Goals win games.
That’s what “they” say, isn’t it? And we came up with three pretty damn good ones at Ashton Gate at mid-day on Saturday.
A classic through-ball to Teemu Pukki from Marco Stiepermann early doors and our Finnish friend did his stuff. It was a privilege to see it hit the net really.
Pukki’s second around the 14-minute mark was equally impressive. A beautiful diagonal ball from Lungi Sorensen and a slight deflection from Bristol City skipper Tomas Kalas saw that one safely in the onion bag as well.
But we are Norwich after all and less than two minutes later Tim Krul [more of him in a while] beat out a shot that was hooked back from the left to be picked up by Jack Hunt on the right who fired it across our Tim to make it 1-2 and keep the pot boiling until half time.
Daniel Farke started to become very vocal at this juncture and certainly “got involved” with his players to put it in polite terminology.
And then came first-half stoppage time, which is something we tend not to see too much of. And as the non-functional pitchside digital clock ticked along to the magic figure of 45+2 along came the goal that won the game.
Another beautiful long ball, in this case from Ben Gibson, was taken down by Emi Buendia and two touches later it was in the back of the Bristol City net. What a way to bag your first of the season – if by any remote chance you haven’t seen it you really must, it’s that good.
And a kick in the gonads for the Robins just before half time. That’s a fantastic time to score as we all well know and especially when it restores the margin to two clear goals.
But equally, we all knew it wasn’t done and dusted. This is Norwich City we’re talking about here. But the second half was pretty even with more thrust from the Robins than ourselves, which is quite understandable when they are chasing the game and we are not.
Enter the mighty aforementioned Dutchman.
In real-time I didn’t see him getting the very tip of his glove to deflect Chris Martin’s excellent [but, c’mon, speculative] long-ranger onto the inside of the post and fortuitously away, but on the replays he definitely did. Just as he denied Martin’s header in the first half with yet another spectacular stop.
Lungi Sorensen’s involvement for the Robins’ penalty I don’t really want to dwell on but even so, Krul played his part in psyching out Nahki Wells.
Penalty taken. Krul grounded. Ball well over the bar. If Bristol had scored that we might have ended up in trouble but it didn’t happen and towards the end, Placheta was getting a little more freedom and we could have added a fourth.
If ever a match highlighted our strengths and weaknesses in equal proportion it was this one.
But whether it was a coach or [more likely] a plane back from Bristol on Saturday afternoon, I’d bet my butt that our guys will have enjoyed the collective journey home.
And they deserve to because that was an extremely encouraging performance.
Hi Martin. Yes, it was a very encouraging performance, and the result to go with it, which we haven’t always had.
It was interesting to see that two of the three goals were scored from long balls, (and the pass from Stieperman wasn’t exactly short, either). It seems we’re now prepared to mix our game up a bit, and not just try to short pass our way through the centre of defences. While you’re right that Emi as on the move early for Gibson’s pass, I loved the way Teemu was pointing to exactly where he wanted Sorenson to put the ball for his second goal, and the Dane obliged.
Anyway, that performance gave me a real lift, before Boris tried to spoil my weekend!
Hi Jim
Yes you’re quite right about Pukki showing the Sorensen where he wanted the ball. I actually didn’t pick up on that myself until the initial replay of the goal when it became obvious.
It’s great to see us mixing it up a bit for the first time in quite a while.
As for Boris this is a [NCFC anyway] family website so I’ll make no comment 😉
Cheers
Terrific summary as usual Martin and a great read on this breezy Monday morning and as you rightly say – ‘three quality goals.’
A rather clumsy challenge from Sorenson to concede the penalty, but Krul ‘has a word’ with the penalty taker and as Gary said yesterday, Wells was trying to get it over the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Some of Krul’s other saves were fantastic and despite the Sky commentator saying that Krul was nowhere near Martin’s effort, replays showed that he got a fingertip to it. When you consider that he cost us ‘diddly squat’- he could now replace a few GKs in the PL.
