It’s never a good sign when all of the talk before a game is over who is not playing, and the net result of a crazy, crazy night at Stoke is that this is likely to continue for a few more weeks yet.
As expected Lukas Rupp didn’t make the starting XI, but Daniel Farke was able to call upon the services of Alex Tettey, who only a few months ago was indispensable in the Canary midfield. Josh Martin was also bought in.
The game began with all the pace and excitement of a grandmaster chess tournament. Stoke formed a line of three half-way into the City half and were content to allow Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson to play the ball back and forth, secure in the knowledge that the options behind were well marshalled.
This didn’t stop City for long though. Martin did well to retain possession on the left and knock the ball infield to Teemu Pukki. He found Marco Stiepermann in the centre who fed the ball to Emi Buendia. One-nil.
Ten minutes later it got better. Buendia received the ball inside the Norwich half and played a first-time, curling long ball behind the defence. Pukki ran onto it, chested it down and smashed a left-foot shot across the goal and in.
It was all going so well.
Ten minutes later, the game – and possibly the next few games – took a decisive turn. After a clearance, Tim Krul went down with what seemed to be a thigh injury and went straight off. Michael McGovern is a very experienced keeper, let us not forget that, but he isn’t able to play the ball out from the back in the same way, and this almost proved decisive.
Although Stoke came out for the second half with a renewed intensity, it was initially to little effect and they created few chances. Tettey was doing a great job as foil to Oliver Skipp and showed great tenacity to win the ball in midfield, poking it to Martin, who fed the ball to a suspiciously offside-looking Pukki who rounded the keeper to score his second.
Moments later, it all began to go wrong.
Firstly, the superb Buendia went in for a 50/50 ball, high up the pitch collecting a soft yellow but 10 minutes later, with Christoph Zimmermann ready to come on for Pukki, he raised a boot going in for another needless tackle and was sent off.
Within a minute, a cross from the left was headed into the back of the net by Tyrese Campbell and Stoke were back in the game.
From then on, it was all Stoke.
City were simply unable to get the ball away or keep possession. Skipp made a superb tackle in the penalty area and from the resulting corner, Zimmermann was beaten to the ball by Nathan Collins. 2-3.
It was then wave after wave of long balls into the box and corners for the last 20 minutes. City defended stoically but the ball kept coming back time and time again.
Finally, after five added minutes, the whistle was blown.
So, three more points, still top of the league, but at what cost?
Losing Krul will be a huge blow and another suspension for Buendia will strain an already depleted squad to its limits. Once again, the most critical members of the squad over the next few weeks are likely to be the physio team.
Cruise control .
Clumsy challenges
Coronary .
Its the Norwich way.
Should be used to it by now
Very accurate read James. I watched on iFollow but have to admit I spent most of the last twenty minutes walking around the house rather than watching.
I’ve realised during lockdown that it’s far harder to watch City on a screen than it is in the ground.
Unfortunately with Emi you have to accept the temperament along with the brilliance. Krul will be a huge irreplaceable loss as he’s not only an outstanding keeper but also the experienced calming influence.
I hope we have some new recruits lined up in the next transfer window as we’re definitely going to need them.
Reading some of the social media comments about McGovern, you could be forgiven for thinking he is about as good in goal as me. He’s an international keeper and I don’t imagine that there are many better back-up keepers in the Championship. He came on against a team managed by someone who has picked him as first choice many more times than DF. McGovern isn’t close to being as good as Krul, but he’s certainly no Theoklitos either.
Emi’s first foul might not have been a booking on another day, his second one may have been a straight red on another day. Gladly, it’s only a one game suspension, His inability to be pragmatic in these situations partly explains why he’s playing for us and not one of Europe’s giants.
Six points from successive away games at Boro and Stoke is outstanding. There’s enough quality left in the squad to ensure the momentum isn’t interrupted too much. Imagine what a force we’ll be if we ever get a completely fit pool to pick from!
Hi James
A great breakdown of last nights game unfolded.
Farke needs to realise that once Buendia gets booked he is like a headless turkey losing control of his emotions and is more than likely to get a second so should hook him asap and have left Martin on at least we might have finished with 11 players on the pitch.
How Stoke’s third was disallowed I will never know from a game of complete dominance in the first half and most of the second we nearly lost it.
An injured keeper to a man getting sent off was our undoing McGovern just doesn’t have the rest of the defences confidence after so long on the bench.
Stoke reverted back to Pulis ball once city were down to 10 men up and over and nearly got a point so well done city to hold on after a testing 20mins.
We really need a couple of bits of good news on the injury front and on Sky ex city striker Ashton said city can afford to lose a couple of players as they have a strong squad has he looked at it lately.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and stay healthy
Enjoyable read James. Yes, I think if we need to make any more additions to the squad, it will be to the physio team itself! After all, they now have a whole starting eleven’s worth of potential first teamers on the treatment table.
Ridiculous game though. I need a few more comfortable wins (which I thought we were getting yesterday) to calm the nerves a bit.