time is no mean feat.
Oh, and by the way… seen these?
#Norwich have kept 4️⃣ consecutive league clean-sheets for 1st time in 1️⃣6️⃣
years since Aug – Sept 2001.⚽️⛔️✅ #NCFC #OTBC pic.twitter.com/c4yCBawGRs
— Goodbrand Stats (@StatsChristian) September 23, 2017
Also came after a 4-0 defeat away to Millwall. We finished 6th and reached PO final. ? https://t.co/FJqdfP2re9
— Adam Brandon (@AdamBrandon84) September 23, 2017
Interesting eh?
On the Ball City…
I was in the river end yesterday. If,come January, Josh Murphy hasn’t upped his game I’d bite the hand off any manager that’s prepared to offer £8 million plus for his signature and invest in a decent striker. Josh seems to be too lightweight to me and his body language says it all.
He’s a confidence player. I sit front-row of the City Stand and you can see his body language change when things don’t go his way. As fans we should be getting behind him. On his day, there’s no one better in this division.
Hi Gary very interesting read and the breakdown off player quite telling in as much that teams are seeing the improvement in city and are planning accordingly, but they also know that we have a weakness at present in the goal scoring department.
City spent as yet an unkown amount on a young goal scorer from Belgium that so the EDP says was wanted by clubs in France and quite a few in championship.
Gill has said he is a bruiser of a player and technically sound so my question is why no try him from the bench while N O isn’t avaliable to play he just might score or open up the opposition and allow someone else too.
I don’t buy the whole “not creating chances” argument that some seem to have. Pinto put two brilliant slide rule passes through their defence that no one read. All either would have needed was a run along the back line, then one on one with the goalkeeper. Oliveira would’ve made those runs. All of our attacking players can do it too.
The other interesting thing I noticed was the lack of movement up top, once Wes entered the fray. They were expecting him to conjure something from nothing.
Confidence is lacking in a few of our forward players at the moment, it seems.
Hi Daniel.
Yes confidence is a major factor but not the only mitigation in not scoring.
If the team are waiting for Wes to come on and do something special then Farke needs to address this asap it is a team game not wait till a 35 year old comes on, will it be the same when Pritchard returns from injury.
A few weeks ago it was Maddison who was heir apparent to Wes but he isn’t getting game time.
If we are short up top there are still ex premiership and championship players looking for a club that city could sign without to much outlay, either till January with an option till the end of season if the club doesn’t want to give an under 23 a chance.
I’m sorry Alex B, but Maddison was struggling with an injury for most of the week (not surprising seeing the ‘battering’ he gets every week) and I’m guessing DF is saving him so as to be fully fit for Tuesday’s trip to the Riverside.
Thats fair game didn’t know he had been injured.
Exactly farke has addressed the defensive problems now the rest will follow hopefully ….i have every faith in this man and he deserves patience to get what he wants across and even to a certain degree he needs also to learn what works in this division ,which i am sure he will .
Its all very much a work in progress and i am finding it exciting :))
Injuries are gradually clearing up so Team Farke will have big decisions to make, With only 3 choice strikers an injury will always leave the team short.
Yes he has addressed the defence and the holding midfielders they are all good pluses in his learning curve and a long and successful career at city, my only concern is the strikers if we can’t afford to buy one then lets give someone from the under 23 side a taste from the bench once we are winning even just for 5 to 10 mins.
I worry that Josh Murphy may have reached his potential and it’s not good enough at this level. In this team and set up we are looking for regular 7/10 performances. Josh only comes up with that occasionally.
Cameron Jerome is an enigma, a brute of a man with no aggression in his entire body. He has pace to spare but very rarely uses it. He is tall but cannot win headers.
Nelson Oliviera is a much better striker and we are missing him. The squad is a lot more balanced considering we have only had one transfer window, however I hope Webber and Farke focus on the attacking end of the pitch come January.
Josh Murphy – so much ability but sadly so little heart. Yesterday was a game crying out for him to impose himself on the game and create but again he ducked out of several robust challenges. On one occasion a guy in front of me (South stand) called him out for wimping out of yet another challenge and whilst the game was going on he turned and told the guy to f*** off. So disappointing
Are you disappointed in the lack of support for Murphy or his reaction to it? To be honest, I’m more disappointed in the lack of support.
Yeah cos what a young player with huge potential and only a handful of 1st team games under his belt needs is supporters ‘calling him out’.
Just like the loyal supporters at the U23 game v Sunderland last year who criticised every mistake our players made. WTF is wrong with you people?
I really enjoyed yesterdays game for it’s quick passages of play from both teams. The Reed/Trybull combo made us look fitter and busier than I’ve seen us for a long time. I do not, however, understand what is going on with James Maddison. He seems to offer everything that Wes has given us over the years but with an extra urgency and a shot that is a genuine threat. I was disappointed that he didn’t start against Burton Albion or Bristol City but in both games expected him to arrive as a sub, hopefully at half-time. I think that Wes’s 25 minutes yesterday were further proof that Maddison, then Pritchard, will soon replace him, as sad as that is for those of us who have marvelled at his old fashioned skills over the last decade.
A decent, competitive, and mostly entertaining game.
Fixing the defense wasn’t the first part and being able to throw six players (from a decently sized selection) at it has helped. Fixing the attack is going to be a larger issue. We can’t throw the same number of players and we don’t have the bank of them to call from. Hopefully we’ll see some movement in the January window.
uGood report Gary. Obviously the defensive failings do appear to have been solved, but is it at the expense of our attacking prowess?? I wonder if we hadn’t played the “friendly” at Cambridge if Hanley would be an NCFC player, and we could therefore have used that money to get us another forward option??
The defence and holding midfield players were (for my money) excellent yesterday, but our initial wide-men in Murphy and Watkins were just not on it, and, allied to another typical Jerome performance of lots of running but no end product led to another bank in the goals for column.
However, given Bristol City’s current good form (and I thought they looked a very decent side), after the Villa and Millwall performances a point and another clean sheet is not to be sniffed at.
As for those fans on the radio yesterday who said we should be wiping the floor with the likes of Bristol City; wake up. There really are NO easy games in this division.
Most successful Championship teams are built on a solid defence which we now have. Whilst Trybull is rightly getting many plaudits for his recent performances, I think Zimmerman deserves an honourable mention. Since Klose’s return he really has looked the part too.
A change such as we’ve had over the summer was going to take time to be effective; it definitely looks as if Mr Farke and co are getting there, and of course we have the return of Pritchard to look forward to..
Roll on Tuesday.
O T B C
It looks like we have only one so called striker. other than Nelson who is pron to injury, I’m afraid CJ is not up to standard as a striker these days. I remember a lot of supporters moaning when rumor had it that a number of Championship clubs were willing to pay £ 5 or 6 million for him in the summer, can’t let him go he’s a Championship striker and runs himself into the ground for the team. Sorry the job of a striker is to score goals. I think £5 million would have been good money and we should have been looking for a new one with the money, he may have scored a few goals last season, but how many did he miss???
So now we are left with a good striker, although injury pron and no other striker who’s going to score 15/20 goals a season. The moans after Millwall were about the defence, but there were always enough of them when they came good, sure enough now being proven, but strikers were in short supply.
If we are not willing to give a youngest the chance up front, then we will have to wait until January, which is a long way off. Last 4 league games, 4 clean sheets yes , but only 2 goals!!!