Has our ‘Finnish finisher’ rediscovered his mojo in time to keep NCFC at the right end of the Championship table?? Only time will tell, but I felt that the overall performance on Saturday demonstrated the hard work done by DF, his coaches and the players themselves.
The team is definitely beginning to gel and IF we could defend set pieces more comfortably, I’m sure we’d all feel more confident that the team could do very well in the coming months.
Thirteen points from a possible 15 – what’s not to like, but two pivotal games coming up this week. After the International break, we have 8 games before Xmas and IF we can collect 15 or more points from that run of fixtures, we’ll head into the next transfer window at the right end of the table and the likes of Emi and Todd may opt to stay at CR.
IMO, one of the most pleasing aspects was that the team didn’t react like ‘rabbits in headlights’ after the Robin’s goal and then Buendia’s goal just before half time, was WORLD class. The way he brought the ball down and then rifled the shot past Bentley was superb. How many times in the past have we conceded just before half time??
The passes from Sorensen and Gibson to create the 2nd and 3rd goals were outstanding to say the least and if they had been created by any PL players, Shearer and co would have been lavish in their praise.
Chris Martin always seems to save his best games for when he plays against us and I remember his exuberance resulted in him being sent off a few seasons ago when he was at Derby.
Morning Ed
Yeah as I said I missed the Krul fingertip save too – you can only really see it on that clip on Sky taken from slightly left of the goal.
Tim’s back in the Dutch squad, obviously happy here and I would cross my fingers and say he’ll quite possibly see out his contract with us.
Of course we still have issues at the back and zonal marking from set pieces doesn’t always allow us to pitch Hanley, Gibson [or Stiepermann and Hugill if they’re on the field] against the oppo’s tall aerial threats. It might work for some clubs but it certainly doesn’t for us. I hate the concept myself.
Sure tomorrow and Saturday will be big – but aren’t they all?
Thanks as ever
Another enjoyable Monday morning with my coffee. that is 4 points Krul has won us over the two tough away games.. I said yesterday, I heard plenty moaning about Krul in his first season, he was and still is a world-class keeper, that does not disappear over an enforced break from the game.
I was a little surprised at how easy it looked to score on Saturday, that is down to the skill of players. But Bristol looks a bit of a shadow of themselves from their first 4 games. A lot of that must be down to an injury list akin to our last season. But take nothing away from the victory, we can only beat what is in front of us, I think we did that very well indeed. Vintage Pukki, sublime by Emi matched by Tim’s saves. Who can’t be happy with that? By far the best so far.
No moaning about anyone, yes mistakes made but equally moments of brilliance takes a lot to hit a pass distance and on the sixpence (5p piece size for young un’s) All round we clicked.
Onto two equally tough looking home games, Millwall and Swansea. Millwall will be the toughest in my view, playing their way will test Hanley, Gibson & c0. Swansea may be a bit more open for us, the ball may be more on the green stuff than with snow on. I think we may be looking at 6 points, 4 would not be out if order anything else and some of the hard work will be thrown away.
Thanks again Mr P and all other writers
Hi Lad
Bristol have never really looked the same to me since Aiden Flint left. They weren’t quite in the *we can only beat what’s put in front of us* category to these eyes but having said that, we excelled them in terms of sheer quality which was so pleasing.
I don’t think anybody writing [or largely commenting] on MFW likes to castigate individual players cos of course it achieves absolutely nothing. To balance that it took me a while to be won over by Lukas Rupp but I’m glad I kept my powder dry.
Andy Delf commented on Gary’s piece yesterday that he [Rupp] is becoming the beating heart of the team and he was spot on.
Have a look at our MFW Millwall preview later on – maybe we won’t get quite such the expected aerial battering after all, especially as Kenneth Zahore is ruled out.
