Alec Blatherwick @alecblthrwck-blog - Tumblr Blog

Shambolic first half display at Oakwell condemns Norwich to 4th straight away defeat

After a week of relative respite following last weekend’s victory over Brentford, the pressure on Norwich City boss Alex Neil has returned once more following a dismal 2-1 defeat to Barnsley at Oakwell on Saturday afternoon. One victory was never going to be enough to sway City supporters back in favour of Neil and with Saturday’s defeat marking Norwich’s 6th loss in 7, and 4th straight away defeat, the Scot is walking on an ever-thinning tightrope.

In fairness, in terms of the team selection, he did what I asked of him. I wanted him to reward the team that dismantled Brentford by naming an unchanged eleven and bar one enforced change, with Josh Murphy coming in for the injured Steven Naismith, this is what he did. Still on a clearly deluded buzz from the Brentford victory I was confident that we would brush Barnsley aside, making it two wins out of two and in doing begin to build some much-needed momentum.

Unfortunately, what transpired was one of the worst 45 minutes of football I have ever witnessed a Norwich City side play - and I’ve seen City managed by Glenn Roeder, Peter Grant and Neil Adams! It was absolutely woeful. Now don’t get me wrong, Barnsley looked like a handy side and I am by no means trying to belittle them, but they shouldn’t have been capable of doing what they did. A newly-promoted side, on a shoe-string budget and with very few Championship nevermind Premier League pedigree players, were schooling us. It was humiliating. Each time they strove forward, they looked like they were going to score and we simply couldn’t cope.

The Murphy twins - starting their first league game together - were being bullied, Robbie Brady was demonstrating once again why he is not a left-back and the centre-midfield pairing of Howson and Dorrans were proving that they simply do not have the athleticism nor defensive ability to play that role together. It took just 12 minutes for Sebastien Bassong to deliver his weekly goal-costing error, when he got his feet in a tangle allowing Tom Bradshaw to fire home, whilst Ryan Bennett struggled to complete a 5-yard pass yet alone the 40-yard diagonals that he was consistently attempting.

The conclusion of the half produced perhaps the most vocal opposition to Alex Neil’s tenure yet: as the Scot and his players walked past the traveling City support and down the tunnel they were greeted with huge boos and numerous choruses of “Neil, sort it out!”. I am not usually an advocate of such abuse against your own team - it is never a nice thing to see, but after the shambolic first-half display that we had all just witnessed, it was fully deserved. I am not ashamed to admit that I joined in!

To his credit, he did sort it out to an extent. Unfortunately, it was simply a case of too little too late.

Yousouff Mulumbu came on for Alex Pritchard (to my initial dismay) and Martin Olsson (a left-back playing at left-back, heaven forbid!) came on for Josh Murphy. Immediately we looked a far better side. It is blatantly obvious that we can only ever get away with playing Dorrans and Howson as a midfield pairing against mediocre teams, who won’t cause much offensive threat, at Carrow Road. With a genuine defensive midfielder in Mulumbu we suddenly didn’t look so vulnerable, and this allowed us to actually begin to play some football. The opening to the second-half was all Norwich and we were rewarded when Nelson Oliveira’s long-range strike slipped through Davies’ grasp to halve the deficit. At this point, and for the following 15 minutes that followed, it felt like it was only a matter of time before we equalised but numerous chances were spurned and following a couple of tactical changes from Barnsley, the momentum soon dissipated. We were still largely the better side and Bassong, Mulumbu and Oliveira all had half-chances in the dying moments to earn City a point. After the incompetence of the first half, however, this would have been hugely undeserved and had we indeed managed to scrape a draw it would have done very little other than paper over the huge, gaping cracks.

For pretty much everyone apart from the people who matter most - the City board - Alex Neil is a dead man walking. Next week sees Norwich face two tough home games against Villa and Huddersfield in front of the SKY cameras and if we perform anywhere near to the level that we did on Saturday then we will be getting nothing out of either of them. A humiliation in front of the cameras was what finally did for Nigel Worthington when we stuck with him for back in 2006, will Alex Neil soon suffer the same fate? Time will tell.

#NCFC

Victory at Barnsley is a must - anything but and Alex Neil is back to square one

Norwich City travel to South Yorkshire on Saturday afternoon to face newly-promoted Barnsley at Oakwell. Whilst last weekend’s 5-0 win over Brentford served to alleviate some pressure off Alex Neil’s back, it is hugely important that City follow up it up with a positive result and performance this weekend. A high proportion of Norwich fans remain in the ‘Neil Out’ camp and it will take more than one victory over a mediocre Brentford side for the Scot to win them back. A win tomorrow, however, and the momentum will surely begin to shift back in his favour.

One of my major criticisms of Alex Neil this season has been his insistence on meddling with winning line-ups and sticking with losing line-ups. Tomorrow, there is absolutely no justification for doing the former. The eleven that defeated Brentford so comprehensively last weekend went a long way to saving Neil’s job and as a reward for this the very least they deserve is to retain their places in Saturday’s starting eleven. Very rarely will you ever see me push for a Ryan Bennett and Sebastien Bassong centre-back pairing (especially when Timm Klose, far their superior, is sitting on the bench) but they put in a faultless display last weekend and what sort of message would Neil be giving to his players if he drops them after a good performance? Clean sheets have proven extremely hard to come by this season (we have kept just 3 in 19 games so far) and thus, having finally found a back four which is capable of keeping one, then we must stick with it. Until they have an absolute mare and we lose 3-0 at Barnsley, at least…

Barnsley have won just 3 home games this season - all 3 of which came in consecutive matches in their opening 3 home games of the season. With no win at Oakwell since August, resulting in a winless streak of 7 games (including heavy 5-2 and 4-2 defeats to Nottingham Forest and Fulham, respectively), the game is perfectly set for Norwich to try and exploit Barnsley’s vulnerability. It is essential that City get off to a quick start and take advantage of the inevitable nerves amongst the home supporters - a fast start and an early goal will likely lead to a frustrated Oakwell crowd and set us up perfectly to dictate the rest of the game at our own pace, just like we did against Brentford last weekend.

This being said, Barnsley are by no means pushovers and despite a downturn in form of late their 3-0 victory at 5th-placed Birmingham last weekend demonstrated their ability to compete with the best in the division. Considering Norwich got turned over by the reverse scoreline at St Andrews back in August, it is clearly a result that is not to be sniffed at. In Sam Winnall the Tykes have a striker that has been more prolific than any of ours, whilst the likes of Conor Hourihane (who City have incidentally been linked with in recent weeks), Adam Hammill and Ryan Kent are all impressive talents that will undoubtedly cause us some problems.

With Cameron Jerome still carrying a slight injury, it will be over to Nelson Oliveira to lead the line and City will be relying on him to deliver a similar performance to last weekend if we are to earn a positive result. Jerome, with his relentless work-rate, pace and ability to stretch defences, is crucial to our style of play away from home and it will be up to the Portuguese - who impressed and scored his first league goal for the club against Brentford - to try and do the same in the lone-striker role. With the likes of Jacob Murphy, Steven Naismith, Alex Pritchard and Jonny Howson behind him, there is no doubting that Oliveira will get chances - whether he is the prolific goalscorer that will consistently take such chances remains to be seen. Nottingham Forest fans, whilst they rated Oliveira, suggested that he was more of a link-up, second striker than an out-and-out goalscorer and his goal-scoring record throughout his career seems to support this. Nonetheless, he took his goal last weekend with tremendous composure and he has certainly shown enough within his brief cameos to suggest that he is more than capable of scoring plenty of goals.

It is a slightly different situation to last weekend - in the sense that we aren’t going into it having suffered five straight defeats - but you can’t help but feel that Saturday it is just as, if not more, important. Win, and fans will start to believe that both the players and Neil have turned a corner. Lose, and we are back to square one and fans will once again be calling for the Scot’s removal. That’s how clear-cut it is. No pressure.

