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108 days of hurt – ended in a high-tempo flurry of Carrow Road goals

108 days of hurt – ended in a high-tempo flurry of Carrow Road goals

15th February 2023 By Gary Gowers 10 Comments

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October 29, 2022, seems an age ago. A lot has happened since then in the life of Norwich City.

That was the last time City won at home. Ironically, it too was a 3-1 win, but it was peak Smudgerball – passive, scrappy, and uninspiring – and ended a run of six games without a win.

My post-match piece was entitled Well, it was a win… which I believe (for once) was a fairly accurate summation of events. For the record, it was the same week in which a loose-tongued bloke from the club’s finance department laughed off any notion of a disconnect between the club and the fans.

Thankfully, last night’s 3-1 left us in a rather happier place.

While there is no sign of a thaw between the local press and the club, or indeed the club perceiving the fans as anything other than a pain in the butt, the David Wagner factor has lightened the mood considerably, and there was a genuine sense of enjoyment in the air last night. A rarity.

Ultimately, it boils down to the performance of the team and the hunger on display, and yesterday evening we were delivered both. A far cry from the lack lustre efforts witnessed at Ashton Gate.

This wasn’t, of course, the first good performance we’ve seen since the German arrived – the performances at Deepdale and the CBS Arena were both thrilling in their own way – but this differed in that it was the first that had Wagner’s stamp all over it.

The intensity. The high tempo. The stifling high press. The undiluted effort.

Going way back to Wagner’s first game in charge at Huddersfield, their players spoke afterwards of burning legs, bursting lungs, and of them blowing up by the time the clock had ticked 70 minutes, but until last night, there had been little evidence of any physical exertions on that scale at City.

But against Hull, it was there in all its glory. There’ll be some aching limbs at Colney this morning.

The relentlessness of the closing down and the coordinated hunting in packs was really good for the whole 90, and paid dividends, particularly in the second half when the Hull legs started to go.

All against the backdrop of the incessant City Elite drum. Carrow Road responded.

We were helped by a Hull City team that was poor although, as ever, it’s hard to gauge if their paucity was a direct result of our City not allowing them to play. Either way, theirs was a performance of stink-the-place-out proportions, which oddly didn’t include a high press to pressurise our back four.

We still found time for the now customary defensive screw-up – Angus mistaking Grant Hanley’s head for the ball – and that familiar here-we-go-again feeling came over the place as Jacob Greaves’s shot nested in the net.

Our record of coming from behind has been well documented – just six points earned from losing positions – and so for the equaliser to arrive just four minutes after Greaves’ goal was massive.

While Kieran Dowell’s finish was via a big deflection, it was borne of the slick type of front-footed football that Wagner demands.

The initial hold-up play from Dowell, using the strength that’s not always evident in his game, was finished with a nicely weighted pass to Onel Hernandez, and then the scampering, twisting, and turning began.

This was Onel at his finest – low centre of gravity, determined, bamboozling – but was concluded on this occasion with a lovely, precise cut-back; the very element that’s so often missing from his game.

Not this time.

It was the first productive moment of what must surely have been one of Hernandez’s finest-ever shifts in the yellow shirt. While he may not possess the finesse and technical qualities of others, in terms of his effort and appetite for the game, he’s an exemplar of what his new head coach requires.

No one can ever doubt how much it means to Onel to pull on that shirt, and that’s why he’s loved in these parts.

The bobbing and weaving was evident again for Gabriel Sara’s goal, but there was still plenty left for the Brazilian to do after he received Hernandez’s pass. That he was able to stroke it into the corner of the net with such ease was a sign of the quality he possesses – quality we are gradually seeing more of.

Like Onel, Sara’s shift last night was up there with his best in yellow, and his ability to get box-to-box while linking up with the equally excellent Kenny McLean and those in front of him was outstanding on the night.

Again, this all occurred against the backdrop of Hull giving them the time and space to play, but let’s not forget that we’ve dropped points against plenty of ordinary teams so far this season.

Wagner’s call to leave Teemu Pukki out was a brave one but he’ll feel a 3-1 win with Josh Sargent scoring a goal and Adam Idah looking very lively, vindicates his decision.

Quite where that leaves a 32-year-old Pukki, who’s out of contract at the end of the season, in the short to medium term, only time will tell, but it does feel a little early to be viewing this as a changing of the guard.

Any late playoff charge needs a Teemu Pukki as part of it.

But the Finn’s services weren’t required last night and it still ended up being a good one. It was only the sixth time the home faithful has seen a win this season and, in the circumstances, couldn’t have been more welcome.

Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another 136 days for the next one.


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Filed Under: Column, Gary Gowers

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Comments

  1. Keith B says

    15th February 2023 at 12:10 pm

    It’s not unusual for teams making the play-off with a late run to then do well e.g. 2002 we sneaked in on the last day and eventually only missed out on spot kicks. A couple of years later Palace made up a lot of ground and were probably the best team in the division by the time normal fixtures ran out.

    So whilst nobody should get too excited after 3 wins and 2 losses, if we do make it then we are likely to be much improved and in good form. When Sunderland and Sheffield turn up we’ll get a pretty good idea of whether we can make it.

    Do we have enough to win the play-offs? I suspect not – Watford’s big money squad look more likely to me. Although promotion odds of 9/1 suggest the bookies think otherwise (9/2 for us). Exact points, positions and games in hand are pretty irrelevant with 15 games to go, and once February is over they’ve only Sunderland and Luton of the current contenders to play to be sure of being involved. I wouldn’t fancy our chances should we be up against them.