Cheers
Better . Flowing football that Bristol’s defence couldn’t handle . Still defensive flaws on show, Are we set for another run of we score more than we let in games.
The biggest problem is the zonal marking, as Martin points out above it gives the attacking team the choice of putting their big guys up against our shorter defenders by attacking the zone lacking in physical stature.
Sorenson is doing OK as a stand in full back but he is making the errors you expect in his defensive work, wrong side of attacker , wrong choice of when and how to tackle, oops a penalty.
Can’t see Farke changing it any time soon though, so more nervy moments to come .
Hi Bernie
As well as he’s done if Sorensen continues at LB teams will start to target him. Gary Rowett is no man’s fool and will have picked up on this for sure.
Quite right about zonal [ugh] marking. As I said to Ed [above]:
*Of course we still have issues at the back and zonal marking from set pieces doesn’t always allow us to pitch Hanley, Gibson [or Stiepermann and Hugill if they’re on the field] against the oppo’s tall aerial threats. It might work for some clubs but it certainly doesn’t for us. I hate the concept myself.*
Hope all is cool on the Colne 🙂
Nice to have that game on Sky on my subscription. That performance was just like many of those in the Championship winning campaign. So many positives all through the team. Haven’t seen much said about Aarons, Skipp and Rupp but they were important to that win. Rupp is definitely a decent player at this level. He is filling the Trybull role of 2018/19. He seems to have plenty of energy.
We need to keep people fit and avoid suspensions so if needed we have cover all over the pitch. The only area that bothers me is goalkeeper. McGovern is so far short of Krul’s level.
Two important games this week. It would be great to keep the undefeated run going into the international break.
OTBC
Hi Colin
Yes, there’s complete common sense in what you say. McGovern is simply seeing his time out here but I can’t blame him because he’s nothing but the consummate professional. He plays an identical role with Northern Ireland too these days of course.
As for Rupp and Skipp neither is explosive but I’ve so far been pretty impressed with the pairing. Neither will grab the headlines but I don’t care too much about that tbh.
As Noddy [the Enid Blyton one] might say: let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Another three points hopefully.
Thanks a lot.
The obsession with NCFC conceding from set pieces is wearisome. From memory we have conceded just two of our eight goals against this season from a set piece and both of those were direct and not the fault of poor defending of the set piece; the brilliant Rooney free kick for Derby and the Preston Penalty.
For the avoidance of doubt we did not concede from a set piece on Saturday against Bristol City we conceded from open play.
Hi MGW
Yes – fair enough and obviously you are factually correct. But why does my heart descend into my boots whenever any opposition player wins a corner? 🙂
It’s your heart and they are your boots, Martin.
🙂
Thank you Martin, and isn’t it odd that the Farke out squad are suddenly very quiet?
3 superb goals; the usual ACN moment immediately following the second, but overall an excellent away display which sets us up well for the 2 tough games this week.
Everybody played their part, but just think of the comments on MotD if Buendia’s goal had been scored by LiVARpool or Man Citeh (even Quest seemed to forget about it).
One worry for me is that we seem to be collecting yellow cards as if they’re going out of fashion….our embryonic settled defence may soon be disrupted by the obligatory suspension(s).
Finally a word for Lukas Rupp, who has suddenly become a shoe-in selection which is not something I every thought I would say (or type!!).
O T B C
Ha yes John – the murmurings re DF out have indeed gone very quiet. I think it was after the Wycombe game, that a caller suggested that DF should drop Buendia, so I hope he was able to buy a BIG humble pie on Saturday afternoon.
Indeed, I mentioned earlier re Shearer and co commenting on our 2nd and 3rd goals had they been on MotD and not Quest. 😀
Never been part of the *Farke Out* brigade. I think it comes basically from the theory that Delia would never dismiss him whatever the results.
Which may well be true!
Hi John
There’s a fair bit of humble pie being consumed about Lukas Rupp. Although I haven’t written about it on MFW I was starting to have some very serious doubts. I’m glad I didn’t put them in an article!