#NCFC #Championship

Returning Howson and Pinto star as Norwich City secure long-awaited win

After a nightmare last few weeks Norwich City returned to winning ways in style on Saturday afternoon as they defeated Brentford 5-0 at Carrow Road. First half goals from Jacob Murphy and Graham Dorrans gave the Canaries a 2-0 lead going into the break, before Robbie Brady, Nelson Oliveira and Alex Pritchard all chipped in with second half goals to secure the much needed win for City.

In the build-up to the game I said that I expected Alex Neil to make wholesale changes and he duly obliged. Largely along the lines of what I hoped for, Jonny Howson and Ivo Pinto made their long-awaited returns to the starting eleven, whilst Alex Pritchard returned at the tip of midfield and Nelson Oliveira, replacing the injured Cameron Jerome, was given his first Carrow Road start.

Whilst I would have liked to see the return of Timm Klose at the heart of defence, Neil’s selection impressed and served to further increase my unusual confidence ahead of the game.

Upon kick-off, this optimism immediately proved justified as City began on the front-foot, boasting an air of confidence that has been missing so badly from our play since mid-October. It took just six minutes for Norwich to open the scoring as a scramble between Oliveira, a Brentford defender and Jacob Murphy resulted in the latter getting a slight touch to tap the ball home - an early goal was exactly what City needed and, equally, was just reward for their impressive start to the game. Having taken the lead, Neil’s side continued to dominate and when Harlee Dean was adjudged to have felled Murphy in the penalty area City were awarded a spot-kick. Graham Dorrans was given the duty of converting, and, despite being thwarted by Brentford’s Daniel Bentley the Scot was able to slot home on the rebound.

Despite our overwhelming dominance, Brentford still created numerous openings as our fragile, albeit slightly improving, defence continued to look vulnerable. Nonetheless, we managed to hold out and a 2-0 lead at half-time left us in a comfortable position. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have visions of a capitulation and a 3-2 loss, but there was little in the first half to suggest that it would go on to be anything other than a routine Norwich victory.

City’s third just before the hour mark ensured that any such fears of a Brentford comeback were allayed, as Pritchard played in Brady with a sublime pass, leaving the Republic of Ireland international the relatively simple task of firing past Bentley into the far left-hand corner of his goal.

It was now nothing more than a matter of how many Norwich would score and Oliveira made it four in the 80th minute as good work down the left from substitute Josh Murphy resulted in the ball being played to the Portuguese striker, who neatly manoeuvred himself space in the box before finishing impressively. Oliveira has had his critics in recent weeks - which is extremely harsh considering he has barely played - but today, with his superb link-up play and goal, he demonstrated just why we spent £5 million on him. For all of Cameron Jerome’s strengths, there is no doubting that Oliveira is the better ‘footballer’ of the two (technically, anyway) and we can only hope that today’s performance will have earned him an elongated spell in the team.

The performance and result was capped off perfectly by a goal for Alex Pritchard in the closing stages, as he poked home a Josh Murphy cross. Pritchard is another one who has been unfairly treated by Neil this season and performances like today make it all the more baffling: the man is a magician. Whisper it quietly, but I would argue that he is a more athletic, less wasteful and arguably cleverer version of Wes Hoolahan and the latter is going to have his work cut out to try and oust Pritchard from his newly-claimed central position.

It is no secret that our downturn in form largely coincided with the injuries to both Ivo Pinto and Jonny Howson and similarly it is no surprise that upon their return we suddenly look a much, much better side. Pinto was effectively playing as a right winger this afternoon and at time his pace was completely devastating - he gives us a completely different dimension going forward and without him a huge amount of our offensive threat is nullified. Howson, as ever, was brilliant and demonstrated just why many City fans view him as our best and most important player. Whether it be through his breaking up of play, his marauding runs forward or his immaculate passing ability, our midfield improves ten-fold with him at the centre of it. Keeping him fit for the rest of the season is an absolute necessity.

So, where does this leave Alex Neil? It would be extremely fickle to act like everything is rosy again - one victory (against a below average Brentford side) does not make up for the five defeats previous, but it is something. If we can use today as a starting point to build momentum and go on a winning run then maybe there is still a future for Neil. A defeat at Barnsley next weekend, however, and we are back to square one.

#NCFC

Time for Alex Neil to ring the changes again in make or break visit of Brentford

Norwich City play host to Brentford on Saturday afternoon as they look to finally return to winning ways and in doing so end their current run of five straight league defeats. It feels like each and every game has been termed ‘make or break’ for the past month, but it is hard to disagree this time - I find it difficult see how the City board could possibly ignore a failure to beat 16th-placed Brentford at Carrow Road.

Regardless of whether you are anti-Alex Neil or pro-Alex Neil, there is no hiding from the fact that this game is absolutely crucial. In recent weeks, the Scot has tried everything to improve his sides fortunes: sometimes opting for consistency by sticking with the same team, whilst other games, such as at QPR, have seen him ring large-scale changes. 5 straight defeats with very little sign of any improvement has shown that neither have worked, so which route should he take for Brentford’s visit?

First and foremost, Timm Klose has to return. He should never have been dropped in the first place. Granted, his form has been disappointing to say the least, but an out-of-form Timm Klose with one leg is better than the alternatives of Ryan Bennett, Sebastien Bassong and Michael Turner - the fact that almost everyone could see this other than Alex Neil is mystifying.

Arguably the most important change is the return of Ivo Pinto, who Alex Neil announced is fit again following a recent injury lay-off. City have lost just once when Pinto has started this season and this illustrates his importance perfectly: his attacking instincts from right-back are essential to the way we play and in getting the opposition on the back-foot - something which we have simply been unable to do in recent weeks. With Pinto (yes, starting him may be a risk, but it’s a risk worth tasking) and Klose back in the back-four, suddenly our side begins to look far more complete.

Another player set to return from injury is Jonny Howson, who has this week taken part in full first-team training following surgery on his foot 6 weeks ago. With his injury being more serious than that of Pinto’s, it seems unlikely that Neil will risk Howson from the start but the prospect of his return will bring delight to City fans. For all of their uses Graham Dorrans, Alex Tettey and Youssouf Mulumbu are all distinctly limited midfielders and in Howson we have a much more rounded option, particularly going forward. When all are available, the ideal central midfield combination will surely be Howson alongside Louis Thompson, but with the latter sidelined for the foreseeable future it is not a combination that we will be seeing just yet.

Assuming Neil doesn’t take a risk with Howson, Mulumbu and Tettey will likely fill the void in central midfield - offering a semblance of defensive stability but little else - allowing us to play an attacking trio ahead of them. Last weekend at Derby saw Neil gave Jacob Murphy, Wes Hoolahan and Steven Naismith the nod to fill the creative positions but our complete lack of offensive threat at the iPro makes it difficult to justify sticking with the same trio. Alex Pritchard, still with just the 3 league appearances, is the obvious option and is surely deserving of another chance having been so constantly overlooked by Neil this season. The longer Neil continues to refuse to give Pritchard a prolonged run in the side, the more farcical his transfer policy becomes. On that note, where is Sergi Canos? The 19-year-old Spaniard has gone from making 38 appearances and starring in a decent Brentford side last season to apparently not being good enough to even make the bench of a woefully out-of-form City? Something doesn’t add up.

Cameron Jerome picked up a knock resulting in him being substituted at half-time during the Derby defeat and, with his injury having apparently not sufficiently healed, it is likely going to be a toss-up between Nelson Oliveira and Kyle Lafferty for the starting berth up top. Being brutally honest, neither option inspires me massively, but I would probably opt for the former - there is surely a reason why we dished out big money for him in the summer? If there is, now is the time to prove it. Lafferty did very little during his 45-minute cameo last weekend and whilst Oliveira has generally failed to impress, he showed enough glimpses during the cup ties at both Everton and Leeds to suggest he is worth persisting with. Like Canos, he proved that he is a more than capable Championship performer at Nottingham Forest last season and again, like Canos, he hasn’t just become a bad player overnight.

Regardless of whether Neil makes these changes or not, we should be beating Brentford tomorrow. If Howson and Pinto, two of our stronger performers, are indeed deemed fit to start then there is even less excuse. Unfortunately, however, it is difficult to see how victory would be doing anything other than delaying the inevitable - the inevitable being Alex Neil getting the sack. Nonetheless, a victory is crucial: if only to be rid of some of the negativity that is currently engulfing the club. I’m strangely confident.

