All good things… etc, but it’s no less disappointing when those good thing do come to an end.
And that nine-game winning run was a good thing. A bloody marvellous thing.
That we let slip a couple of points yesterday was not the end of the world, especially after said run has opened up a more-than-healthy eight-point lead at the top of the league, but this group deserves to be tagged ‘record-breakers’. Hopefully, that’s still to come.
Arguably a bigger blow than losing the game was, potentially, losing the services of Ben Gibson for the rest of the season. Technically on loan from Burnley he may be, but the Teessider has quickly established himself as the beating half of this team alongside Grant Hanley. They form the rock-solid base from which everything flows.
But anyone who has ever played the game knows what it feels like to roll an ankle and how long it takes to recover. As one whose left ankle had a horrible habit of doing exactly that, I felt Gibbo’s pain and our worst fears were confirmed when Paddy Davitt tweeted a picture of said injury. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re not of a squeamish disposition, it’s here.
An ‘anxious wait’ is the official line but even if it’s not the worst-case scenario of torn ligaments, I don’t see him playing again this season. Although, having said that, in terms of treatment, his will be rather more intense than mine was, which amounted to little more than 20 minutes with a physio every Monday night at Bungay Maltings!
I fear the worst but we have to hope for the best. And, anyway, we know Christoph Zimmermann is the very epitome of ‘he’ll not let you down’.
Football is odd though and does funny things to people (I’m living proof), but it was nevertheless hard to comprehend the mutterings of discontent that emanated from certain corners of social media as City dropped their first two points from the last 30 on offer.
28 points out of 30! That’s unheard of. The last time it was achieved by a City team was in 1985/86, which means you have to be at least 40 to recall it. Therefore a huge chunk of the fanbase has, arguably, have never had it so good. But still a few found a negative slant.
Of course we would all have liked to be celebrating ten in a row but this group of players have gone above and beyond. Nine wins and a draw in the space of just 35 days, and almost all of that time being perceived as the biggest scalp in the division.
These are special times to be a City supporter, even if the supporting is being done from afar, and that our lead at the top of the Championship suffered the slightest of dents as a result of another Watford win should pale into insignificance in the context of dropped points by Brentford and Swansea.
Despite only drawing we ended the day closer to promotion than we started it.
And while we’re talking context, despite Blackburn playing particularly well yesterday and being especially well organised, both with and without the ball, City hit the post, the bar and, through a sleep-deprived Emi, missed what would normally be considered a sitter in the closing minutes.
Not bad for a team that was understandably well short of its base level and light-years away from the level of that first half against Forest.
Personally, I blame our own Robin Sainty for yesterday’s ‘leggy’ display after he (quite rightly) lauded the fitness levels of the group in his EDP column. But they’re not robots and even when the legs are willing, sometimes the mind can be a millisecond behind, especially after the players have been subject to such a gruelling and intense run of games.
I jest of course. Robin was right. Chris Domogalla (club’s head of performance) has created a squad of supermen who have made the seemingly impossible, possible but they’re still human with all the frailties that come with it, and yesterday the energy levels just dipped a bit.
There was still a lovely Farkeball-esque goal to drool over and it says a lot for the fluidity and rotation that it was Kenny McLean who, after a perfectly executed one-two with Kieran Dowell, found himself the most advanced City player. His finish with his wrong foot was unerring and a just reward for some outstanding displays during the unbeaten run.
There was a certain irony in City conceding the leveller from a set-piece – something that’s been barely an issue this season after it being the Achilles heel in 2019-20 – but for Jacob Sorensen to contest Sam Gallagher in the air once the Blackburn sub was allowed to advance unchecked by the row of ‘blockers’ was a tough ask.
It was only the second goal City have conceded at Carrow Road in 2021, so let’s not get too sniffy about it.
So, we march on. Against a Blackburn side that played well, a point is far from the apocalypse, and let’s not forget that Watford need to win three more games than us in the eight that remain to even have a chance of usurping us to the title.
Not happening is it 😉
Gary good read.
Since our “blip” of two losses at the start of the season our record is remarkable. Played 34, won 24, drawn 7, lost 3, goals for 53 and against 23. 79 points. On that run it is no surprise we are 8 points ahead of the next best. Given the slip ups by Swansea and Brentford we probably only need a couple of wins from the last 8 games to achieve automatic promotion. At the start of the season I thought that I was being optimistic to think that we would get in the play offs as I felt the hang over from Project Restart would scar many of our players. How wrong could I have been?
We had enough good chances yesterday to have won but we were slightly off our game but still won. In years gone by I could have seen us losing that game after we conceded but we still created chances at the end.
Giannoulis was a big loss. He has come on leaps and bounds and is crucial to us going forward. Gibson will be a big loss if he is out for the rest of the season as good as Zimbo is he is not a good as Gibson. Let’s hope Hanley comes back safe and sound from his Scotland duties. We also need Skipp and Aarons for the last 8 games. I am looking forward to Martin’s piece on stupid international breaks in a pandemic and EFL game programming.
Stay safe and onwards and upwards.
OTBC
Hi Colin
No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m still steaming about the whole thing but I’m sure I’ll soon calm down enough to do an article for later in the week.
For me yesterday stands as very much a point gained.
Hi Gary. I fall comfortably in the age group that can remember 85/86, and I’m not complaining about yesterday’s result. Blackburn deserved their draw, they had planned in advance how to deal with Farkeball, and Tony Mowbray said as much. I didn’t like him when he was a binner, he was far too good, but I have tremendous respect for him as a manager.
