There are many different ways to win a football match; the list is almost endless. Yet Dean Smith’s City keep discovering new ways… usually inadvertently.
Last night it was… a) Race into two-goal lead while playing like the away side, b) Give ball away with alarming frequency and so invite thoroughly decent Bristol City to dominate you, c) Give sloppy goals away, and d) Hang on for dear life.
And in its own way, it was glorious.
The winning habit has indeed returned.
It was a tough old night though. The Robins were good, as we expected them to be, and won the tactical battle.
Nigel Pearson’s risk and reward approach so nearly paid dividends and probably would have done so had we not possessed a record-breaking goalscorer, whose sharpness and desire appear to be back.
Not only did Teemu Pukki take himself another notch higher in the club’s all-time goalscorers’ chart, but he also allayed fears of some, me included, that he’d permanently lost that vital half-a-yard of pace over five that set the great strikers apart from the good ones.
Thirty-two years of age he may be, but the opening half hour last night demonstrated perfectly that he’s still the main man in this division.
And thank god he is.
Without him, that could have ended up being a very tough watch, even tougher than it was. Imagine neither of those chances going on *and* being thoroughly dominated for most of the 96 minutes.
(On second thoughts… don’t imagine that. #NCFC Twitter is grim enough today as it is.)
Of course it’s been a bit of a struggle at times, and, yes, it was hard going last night but six wins from six when you appear to have reached nothing like top gear feels like a decent place to be in. And even if this *is* us in top gear, we’re still winning games of football with comforting regularity.
You get three points for a win regardless of the beauty of the football and the faultlessness of performance.
But it won’t have been lost on Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare just how difficult his back-four and goalkeeper found it to pass their way out of a well-executed high press.
There were alarming echoes of those ill-fated Premier League campaigns where we tried (and failed) to break the press of teams who reveled in our toing and froing in our own defensive third knowing we’d eventually give the ball, and usually a goal, away.
Bristol City did a similar job on us last night, helped by the fact they were happy to risk flooding those areas with numbers and leave their back three to manage our front three.
Ultimately it was to cost them a 2-0 deficit, but even then they persisted and were eventually rewarded with a late first-half goal.
Minutes 30 to 45 were akin to minutes 45 to 65 against Coventry – painful and best observed through beer goggles or not observed at all – and the goal just before halftime, as deserved as it was, was about as sloppy and half-@rsed as you can get from a defensive angle.
Smith spoke afterwards of his players taking their foot off the throttle because of the two-goal cushion – something they’ll have been reminded of at halftime to such an extent that let’s hope they’ll think twice about repeating it.
It doesn’t take much to get found out at this level. If your level drops to, say, 98% it’s sufficient to hand over the initiative. And we did.
The second half was a little less Alamo and a bit more 50/50 but still lacked cohesion and poise.
When Onel Hernandez and Gabriel Sara joined the fray, while to suggest they added cohesion and poise would be pushing it, they did bring with them some much-needed energy and oomph.
Hernandez also added some of that old-school concept known as width on the left – something the right-footed pairing of Sam Byram and Todd Cantwell were never going to provide – and it helped. That he did so in his own inimitable way also helped ignite a subdued Carrow Road.
Referee David Webb, him of the curious decision-making, also contributed to the raising of the stadium’s temperature.
I was less incensed by his whistledom than some but there did appear to be a foul on Max Aarons in the lead-up to Bristol City’s second goal, and I’m of the understanding that any head injury should necessitate an immediate whistle.
But it wasn’t Mr Webb’s fault that Danil Sinani gave Marcelino Nuñez a hospital pass, or that the Chilean dwelt on the ball at the worst possible time before clipping the heels of Joe Williams.
Even if Semenyo had missed, it would have been a pen.
That we contrived to miss some more-than-presentable chances to restore the two-goal cushion summed up what an odd and chaotic evening it had been, although Webb’s blowing of the whistle as City were about to miss another sitter appeared more an act of spite than duty.
But, all said and done, it was another win. A touch fortunate maybe but one to store away and revisit when we have an afternoon where we have played well but haven’t won (or even drawn).
Let’s not get too sniffy about every win having to be beautiful.
Football’s not like that.
Thanks for the good read Gary and a very fair reflection of what was a pretty dire but enthralling game of football. I was watching the game on the Norwich stream and it really was ‘hide behind the sofa’ watching at times. The Norwich performance was poor but also hats-off to Bristol City who I thought arrived at Carrow Road, had a real go and to be fair contributed to Norwich’s poor performance. In many respects this was a game between two teams who like to press high and play with a high defensive line so the victor was always going to be the team who could convert chances at one end and limit damage at the other – in this case Norwich – just.
Bristol City have been by far the best team we have faced this season. That said I thought Norwich were complacent in possession and especially in the defensive third – I think I counted 6 badly misplaced passes while defending in the first half alone. Last season we would have been out of the game by half time. Most of the Bristol City success came down the flanks by drawing the two holding midfielders across, switching play to the opposite flank and overloading the isolated full-back. I was also a bit surprised that Norwich didn’t counter this by adjusting the midfield shape to perhaps a 3.
With Hernandez being right-footed too, it’s a surprise that we don’t try to play a left footer – (Sinani,Dowell) on the left whereas Sargent is played on his natural right side.
It’s great to see Teemu scoring but it seems that he wanted to leave and we didn’t let him go because the bids were not high enough.Even at 32 Pukki deserves to play in the top division and it’s disappointing that the club have held him back after all he’s done for us. OK it’s great for this season but next season we’ll struggle to replace him. It seems that the long term plan has gone out of the window.
Good point re Hernandez – although at least he does hug the touchline, and occasionally has a go at hitting in a cross with his swinger.
The result was just about fair. For all our dilatory passing at the back, the Robins were unable to take advantage of it, apart from the bit of assistance they got from Mr Webb. Their second goal would never have happened without his help. Max Aarons was clearly fouled by Nahki Wells, who grabbed his neck and heaved him to the ground, and even before that there was a possible foul on Sinani in the lead up.
Sinani should have done better when clean through one on one with the keeper. Trying to blast it through him was not as good an option as taking it past him – he had the time and space to do it. Flush of blood to the head, and visions of glory, I guess.
The final whistle, which stopped our chance of a fourth, was probably Mr Webb’s way of getting his revenge for the chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” and “you’re not fit to referee”. Unfortunately, the chants were right, as the tv highlights show.
Interesting read Gary, said to Barry at 2 nil I’d be a bit peaved if I was Bristol City fan should have been at least level at the break!
Where did first goal come from? AGAIN?
Second Bristol played in our half but how many saves did our Tim have to make and after just seeing their second 6 and 2x3s if I was a Bristol fan I’d have been wanting a free kick Aaron’s tried to block his run obstruction and nothing but an accident when he got caught by Wells foot
Sides who win promotion win ugly sometime who looks at the game in 5 years time it’s say us 3 them 2
We need a left back fit so Sam can play right back(someone on Facebook moans he keeps giving away corners better then letting winger get the line and put a good cross into our box, some fans are never happy🤔👍
Ps where are the Smith out brigade very quiet ATM!