#NCFC

Is there any point in this Norwich City side getting promoted?

Now, this question may seem quite irrelevant considering that our current form is leaving us looking down rather than up, but it is one that has been troubling me ever since City’s summer transfer window policy became clear. The squad overhaul and introduction of youth that many Norwich fans hoped for didn’t transpire as Alex Neil’s playing resources stayed pretty much the same.

This has left us with a squad that has already proven once, and in some cases twice (or in Sebastien Bassong’s case, four times), that they are not up to Premier League standard. Not only that, it is a largely ageing squad - full of players who are looking increasingly less interested in playing football for Norwich City and increasingly more interested in just hanging around the club and collecting their extortionate wage packet. Nonetheless, it is a squad that is more than capable of (perhaps with the help of a change of manager) achieving promotion back to the Premier League. This begs the question - is there any point?

I can’t help but feel that there is little point in Norwich getting promoted until we shift some of the disinterested and demotivated old guard, and replace them with young and hungry players - players that are on their way up rather than on their way down, and players who have not had their careers blighted by relegation upon relegation.

Whilst I will never, ever not be able to scream, sing and shout City on to promotion, I can’t help but feel that, thinking long-term, mere consolidation in the Championship would be in our better interests this year. This will then leave us with next summer to try and do what we should have done in the one that’s just gone by: offload all of the players that have more than outstayed than welcome - there are a lot of them. Sebastien Bassong, Michael Turner, Stephen Whittaker, Russell Martin, Ryan Bennett and Alex Tettey, to name just a few. None of these will offer anything to the club going forward. In their place, we need to breed a mix of youth - the likes of the Murphy twins and Louis Thomson - and players, ‘hidden gems’ so to speak, that are on an upward, rather than downward, trajectory.

Under Paul Lambert we did this. When we were in League One, the likes of Grant Holt and Wes Hoolahan came to the club as ‘unpolished diamonds’, as did the likes of Andrew Surman during the Championship season and Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson in the Premier League campaign. Each of these were players that were desperate to play at the highest level, each with something to prove and each who would fight tooth and nail to make sure tthat they achieved their goal. How many players can you say that this is true of in our current squad? Very few, and the few that you could make a genuine case for - players like Alex Pritchard, Sergi Canos, Louis Thomson and Carlton Morris - never even play.

Once the under-performing old guard have been sold and replaced with younger, hungrier options - then we can begin to think about promotion to the Premier League being a worthwhile pursuit again. Without huge summer investment, going up with our current squad will inevitably end in exactly the same way as our last two Premier League seasons: relegation.

If we want to avoid being nothing more than a yo-yo club then we need to properly use this season, next summer, and next season to re-build. To find the next Grant Holt, the next Wes Hoolahan, the next Bradley Johnson. After all, it is players like that, the cheap, rough diamonds, rather than the expensive, gleaming ones (Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Leroy Fer, Steven Naismith etc), that have brought Norwich City success in the past.

#NCFC #premier league

Alex Neil moves one game closer to the sack following Derby defeat

Alex Neil edged one game closer to the sack on Saturday afternoon as his Norwich City side suffered their fifth straight league defeat at the hands of Derby County. A solitary second-half strike from ex-Canary Bradley Johnson was enough to consign his former club to another defeat - a defeat which sees City fall out of the top six for the first time this season.

Once more, Neil made changes. Cameron Jerome - who was bizarrely dropped for last weekend’s trip to QPR - came back in for Nelson Oliveira, whilst Wes Hoolahan returned and Yousouff Mulumbu was given a rare start. Somewhat bewilderingly, the centre-back pairing of Ryan Bennett and Sebastien Bassong was kept the same and the only change that was made to the back four that was so badly exposed at QPR was an enforced one, with Robbie Brady dropping back into left-back to fill in for the suspended Martin Olsson.

In fairness, we started quite well. In a role reversal to last weekend at Loftus Road, we began on the front-foot and managed to frustrate both Derby and their home supporters. The greater mobility offered by Mulumbu as opposed to Graham Dorrans in the middle of the park meant that we looked far more solid and, as such, we were able to restrict Derby to very few clear-cut chances. Unfortunately, however, whilst we had successfully nullified Derby’s threat, the own threat that we carried going forward was similarly minimal, with a rather hopeful long-range effort from Hoolahan being as close as we got. Nonetheless, we managed to get through to half-time unscathed, and, if anything, had been the better side which was a huge improvement on recent weeks, at least.

When you aren’t offering anything going forward and you have a notoriously fragile defence, however, the outcome is inevitable. When Neil was forced into bringing on Kyle Lafferty for the injured Cameron Jerome at half-time, we immediately lost any sort of offensive focal point and, as a result, Derby were invited onto us. With a defence consisting of Ryan Bennett and Sebastien Bassong, there is only so long that we can withstand any form of pressure and, as such, it came as a surprise to no-one when Derby took the lead in the 65th minute. With both holding midfielders nowhere to be seen, and Wes Hoolahan making a very poor effort of tracking back, Will Hughes was allowed to carry the ball at will through our own half before a combination of Bassong and Bennett managed to thwart him. Typically, even when the pair manage to do something good it ends badly - as Bennett’s tackle put the ball perfectly in the path of Bradley Johnson to strike home from outside of the box.

Of course, the game was always destined to be decided by a Bradley Johnson goal - the player that played such a crucial role in our promotion two seasons ago only to be sold by Neil after just three weeks of the Premier League season. He may not be the most gifted footballer, but what he lacks in talent, he more than makes up for in spirit, fight and sheer determination. In the pre-match press conference, Neil, when questioned about the sale of Johnson, said that in Robbie Brady we upgraded with a “younger, fitter and quicker” player. Maybe so, Alex, but in this division ability alone is not enough. At the moment, far too many of our players are “all ability” (although you wouldn’t know it), with very, very little passion - and that is exactly why we have lost five games in a row.

The end for Alex Neil is surely only a matter of time now. Whether it be this week, next week, or the week after, his time has come. Next weekend sees Brentford visit Carrow Road and the Bees are in similarly poor form, having lost their last three league games. You can only expect that a defeat at home to Brentford will surely signal the end for Neil, but even if we somehow scrape victory it is difficult to see it as doing anything but delaying the inevitable.

#NCFC

Wednesday’s AGM serves to reiterate problems at Norwich City

Norwich City’s annual general meeting was held at Carrow Road on Wednesday evening. The meeting was attended by all of the key figures at the club: the likes of Chairman Ed Balls, Chief Executive Jez Moxey, majority share-holders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones and, of course, under-fire manager Alex Neil. On the back of four straight league defeats the mood was not celebratory and both the board and Neil came under a serious examination - but how did they fare?

It would be fair to say that the fan reaction to the meeting has not been favourable. By all accounts, both Ed Balls - who introduced the meeting - and Jez Moxey (who were both making their AGM debuts) spoke well and, if the current situation was not so dire, would likely have inspired a relative amount of confidence within the City support. Moxey outlined his three aims for the remainder of the season: “promotion, promotion, promotion.” The ex-Wolves chief reiterated his belief that Alex Neil was the right man to help achieve said aims - he clearly must have been watching a different side to the one who I, and 90% of Norwich supporters, have had the misfortune to follow in recent weeks. A side that is lacking in both heart and ability and, ultimately, is only heading in one direction.

Then came the turn of Alex Neil, which, for me was the most concerning. Whilst he illustrated some of his long-lost steely grit, and demonstrated a certain level of defiance that suggests he isn’t giving up just yet, some of his answers were questionable. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Neil was questioned about his consistent snubbing of Kyle Lafferty, to which he replied: “He has done okay, but our other options offer more. He went on loan to Turkey and Birmingham and fell out of both teams.”, before stating that neither he nor his coaches believe that the striker is the answer to promotion. For me, this is yet another demonstration that Neil is simply incompetent in the skill of man-management. Sure, that may be his opinion - and I agree to some extent - but is publicly stating your lack of belief in one of your players really the right way to go? Lafferty has had more than his fair share of reasons to feel demotivated at the club, and such comments are hardly going to improve the situation.

