Ricardo's report v Sheff Wed

[ricardo 7,339]

I watched some of the Watford, Boro game before strolling up to CR this afternoon and was struck by the lack of quality on show. If this is the best that''s on offer then we have little to fear when Boro come calling.. It''s the lesser lights that have caused us trouble this season and with our recent poor record against Sheff Wed I was by no means over confident.Alex Neil stuck with a winning team and the boys looked fairly confident early on despite the opening minutes being played out in a hotly contested midfield. In the sixth minute Olsson was hacked down and from the free kick they found some concerted pressure around the Wednesday box. A neat through ball seemed to have set Jerome up only for the big City striker to be tugged back in full view of 26k people. Somehow the Ref and Lino failed to spot what was an obvious penalty as the appeals were waved away.In spite of this disappointment City won a series of corners that had the Wednesday defence at full stretch with last ditch blocks. Tetty finally tested the keeper with a twenty yarder after turning well into space before thumping a low shot that Westwood did well to turn away. We saw little of the visitors attack during the first fifteen minutes but a couple of incidents in quick succession almost led to our undoing. First Olsson pfaffed about on the halfway line and allowed himself to be robbed which set Isgrove away one on one with John Ruddy. Fortunately a hurried shot fizzed a yard wide of the far post. Then both City central defenders got caught out with an accurate cross that offered Lavery a free header from the penalty spot. Thankfully the effort was poorly directed and flew over the angle.Eventually City picked up the pace again and with Wes, Dorrans and Johnny Howson dominating the middle they were quickly back in control. Bassong produced a wonderful surging run midway through the half but not for the first time the ball was lost at the vital second before someone could pull the trigger. The constant pressure finally paid dividends just after the half hour mark when Bradley Johnson met a looping cross perfectly to guide a firm header beyond Westwood..It was a deserved lead and with the news that Bournemouth were losing there was no surprise when a chorus of "top of the league" rang round the ground a few times. City were now playing some lovely stuff and had the visitors continually at full stretch time and again but it took until a minute from the break before City put the seal on a fine first half. Dorrans delivered a low corner and the ball was deflected to Johno close to the penalty spot. He dispatched it with all the aplomb of a man playing at the top of his game and it put a proper perspective on City''s first half superiority.If we hoped for more of the same in the second half we were to be sadly disappointed. There was a hectic opening five or ten minutes before the game seemed to die a death. Johnson got an elbow in the face and after receiving treatment he stupidly tried to re-enter the pitch from the end and not the side. It was a petty thing to get a yellow card for but he really only had himself to blame.If City''s aim was to kill the game then they certainly succeeded because there was next to nothing coming back from the visitors. Redmond came on for Wes with about twelve minutes left and produced a couple of runs and a shot that screwed wide but even when Wednesday were reduced to ten when Dielna limped off after they had used all their subs It seemed that City weren''t bothered about pushing for more goals. Hooper and Odjidja came on for the last rites but the game finally petered out in a comfortable three points.The second half was a non event but we did enough in the first forty five to suggest that we won''t be found wanting in the remaining games. The only disappointment for me was Johnsons unnecessary yellow card but in spite of that he is my MOM with once again honourable mentions to Whittaker and Bassong, Dorrans and of course Wes.

[Katie Borkins 1]

Thanks as always Ricardo.

Hard to argue with Johnson for MoM but I thought Whittaker ran him mightily close today even if he was given the freedom of the touch line by SW''s left side.

[The Phantom 0]

Points total needed for second Ricardo?

[ricardo 7,339]

[quote user="The Phantom "]Points total needed for second Ricardo?[/quote]

Same as I''ve been saying all season.Anyone who gets 86 points will have to be extremely unlucky if they don''t go up.

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Good read thanks Ricardo.

So another professional dispatch of a decent championship team at Carrow Road. A very controlled performance.

Though I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the second half, I really expected us to go on and put Wednesday to the sword; send out a message to our promotion rivals that we are taking no prisoners...

Why do you think we didn''t push on? It was visibly clear at times in that second half, our central midfielders were barely pushing forward and we seemed to play the whole half in second gear at best, showing little intensity.

Seems slightly odd as goal difference is looking to be increasingly important with every passing weekend. We additionally don''t have a game now till Saturday so the players have a fair amount of time to rest.

I suppose Friday''s game may have played a part in this lack of second half urgency?

[AJ 1,218]

Bradders card was silly but I''m glad he hopefully won''t miss the Boro game which if their showing today was anything to go by will be the physical battles he relishes

[Crabbycanary3 994]

As Sheff Wed had played on Saturday, I would have liked Redmond to have come on earlier, and hugged the touchline, then be given the ball, to tear their full back a new one.

Wednesday were toothless, and were never going to threaten to get back in the game. I understand their fans think their Manager is playing boring football, and want him out (familiar?)

I didn''t want us to score a 2nd goal before halftime, as I felt it may impede our attacking in the 2nd half, mind you I opened my mouth about 1 minute before Bradders scored his first, and said he had had a quiet game!!

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Missed off !!!!

But I would take 5 more 2-0 games just like that for the rest of the season!

[GJP 79]

Thought Dorrans was excellent. Best player on the pitch.

 

Not a lot wrong with the performances of Whittaker and Tettey either.

