CanaryOnTheWire
New Member
The Wire Report- Norwich City 2-2 Birmingham City
Adams and the lads really do love putting us through the wringer, don't they. Yet another game of two halves, where a sluggish and disjointed Norwich struggled to get out of the blocks- yes, Birmingham created nothing either, and lucked into the game's opening goal, but we too were ponderous on the ball and lacklustre off it in the first 45.
The prevalent issue was the size of the gap between our defensive (the back four and Johnson, Tettey) and offensive players- with Johnson and Tettey struggling to find the likes of Hoolahan - who looked to find getting about the pitch harder than usual (perhaps his ankle wasn't as ready as the medical staff thought) as Wes and Grabban in particular were way too high up the pitch where usually they'd come deeper and get more involved.
Here the impact it had was that as our midfield couldn't pass it out, they had to resort to long balls with limited success first half as they were often intercepted/tackled by the impressive David Davis in midfield for Birmingham. The Brum lads were also assisted by great hold-up play from Clayton Donaldson, who Hooiveld again struggled to cope with, as with Kenwyne Jones v Cardiff (Jos is good on the ball but a little lacking in composure in the physical battle) allowing offensive players like Demarai Gray to get high up the pitch, get on the ball and hurt us.
As far as the goals go, yes the first Birmingham goal was a deflected strike, but for me once Ruddy gets his hand to it, he must get that round the post. I'm sure John will be bitterly disappointed he hasn't stopped that. The second, he could do nothing about- it was an impeccable hit from Gray after Hooiveld clumsily got himself lost in trying to clear the ball in the area, allowing the lay-off to Gray who curled the ball past Ruddy from the edge of the box. So, first 45, no real chances created for either side, just two errors from Ruddy and Hooiveld making Brum look far better than they were.
A response was needed and for a solid 20 minute period after the restart, it arrived. Chance creation was no longer at a premium as Jerome and Grabban piled in the shots (the former far more effectively) due to Nathan Redmond having in my view his best game yet for us.
He absolutely terrorised Gray and Grounds (the former of course himself a young winger who was quite hapless at defending, particularly against someone as good on the ball as Redmond), and young Nathan delivered- though the first goal was resultant of a phenomenal lofted through ball from the weak foot of Bradley Johnson, and Russell Martin's cut back was beautifully tucked into the far corner of the net by Cameron Jerome, who for all the world looks far too good for this league.
Our second goal- while Redmond deserves praise for being alert enough to drop back out of the box, receive the ball and cross, his delivery this time was actually poorer than some of his others in the game, but Jerome turned a half-chance into a glorious goal, getting in front of his man at the near post to loop a flicked header over the committed Randolph and into the net.
What happened in the final half an hour was very odd, and much like our slow starts is difficult to explain- it seemed as though all our mental energy was expended in the comeback, and where we should have gone on and won we sort of eased off and lapsed, not really creating a great deal and allowing Birmingham to settle for the draw.
That we must call into question and address if we do want to win this league- we know we can come back from a deficit and score goals, but we simply cannot rely on it every week- it's a long slog of a league and it will come unstuck if we continue to stumble bleary-eyed and shell shocked out of the blocks.
Seeing 45 minutes of Josh Murphy did however highlight how different a player to Nathan Redmond he actually is. Forgive the cliched top player comparison here- but Redmond is like Alexis Sanchez, an accelerator out of tight spaces, full of ball control and centre of gravity adjustment, scaring the life out of defenders because they know he only needs to see a speck of daylight behind them and he's gone.
By contrast, Murphy is more like Theo Walcott- a knock it and run pace machine, with less composure on the ball, less control in tight spaces, but the kind of pace that means defenders have to stand off him and open up the space for us to play in (which nearly brought some joy in the latter stages) because if they get level with him they have no chance of catching him off the shoulder.
Player Ratings
Ruddy 5 - Come on John, you're better than that. A 5 is perhaps a bit harsh but he must save the first goal. It gave Birmingham a foothold they didn't deserve. Did make a couple of good saves but my 5 rating is in protest at how much better he can and should be.
Martin 7- Good game from Russ this, got nice and high to play on the offensive and grabbed himself an assist.
Turner 7- Not really a foot wrong from Turner yet again
Hooiveld 6 - My reports seem a bit like a Jos witch hunt, which is a bit unfair, he is a good player and probably the best ball-playing CB at the club (I know Miquel can pass but haven't seen enough of him). A few good passes but really struggled for their goal. Michael Turner gets in and clears that for me, Jos made a hash of it.