Similarly questionable was his response to a question comparing Jacob and Josh Murphy: “Jacob is working harder than his brother when he is in the team.” Again, this may be true, but for Josh to read that must be damaging. To have your ability challenged is one thing, but to be publicly accused of lacking effort? It came across as a rash and mindless comment from Neil, and one can only hope that Josh uses it to motivate him.

There were other concerning developments. Once more, Delia and Wynn-Jones reiterated their stance that the club, in no circumstances, is for sale and, when the time comes, that they will be passing on their shares to nephew Tom Smith. Furthermore, Wynn-Jones’ comment that he doesn’t want to see any “foreigners” taking over the club was more befitting of a UKIP rally rather than a Norwich City AGM. I am increasingly beginning to feel that without investment City will continue to stagnant and with such a close-minded and stubborn set of owners, this looks like it will be the case.

Another key point to emerge during the evening was Director of Finance Steve Stone’s forecast that the club’s cash position is going to go from little under £2million in credit in 2014-15 to a forecasted £8million debt in June 2017. As parachute payments drop next season, before completely disappearing following the 2017/18 season, City’s financial stability depends on promotion in one of the next two seasons. You can’t help but feel that for this to happen major changes need to be made.

Bascially: anyone who was hoping the AGM would serve to erase any doubts or concerned is going to have been left very disappointed. I’m not sure what happens next.

#NCFC

Problems continue to mount at Norwich City following fourth straight league defeat

Norwich City suffered their fourth straight defeat on Saturday afternoon as they were beaten 2-1 by QPR at Loftus Road. For many Norwich fans, Alex Neil should have been sacked in the aftermath of our previous defeat against Leeds and, on the back of yet another lacklustre display, the opposition to the City boss is beginning to reach an insurmountable level.

Following the Leeds defeat, Neil was roundly criticised for not making enough changes. This time around, he did make changes - the only problem being that some of said changes were, quite frankly, bizarre. Having scored in the aforementioned Leeds game, and also having scored on international duty last weekend, if Neil was going to drop Cameron Jerome then the obvious replacement was Kyle Lafferty. If he wasn’t willing to give Lafferty a start then, for me, he should have just persisted with Jerome - after all, he has been one of our better performers this season. Nonetheless, in typical Neil fashion, he proceeded to surprise us all by giving Nelson Oliveira (who has hardly set the league alight in his cameo appearances) his first Championship start. Another surprising inclusion was Sebastien Bassong, who was brought in from the cold to replace Timm Klose. Now, I will be the first to admit that Klose has been a huge disappointment this season but when he is dropped whilst Ryan Bennett is retained, something is evidently not quite right. Other changes came in the form of John Ruddy in for Michael McGovern (about time), Alex Tettey in for Louis Thomson, Steven Naismith in for Wes Hoolahan and Jacob Murphy in for Alex Pritchard. I had my doubts, but I was willing to give it a try - at the very least, Neil had been brave.

What Neil cannot legislate for is what happened in the opening minute, as yet more calamitous defending forced Martin Olsson to, quite literally, save the ball off the line resulting in a first minute penalty and a red card. A perfect encapsulation of our current state of affairs: I could only laugh. When QPR’s Tjaronn Chery missed the following spot-kick it felt like nothing more than delaying the inevitable - if an 11 man Norwich City can be as tame and beatable as we have been in recent weeks, then a 10 man Norwich City side doesn’t bear thinking about.

It felt like it would only be a matter of time before QPR took the lead and this proved to be the case in the 21st minute as, shock horror, Norwich conceded from a set-piece. It was just so embarrassingly easy - Bassong was far too easily beaten in the air by Polter, whilst the combination of Alex Tettey and Robbie Brady failed to prevent Conor Washington from tapping home inside the 6-yard-box. Eleven men or ten men, there is absolutely no excuse for conceding such a soft goal. If we had been switched on and dealt with it properly then, regardless of us being a man down, QPR would not have scored. I feel like I am repeating the same thing every week: we are simply not learning.

Within six minutes The R’s had doubled their lead and, whilst Chery should deserve credit for his defence-splitting pass, it was, yet again, all far too easy. In the space of little more than 5 seconds, and just one pass, the ball had gone from being on the half-way line to being in the back of John Ruddy’s net. That is unforgivable.

The last half-an-hour saw City at last show some fight, and Steven Naismith’s neat header from a Jacob Murphy cross offered us a glimmer of hope but, in truth, anything other than a defeat would have been grossly undeserved.

The issues at the football club could not be illustrated more perfectly than by the fact that the back five that started at Loftus Road - John Ruddy, Russell Martin, Sebastien Bassong, Ryan Bennett and Martin Olsson - are exactly the same back five that started during our 5-1 defeat at Liverpool almost three years ago today. At least three of them, arguably four, should have left City long ago and yet, here we are, three years on and they are back to being our first-choice. I think it just perfectly reflects the stagnant nature of the club at this present time - there is no progression, no evolution, no forward-thinking. And there hasn’t been for some time.

There are huge, huge problems at this football club and with each passing weak they are getting larger and larger. Next week sees us travel to an improving Derby side and I don’t think you could find one City fan who is expecting anything other than a defeat. Neil has to go, but, even if he does, I don’t have much cause for optimism going forward.

#NCFC #Championship #football

Kyle Lafferty has to be given a chance at Norwich City - what is there to lose?

Kyle Lafferty continued his rich vein of international goal-scoring form this weekend as he scored the opener in Northern Ireland’s 4-0 win over Azerbaijan on Friday evening. This comes after the striker scored his first league goal for Norwich in over 18 months during the 3-2 defeat to Leeds United and, having been overlooked by Alex Neil for so long, could the time now finally have arrived for Lafferty to be given a proper opportunity at the club?

I must admit: I have never been Lafferty’s biggest fan. The past two and half seasons have seemingly been riddled with City fans calling for him to be given a chance, whilst I always believed that it was simply another case of the Luciano Becchio’s and Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s - whereby supporters seem to invent an overinflated image of someone’s ability simply because they haven’t been playing.

Now, just because I think that Lafferty should be given a chance doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t still believe this to be true, but it has got to the stage now when I have to ask myself, and Alex Neil has to ask himself, what is there to lose?

He is evidently desperate to play for us, which is more than can be said for some of our players at the moment. When Alex Neil brought him on in the dying moments against Leeds, he could very easily have moped around and tried very little - after all, in his eyes, Neil being sacked would probably be his quickest route to breaking into the City first-team. Nonetheless, he applied himself well, demonstrated a willingness to get Norwich side back into the game, and, of course, scored within moments of coming on. Forgetting the fact that we somehow still went onto lose, and the fact that Neil wasn’t sacked in the aftermath of the defeat - for the split moment that were level, courtesy of Lafferty, it looked like he had saved his managers job.

We are currently far too reliant on Cameron Jerome. He has performed brilliantly this season in what is a thankless role, and has a decent goal return to show for it, but he can’t do it all on his own. Whilst the woeful defending at the other end of the pitch has taken the headlines in recent weeks, in each game our offensive play has been totally negated by the fact that Jerome has been left totally isolated. He will run the channels, he will win headers, he will hold the ball up - but what’s the point, if there is no-one up there with him?

If, and it's a big if, Lafferty is given a chance then it raises the possibility for Neil to play two up front. It has been pretty obvious throughout his tenure at the club that this is not a preferred option for the Scot, but desperate times call for desperate measures and, at the very least, Jerome will no longer be so isolated. They may not be the most technically gifted strikers to grace the game, but I am certain that no Championship defence would have an easy ride against them. What they may lack in talent, they more than make up for in physicality, work-rate and desire and, right now, this is what we need. The more talented players on our side have repeatedly been letting us down and it is now time to return to basics.

Neil is clearly not a fan of Kyle Lafferty, but any excuses he may have for not playing him are looking more and more tenuous by the week. He is in goalscoring form and is desperate to play: the current system is evidently not working, so why not change it up?