It was game of “if only'” with the woodwork and very good goalkeeping frustrating us, and on a day when you could almost believe that the team had over-indulged somewhat in celebrating Emi’s happy event, since they had a collective off-day, but I’m going to look on it as a point gained rather than two lost, and at least it now relieves the pressure of maintaining that winning run. It’s still ours to loose, rather than someone else’s opportunity to take it from us.
Keep the faith, onwards and upwards, OTBC!
Great effort from the lads yesterday, Blackburn decent side who were very motivated and even a slightly below par performance we were unlucky not to win.
Now 11 points ahead of 3rd with 8 to play. A welcome mini break ahead for most.
How international friendlies can take place given covid in Europe and travel bans I just dont understand. Let’s hope the season can properly finish.
International friendlies are important part of international football. Without friendlies it would be very difficult to offer new players opportunities. Also in friendlies you can try tactically something different and they are also counted to fifa ranking. Same way can be said that in club football there should not be played any friendlies. Covid is everywhere, travelling is not a problem. International football is backbone of professional football.
Interesting opinion, mine is the complete opposite but we are both City fans, happy days.
Great Piece Gary.
To hear some of the comments after yesterday’s draw was astonishing in truth.
This is the most competitive league in the world I would say and 28 points out of a possible 30 is quite remarkable.
Sooner or later we were going to have a slight off-day, when things don’t go for you. Like us twice hitting the woodwork in the first half, one of them goes in and who knows we could have gone on to record our tenth straight win. Or Emi hitting his late chance first time.
Look at Swansea’s luck with dubious penalties, I honestly thought their luck would never run out, well it has and how !
I really hope Ben Gibson is better than he looks, I rolled my ankle in my playing days and I missed half a season. So its no quick fix.
OTBC
Great results overall. Doesn’t matter as long as we stay in the top two. Thought the ref was poor yesterday and the game would have been very different with a Premiership ref. He allowed the Blackburn players to get too tight and if he had been officiating the last 9 games then we would certainly not have won all 9. It just shows you what an impact different refereeing styles makes.
Hi Gary
A good Sunday read.
Blackburn Rovers were more physical than most teams we have played recently and Mowbray was has said he instructed his players not to stand off and get at them as it was the only way they could compete.
One or two comments on the pinkun live coverage said the Ref was letting things flow a little to much, but it is a man’s game and a physical sport so the players should be prepared for a few crunching tackles, but then maybe a booking for the foul on our LB might have calmed the physical side down from them.
Mowbray was always a hard CB so you must expect that side from him and this other Ipshite cohort Mark Venus is the first team coach who had lots of midfield skills so a good combination.
Sad news was Peter Lorimer passing at 74 years old a great footballer and would have graced any team in the 60’s but it was Dirty Leeds where he made his name but was a power shot he had.
Now let’s all hope 🙏 for good news on the injury front and that Gibson will be available for the Preston game if not Zimmbo will fill in with no worries
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Keep Healthy 🙏
I have impossible to understand Blackburn manager post match comments, how they deserved a draw based on highlights of the game. If Norwich highlights about 7 minutes were truthful, then that game was very one sided and Norwich obviously would have deserved a win. Now that it looks like that other team getting straight promotion is Watford, there is clear possibility that all 3 teams which got relegated gets right back to Premier League. To english league football this would be bad thing and in my opinion Gary has already wrote article about parachute money affects. Also because of covid, financial situation is way worse so competition to get to Premier league is probably most limited than ever. This is good news also for Sheffield United, West Bromwich and whoever is third one to get relegated.
Tweaking the nose of Fate, Gary?? That’s almost the equivalent of a commentators curse! 😉
I was thinking (if Watford do their normal job on us) they only need two more wins than us… 😬
Thanks Gary for a decent voice of reason.
OK, I suspect that most of us thought that Blackburn would be win number 10…..but overall I thought they were worth their point. And looking at some comments from Rovers fans, it was far and away their best performance of the season!
Given some of the comments on other sites you would think that we’ve just had another relegation confirmed rather than being just a smidge away from the Premier League (again!!).
For me it was a tale of 2 swinging arms….how the Rovers player got away with pole-axing Giannoulis is beyond me. I was surprised by the lack of ire shown by the commentators; it looked to me as if he knew exactly what he was doing, and was very good at feigning his own”injury” albeit with a smile on his face…..and he needed no treatment whatsoever. Given that yesterday’s referee was only too quick to show Emi a red for his non-tackle against Middlesbrough, he was certainly hoodwinked on this on occasion, and didn’t even speak to the player involved. (Daniel must be kicking himself for giving Quintilla the afternoon off!!).
The second swinging arm came from Todd Cantwell….having tracked back so far, why, oh why did he need to throw his arms above his head to parry the ball… resulting in the free-kick from which Rovers equalised? Yes, he won us 2 points at Sheffield Wednesday but I fear cost us 2 yesterday.
Swansea and Brentford are faltering; Watford have the momentum but have some tough fixtures to come.
Still; I know every other team in the EFL would swap places with us.
O T B C
Giannoulis needs to jump with his arms up – he would have still got flattened but the other guy would have had a very sore head on his forearm. Unfortunately he has learnt his lesson the hard way but at least we now know how valuable he is.