As for Quest, Colin Murray’s run-through of Hallow’een references was a joy to behold. I’d take that programme over MotD any day of the week. Darren Bent or Alan Shearer? The job’s yours Darren even though you were a Binner!
Cheers
Very satisfying result and performance, I can’t think of any of our players who under performed.
It’s good to see Rupp looking calm and assured now he’s playing in a position with which he’s comfortable. As Althea & Donna would almost certainly say, Rupp’s grown, top ranking.
The 4 games either side of the international break look tough, but no one will be looking forward to facing us at the moment.
Hi Don
*I can’t think of any of our players who under performed*. Yes mate you are spot on with that one – we were a unit.
Whatever happened to Althea & Donna? Or indeed Drmic & Leitner, come to that.
Another tough one tomorrow.
Cheers
Good report MP and absolutely deserved praise of the mighty Krul. I always remember being told as a kid that a top goalkeeper will earn you an extra 10-15 points a season (or something in that region) and seeing the likes of Neville Southall and Peter Schmiechel pulling off saves that pushed their sides towards the title. I’m not saying our Tim ranks up with those two, but when you think of Norwich keepers such as Gunn, Woods and Green, how many vital points did they win us when we were near the top of our respective divisions? Krul has already been crucial in several games so far (penalty save at Rotherham, that save at Brentford, the header at Ashton Gate to name three). He looks a better keeper now than two seasons ago and remains very highly thought of in the North East where I currently reside.
As for the performance, that was our best of the season for me and a throwback to the last promotion season. It was a delight to see Emi score a lovely goal that he is so capable of, plus seeing Pukki looking like he did twelve months ago. As long as we don’t pick up any more injuries or a suspension in our threadbare defence, I hope we can push on and keep getting points on the board.
Hi Jason
In my youth keepers such as Pat Jennings, Bob Wilson and certainly Peter Shilton were definitely thought of in that category. KK too, although he flew under the media radar.
You’re right to use the word throwback – the performance was just that.
As for Krul I know the Mags hold him in high regard to this day. I’ve never lived in your neck of the woods but I used to work at Seal Sands near Haverton Hill quite a bit. It’s where I discovered lemon tops, pie&peas, Brown Ale and a couple of other local attractions 😉
They call themselves the *real people* and they’re not wrong.
Cheers
That’s an area I haven’t come across Martin, partly because I am less familiar with County Durham than other areas I have been to. Heaven knows when I’ll be able to check it out given the endless (and now increased) restrictions up here.
Perhaps the most surreal thing when I moved up to Newcastle was going into my manager’s office and seeing a picture of Tim Krul on her wall! Turned out her grandkids had won an award and he was presenting it. She was very complimentary about him, as are my mag supporting colleagues, who see his time here as rather unlucky due to injury.
Regarding Kevin Keelan, I’ve come across City supporters much older than myself who talk about him in almost biblical terms, as if he was a player from another dimension.. Gutted he retired the season before I started attending.
Interesting.
As it was largely the 1970s and I was living in London throughout that decade I only really saw NCFC when we played in London apart from a couple of memorable trips to Carrow Road where my memories of KK originate.
I was referring to Teesside rather than Co Durham – the bit that used to be part of North Yorkshire years ago until the council changed it. I did once go to the University of Durham for work but that doesn’t really count.
I’ve never been to Newcastle – or indeed Sunderland – in my life. As places as well as football grounds tbh. Closest I got to the Bigg Market was Cramlington – work again and quite a few miles away!
They’re terrific people up there mate.
Hi Martin
It was an excellent to watch and after Gary’s good summary now this article just completes the match experience.
As we have noted too many Yellow cards every tackle seems to add to the collection yet on Saturday a few Bristol late tackles never got a reaction from the Ref but that’s life at the moment.