Alex Neil should be sacked but issues at Norwich City run far higher than the manager

Much of the talk surrounding Norwich City in the past week has revolved around the future of under-fire boss Alex Neil. The 3-2 home defeat to Leeds United last weekend, and more so the nature in which the game was lost, has caused many City supporters to lose faith in the Scot who was one so highly-regarded at Carrow Road.

Whilst outsiders looking in may feel that such a judgement is harsh (after all, City are still pretty well placed in 5th), those who have followed Norwich closely this season will have seen an under-performing side that are getting progressively worse. A side that are repeating the same old mistakes week upon week, with a manager who is seemingly doing very little to rectify the situation. With this in mind, Neil’s criticism is fair. The past month has seen City slip from the top of the Championship to being 10 points adrift and, without change, this downwards spiral does not look like it is going to be halting any time soon. Yes, we may currently be 5th, but the longer we stick with Neil the lower we will continue to fall.

This then raises the question, who will replace him? This is the perhaps only thing that is making me hesitate slightly in calling for his head: there aren’t many options. Many City fans were keen on a Paul Lambert return but he has since become Wolves boss, whilst other viable options, such as Steve Bruce, have also been taken in recent weeks. Tim Sherwood? Ryan Giggs? Roberto di Matteo? Inspired yet? No, me neither.

For me, regardless of the manager, there are issues at the club far higher than Alex Neil. In the build-up to the Leeds game, majority shareholder Delia Smith confirmed what all City fans feared: they are never going to sell the club. They have absolutely no interest in selling - they, in her words, “don’t even listen to enquiries.” For years, we have been told that if the right man for the football club took an interest then a takeover would be possible - obviously we have been fed a lie. Norwich City is Delia’s little toy and even if a sale would benefit and further the progress of the football club, she wouldn’t be open to it. Her nephew, Tom, recently appointed board direction, will receive their majority shares.

For all of her good - which, to be honest, doesn’t stretch much further than being a loyal supporter - as long as the club stays under the Smith ‘dynasty’ we will not progress. The very best we can hope for is where we have been in recent seasons - a team that is not quite good enough for the Premier League, but will compete at the top of the Championship. Whether it be with Alex Neil at the helm or someone else, it is immensely difficult to foresee a manager breaking this ‘glass ceiling’ with the current resources at the club.

It is is not just about her lack of money. The whole culture that she has instilled at the club is one that I object to. The appointment of Ed Balls as Club Chairman - her dancing Labour Party friend who has as much, if not less, footballing knowledge as the average supporter and absolutely zero experience. As previously mentioned, the appointment of nephew Tom as Board Director and the appointment of Jez Moxey as Chief Executive. Moxey, who was extremely unpopular at Wolves, is already showing signs that he is the sort of ‘yes man’ that Delia loves - the two public interviews he has so far conducted being distinctly uninspiring. When you add into the mix Delia’s husband, Michael Wynn-Jones - who, in an interview this week, said he didn’t think Norwich fans would like to see us promoted with a team “full of foreigners” - it is a very close, cosy and comfortable, family clique at the top of the club. Can the club really progress under such an establishment?

Coincidentally, the one man who didn't fit into this inner circle, David McNally, is no longer at the club. He had a ruthless streak of ambition that, of course, didn’t sit right with Delia and co.

Alex Neil’s time is up, I have no doubt about that. But, regardless of our manager, there is only so far we can go under the current establishment. Until changes are made at the very top, Norwich will continue to stagnate. Unfortunately, as Delia has herself confirmed, these changes are not going to be coming any time soon.

#ncfc

Alex Neil, your time is up

Norwich City suffered their third straight league defeat on Saturday afternoon as Leeds United, who also knocked City out of the EFL cup two weeks ago, ran out 3-2 winners at Carrow Road. A rare Kyle Lafferty goal in the 89th minute looked to have earned Norwich a point, before Ronaldo Vieira’s injury-time strike consigned Alex Neil’s side to defeat and heaped further pressure on the under-fire boss.

All the talk in the build-up to the game was that Neil was going to make changes. After last weekend’s 5-0 horror show at Brighton, how could he not? In the post-match interview from last Saturday, Neil said, I quote, “I’ve given them chances in the last few games. It is now time to change personnel - they showed a lack of fight, that is not something that I associate with my teams.” With this said, you can understand the dismay of Norwich supporters when the line-up’s were revealed to show that Neil had made just one, one, unenforced change. That one unenforced change being Robbie Brady - who has been arguably our worst performer this season - in for Jacob Murphy who, about three weeks too late, was finally given a rest. The back five, who performed so horrifically on the south-coast, each retained their place.

The first half wasn’t too bad. Our defending, as always, was comedic and Leeds could have scored numerous times in the opening stages, but we looked similarly threatening going forward. When Robbie Brady’s header looped over the helpless Robert Green and into the corner of the Leeds net it was difficult to say that the lead was deserved, but it was gladly received. The following ten minutes saw a far-improved Norwich as Alex Pritchard was getting heavily involved and dictating some fast-flowing City attacks. Unfortunately, that ten-minute spell was as good as it got for Norwich as the following 60 minutes of the contest saw them return to their disjointed, hopeless worst. Half-time came and saw City go in a goal to the good but, in truth, it had been yet another unconvincing display and there was a sense of inevitability about how the second half would transpire.

Within seconds of the restart Leeds were almost level as Kemar Roofe’s header flew inches past Michael McGovern’s left post: the tone was now set for the rest of the game. As the Leeds pressure grew, Norwich’s defence looked increasingly shaky and it was only a matter of time before the game was level - Pontus Jansson’s free header looping over Louis Thompson on the City far post making it 1-1 in the 58th minute. The momentum was now all with Garry Monk’s side and as has been demonstrated repeatedly this season, constraining momentum - or “weathering the storm”, so to speak - is not something that Norwich are good at. As such, it came as little surprise when Chris Wood fired the visitors in front with little over quarter-of-an-hour remaining. Martin Olsson was far too easily beaten down the left, before Ryan Bennett - who else - lost track of Wood allowing Luke Ayling to find the big striker with ease.

Having witnessed the turnaround, and the shambolic nature in which the lead had been gifted to Leeds, the Carrow Road crowd began to turn; a chorus of “you're getting sacked in the morning” emanating from the Snakepit. Neil can count himself lucky that the Leeds following was vociferous and as such drowned out most discontent aimed at him from the City faithful.

As the clock began to edge towards 90, Neil - exhausted of ideas and evidently full of desperation - resorted to bringing on the man that he has been so desperate not to use throughout his tenure: Kyle Lafferty. Within just three minutes of coming on the Northern Irishman had leveled proceedings as Cameron Jerome knocked down a Hoolahan set-piece into the path of Lafferty who duly dispatched it past Green. For an 88th minute equaliser against Leeds the celebrations were subdued and that is largely because the performance, regardless of the result, had illustrated our huge frailties (and Alex Neil's incompetence) once again, and whether we lost or drew mattered very little in the grand scheme of things.

When Leeds proceeded to go straight back up to our end and score a winner just two minutes later, there was a feeling of resignation within Carrow Road. It wasn’t even a surprise. The goal was so, so poor and yet so, so befitting of our performance. Before any Norwich players had even realised that the Leeds free-kick, 35-yards out, had been taken, the ball had been knocked out to Vieira and smashed home into the bottom right-hand corner of McGovern’s (who yet again, should have saved it) goal. Not one yellow shirt was prepared and in position for the shot to be taken: no organisation, no leadership and, quite frankly, no hope.

Alex Neil’s time is up. Behind Newcastle, our squad is undoubtedly the second best in the league and yet they are putting in incompetent performance after incompetent performance. Yes, we may be 5th, but unless drastic changes occur we will be in the bottom-half of the table come December. We simply cannot expect to defend so poorly and expect to pick up points. There is no coming back from here for the Scot - any more games that he is given from now will be nothing more than delaying the inevitable.

