City were dealt yet another blow in the survival stakes last night, losing 2-0 to a comfortable West Ham United at the London Stadium.
There was a cautious air of optimism among the travelling Norwich fans after they had seen a 1-0 win over Charlton on Sunday, but the Hammers’ bright start reminded them what they were up against.
Jarrod Bowen should’ve opened the scoring when he fired straight at City goalkeeper Tim Krul in the sixth minute, before Manuel Lanzini’s effort drifted over the bar.
Kenny McLean and Milot Rashica had the Canaries’ first shots in the form of early sighted from the edge of the box, but the Scot’s strike curled over the bar before Lukasz Fabianski held Rashica’s left-footed effort.
Bowen then thought he’d opened the scoring when he glanced a cross beyond Krul, but VAR left the home fans disappointed when it ruled the goal out for offside.
Minutes later he repeated the trick, and the opener stood. Aaron Cresswell’s cross floated over to Vladimir Coufal, whose cross was headed home by the 25-year-old with aplomb.
Przemyslaw Placheta, who once again showed positive signs but few and far between, had the Canaries’ final half-chance of the opening period but saw his effort saved well by Fabianski.
Once again, United started the half well in the second period, Michail Antonio spinning Grant Hanley 10 yards out. Luckily for Dean Smith’s side, the Jamaican international fired over, but the onslaught didn’t end there. Bowen should’ve had his second when played through on goal, but his chip found the bar rather than Krul’s net.
A surprise inclusion in Smith’s starting XI had been Adam Idah, but the Irishman justified that selection with arguably his best league performance as a Norwich player. His highlight came almost immediately after the Bowen chance, when he stole the ball back and ghosted past Lanzini, cutting inside and firing towards the near post. Had it not been for a combination of excellent goalkeeping and post-related fortune, the Irishman may have been in line for a goal of the season award.
City fans were brought crashing down to Earth when Bowen sealed all three points, however, tapping home Arthur Masuaku’s cross after the marauding wing-back had surged onto Pablo Fornals’ pass.
Antonio, along with several others, had the chance to add to the deficit, but Norwich got away with the scoreline at 2-0, their three-point gap to 17th remaining.
Perhaps there were signs of improvement, but given the ease and routine with which the Hammers took their visitors apart, there is still a great deal of work to be done at Colney.
Player Ratings: Krul 6; Aarons 6, Hanley 6, Gibson 6, Williams 6; Placheta 6, McLean 5, Lees-Melou 5, Rashica 5; Idah 7, Pukki 5. Subs: Dowell 5, Tzolis 5, Rowe 6.
Agree that for the first time Idah looked like he may have a future at this level. Not just the effort which was tipped onto the post but he had a very positive game up to that point, even if on occasion his decision making was off. Hope we give him a run in the team as I think match time is the best way for him to progress from here.
Otherwise pretty difficult to find any positives, at best I’d say Krul, Hanley and Williams played OK. But West Ham could and should have scored more. Another difficult watch.
Funny one Idah. Played a decent game last night and was really effective when he came on at St James Park, yet has looked absolutely abject on other occasions.
Think there is possibly still something there which may eventually come good.. Whether he has to go on loan somewhere to nurture it or battle his way through the dregs of this season, only time will tell.
My biggest disappointment again was a Referee and assistants giving every decision to WHU.
Gibson is a good CB I just don’t think premiership standard and possibly we should have gone with 3 X CB, Hanley showed how much he is missed when injured and was glued to Antonio who kept complaining about the attention he was getting.
A half time seeing the officials walking off talking to the WHU players left me feeling that the result was done and dusted
Let’s face it, Delia needs to stop embarrassing this club through her continued ownership of something she cannot adequately finance and look again at some of the viable options we have received to purchase the club.
Does she honestly think we enjoy watching the rubbish teams she keeps putting out for our supposed entertainment. We are no longer a football club we are a laughingstock!
JohnF
What else has she got now no TV show and no rewrites on her recipe books so little Norwich city has her full attention to the dismay of the majority of supporters, but let’s not protest or bang the drums as others that don’t share these opinions get upset and god forgive if you unfurled a banner that they might see at an away ground.
Football is about light hearted sarcastic remarks made by supporters if you don’t like it don’t go and as for a manager saying those barbbed comments are for after them game please get a sense of humour