Misfiring Norwich Still Misfiring

Article by e-Norwich City's Colin Rowe

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So it was same old, same old when Norwich opened its Championship campaign at Wolves at the weekend.

Some periods of positive play interspersed with sloppy passing, an inability to keep possession, a complete lack of attacking creativity and ultimately another defeat.

You could be forgiven for thinking Wolves were the team who had dropped out of the Premiership and City had just won promotion from League 1 rather than the other way round.

Manger Neil Adams understandably lamented Martin Olsson’s red card, but frankly the Swedish defender was made to look amateurish by Rajiv van La Parra, which makes you wonder what exactly went wrong for him over the summer.

If one was so inclined, you could argue his attitude and particularly his reaction to being dismissed is down to his disappointment at not being able to secure a move away from Carrow Road.

Similarly, the situation surrounding Anthony Pilkington is looking ever more confusing, with the player claiming he was fully-fit, while Adams said the winger had a niggle.

What makes this first-day-display even more frustrating is until now the summer had been kind to Norwich.

Many of the better players are still on the books, including John Ruddy, Leroy Fer, Nathan Redmond, Wes Hoolahan and Gary Hooper, while we have been relieved of Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s wage burden by loaning the misfiring Dutchman to French side Saint Etienne.

Simultaneously, the Canary’s have been encouragingly active in the transfer market, bringing in Lewis Grabben and Kyle Lafferty.

So what has gone wrong?

Well for starters let’s not get over pessimistic about the result. First day of the season, away from home, playing a team coming off the back of a winning season is not exactly the perfect start to a campaign.

As ridiculous as it sounds, losing can become a habit and it is one Norwich need to break very, very quickly.

Norwich now have back-to-back games at home and the displays in these games will give a much better indication of how the season will progress.

So what needs to be done?

Firstly, Norwich need to get through the transfer window relatively unscathed.

Leroy Fer was a pick for a player heading for the exit at the end of last season and a deal taking the World Cup goal scorer away from Carrow Road is still on the cards, but most importantly City need to keep hold of Ruddy and Redmond.

Secondly, Norwich need to stop playing like a second rate Premiership side trying to compete with the Manchester’s and Liverpool’s of this world.

The most frustrating thing about Sunday’s display was Norwich looked exactly the same as they did under Chris Hughton last season, not like a team determined to bounce back into the top flight.

Lastly, somebody needs to fill Robert Snodgrass’s boots.

Despite some poor performances last term, the Scotsman is a top-class player and will be missed, but this also offers a golden opportunity for the likes for Redmond, Pilkington, Murphy and Hoolahan to stand-up and prove they are good enough to fill the void, to become a player who is first name on the team sheet every game.

There is still plenty of time for Norwich to show how good they can be and for Adams to demonstrate why David McNally and the City board kept faith with him. It is a long season and this is certainly a marathon, not a sprint.

However, both the players and management urgently need to start repaying the fans who have been in positive spirits over a summer, which is surprising given how disappointing last season was.

Norwich also desperately need to start putting in better displays on the road, instead of loading pressure on themselves when it comes to home matches like they did all of last season and like they have done for the next two games.

Many of us are still convinced Norwich can win promotion this season, it is time for the team and manager to show they also believe this is possible.

On the Ball City!

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