#NCFC #lufc

Time for Alex Neil to axe the old guard in make or break game against Leeds United

Norwich City play host to Leeds United on Saturday afternoon in what is, without doubt, the most important game of Alex Neil’s City career. Naturally, some would argue that the Wembley play-off final should warrant that acclaim, but, back then, whether we had won or lost, Neil’s future at the club was not in question. This weekend, however, it is. Whilst, in terms of him actually being sacked, this one result may not be the be all and end all - the City board are hardly notorious for being cut-throat about such things - but, should we lose then I think, crucially, the supporters will have cast their judgement. When the supporters have been lost, it is only a matter of time.

I think back to City’s last managerial sacking (discounting Neil Adams, as he supposedly ‘resigned’) - Chris Hughton in April 2014. The game that cost him his job was a 1-0 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion. There was a vivid sense of impending doom going into that fixture - for almost the whole campaign Hughton had been criticised for his dour style of football and, with results to match, it felt like the club was sleepwalking to relegation. The game was ‘must win’ and it was no surprise that, upon losing, the fans turned vocally against Hughton - with the ex-boss rather infamously being hit by a ‘clapper’ that was thrown down on him by a disgruntled supporter. In such situations, Carrow Road can be a very unpleasant place to be for a very manager: Nigel Worthington experienced similar to Hughton when his fate was sealed by a 4-1 home defeat to Burnley just over ten years ago.

Rather ironically, Hughton himself - with Brighton's 5-0 win over City last weekend - has put Neil in the firing line to experience exactly the same as he did at Carrow Road two and a half years ago. Back then, Hughton had to face a winnable home game on the back of a humiliating 3-0 defeat at Swansea. This time, Neil has to face a winnable home game on the back of an even more humiliating 5-0 defeat on the south-coast. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I am feeling a similar sense of impending doom. Too many issues, the same issues, have been holding us back for too long for this story to have a happy ending. All of the issues culminated together to provide last weekend’s horror-show and it is difficult to see how Neil recovers from here.

This being said, it would hardly be a huge shock if we beat Leeds on Saturday. Despite rarely performing at our best, we have lost just once at home this season and, on paper, pretty much to a man, our squad is superior to what Leeds has to offer.

It goes without saying that changes to the starting line-up are required. It is the least that is expected after such a humiliation, but, as with all Alex Neil team selections, it is difficult to know what quite to expect. I can only hope that he is brave. There are far too many regulars, Neil’s favourites, that have been repeatedly letting him down this season - and to a certain extent last season, too - and it is time for them to pay the price. After recent performances, one such name that immediately springs to mind is Alex Tettey (who, incidentally, is suspended for Saturday). No-one covered themselves in much glory last weekend but the Norwegian was atrocious, and he hasn’t been much better throughout the campaign. The replacement that all Norwich fans are desperate to see is Louis Thompson: young, hungry, desperate to prove a point and, judging by recent cup performances, in good form too. He was the stand-out performer during the penalty shoot-out defeat at Leeds two weeks ago and was somewhat unfortunate not to retain his place in the starting line-up for the trip to Brighton. If Neil has anything about him, the 21-year-old will start - with no Jonny Howson and no Tettey, he may not have a choice. It would be nice, however, if, just once, he could give players such opportunities without having to wait until he has no other option.

It is players like Thompson that could turn it all around for Neil. There are too many senior players who are putting in painfully disinterested performances week after week - if such players are replaced by the likes of Thompson, who would do anything to pull on the yellow jersey, then success will likely follow. Regardless of what happens to Neil, and regardless of what happens on Saturday, it is time to axe the under-performing old guard, and bring in the new.

#NCFC #lufc #football

Alex Neil must beat Leeds next week or face the sack following Brighton humiliation

Large sections of Norwich supporters have this weekend voiced their opposition to boss Alex Neil following their 5-0 humiliation at promotion rivals Brighton on Saturday afternoon. When a positive result was so desperately needed after disappointing performances against Preston and Leeds, City capitulated in embarrassing style. At just one goal down going into the hour mark, it looked like the game would produce the close affair that was largely expected of a 2nd vs 4th match-up - the next half-an-hour, however, saw Brighton find the net four times as Norwich illustrated, yet again, huge defensive incompetence.

Norwich fans have suffered their fair share of humiliations in recent seasons - numerous thrashings (including a 7-goal one) at the Etihad spring immediately to mind, whilst last season’s 6-2 defeat to relegation rivals Newcastle was difficult to stomach. There was something about Saturday’s defeat, however, that made it so, so much worse. In the Premier League we will, without investment, always be a very, very tiny fish in a very, very big pond: in such an environment, thrashings are inevitable. In the Championship, however, we are the fish (along with Newcastle) that, in terms of our squad and our wages, takes up the vast majority of said pond. In this situation, such results are simply unforgivable.

For not one moment am I accepting that the eleven that Brighton played yesterday are five goals better than the eleven City put out. Purely based on individual talent and individual quality, Norwich’s side is on a different level to what Chris Hughton and Brighton have at their disposal. If it is not a matter of quality, ability or talent then it can only come down to two other things: effort and desire. Two things that Brighton had in abundance and Norwich demonstrated not one ounce of.

It is very easy for supporters, driven by emotion, to accuse players of not trying or not caring, but even captain Russell Martin effectively admitted as much: “too many lads gave up.” Norwich fans can accept being outclassed - over the years of being a third-rate Premier League club we have more than gotten used to it - but being outfought is something that will never be forgiven. We were outfought by a ten man Leeds side on Tuesday, and we were outfought to a humiliating degree at Brighton on Saturday afternoon.

Something has to change. For a side that is expected to compete at the top, and is currently doing so, never before have I seen such an incompetent defence. I could go through each of the five goals and analyse each wrongdoing but I would still be here by the time Leeds visit Carrow Road on Saturday, so I will stick to the stand-out worst: Brighton’s fourth. A poor back-pass from Timm Klose puts Michael McGovern under pressure, McGovern subsequently skews his kick and the ball ends up with Ryan Bennett at centre-back. Bennett tamely flaps a foot at it, presenting the ball to Glenn Murray. With the opportunity to thwart Murray’s progress, Bennett allows the striker to ghost past. Now through on goal, Murray finishes poorly - shooting the ball straight at McGovern who, somewhat impressively, manages to completely evade the shot, allowing it to nestle into the centre of the goal. I have seen some special defending during my time as a Norwich supporter (this season has already offered its fair share), but this truly has to be up there with the very worst.

Of course, after such a defeat, the aftermath is largely dominated by talk of the manager’s future. Neil has been quite lucky throughout his City career in that he has (despite leading us to relegation) evaded large-scale criticism. Some of his detractors would argue that he has been living off his Wembley victory for the past eighteen months, with many fans apprehensive to criticise someone who, during his first five months at the club, achieved so much. I feel that it is has got to the stage now, however, that the majority of supporters would not be too sad to see him go. There is no doubt that our squad is under-performing (most would agree that, based on performances, 4th is a very false position) and the responsibility for this has to fall at the feet of Alex Neil. The same mistakes have been costing us time and time again for the past two seasons and, sadly, Neil has done nothing to show that he is learning from any of them.

Will the board sack Neil? No. Not for the moment, anyway. At the end of the day, we are sat in 4th and our board will be fearful of a crucification from the footballing world should we sack our manager whilst we are in that position. In reality, however, it feels like the only way is down at the moment and anyone who has actually been following City closely this season would find it difficult to have any qualms if a decision is made.

For me, he should be given the Leeds game next Saturday to prove that he can still motivate his players, and, should we earn a positive result there (aka, a win) then I will be happy for him to stay in charge for the foreseeable future. Should we lose, however, then the atmosphere at Carrow Road will be hugely poisonous and once it gets to that stage, history proves that there is no going back (think Burnley at home under Worthington, and West Brom at home under Hughton). No pressure, Alex.

#NCFC

Defensive woes cost Norwich City yet again during EFL Cup shoot-out defeat at Leeds United

Tuesday night saw Norwich City knocked out of the EFL Cup following a penalty shoot-out defeat to Leeds United. 90 minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra-time saw the two Championship clubs level at 2-2, before penalty misses from City’s Alex Pritchard, Steven Naismith and Robbie Brady ensured a 3-2 shoot-out win for the Elland Road hosts.