So an Early kickoff for the Millwall game and possibly a few more during this latest lockdown all due to numbskulls that can’t stick to a few simple rules just like Delia in her podcast to Boris silly Moo.
Macullum scored a screamer for Coventry at the weekend after coming on as a sub and hasn’t played a full game as yet and there is city will no left back due to injuries will never fathom out why we loaned he back to them.
Famewo got a slight knock for Charlton another loan I can’t understand but getting lots of game time just maybe a recall in January or will city stretch the budget and purchase/loan a ready made fit in only time will tell.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and stay healthy
Hi Alex
Even without Alex Tettey the yellow cards do keep coming down the track which could translate to *we’re getting stuck in* so I’m quite okay with it really.
The Sam McCallum loan-out mystifies me as much as it obviously does you. Dunno.
As for the Delia comment *silly moo* is only relevant to those of us who remember *Till Death do us Part* which will never be seen via MSM again.
Trouble is all the snowflakes don’t realise that creator Johnny Speight quite deliberately hung out Alf Garnett to dry and do not understand what was really the message behind the programme.
Is * silly moo* an accurate soubriquet for Delia? Don’t ask me, we’re now going to run the dogs on the beach 😉
Cheers
I was actually thinking a lot worse to call her it is sad that her word is the NCFC gospel for so many.
When first came in it was like a breath of fresh air and her promise was she would never stay to long and go stale didn’t that point come somewhere around 2004 or maybe earlier.
Hope you had a good walk we had other duties to full fill today lol
Goalkeeper and striker are key players in football. Krul is good goalkeeper and he seems very motivational still, has been third goalie of Netherlands team. Euro21 surely gives him more motivation too. He was free transfer, I suppose he was without club? Its kind of fairytale story, player whose career was supposed to be over is playing maybe better than ever before.
I suppose Sorensen has played ok even in left back? He comes from club which was relegated last season from danish superliga. Denmark produce quite physical players which of course have good basic football skills. British football fans often underestimate other football leagues in europe. I would not underestimate Sinani either, Luxemburg football has developed and he has been their main man. Does he fit to english football style and/or basic life there is unknown issue of course.
Hi 1×2
It’s always good to hear from somebody with a knowledge of pan-European football. I can claim a pretty fair knowledge of La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga but after that I’m well and truly stuffed!
In the case of Tim Krul I reckon it’s as as simple as a great player rediscovering himself. To think he was warming the Brighton bench makes me queasy tbh.
Ashamedly I have next to no knowledge of football in Denmark but believe me Jacob Lungi Sorensen has acquitted himself very well so far – especially playing wrong-sided in what has to be an unnatural position for him.
No NCFC fan has seen Sinani yet so we really cannot say. We don’t give a monkey’s where a player emanates from if he can do a job for us!
Thank you
Hi mate well summed up good goals think Emi would be on score sheet more often if he didnt try to overdo things so much rupp looks like en importa y Player for us this year .just hope the social media bashers would give people more time to prove themselves as i feel we have a Great chance of goin up .shame the cromer virus goin to rob us of seeing it in person😊
Hi Kev
I’m on the Mundesley/Trimingham border for the next few days and don’t really fear the C[o]romer virus too much but I know what you mean.
Maybe we’ll return to stadia in 2021-22? According to my NHS manager daughter even that is unlikely.
As for anti-social media I’ve never done it and never will. But I do understand why the young guns use it. If I were, say, 30 years younger I probably would too.
Cheers mate
Definitely the most reassuring game of the season. We need to be bagging 2-3 a game, because we’re not defending our way out of this league.
Also, Tim Krul. Already a club legend.
Ha!
Spot on with both comments.
Thanks Dave
Krul is fast becoming a legend for us and you have to hand it to him (quite literally) for turning his career around and reaching his Newcastle levels performance wise.
