A sunny Carrow Road held host to the newly promoted Hammers who brought loud travelling support (although a couple of chants I could not work out!). Norwich started well with Surman starting ahead of an injured Pilkington, having a good, early chance. Snodgrass had a couple of good efforts and there were two good shouts for a penalty for us. The first for me was not but the second was very unlucky for us. West Ham had a couple of good chances early on , with Vaz Te looking lively but the defence stood firm all game. Unlucky not to go in ahead on overall play. The second half seemed to have less tempo for me. We still created and West Ham endevoured but with no real threat. Indeed they looked very poor in the final third. That said the chances we had also identified us as just as inept in the final third, with Kane's late chance an example of woeful wasting. That combined with decent defending from Collins and Tompkins meant a draw looked the likely outcome. Holt , who was poor, was substituted for Morison with no real impact and Jackson came off for Kane (booed by some , which is a poor state of affairs from Norwich fans! Get over Lambert and support Hughton!). The game petered out with both sides tiring. Result 0-0. Good to see a clean sheet but points dropped for me. Ratings Ruddy 7 - solid and made some good saves. Distributed the ball well but not rarely troubled in the 2nd half. R. Martin 9 - excellent. My MoM Bassong 8 - solid and marshal's the defence well Barnett 8 - Bassong helps his game Garrido 7 - again comfortable on the ball. Good defensively and gets forward Howson 6 - decent Johnson 6 - decent Surman 6 - good first half but less so second half Snodgrass 7 - always gives an option. Good first half but slightly less so 2nd Jackson 7 - always tries and has pace. Lacking a bit of quality for me at times but gives 100% Holt 5 - Poor sums up his game. Worrying, especially after all his antics pre season. Should we have sold? Morison 6 - had a couple of efforts but offered little for me Kane 5 - missed a sitter to win at the end. Supposed to be a natural finisher!! In fairness , his first game and did get a couple of chances Hughton 6 - substitutions and tried to change it but got them slightly wrong for me. I would have taken Holt off and put on Morison with Jackson, possibly Kane for the last 5 for Jackson. I tend to think taking Surman off and playing Wes may have made the difference, going to a diamond with Snodgrass on the left, Howson on the right and Johnson at the base. Overall, points dropped for me due to woeful finishing and Holt's game are disappointing. Positives are we are very solid defensivley, creating chances and now 3 unbeaten. All games in this league are difficult but I think we can get something from Newcastle or Liverpool. If we are up for it Chelsea also. OTBC!
I personally think Leon Barnett was the best player on the pitch, he won pretty much everything in the air and on the floor.
Agree about Holt. Just bare in mind that it's not the first slow start to a season he's had so it's to be expected. Bit harsh on Kane though. It wasn't really a sitter, it was actually quite a good effort from distance.
Great little write up, but then you know I'm a fan of these. Just a positive thought - how long has it been since we've thought a defender was MOTM? Our defence has been famously poor for ages now.
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking his time at FCR had come to an end! I honestly believed he would be moved on this summer! Shows how much I know about football! The slap-head icon is aimed at me carrabuh! I'm sure you'll allow me that!
thought howson had probably his worst game for us. johnson was solid, but his passing really is woeful, both in direction and strength. but it is good to get a clean sheet so early in the season (by our standards). 10 shots on target and no goal tells its own story though.
Thanks PC. Yes the defence was very solid so I am optimistic. Sad to hear booing for the substitution. Its only his 4th game and we are unbeaten in the last 3. We are creating, but not finishing things. Last season we took a while to get a result so do not be surprised if it is against Newcastle of Liverpool.
Actually it was Morison who came on for Jackson. I only mention it because I had assumed that the boos at that point were from the visitors because of Morison's history with Millwall? I only saw it on TV so can't vouch for where the boos were coming from but certainly it would be poor if they came from the home crowd (although I would have preferred to have seen Holt taken off before Jackson).
Yes Holt had a bad game but during the last two I thought he had played quite well. He had NO service at Fulham- literally nothing at all all game so he can be excused that game. Against QPR he had the defender in his pocket first half and had the ref not bottled it the defender should have seen red. He played well at Spurs and set up the goal for Snodgrass but yes today he had a bad game. What is slightly annoying is that in all those games I can barely recall him having more than a handful of half chances. Give Holty the ball where he likes it and the guy will stick it in the back of the net. Today he was out wide far too often so he is going to be limited in the chances that fall to him. He went through a similar spell a couple of seasons ago I recall but it was soon back to normal service when he drove into the box to get on the end of crosses again. He will come good providing he gets the service - thats where Hoolahoops comes into his own.
Agreed - he is in more danger of being dropped than Johnson on current form (didn't think I would be saying that!). He gets caught in possession in dangerous positions that have led to us conceding goals and chances to the oppositon. Tettey and Fox must be chomping at the bit so Howson better watch out.
The guy has played unbelievably well last few games and deserves a massive pat on the back for his perseverance. Too often in Lambo's set up the back four were horribly exposed and if you are running at Leon he is going to struggle - then again most centre backs would be in the same position! What the hell was Bassong doing when he went to sleep at that throw in? You can see that there are still definitely mistakes in those back two but today we got away with one and weren't punished. We may not be so lucky against better attacks if we gift them chances like that.
I honestly can't believe anyone can call Kane's chance a "sitter". He had just legged it 70 yards at full pelt and had to take it with his first touch without breaking stride with his wrong foot with a defender closing him down and Jaskalaainen in an excellent position. Yes it was a good chance, but absolutely by no means was it a "sitter".
The chance taken on its own, well lets be honest, even Dave would've scored it, but the most important thing about that chance was the fact he was in that position in the first place.
Not sure if it's a positive or not, but having watched MOD, I've decided that Shearer is the biggest twat I've ever had the misfortune to listen to. That accolade belonged to Lawrenson the pseudo Irishman? Well think again, a new low has been reached.
I disagree, really can't see how anyone can say that was a simple chance at all. It would have been a superb finish for anyone when taking all the factors I mentioned above into account, let alone someone 15 minutes into their Premier League debut.
I'm only going from what I saw on the telly but Howson looked pretty sharp to me. Several attacking balls forward to Jackson in the first half and a beauty early in the 2nd. Admittedly he disappeared for majority of last 30 mins. Also I wouldn't call Holt poor,I just never saw him. I too was surprised to see Jackson subbed before Holt. Overall plenty of sharp passing and inter-play... just need a to dust off the shooting training again! Like I say this is from the telly only.
0-0 was the right result for me. The 1st Half was good with both sides going for it and creating chances but both sides lacked something in the final third to put them away. I'd say West Ham started better but then Norwich finished the stronger at the end of the half, if Jarvis wasn't coming back from injury and started along with Carrol I think it would of been another story, C. Cole was awful as was Taylor and Vaz Te. The 2nd half was pretty poor with both sides making mistake after mistake, something both sides will have to look at. IMO there wasn't alot between the two sides and it could of gone either way.
Was with you until you said "Holt 5 - Poor sums up his game. Worrying, especially after all his antics pre season. Should we have sold?" Really, really foolish comment.