There is no doubt about it: Norwich should be in the quarter-finals. City supporters should today be basking in the rarity in a Norwich cup run, and dreaming of a second Wembley trip in the space of three years. Instead we are left ruing over the same mistakes that have crippled us for the past two seasons: an inability to defend, incompetent game-management and ultimately a fragility to our side that leaves us constantly vulnerable.

Despite making nine changes from the side who lost to Preston on Saturday, our line-up was strong. The likes of Alex Pritchard, Steven Naismith and Nelson Oliveira would walk into almost any side in the Championship and, against a second-string Leeds side, we should have had more than enough quality to navigate the tie and book a place in Wednesday night’s cup draw. After the opening 30 minutes it looked like such expectations would be met as City had dominated proceedings and were a goal up following Alex Pritchard’s 13th-minute header. It was no less than Norwich deserved and it could have been even better as numerous chances were spurned, notably one of which fell to Naismith within seconds of kick-off - his shot being well thwarted by Marco Silvestri in the Leeds goal. Nonetheless, the lead was just one and, considering City’s recent failings, this was by no means comfortable and it was somewhat unsurprising when we began to allow Leeds back into the game. Having been on the front foot for the majority of the game, we were now being pushed back, and a Norwich City defence - whether it be first or second string - being pushed back is recipe for disaster. Rather comically, we conceded three times in the remaining 15 minutes of the first half - only one of them counted but the fact that Leeds had found the net three times in their only three attacks perfectly illustrates our defensive incompetence.

The season has been defined by Norwich only playing well in very small periods of matches and it quickly became apparent that the opening half hour would be the match’s ‘designated period’ - for the rest of it we were, quite frankly, rubbish. The second half was a bit of a non-event in that neither side were at their best, but if there was one team that was going to prevent the match from going to extra-time then it was Leeds - if not for a miss-of-the-season contender from Alex Mowatt and a couple of impressive stops from John Ruddy, this would have indeed been the outcome. Nonetheless, we managed to take the game into the extra half-an-hour and, following an injury to Lewis Coyle, Leeds would have to play this extended period with a man disadvantage.

When Nelson Oliveira headed home from a perfect Pritchard cross in the 99th minute to put City 2-1 ahead, the game was surely secured. Holding onto leads is hardly a forte of Alex Neil’s side, but, with an extra man against a tiring and technically inferior Leeds side, we could not have wished for a more favourable situation. Inevitably, however, we still managed to throw it away. At a stage when continuing to take the game to Leeds would have likely resulted in more goals and a confirmed victory, we decided to sit back. With this pattern set for the remainder of extra-time there was only going to be one outcome: a Leeds equaliser, which came in the 109th minute as Ruddy tamely parried the ball into the path of Chris Wood who tapped home into an empty net. The momentum was now all with Leeds and whether it be finding a winner in extra-time, or winning on penalties, the result seemed inevitable. Ultimately they had to take the route of penalties, in which they came out of 3-2 winners: the lack of mental fortitude that cost City during normal time rearing its ugly head again in a tame shoot-out effort.

Frustration. Utter, utter frustration. Norwich should have won that game. We should have beaten Fulham last week, and we should have beaten Newcastle last month. The quality is there - the mental strength, character and game-management is not. Without the latter, the former will only get you so far - as we are currently discovering.

Saturday sees Norwich travel to second-placed Brighton and huge, huge improvement will be required if we are to come away with anything. For me, it is the biggest game of Alex Neil’s Norwich career. There is no doubt that our team is currently performing below the sum of its parts and, when this is the case, the blame, rightly or wrongly, will fall at the feet of the manager.

Defeat on the south-coast and I will begin to believe that the Scots days at the club are increasingly numbered.

#NCFC #leeds #lufc

Norwich City slump to first home defeat as pressure on Neil increases

Norwich City suffered their first home defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon as Preston North End came away from Carrow Road deserved 1-0 winners. Alex Baptiste’s second half header was enough to earn his side victory as two disappointing performances in the space of five days has seen City slip from 1st to 4th.

It is fair to say that it (“it” being a surprise home defeat) had been coming. Despite winning our opening five games, our performances in each of them have not been hugely convincing, with three of the five said victories being won by nervy one goal margins. Such results have largely papered over the cracks of the lacklustre performances but it has been all too clear for City supporters that we would be punished sooner or later. There is only so long that we can keep coasting along in second gear, expecting to keep earning three points every time. On Saturday we came up against a well-organised, well-drilled and plucky Preston side and, faced with the challenge, we had no answer.

As much as I agree that the players should take most of the responsibility (after all, the team that played on Saturday should have had more than enough quality to overcome Preston), it is impossible not to question Alex Neil. On Tuesday night Norwich supporters were left largely non-plussed by his decision to drop Alex Pritchard to the bench in favour of the out-of-form Robbie Brady. Neil chose to stick by this decision for the visit of Preston. Not only this, but he didn’t make any changes whatsoever (other than the late enforced replacement of Ivo Pinto with Ryan Bennett). When there is seemingly no reason whatsoever to alter a line-up the Scot proceeds to makes changes, whilst, when there are justified reasons for changes (such as throwing away a two goal lead at Fulham), he opts for an unchanged line-up. I am a huge fan of Alex Neil, and always will be thankful for his role in providing us that day at Wembley, but some of his decisions are mystifying to say the least.

City started the game brightly and could have been in front within just 14 seconds as an impressive Cameron Jerome strike forced Preston keeper Chris Maxwell into a save, but Preston soon proved that they would be a capable opponent and could have taken the lead themselves just minutes later. Despite a promising start, it soon became clear that City were lacking in ideas as the game slowly descended into a bit of a lull - a lack of ideas illustrated by the likes of Alex Tettey having to resort to tame long-range efforts. As the first half wore on, it became increasingly, and worryingly, obvious that Preston were more than comfortable and that things would have to drastically improve if Norwich were going to make it six home wins on the bounce. This much was obvious to Neil and, after the opening stages of the second half saw more of the same, he played his hand with a double substitution: Nelson Oliveira and Alex Pritchard substituted in place of Jacob Murphy and Robbie Brady. With more than half an hour still to play, this would be Oliveira’s longest game-time (in the league) since signing for the club and it was hoped that he would take this opportunity to prove his worth to Neil and the City faithful. As it transpired, his performance did his cause more harm than good - he was woefully ineffective and did little more than consistently give the ball away. Pritchard, unsurprisingly, was a more successful substitution and proved to add some much needed added impetus to our attack, whilst his well struck free-kick was the closest City came to opening the scoring.

Nonetheless, despite the introduction of Pritchard, Norwich were still some way off their (rarely seen) flowing best, whilst Preston’s back four were beginning to look increasingly comfortable. As the game went on, with City continuing to perform below-par, there was a sense of inevitability about what was to happen next. The restless Carrow Road crowd could see it coming, almost everyone could see it coming - that is, of course, everyone other than the Norwich defence who proceeded to allow Preston’s Baptiste a free header from a 75th minute free-kick, a header that he comfortably dispatched to give his side the lead.

City were now left with just 15 minutes to try and prevent a shock home defeat and, whilst we had more than enough attacking quality on the pitch to achieve this, there was a sense of resignation that we were destined for defeat. Jerome almost averted such pessimism within seconds, striking the Preston post, whilst Pritchard troubled with a header, but defeat was nothing less than City deserved and defeat is what they got.

Questions are beginning to be raised: are we fourth because of Alex Neil, or are we fourth in spite of Alex Neil? There is no doubt about it that pressure, and doubt, is beginning to increase and the next week will be pivotal for the City boss. On Tuesday we travel to Leeds to fight for a place in the Quarter Finals of the EFL Cup, whilst Saturday sees us faced with one of the season’s toughest fixtures: Brighton away.

Two wins and Neil will have largely regained (or, for some, retained) the faith and support of the majority of the City fan-base. Two defeats, however, and the questions will keep on coming.

