Norwich City: Assessing the Season

Article by e-Norwich City Correspondent Colin Rowe

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It is strange to think 10 months ago Norwich fans all over the world were anticipating a glorious season following a summer spending spree never before seen at Carrow Road.

Unfortunately it was not to be and the boys in Yellow underperformed for most of the campaign and eventually slipped out of the top flight.

So where did it all go wrong and how could a season, which started in such good spirits, end up being such a bitter disappointment?

The fact is, but for a few results, it could have been a very different and it is not difficult to see where City dropped points.

The first obvious candidates are the 1-0 losses to Hull and Aston Villa and the goalless draw against Cardiff, games which Norwich dominated but were unable to produce the goods and these are far from isolated cases.

Home games against Swansea, Fulham, Manchester United and West Brom, a game which essentially sealed our fate, were also chronic disappointments and the less said about some of our away day outings the better.

Tactically, Norwich were flawed from the very early days of the season.

Chris Hughton was far too negative for Norwich to pick up any surprise results, often playing not to lose rather than to win, which stifled our new attacking signings.

Although a lack of goals has been a constant problem, as has been our leaky away day defence, the main issue was Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper were not given enough chances to get the ball in the net.

Many would argued Hughton should have been sacked earlier, with some calling for his head before Christmas, and with the benefit of hindsight maybe they have a point.

However, getting rid of a manager is never an easy call and Hughton did have a habit of winning when he had to.

Would it have made any difference if Hughton had stayed in charge? Probably not.

Anybody who has watched Norwich this season knows Hughton would have fared no better in the final five games.

Neil Adams was handed a near impossible situation and did the best he could with a demoralised squad.

Was the timing of the managerial swap strange? On the face of it yes, but to those who closely followed the Yellows it was obvious how important the Fulham game was following Hughton’s sacking and a change in the dressing room might have been the ticket to success at Craven Cottage.

Unfortunately it was not enough, but it was worth a try.

The team itself also has to take some responsibility and especially our raft of new arrivals, however, it is hard to pick out specific players for criticism.

Nathen Redmond, Martin Olsson and Leroy Fer have played well while RvW and Hooper have simply not been given enough goal scoring opportunities.

Robert Snodgrass got off to a slow start this season, but has improved while Alex Tettey and Jonny Howson (despite a lengthy absence) have put in a good shift in the midfield all season.

At the back there were certainly some squad depth issues and many fans will point towards some very high profile mistakes by Sebastian Bassong, seriously, how did he get beaten to a header by Nathen Dyer?

John Ruddy did not have his best season between the sticks, but the back line has to take some responsibility for this as opposition teams were given far too many shooting opportunities, a case in point the disturbing lack of closing down for Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney’s goals at Goodison and Old Trafford.

However, it is difficult to point to one player who has consistently played badly which leads us back to the tactical flaws in Hughton’s game plan.

For a man who was a defender in his playing days, it is understandable why he would have faith in a defensive game plan, but what has been frustrating this season is watching a team play defensively but not able to defend.

On the road especially City shipped far too many goals and you do have to question why, when the system was clearly not working, Hughton stuck with his Plan A.

While it might not be the best excuse, Norwich also suffered from a lack of luck this term.

RvW in particular was denied on numerous occasions by outstanding saves at times when he was desperate to get on the score sheet.

It was not just the bad luck which directly affected Norwich, but it seemed other results always seemed to go against us, for example the improbable run Sunderland went on to stay up this season.

As this post has already pointed out, it only takes a couple of result changes to see City stay in the top-flight and possibly finish in the security of mid-table.

You can assess, deconstruct and analyse all you like, but unfortunately it was just not to be this season and it only leaves the fans hoping the Pride of Anglia can bounce back stronger and go straight back up.

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