Norwich City Fail to Hammer Out Another Result

Article by e-Norwich Correspondent Colin Rowe

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Yet another heart-breaking result befell the Norwich faithful mid-week as two late goals from West Ham left the Canaries just one point and two places above the relegation zone.

It is an all too familiar story. A game Norwich dominated for periods, particularly in the second half, but were unable to do the most fundamental thing in football, put the ball in the goal.

Credit does have to go to Hammers goalkeeper Adrian who thwarted the efforts of Redmond, Hooper and Tettey and certainly some blame has to be aimed at the players for failing to finish the job.

However, questions have to be raised once again about the tactics of Chris Hughton.

As predicted on this site, City started with one up front and the tactics worked well, despite the lack of a goal, but then with just over 10 minutes to go the manager makes the kind of substitution which has, on more than one occasion, brought groans of despair from the Y’Army.

He decided to replace this seasons leading goal scorer, Gary Hooper, with Johan Elmander.

Then, with about eight minutes of normal time remaining, Nathan Redmond, who had be plaguing the West Ham defence all game was similarly replaced by Anthony Pilkington.

What happened then was predictable. Norwich took their foot off the gas and West Ham took advantage.

Those who read the e-Norwich preview of the game will know it speculated Norwich would grow more attacking as the game progressed, so why with City dominating the chances and possession did the manager not only continue with a loan-striker, but then removed the most creative and dangerous player on the pitch?

Yes, at this stage of the season fatigue is an issue and a point gained is incredibly valuable, but these conservative substitutions were a clear white-flag to Sam Allardyce indicating a team battling relegation were prepared to accept a 0-0 draw when Norwich were clearly in the ascendancy.

Another point worth remembering here is, due to a dire performance at Craven Cottage in the FA Cup replay, City now have a 10-day break until they face Tottenham at home.

So why exactly should we be worried about resting players under these circumstances when they have plenty of time to recover?

This result leaves City sitting precariously above the relegation zone, while Big-Sam’s men look down from the lofty heights of mid-table, although the team are still above David McNally’s ‘Red Line’ of the bottom three.

There are still a lot of games to be played between now and the end of the season and Norwich can still easily keep themselves in the Premiership, especially when so many teams are still not clear of the drop zone.

Home games against Tottenham, Stoke, Sunderland and West Brom still remain and offer the opportunity to accumulate points, while away days at Villa, Southampton, Swansea and Fulham might also yield some results.

This season is not dead and buried yet and Hughton does have a habit of getting a result when he needs to.

Personally this situation reminds me of a joke I heard years ago.

Two hikers were walking through the woods when they noticed a bear charging towards them. The first hiker removes his boots a puts on running shoes. The second hiker laughs and says “Why bother? You can’t outrun a bear.” The first hiker responds “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you.”

If Fulham and Cardiff are destined for relegation Norwich only need to outrun one other team to stay in the top-flight for another season, although this might just be the eternal optimism that comes from being a Norwich fan.

Bring on Tottenham next weekend. On The Ball City!

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