I guess this was the original “two points dropped or one point gained?” type of match.
Personally, I am very much in the latter camp on this particular issue but can understand why folks might feel differently.
There was an electric start when a great run from Milot Rashica picked out Adam Idah in the box and his neat layback invited Teemu Pukki to shoot past Vicente Guaita via the inside of the post. I couldn’t get to the game myself but I can guarantee that Steve and Michael, two of my matchday mates behind me in the Barclay, will have missed the goal due to the charms of the Trafford Arms.
Wilfried Zaha executed an absolute scorcher from the angle of the box that Angus Gunn could have done nothing about. The pendulum started to swing and very shortly afterwards – Max Aarons got into a slightly silly tangle in the box with Tyrick Mitchell as the Palace player wrong-sided him and referee Paul Tierney had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Up stepped Zaha, who appeared to slip in his run-up and the ball skidded harmlessly wide of Gunn’s right-hand post. At least you went the right way, Angus!
There was nothing clear-cut after that and with Mathias Normann and Billy Gilmour coming on to replace Pierre-Lees Melou and Pepe Placheta, City held out for the draw that certainly seemed like the right result on the night.
I’m told that young Jonathan Rowe did himself no harm when he replaced Idah towards the end.
As I mentioned above I didn’t go myself but MFW regular Don Harold used my ticket and this was his view as “the man in the ground”.
“I was expecting a crash, bang, wallop of a game, with Norwich’s new-found willingness to get stuck in something to look forward to.
“The bang came first as Teemu made me very glad I hadn’t stayed for an extra half in the Kings Arms. I think it is the quickest goal I’ve ever seen Norwich score.
“I spent the next hour hoping there wouldn’t be a crash but a piece of Zaha brilliance broke the spell. The fact that he followed it up with an absolutely hilarious penalty miss made it slightly less disappointing.
“The wallop never really came. Angus saved some shots on target and will have been lifted by the acclaim afforded to him by the Barclay.
“The performance showed that every Premier League point is hard to get and, if Norwich continue to show such grit and determination, the hope of miraculously staying up is still alive”.
Dean Smith said afterwards: “It [the result] is fair. I was really pleased with the first half and the start that we made. It was a good goal from Teemu and he will feel that he probably could have scored another one as well, he had a couple of chances, and I was pleased with the first-half performance in general.
“I thought that in the last 10-15 minutes Crystal Palace found the solution to overloading us in midfield and it became a little bit harder and we had less of the ball. I was disappointed with what we did with the ball. The second half they were the better team and deserved it [the draw].”
Pukki was equally pragmatic, saying:
“I think we can be happy with the point today, especially how the game went.
“Of course, going into the lead and then losing it, it’s always a bit disappointing but they were better than us today so we can be happy with the point.”
So we remain in the bottom three and could be there for at least a couple of weeks to come as we all know our next two fixtures are Citeh [h] and Liverpool [a].
Nothing is pre-ordained of course but last night’s possession ratio was City 28%, Palace 72%.
If that is repeated in the next two games the consequences will not be a 1-1 draw in either case but we must bear in mind that as much as we loved him, a Farke team would quite probably have lost that one so yep, a point gained for me.
This squad is becoming quite passionate under Deano:
Good morning Martin and my view is that it was 2 points dropped. Pukki was just about to head the ball into the net and the Palace defender just beat him to the ball. Then a few minutes later, he received a pass that was just slightly behind him and he took an extra touch which resulted in the shot bring blocked. Exactly the same thing happened V Wolves.
The first 25 minutes or so, I thought we controlled the Palace threat quite well, but then we really lost control.
I REALLY hope that we don’t see much more of McLean in the steering 11 – he just isn’t good enough for the PL. I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing he hadn’t scored on Saturday, but could offer more on Wednesday – he was giving the ball away on several occasions.
Hopefully Normann can start and McLean come on to replace him. Sorensen may also be fit to play a few minutes. Sarjent may have have shaken off his illness and be able to play part of the game at least. We’ll get the presser in less than a couple of hours and all the updates.
Morning Ed
I’ve just seen the Press Conference and it seems like no fresh issues and Captain America is back and Ozan Kabak’s unspecified illness remains with him.
Andrew Omobamidele has suffered a setback in training and is being referred back to the original specialist, which doesn’t sound too good to me tbh.
No updates on Krul or Sorensen although Rupp and Normann both look good for the bench, which means another start for McLean I guess.
Smith added that he would prefer any chance to fall to Pukki, but our GOAT still seems a bit knackered to me in terms of speed of thought.
I’m expecting nil points tomorrow but looking forward to going to what should be a cracking match with a great atmosphere.
Cheers
Marty, normally I‘m not too bothered by stats, under Danny all too often we‘d have a big possession percentage and still finish up losing points. And lately we‘ve gained points with less possession. But 28% really is backs to the wall stuff and against a mid table team, a tad worrying. Maybe some of our sickness/injury returnees will offset the pressure we‘ll get from the top table teams and just maybe there‘s still a portion or two of luck still to come our way. But as you say we‘ve got a mountain to climb and the next bit an‘t going to be a doddle, not for us anyway. But at least we‘re facing it with Deano and not Danny so may be, just maybe, we might avoid tumbling to the very bottom again.
