This season theres been a fair bit of suggestion from various corners that Norwich can be a bit of a dirty team. Lambert has vehmently denied this and indeed a look at the stats is somewhat illuminating. Firstly Grant Holt has committed the most fouls this season, with 48. He has only received 3 yellows however, and no reds. As a team however Norwich are much more frugal. In fact Grant Holt alone has committed almost a quarter of the entire teams fouls. They've only committed 206 fouls this season, putting them joint 5th bottom of that particular league. For reference, Wigan top it with 256. And for an even more positive stat look at the average time out of possession before commiting a foul. Norwich go 4.9 minutes avg before committing a foul, longer than anyone else in the league. (Man City only manage 3.2 mins at the other end) Of course not all fouls are picked up on, but over half a season of decisions things level out. This seems to suggest Norwich are very undeserving of any suggestions of being 'bruisers', yet also hints at an understanding shown by Holt of when to risk fouling a player for tactical gain, and when to be more cautious to avoid paying too great a price. Also a final stat on set piece goals. Along with man city we have 12, the most in the league, man u are third with 11. Hallowed company indeed. Found a lot of this info on eplindex.com. Also sorry if the stat attack doesn't appeal to all, but just watched Moneyball, and sports and statistics are unbreakably linked in my head now!
yeah, tiredness had set in by then! readjusted to 12 set piece goals. (apparently we've had 17 from open play, and 1 penalty too)