Olsson 7 - Solid defensively, didn't get to get forward as much as he likes as Hoolahan was both out of position and a bit injured on the left, so we couldn't create the overloads he loves to benefit from.
Redmond 9 (MOTM) - Oh Nathan. Was not negatively affected against the club in his heart, instead decided to absolutely destroy Jon Grounds (no, I'm not surprised either) and was the root of most things good about Saturday. Yes Jerome was ace, and grabbed two goals, but Redmond was the conductor at the heart of it for me, with 8 successful dribbles a stunning stat.
Tettey 6 - Maybe a little harsh on Alex, who has been SO good this season, and was solid here, but he struggled to have an impact on the game because our offensive players gave him nothing to play into for the first 45. Was better second half but not as good as he should be.
Johnson 7- Bradley scrapes into a 7 because of THAT pass, but the same issues as with Tettey, Bradley needs easy passes as his accuracy isn't great and he wasn't often provided with that, but when he gets it right, he really gets it right.
Hoolahan 6- As i said, he's not able to be as influential as he can be on the left which is obvious to most of us. Solid passing game but created little- needed to be subbed when he was as he just wasn't the Wes he was.
Jerome 9- You wouldn't think Jerome has the mediocre Prem scoring record he does, but in this league, he is a goal machine. Great in the air, great with a pass, shoots well and causes havoc for defenders. Two brilliantly taken goals.
Grabban 6- Transparent game for Lewis who as with Hoolahan struggled to get on the ball as he was positioned way too high way too often. He didn't have a bad game, but boy, was it unspectacular.
SUBS
Murphy 6 - Great directness, full of running, not enough end product and relies on striking lucky a bit too much. No fear though, as long as that isn't coached out of him (which under Adams it won't be) and there's plenty more days to come for Josh, and his star will be shining soon. Just wasn't quite the experienced head you need for 45 minutes when you're two goals down.
Lafferty 6- Grabban wasn't getting in the game so a change was needed, and Kyle has great technical ability, possibly he's better than this league in that way. Workmanlike but didn't pull up any trees.
Adams and the lads really do love putting us through the wringer, don't they. Yet another game of two halves, where a sluggish and disjointed Norwich struggled to get out of the blocks- yes, Birmingham created nothing either, and lucked into the game's opening goal, but we too were ponderous on the ball and lacklustre off it in the first 45.
The prevalent issue was the size of the gap between our defensive (the back four and Johnson, Tettey) and offensive players- with Johnson and Tettey struggling to find the likes of Hoolahan - who looked to find getting about the pitch harder than usual (perhaps his ankle wasn't as ready as the medical staff thought) as Wes and Grabban in particular were way too high up the pitch where usually they'd come deeper and get more involved.
Here the impact it had was that as our midfield couldn't pass it out, they had to resort to long balls with limited success first half as they were often intercepted/tackled by the impressive David Davis in midfield for Birmingham. The Brum lads were also assisted by great hold-up play from Clayton Donaldson, who Hooiveld again struggled to cope with, as with Kenwyne Jones v Cardiff (Jos is good on the ball but a little lacking in composure in the physical battle) allowing offensive players like Demarai Gray to get high up the pitch, get on the ball and hurt us.
As far as the goals go, yes the first Birmingham goal was a deflected strike, but for me once Ruddy gets his hand to it, he must get that round the post. I'm sure John will be bitterly disappointed he hasn't stopped that. The second, he could do nothing about- it was an impeccable hit from Gray after Hooiveld clumsily got himself lost in trying to clear the ball in the area, allowing the lay-off to Gray who curled the ball past Ruddy from the edge of the box. So, first 45, no real chances created for either side, just two errors from Ruddy and Hooiveld making Brum look far better than they were.
A response was needed and for a solid 20 minute period after the restart, it arrived. Chance creation was no longer at a premium as Jerome and Grabban piled in the shots (the former far more effectively) due to Nathan Redmond having in my view his best game yet for us.
He absolutely terrorised Gray and Grounds (the former of course himself a young winger who was quite hapless at defending, particularly against someone as good on the ball as Redmond), and young Nathan delivered- though the first goal was resultant of a phenomenal lofted through ball from the weak foot of Bradley Johnson, and Russell Martin's cut back was beautifully tucked into the far corner of the net by Cameron Jerome, who for all the world looks far too good for this league.