 

Didn''t think Johnson played particularly well (worked hard of course) and he let himself down with the booking but he scored the goals to win us the match. And that''s really what his season has been about - scoring goals.

[ROBFLECK 132]

Good read Ricardo as I''ve come to expect from you... I thought Wednesday were poor, there are tougher games to come...but we look solid and Neil''s showing his management skills (picking a winning team like you said)

[hogesar 9,615]

[quote user="GJP"]

Thought Dorrans was excellent. Best player on the pitch.

 

Not a lot wrong with the performances of Whittaker and Tettey either.

 

Didn''t think Johnson played particularly well (worked hard of course) and he let himself down with the booking but he scored the goals to win us the match. And that''s really what his season has been about - scoring goals.

[/quote]

Dorrans had a very good game, as did Whittaker.

But to say Johnson didn''t play particularly well is nothing short of wrong. Not his best performance, but some of his best performances have been better than any other individual in the team, so it''s hard to keep with that.

[morty 0]

Agree re Dorrans, he has to be our best passer of the ball.Howson had a good game too.

[king canary 7,577]

I''ve been pretty critical of Whittaker this season but thought he was excellent today- obviously helped by Wednesday not really attacking down the flanks.

Thought Dorrans did a great job of moving the ball about and looks really comfortable running with it too- I love the fact that with him, Wes, Johnson and Howson we have players who are happy to carry the ball upfield. Saying that this formation does marginalise Howson and I would have taken him off for Redmond at around 65 minutes.

Glad to see Jerome appears to have adapted his game to better suit the AN style- he is hitting the channels much more and making himself a real pain to deal with. I think it helps we have also started playing the ball in to his feet/chest rather than asking him to win too many headers against CB''s.

[Woodman 92]

The biggest thing AN has done for us is to stabilise our midfield and turn it into a very good attacking and defensive unit. When Wes or Johnson go forward, Howson will support them, leaving Tettey and Dorrans to cover and when Dorrans goes, Howson sits with Tettey.  Its very simple but the players seem to know what their jobs are and are sticking to them. 

 

With Johnson suspended for 2 games and I doubt we''ll see Tettey in all 3 games v Bolton, Leeds and Boro, having O''Neil, Redmond and VOO to come in is very handy.  I suspect he''ll go with Dorrans, Tettey, Howson and O''Neil for Bolton, behind Wes and Jerome, with Redmond and VOO as very capable subs.

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Great report Ricardo, agree with what you have described perfectly, other than I thought Dorrans was MOM, closely followed by Whitts and the 2 usual suspects of Johnson and Wes.

Has Tettey not just completed 3 games in a week, he scored last Tuesday on international duty and then played over Easter, another myth dispelled, or have I got my dates wrong ?

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

Norway played on 28th March - so he has done 3 games in 9 days. Still a lot for him and his rubber knees.

Alex Neil said he can''t play 3 games in a week so it will be interesting to see how he copes over the next few games and whether he''ll need to be rested against Bolton or Leeds. Last thing Norwich need now is his knee exploding and him missing the last few games of the season.

[ZLF 271]

he has 5 days rest so I assume he will be ok for sat; next tuesday would be 3 in 6 which mat be too much?

[GJP 79]

[quote user="hogesar"][quote user="GJP"]

Thought Dorrans was excellent. Best player on the pitch.

 

Not a lot wrong with the performances of Whittaker and Tettey either.

 

Didn''t think Johnson played particularly well (worked hard of course) and he let himself down with the booking but he scored the goals to win us the match. And that''s really what his season has been about - scoring goals.

[/quote]

Dorrans had a very good game, as did Whittaker.

But to say Johnson didn''t play particularly well is nothing short of wrong. Not his best performance, but some of his best performances have been better than any other individual in the team, so it''s hard to keep with that.

[/quote]

He wasn''t that great with the ball. And when you add his foolish yellow card into things it was a mixed bag from Johnson.

 

Take the goals out of the performance and he really didn''t do much. But he did score the goals.

[hogesar 9,615]

Yeah, but saying ''take the goals out of the performance'' is like saying re Dorrans ''if you take out his passing, he didn''t really do much''.

[NCFC198 2]

[quote user="GJP"][quote user="hogesar"][quote user="GJP"]

Thought Dorrans was excellent. Best player on the pitch.

 

Not a lot wrong with the performances of Whittaker and Tettey either.

 

Didn''t think Johnson played particularly well (worked hard of course) and he let himself down with the booking but he scored the goals to win us the match. And that''s really what his season has been about - scoring goals.

[/quote]

Dorrans had a very good game, as did Whittaker.

But to say Johnson didn''t play particularly well is nothing short of wrong. Not his best performance, but some of his best performances have been better than any other individual in the team, so it''s hard to keep with that.

[/quote]

He wasn''t that great with the ball. And when you add his foolish yellow card into things it was a mixed bag from Johnson.

 

Take the goals out of the performance and he really didn''t do much. But he did score the goals.

[/quote]

 

take his goals out of the performace and we would be two points worse off

 

 

[GJP 79]

I think I covered that when I said "he scored the goals to win us the match".

[lake district canary 4,531]

Thanks for the report Ricardo.  Sounds like a professional performance and at this point in time points are the main thing, but goal difference could be important in the final outcome and it would have been good to hear we pressed forwards a little more in the second half.   

[morty 0]

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[king canary 7,577]

I hate that website.