Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Craig Brown

Norwich City 2-1 Bolton Wanderers - my thoughts on the game

Recommended Posts

So happy that Norwich beat Bolton. That win will give the players so much confidence and belief. I am sure we are going to go on a unbeaten run and get back in the top two automatic promotion places. Jerome is going to start destroying teams again - his goal drought has ended.

Well done to Howson who got his first assist of the season by setting up Jerome with his through ball and well done to Gary O Neil who set up Jerome for the second goal! Jerome, Howson and Gary O Neil were excellent.

Lafferty and Redmond played well - both got forward and created chances and weren''t afraid to have a shot on goal! I think Lafferty did well on the left wing. I did think he was suited to playing there - but after reading the match report my mind has changed.

Lafferty was creating chances - which is what a winger is supposed to do! If he wasn''t creating - then maybe you could argue that he is not very effective. But that wasn''t the case against Bolton.

Also I think Whittaker did well - he got forward well and created chances tried to score. He made some good tackles as Greg Downs pointed out on canary call.

Somebody said the other day Whittaker couldn''t play at right back - I don''t know what game they have been watching!! I thought he did brilliant in that role last night. He is a great full back!

I am glad we have Gary O Neil in our midfield - he has great ability to create chances and he is decent at taking corners and free kicks!

We fully deserved our win last night - we have finally turned a good performances into a win. Bolton never really looked like scoring as our defence was very solid. Even when it was 2-1 I didn''t think they had enough quality to score! The clock beat Bolton and Norwich beat Bolton. Their late consolation goal wasn''t enough. Nothing was going to stop Norwich gaining their victory!

Now we can keep climbing the table and get back to the top of the table. All we need is to do is keep winning and keep putting pressure on Derby and Watford! They will fall from their lofty position soon!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We have to stop giving away sloppy goals ! We were coasting through this game until their late goal which could have been costly.

We should have been out of sight and a few more goals better off by then, so other players are going to have to chip in from now on, as Jerome can''t be expected to score all the goals.

I was surprised Hooper wasn''t given at least 20 minutes possibly instead of Grabban and why was O''Neil taken off when he was one of our best players?

I''m glad we appear to have found a good central midfield 3 that work well together ie Tettey, Howson and O''Neil. I''m still not convinced with our defensive set up with Martin at centre back. Aren''t Cuellar, Hoojfeld and Miguel good enough? If not why we''re they brought in?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Craig Brown"]Bolton never really looked like scoring as our defence was very solid. Even when it was 2-1 I didn''t think they had enough quality to score![/quote]Yeah, I hear you.  Even when they had scored I thought they never once looked like scoring.[plants face into cactus]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Whittaker was horrendous versus Sheffield Wednesday last week. Every time they attacked down his side, it looked as though they''d get a chance. I''m glad he improved and played ok last night and a settled defence is important.

I would definitely move Martin to right back as soon as Bennett is fit again tho!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="swjf50"] why was O''Neil taken off when he was one of our best players? [/quote]Because those of us who actually understood what was happening could see that he was already on a yellow, he had got away with another warning that could easily have been a 2nd yellow so it was pretty obvious that one more dodgy foul and he was off anyway.Yes he was playing well but Adams did 100% the right thing so that he would at least be available for next week.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
When O''Neil departed for Johnson the biggest mistake was taking off Jerome at the same time. We dropped so deep and looked very flat up top with Grabbans limited movement. He is absolutely no lone striker from what I''ve seen. Sitting deeper invited pressure on ourselves. Luckily we were playing a side who could only score when a chance was absolutely gifted to them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="AJ"]When O''Neil departed for Johnson the biggest mistake was taking off Jerome at the same time. We dropped so deep and looked very flat up top with Grabbans limited movement. He is absolutely no lone striker from what I''ve seen. Sitting deeper invited pressure on ourselves. Luckily we were playing a side who could only score when a chance was absolutely gifted to them.[/quote]

Disagree.  Grabban''s movement is good imo. The mistake was in putting on a player in Johnson, who appeared to want to make an impression for himself on the game. Putting on Johnsopn was an indication that midfield should be bolstered and make us solid, but because all he appeared to want to do was attack, it left us short in midfield and Bolton took over the midfield area.  If Adams wanted us to be open and attack and get a third goal, he would have put someone like Murphy on.    Either Johnson was given wrong instructions or he ignored those instructions or maybe I''m totally wrong, but at the point the substitutions were made our shape and general play in midfield became instantly worse. I don''t think you can blame Grabann for that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

IMO I think AJ hit the nail on the head . Grabban was poor ,, didn''t run,, didn''t challenge ,, and when he did get a shot away ,, straight at the keeper who barely had to move to block the shot .

Time to start Hooper ahead of Grabban ,, while Jerome has become the main man ,,, Grabban seems to be getting worse by the game ,, give him a break .

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
For me, both Whittaker and Martin are good going forward, but are less effective defensively. Martin may have a slight edge defensively.When the ball is being moved about quickly by opposing attackers, Whittaker appears determined but bewildered, and generally hangs about without closing down.

I should add that the same is true of our left side, - both Olsson and Garrido are good going forward, but both have hairy moments in defence. Olsson is generally better that Garrido because of greater pace.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...