#NCFC #football

Norwich’s defensive frailties exposed again during 2-2 draw at Fulham

Norwich City slipped from their position at the top of the Championship table on Tuesday evening as they spurned a two goal lead to draw 2-2 at Fulham. Two first half penalties from Graham Dorrans looked to have put his side in pole position to earn their first victory at Craven Cottage in over 30 years, but City’s defensive frailties were exposed once more as goals from Stefan Johansen and ex-Norwich striker Chris Martin cost Norwich the win.

The post-match inquisition into the disappointing result has to begin by looking at Alex Neil’s team selection and, more importantly, the absence of Alex Pritchard from the starting eleven. Having been largely overlooked for the most part of the season, Pritchard made his first league start in the 3-1 win over Rotherham last weekend and hugely impressed - recording one assist and being heavily involved in everything good that City did going forward. I am always apprehensive about Neil’s team selection but had faith that he would reward Pritchard for last weekend’s performance by keeping him in the starting eleven. As it transpired, however, Robbie Brady - evidently one of Neil’s ‘favourites’ - was given the nod upon his return from injury, whilst Pritchard was dropped to the bench.

It is difficult to see this as anything other than very poor man-management from Neil: what does this say to Pritchard? At long last he has been given an opportunity, which he grabbed with both hands - his reward? Dropped to the bench. To make it worse, upon substituting Wes Hoolahan just after the hour mark, Neil again overlooked Pritchard - who seemed the obvious option - in favour of Steven Naismith, a player who has been struggling to even make the bench in recent weeks. For all of his skills as a manager, City’s Scot does make his fair share of baffling decisions - and the dropping of Pritchard will rank upon the most baffling of them all.

Nonetheless, Brady is hardly an incapable replacement and we had more than enough quality in the line-up to overcome a Fulham side destined for mid-table mediocrity. After an even opening to the game, it soon looked like this extra quality would tell as Jacob Murphy was felled inside the Fulham area in the 17th minute, leaving Graham Dorrans to cooly slot home the resulting penalty. Despite going behind, Fulham continued to cause City problems and, as always seems to be the case, Norwich were never in a position of so called comfort, but it was indeed City who went on to extend their lead. Much to the anger of the Craven Cottage crowd, the second also came from a Dorrans penalty after Jerome theatrically fell under a clumsy Scott Malone challenge. To go in at the break 2-0 up was by no means what Norwich deserved and, whilst, for most promotion challenging teams such a lead would seem unassailable, there was a sense of inevitability during the break that Fulham would be let back into the game.

It didn’t take long for this inevitability to arrive as within ten minutes of the restart City’s lead was halved following what was, yet again, a criminally soft goal to concede. Weak defending from Russell Martin and Timm Klose allowed Chris Martin to evade both of them, turn, and get a shot away - a shot which subsequently deflected off both Martin Olsson and Stefan Johansen before trickling into the bottom left corner of Michael McGovern’s goal. The momentum was now all with Fulham as Norwich cowered into their shell and it was only a matter of time before the teams were on level terms. Little over ten minutes following Johansen’s first and Fulham were indeed level as a mis-placed Graham Dorrans pass put Slaviša Jokanović’s on the attack - an attack which resulted with Chris Martin being played in on goal and, following Russell Martin’s inability to thwart him, he fired home. A frantic end to the game, in which both sides had chances to win it, ensued, but 2-2 was how it went on to finish.

As the more positive Norwich fans have argued, in any other circumstances we wouldn’t be too aggrieved with a draw away at Fulham - especially considering our recent record at Craven Cottage. Nonetheless, to be 2-0 up at half time and not go on to win is hugely disappointing. City have now twice thrown away two goal leads in the last month and but for some fortune this figure could have been far higher. On paper, a defence of Ivo Pinto, Timm Klose, Russell Martin and Martin Olsson should be one of the strongest in the division, yet in reality they represent a back four that is hugely vulnerable and prone to at least one mistake every game. If they don’t improve, any dreams of a top two finish can be instantly forgotten. There is only so long that we can continue to defend so weakly, and perform so unconvincingly, yet still pick up points.

A convincing win over Preston on Saturday is required. That being said, I’ll take yet another nervy one-goal margin win if it is offered to me right now…

#NCFC #football #Championship

Fifth straight win at Carrow Road takes Norwich top of the Championship

Norwich City extended their winning run at Carrow Road to five league games as they overcame bottom-placed Rotherham United 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Wes Hoolahan, Cameron Jerome and substitute Steven Naismith secured the victory and fired City to the top of the Championship table - a place where they will now stay (until Tuesday, at least) following Huddersfield’s failure to avoid defeat against Sheffield Wednesday in Sunday’s lunch-time kick-off.

2nd hosting 24th should only ever end in one outcome but it is a well known fact that in the Championship anything can happen, whilst Norwich have a crippling habit of losing games that they are expected to win. As a result, whilst confidence was still high, it was difficult not to err on the side of caution ahead of Rotherham’s visit - especially with the prospect of some notable absences in the form of Robbie Brady and Timm Klose, both of whom picked up injuries during the international break.

As it transpired, Klose was passed fit and, whilst Brady was indeed absent, Norwich delivered a performance of dominance worthy of a top-placed side. From the offset it was Norwich on the front-foot and after 17 minutes of pressure they were rewarded as Wes Hoolahan, being Wes Hoolahan, produced a moment of magic to put Neil’s side into a 1-0 lead. Alex Pritchard, on his first league start, demonstrated brilliant vision in finding Hoolahan with a threaded through-ball, before the Irishman duly strutted his stuff - a neat body-swerve taking it past one Rotherham defender, before a dummy-shot committed a second and the goalkeeper, leaving Wes to slot home into an empty net. At 34-years-old Hoolahan still continues to amaze and yesterday was no different: this world is his and we are merely living in it.

The pattern of play following the goal was much the same as Norwich continued to dictate. Pritchard, having assisted Hoolahan’s opener, looked impressive and he was heavily involved in almost everything good City did going forward. The 23-year-old has had a slow start to his Norwich career, struggling to force his way into Neil’s plans, but the injury to Brady has provided him with an opportunity to stake his claim and on Saturday he did just that. A diminutive figure, little taller than Hoolahan, he has skill and vision in the abundance and many Norwich fans will be hoping that he and James Maddison will be the long-term heirs to the aforementioned Hoolahan.

Despite the dominance, City failed to extend their lead before the break and the Carrow Road faithful had to wait until the 65th minute to see their side give themselves a cushion. This time Hoolahan turned provider, as he crossed in for Cameron Jerome who finished neatly, helping the cross on its way into the bottom right-hand corner of Lee Camp’s goal. The goal marks Jerome’s 6th of the season - already double that of last season’s tally - and he is rightly earning plaudits for his performances.

Norwich have continuously proven this season that a two goal lead is never safe, but it was hoped that this time, for once - against a Rotherham side that offered very little - we would see a game out comfortably. This wasn’t to be the case, however, and with a sense of inevitably Dexter Blackstock pulled a goal back for Rotherham in the 75th minute. Weak defending from Josh Murphy saw him far too easily beaten down the left before Timm Klose failed to clear the resulting cross which was bundled home by Blackstock. Yet another sloppy goal conceded in a season riddle by conceding sloppy goals. Sooner or later, we will be punished for it (like at St James’ Park).

Despite nerves being evident around Carrow Road, Norwich were largely in the ascendancy for the remaining quarter of an hour and a City third always looked more likely than a Rotherham equaliser. In the final minute of normal time this proved to be the case as Josh Murphy, making amends for his role in Rotherham’s goal, stormed down the left and delivered a menacing ball across the box for Steven Naismith to tap home at the back post. 22 attempts on goal later, the three points had now finally been secured.

So, that is now five wins and one draw from our opening six home games and Carrow Road is quickly developing into the fortress that we will need it to be this season. The only real qualm with the result is that we should have scored more and made it far more comfortable for ourselves, but, sitting pretty on the top of the Championship, on the back of yet another win - it is difficult to complain. Alex Neil has proven that he is capable of beating the Manager of the Month curse, now it is time for him to prove that he can break the ‘Fulham away hoodoo’ on Tuesday night, a place where City haven’t won since 1986.

#NCFC #rufc #football

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Alec Blatherwick