    Reply
  2. Herr+Cutz says

    15th February 2023 at 12:40 pm

    An excellent win and well done to Wagner and the lads, and a nice piece of PR with the supporters at the end. Don‘t want to think about another nightmare in the Prem next season.

    Reply
  3. Tim Ball says

    15th February 2023 at 1:37 pm

    A really good win Gary.

    Good signs at last.

    I gave Gabriel Sara stick yesterday for his lack of consistency but last night he showed he is getting there in a very good performance. Perhaps we will see the fully rounded player this season and not have to wait until next.

    The shackles were off King Kenny and he too was excellent, I still want to see him do that to the top clubs in the league however.

    Onel was just brilliant. I feel for the lad the injuries that he has had have really held him back in his time here.
    Personally if I was Daniel Farke I wouldn’t have sent him out on loan.

    It was a nice for both Sam (pinkun) and Michael (athletic) to give a positive blogs for once and they both looked very pleased about it.

    Just a short aside here. Michael Bailey said it was nice to say Norwich played well and not being harangued by club “officials” for “not being on page, more positive, more upbeat”

    Jeez even Donald Trump would struggle to lie about how good our performance at Luton was for example😂

    I get the feeling the club are like General Melchett in Blackadder, ” What boys, not looking forward to going over the top, what the hell is wrong with you !!!!”😂😂😂

    But a promising evening from the boys.

    1
    Reply
  4. MYSTIC KEV says

    15th February 2023 at 1:48 pm

    A decent performance at last nice to go home feeling chipper for a change and to win after going behind so rare these days even ol Kenny had a good game let’s see if it carries on against better opposition.

    1
    Reply
  5. JohnF says

    15th February 2023 at 1:54 pm

    It was good to see the team’s fitness continuing to improve so they can now press the opposition past the sixty minute mark. I have faith in Wagner which is more than I can say for the rest of the organisation.
    At the moment I’m waiting to see what happens with the new share issue before deciding on whether to renew the season ticket. I can’t somehow see how the share issue will solve the financial black hole and the wasted Buendia transfer money.
    Last night demonstrated that the team will need substantial investment to get back to the standard of the last promotion winning side.
    If what we expect happens I can’t help thinking we’ll be left with the American version of “self funding” and the club needs more than that if the premiership is still the dream.

    Reply
    • David C. says

      16th February 2023 at 12:00 am

      Exactly what I’ve been saying these past 9 months, Attanasio was attracted to NCFC because of the way Delia has run it ie.” Self funded” thats how he runs the Brewers and if you research them the fans are like Norwich’s always crying out for investment. It concerns me how he praises our top management and how well run the club is, I think if he makes his take over move it will remain status quo, but I think he will better for Norwich in the long term than the Delia era

      Reply
  6. 1x2 says

    15th February 2023 at 1:55 pm

    10 minutes highlights explained why Norwich keeps on winning bottom half clubs and loose to top half clubs. Hull didnt have any legs to compete, they were clearly worse than the teams which just beat Norwich. Bottom half teams likely are very close with league 1 top half teams. Norwich didnt create good scoring chances, Hull created nothing. 1-0 looked to be the right outcome.

    Norwich games under Wagner have been strangely divided. 3 easy wins and 2 easy losses. Tactical level differences have been massive too. Preston, Coventry and Hull were very bad, Burnley much better and Bristol City slightly better. Both Burnley and Bristol City were able to compete and keep higher tempo and in both cases they were tactically better.

    Did some of you see Teemus injury?

    Reply
    • martin penney says

      15th February 2023 at 7:01 pm

      Hi 1×2

      Here is a line from my article which should be published tomorrow [I haven’t finished writing it yet!]

      {Radio Norfolk match commentator] Chris Goreham asked Wagner to clarify and was told that it was to give Teemu a rest and he, Wagner, was minded to bring him off the bench. However at the half time break Teemu felt a slight muscle twinge so didn’t appear in the second half but is expected to be fit for weekend selection.

      I guess that’s as much as any of us know right now 🙂

      Reply
  7. Dave Cole says

    15th February 2023 at 2:10 pm

    It’s been a painful transition from the Farkeball 4-2-3-1 to the Wagnerian 3-1-6, but if we could only get the stands to hum Ride of the Valkyries whenever Onel gets the ball, everything would be happier. With Voulez Vous rumbling out of the Barclay, it at least disguised some of the creaking and clanking as we began to look a bit more cohesive. I just hope there’s enough teams left who aren’t clever enough to overwhelm that one-man midfield when the press goes wrong. I suspect we’re going to come up short, but at least we’re almost all on the same page now.

    2
    Reply
  8. KevH says

    15th February 2023 at 5:22 pm

    Wow, a smashing result!

    I’ve only seen 10 minutes highlights regrettably, and followed the game live via the Beeb, but the team bossed the game pretty much for 75 minutes.

    Another day Adam Idah would’ve had a hat-full of goals, and the absence of Teemu Pukki didn’t stop the boys exploiting every opportunity to go forward and push Hull out of the game.

    Everything Hernandez did seemed to bear fruit, and there were great performances from McLean, Sara to boot. The whole team did a great job though.

    Most of the ‘live’ match, according to the BBC, we were about 65% to 35% in terms of possession, and Hull couldn’t cope. We had 21 shots to their 3!

    More of that for the rest of the season please boys!

    COYYs !

    Reply

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