Thirty two is probably prime age for GK so perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised and if he can stay fit it’s reassuring to know we’ve got a top keeper for at least another 2/3 years, providing a bigger club doesn’t get tempted and he fancies a swansong.
In all the years I’ve been watching Norwich, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so confident that our keeper will save a penalty, or at the very least ****house the opponent to the extent he fluffs his lines!
Agree with your comments Martin that we still look jittery on set plays, but other than that things look they’re starting to click into place.
The last two games have also shown that Emi is, for the time being at least, committed to the cause and looking back to his best. We do have a lot of quality at this level and Farke’s biggest challenge may well be keeping everyone happy, or relatively happy, at the very least!
Segura, the feeling about penalties is spot on. It’s got to the point now where I’m more confident Krul is going to save the kick or the taker is going to miss. Plus it has really got up the noses of other fans, as shown by plenty of choice comments after his antics at Spurs last season in the cup last season. I mean, how dare a Norwich player start showing a little bit of gamesmanship instead of rolling over? It’s not like anybody else does the same thing…
Perhaps a latter day version of Paul Cooper in terms of his potential penalty stopping power (“Paul who” say the youngsters!)
Paul who? He was even shorter than me and I’m only 5’9″.
But I think he had a bit part in Escape to Victory with Pele and Mooro. Which is something more than I’ve ever achieved in my life!
The following conversation allegedly took place during the spurs penalty shoot out….
Krul: What’s your name son?
Parrot: Parrot
Krul: You’re so **** we haven’t even got any stats on you!
If that’s true [and I’ll take your word for it] then I reckon Oscar Wilde would have been proud of it 🙂
Hi Segura
Wise words mate, as Smashy might have said to Nicey or the other way round.
I agree with you that early 30s is probably the peak of a keeper’s career – Tim Krul at least appears to be proving the point right now.
As for DF keeping them happy I’m sure he’ll give it his best shot – after all he seems to be a very diplomatic kind of guy.
Thank you.
Hi Martin,
Good read as always, thanks.
For all my frustration in the way we set about the Brentford game, saturday was so much better mixing up incisive passes like Stieperdude’s excellent pass to Pukki for the 1st goal or Sorensen’s and Gibson’s long passes for the 2nd and 3rd. Using Plachetta’s pace for counter attack’s in the 2nd half when we were under a bit more pressure from Bristol, so much better and effective. However, it can’t be ignored that Bristol did afford a lot of space and their press wasn’t very good in the 1st half. But what is also heartening is that we were able to exploit their frailties.
A mention for Tim Krul who arguably had his part to play in the Bristol’s 1st goal but completely get a free pass from me for the superb saves from both Chris Martin’s efforts and also psyching out Nahki Wells for his hilarious penalty. This just reinforces how important he is for us and is winning points for us.
Tomorrows game will be more difficult I get the feeling that Millwall are a different proposition than they were 2 seasons ago (but will still be very physical). So it will be interesting to see if we can maintain Saturday’s performance levels.
The real test of our top 6 credentials will come on Saturday against Swansea a home win against them and I will be a believer!!
Cheers
John
Hi John
I never liked either the Monkees or Neil Diamond, although the early Deep Purple with Rod Evans did a decent version of Kentucky Woman.
I remember the sacred Wesley trying something akin to Wells all those years ago. We could hear Lambert from the Barclay after it’s failure but I think we nicked that match by the odd goal in the end. I simply cannot remember who it was against- I don’t have photographic recall like some of our readers and writers.
Millwall have indeed made stylistic changes – see the MFW preview.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for your reply.
The Monkees – manufactured bubble gum pop of the worst kind!! They and their record label have a lot to answer for, I think they probably they set the template for success in modern pop music for many many years until the advent of Pop Idiot or whatever its called now!!
Ha, I remember that Wesley’s penalty too – Leicester comes to mind??
I think Holty was put on penalties after that!! 😂
Fingers and toes crossed another successful night’s football against Millwall
Cheers