Our second goal- while Redmond deserves praise for being alert enough to drop back out of the box, receive the ball and cross, his delivery this time was actually poorer than some of his others in the game, but Jerome turned a half-chance into a glorious goal, getting in front of his man at the near post to loop a flicked header over the committed Randolph and into the net.
What happened in the final half an hour was very odd, and much like our slow starts is difficult to explain- it seemed as though all our mental energy was expended in the comeback, and where we should have gone on and won we sort of eased off and lapsed, not really creating a great deal and allowing Birmingham to settle for the draw.
That we must call into question and address if we do want to win this league- we know we can come back from a deficit and score goals, but we simply cannot rely on it every week- it's a long slog of a league and it will come unstuck if we continue to stumble bleary-eyed and shell shocked out of the blocks.
Seeing 45 minutes of Josh Murphy did however highlight how different a player to Nathan Redmond he actually is. Forgive the cliched top player comparison here- but Redmond is like Alexis Sanchez, an accelerator out of tight spaces, full of ball control and centre of gravity adjustment, scaring the life out of defenders because they know he only needs to see a speck of daylight behind them and he's gone.
By contrast, Murphy is more like Theo Walcott- a knock it and run pace machine, with less composure on the ball, less control in tight spaces, but the kind of pace that means defenders have to stand off him and open up the space for us to play in (which nearly brought some joy in the latter stages) because if they get level with him they have no chance of catching him off the shoulder.
Player Ratings
Ruddy 5 - Come on John, you're better than that. A 5 is perhaps a bit harsh but he must save the first goal. It gave Birmingham a foothold they didn't deserve. Did make a couple of good saves but my 5 rating is in protest at how much better he can and should be.
Martin 7- Good game from Russ this, got nice and high to play on the offensive and grabbed himself an assist.
Turner 7- Not really a foot wrong from Turner yet again
Hooiveld 6 - My reports seem a bit like a Jos witch hunt, which is a bit unfair, he is a good player and probably the best ball-playing CB at the club (I know Miquel can pass but haven't seen enough of him). A few good passes but really struggled for their goal. Michael Turner gets in and clears that for me, Jos made a hash of it.
Olsson 7 - Solid defensively, didn't get to get forward as much as he likes as Hoolahan was both out of position and a bit injured on the left, so we couldn't create the overloads he loves to benefit from.
Redmond 9 (MOTM) - Oh Nathan. Was not negatively affected against the club in his heart, instead decided to absolutely destroy Jon Grounds (no, I'm not surprised either) and was the root of most things good about Saturday. Yes Jerome was ace, and grabbed two goals, but Redmond was the conductor at the heart of it for me, with 8 successful dribbles a stunning stat.
Tettey 6 - Maybe a little harsh on Alex, who has been SO good this season, and was solid here, but he struggled to have an impact on the game because our offensive players gave him nothing to play into for the first 45. Was better second half but not as good as he should be.
Johnson 7- Bradley scrapes into a 7 because of THAT pass, but the same issues as with Tettey, Bradley needs easy passes as his accuracy isn't great and he wasn't often provided with that, but when he gets it right, he really gets it right.
Hoolahan 6- As i said, he's not able to be as influential as he can be on the left which is obvious to most of us. Solid passing game but created little- needed to be subbed when he was as he just wasn't the Wes he was.
Jerome 9- You wouldn't think Jerome has the mediocre Prem scoring record he does, but in this league, he is a goal machine. Great in the air, great with a pass, shoots well and causes havoc for defenders. Two brilliantly taken goals.
Grabban 6- Transparent game for Lewis who as with Hoolahan struggled to get on the ball as he was positioned way too high way too often. He didn't have a bad game, but boy, was it unspectacular.
SUBS
Murphy 6 - Great directness, full of running, not enough end product and relies on striking lucky a bit too much. No fear though, as long as that isn't coached out of him (which under Adams it won't be) and there's plenty more days to come for Josh, and his star will be shining soon. Just wasn't quite the experienced head you need for 45 minutes when you're two goals down.
Lafferty 6- Grabban wasn't getting in the game so a change was needed, and Kyle has great technical ability, possibly he's better than this league in that way. Workmanlike but didn't pull up any trees.
