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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Brentford

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Grey, damp and a very light breeze for the kick off here in Norwich today. Ideal for football on a nice surface and with Tetty restored to the line up, it was very much what we were served up with in the opening fifteen minutes. Both teams looked very neat and tidy and comfortable on the ball as most of the play was confined to the middle third of the pitch.Brentford were the first to bring on some penalty area action when Canos had a shot blocked by Krul, who must have been grateful to ref Mr Langford when a whistle saved any embarrassment as the ball went loose. At the other end City earned a corner after a good run by Lewis but the cross was hooked away before any danger emerged.The midfield battle was enthralling but crowds like to see goalmouth action and this was on short ration until well beyond mid way point of the half. City finally broke free down their left and after some delightful keep ball, Lewis managed to cut back a centre that eventually fell to Alex Tetty. The City captain''s drive was on target but in a crowded area it was blocked away. Then the visitors attacked down their right and this time a twenty yarder whistled yards over Krul''s bar. Back   came City at the River end as Buendia raced in and skied Lewis''s pass well wide.City began to look more likely the longer the game progressed and just after the half hour Tim Klose came forward and dipped a peach of a ball over the back four and onto Emi Buendia running through the centre. The little Argentinian couldn''t have timed or controlled it any better and took it first time as it came over his shoulder, deflecting his shot wide of the advancing Bentley, to give City the lead.City then looked rampant for a spell and if Jordan Rhodes had been on his toes he might well have made it two in double quick time as Stiepermanns cute through ball went to waste. A couple of minutes later he got everything right except the direction when out turning a defender in the box and sliding his low effort inches wide of the far upright.Brentford had to stand tall as City upped the pressure and Stiepermann was almost through the centre only to take too long to get the ball onto his right foot. Buendia''s goal had done him the world of good and he was everywhere snapping into tackles and getting attacks moving. Cantwell got into the picture with a glorious lobbed pass but again City were crowded out in a tightly packed area. On the stroke of halftime it really should have been two when Aarons looked to be favourite to get on the end of another cross from the left only to be tackled Rugby style for an obvious penalty. Rhodes was confident enough to demand the ball but just as earlier in the season, his low effort to Bentley''s left was well saved.Disappointing and the obvious thing on all our minds was how costly that miss could be. When the second half began we didn''t have to wait long for the visitors to show their intent as they constantly had City on the back foot. There seemed to be long minutes when the ball was worked from side to side of the City area but credit to the defenders as Klose and Zimmerman always seemed to be on the right spot with either head or foot.There were occasional flashes from the home side but nothing sustained and very little that could be construed as a decent chance. However it was much the same at the other end where Brentford despite their dominance of the ball, rarely looked like scoring. With twenty minutes left they finally worked a really good chance when Krul did brilliantly, diving to his right to palm away a swerving shot and then blocking a point blank follow up. As the ball spun away, somehow Maupay could only screw his close range effort onto the bar. It was a close thing and Brentford, despite neat pass and movement were never again able to fashion anything similar. The tiring Rhodes was replaced with Srbeny as we moved into the last ten minutes and then in a rare break, Cantwell did poorly when sent clear by Leitner and could only shoot weakly at Bentley from a good position. He really needs to improve this part of his game because the rest of it is top notch. Buendia was still showing some delightfull touches and deservedly received good applause when Hernandez replaced him on 85 minutes. The little Argentinian has great strength and balance for his size and was by a long way my MOM today.Trybull came on for the final knockings but all that remained was for Klose to marshall the defence and to a man they stood strong as the final waves of Brentford attacks beat against a wall that would not break.A good fighting three points but my oh my, they really had to work for it today.[:D] OTBC

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Didn''t see the game today Ricardo.

The stats seem to say it was an even game. Is that fair?

Obviously missing a penalty is not acceptable but did 1-0 to us reflect what happened?

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Fairly even game, yes. They were on top in the second half but rarely looked like scoring.
To me it felt as if we were scared to concede in the second half, having missed the pen.

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Fairly even match but I felt despite lots of the ball Brentford were very light weight up front. Had Rhodes netted the pen it might have been more straight forward.

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Agree Ricardo although would have to say we also carried little threat up front. Our best forward was the quick and confident Lewis. Farke''s possession tactics continue to fascinate me as they seem to lead to us maintaining a fair amount of control and stifle the opposition yet apart from the odd clever move we fail to carry much of a threat up front. Perhaps Lietner''s game typifies this. Covers an enormous amount of ground looking for the ball and keeps us ticking over but rarely produces a quality ball to put the opposing defence under real pressure. Have to confess never thought this squad would be in contention at this time of the season. Currently a case of points means prizes !!!

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More like a PL match today between two good sides who kept the ball down, passed and moved. Cancelled eachother out a bit but if you crave exciting end to end goalmouth action don''t watch Norwich v Brentford.

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That is an interesting point Swindon.

Do people prefer nailbiting matches which are so exciting when they go your way or total dominance.

Obviously that sounds silly as we would like to win every game, but I must admit, one of the greatest nights for me was when we beat Palace 2-1 in April 1973 to ensure we stayed up in the old 1st Division, Every emotion encountered but ecstasy in the end.

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[quote user="SwindonCanary"]It had me nervous till the final whistle ! 
[/quote]
And so games will be, as once again each game and each point has importance (as with CP in ''73).
I think yesterday there was the feeling that we should have been a bit more comfortably with a penalty awarded.
But that''s the price of success... and dare I say it surprise, as not everyone thought we would be 2 points off the top before the clocks went back !
But it is these games that win promotion. Games that could go either way, as it looked for parts of the 2nd half, but are ground out as a win. You can''t get these points back come May.
Lambert''s time we seem to have that ''chaa-aarge'' in the last part of the game and so often saw late goals bring home the bacon. This time it is more of ''they are bound to equalise'' but some how we hold on.
Great times, and a great season ahead methinks.

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Excellent report as usual, I was lucky enough to get to the game and saw it very much the same.

Brentford had more of the ball 2nd half but after that glaring miss never really threatened but with the one goal lead it was always nervy! If only the penalty had gone in, just before the break, I suspect Brentford would have crumbled as they didn’t look convincing defensively at any stage.

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Thanks for the balanced report Ricardo.

Keelan''sgrandad - standing near the halfway line in the South Stand and enduring the agony & ecstasy of the game against Palace - would I like to go through that again? Could I go through that again? To quote monsieur Alphonse of Allo Allo fame, I don''t know if my ''dicky ticker'' would survive - it was a cracker, but thinking about it now, still brings the odd palpitations!

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