Hi Cutty
I see what you mean – Farke led the charge of the Light Brigade whereas Deano is trying to get them to form square and repel all insurgents.
We’ve still got a couple too many in field hospital for my liking plus when it comes to the artillery Citeh have four or five pieces in immaculate order while we have one piece that has seemingly seen better days.
Maybe I’ve been reading too much Bernard Cornwell 🙂
Cheers
Hi Martin
The next Steve Bruce is off the block Alex Neil on to club No4 at Sunderland 18mth contract only 8 more to go to catch Brucie up.
Garth Ainsworth the rocking manager at Wycombe was full of praise for cities first half performance but less so in the second half.
He agreed that CP had found us out but said that there was a lack of ideas on how to beat the midfield overload.
Like others I was hoping to see Byram start I just thought he would be less risky with Zaha and Mitchell both very good players but they take advantage of the slightest touch in or around the box and Aaron’s gave then that chance sadly he is getting error prone this season.
Can we see McLean starting against ManC possibly as DS&SS might think Normann is still a little rusty after his layoff.
Gilmour starting could make our midfield very weak from the off so PLM and Normann or at a push McLean with either Sorensen or Rupp coming on as fresh legs in the later stages and getting game time.
Think I have had too many wine gums as I hope for a 2-1 Norwich win
Hi Alex
Yeah I’ve noticed Max making the odd error or two but that could be down to him missing Emi as well of couse. Together with Pukkin that trio had a great understanding. I’ve no worries about Byram myself as long as he can somehow remain fit.
Dean Smith has already intimated that Normann is probably not fit enough for a start and he might well be keeping him on restricted playing time until Citeh and Liverpool are out of the way – who knows?
No hope of seeing Sorensen this calendar month by the sound of it I’m afraid.
I loved the original Maynards wine gums when I had teeth that could cope with them!
Cheers
I think that the 28% possession stat has to be seen in the context of our incredibly early goal. Such percentages are not exceptional for teams once they have gone ahead, but the full-game percentage is raised as the numbers tend to be more even before they went ahead. In our case, that period was just about 40 seconds rather than (say) 45 minutes.
Hi ScotCan
Yes I think statistics are over-rated myself and I understand what you are saying.
But under whatever circumstances, 28%-&2% remains one horrible ratio!
Cheers
Whoops! 72% – hate touchscreen typing!
It was at one point in possession stats 18% vs 82%, BT enjoyed putting that one up on the screen, as much as they did sending cameraman to look at penalty spot Had Pukki been quicker in thought and action we could have had a couple more. Game would have been out of sight, instead of hanging by finger nails to the death. Of course luck plays a part in any game, I would say luck and short studs helped.
Would have been over the moon with three points, still it keeps us in touch, but cannot help feeling a little deflated by it. None more so than we did not appear to have an answer to their constant pressure during 2nd half. But for all that Gunn had little to do after the two outstanding saves, but on the flip side their keeper had a relatively quiet evening, cold I reckon.
McClean and Gilmore did give the ball away a lot and run into Cul-de-sacs a lot, a lot to do with the quick shut downs by 2-3 Palarse players. (No matter how) hard I try not to, I really dislike Will Hughes, but would not mind that type of player in our team. A destroyer, break up play and feed the others.
Do not expect much from the next couple of games, this is where we can be caught or the gap becomes bigger. Well see at least I do believe we will be scrapping more, no more white flags
Hi Lad
Pukki has frankly been flogged to death and from what I can gather from friends who went to the game it is really starting to show.
I’ll make my own mind up tomorrow as I hate making value judgements about matches I’ve not actually attended if you see what I mean.
McLean will always give the ball away as it seems to be in his DNA.
Let’s see how you and I view the Citeh game on Monday.
Cheers
Whenever I look at the league table I calculate the best case scenario (1pt off safety) and the worst case (7 pts off safety plus GD, I think) based on games in hand. The truth is somewhere between, probably.
I think we’re in the pray to the footballing gods moment, because after these next two games are played, plus games in hand, we could be 10+ points off safety.
Hi Dave
Unfortunately I see exactly where you are coming from here.
The GD is so awful it will never be overhauled.
Cheers
Talking for Bernard Cornwell, does that make Normann the Richard Sharpe character? We could certainly do with a team made up of that green jacketed solider.
Hi Tim
The only NCFC player I would accept to play the role of Richard Sharpe would be Holty I’m afraid..
I can imagine him ripping open a cartridge with his teeth but there’s nobody like that in the current squad tbh. Possibly Normann could be the Sharpe character with the overweight cavalry sabre but I’m not too sure about that. I think Tetts took said sword with him when he left us.
As I said to Cutty [above] I’ve probably read far too much Cornwell for my own good but check out the Arthurian trilogy if you ever get the chance. It’s superb.
Cheers