The Tuckster’s take on the 2-2 draw with Swansea…
Another home game in Norwich City`s continuing search of points to secure Premier League status saw Swansea City roll into town.
Swansea have had a far less troublesome second season than the Canaries and have won a trophy (that we had a good shout of winning) and qualified for Europe. As a result though they have suffered a mini slump and lost their last three games.
I felt sure that we would play two strikers in this match, being at home and the onus being on us as we needed the points but was very surprised and a bit disappointed when I heard that other than the return of Mark Bunn, City would be unchanged from the team that lost at Wigan.
Bunn had to be on his guard early on to deny Luke Moore with a smart save after Michu`s pass and then everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as Michu`s shot ended up in the back of the net only to be chalked off by Ref Michael Oliver due to a foul on Howson by Moore in the build up.
Bunn`s game only lasted 15 minutes before he had to be substituted for Lee Camp. A back pass by Turner was launched up field by Bunn but he immediately looked in pain and signalled to the bench he was in trouble. He went down and couldn`t continue, it may well be a hamstring and could potentially finish his season.
So, after just fifteen minutes it was exactly the same eleven players that lost at Wigan.
City struggled early on as Swansea were too hot to handle. We were unable to string much together and Howson in particular couldn`t seem to even pass water (again).
Swansea dominated although the first decent chance fell to City. Snodgrass showed great determination to get to the bye line in the area with Routledge for company. It looked for all the world as though he was being fouled but he still managed to dig out a right footed cross that Michael Turner improvised to turn goalwards – Michel Vorm pulled off a great save to see the ball out and keep the scores level.
But Swansea continued to look much more threatening and it was no surprise when Michu scored on 35 minutes. It was a lovely move involving Dyer, Flores and finally De Guzman who crossed for the Spaniard to fire a powerful rising shot past Camp, who had little chance.
Dyer fluffed a good chance to make it two nil before Norwich finally stumbled into life. The ball broke to Kamara who waited for the under lapping Bennett to run past him. Kamara`s ball was perfect and Bennett ran on before sending in a delicious cross to the far post. It by passed the entire defence and keeper, leaving Snodgrass to head into an empty net.
It was tough on Swansea but who cares. The goal seemed to galvanise Norwich who then had more efforts on goal in the remaining minutes of the half than they had had in the preceding forty odd minutes but the scores were level at half time.
Swansea started the second half the stronger and Moore forced a great point blank save from Camp who found himself one on one with the Swans` striker.
But Norwich steadily gained a foothold and took the lead on 60 minutes.
Kamara was fouled on the right about 40 yards out and Bennett and Snodgrass stood over the ball as the big guns came up from the back.
Bennett delivered his second perfect ball of the game and Michael Turner volleyed home with aplomb to give the Canaries the lead.
Norwich had other chances and Kamara was guilty of waiting for the ball when he seemed certain to score, the ball being nicked away at the last moment.
To be fair to Kei, he had a reasonable game and was always a handful, winning plenty of headers (as you`d expect).
But almost immediately after that chance had gone then Swansea were level.
A neat move saw Rangel head the ball back across goal for Moore to score from close range. It was arguably harsh on Norwich but Swansea`s overall play had deserved that they be at least level.
Hughton had a last late gamble when he threw on Holt and Tettey on 80 minutes for Hoolahan and Howson but it was too late.
Within moments of coming on, Holt (who looked like he wanted a fight) had stamped down Chico`s shin and was lucky to stay on the field – it could so easily have been a red card and in my opinion, should have been. He didn`t even get booked, he`s a very lucky boy.
He finally did get booked though, to make (I think) his fourth booking in five games when he again tangled with Chico Flores.
Norwich breathed a sigh of relief as Swansea finished the stronger and incredibly, Michu blasted a simple chance high over the bar from 7 yards in the final moments – on another day he could`ve scored four goals, he looks a very good player.
The game finished as a draw and it`s another point as City limp towards the finishing line. I still think that the 4-5-1 is not a bad system (as Barca, Chelsea, etc show) but our players are not quite good enough to make it attackingly effective enough.
Snodgrass had a good game as an attacking and defensive player and Bennett got two assists but didn`t really do much else. Johnson was tenacious in midfield and Bassong was immense as usual, but Howson was poor as is becoming the norm. Why not give Fox a chance, please? Or if not, get Tettey back in the centre.
On this showing, Holt doesn`t deserve to start and seems to be out of sorts and looks chunky again. With RvW on the horizon, I`m disappointed he`s not doing more.
The injury to Bunn is a concern as he has generally been very good for us this season. There were plenty of moans at his signing in the summer but the absence of Ruddy vindicated his arrival. I know we have Steer and Rudd in our squad but both would`ve been too young to be trusted for this length of time. John Ruddy is back in full training and depending on how quickly he can get his match sharpness back could be back for the Arsenal game, at least on the bench, fortunately.
I guess you can`t count on getting much at The Emirates as The Gunners go for fourth place, but it was exactly the same this time, last year.
We`ll need to be compact and solid to keep them out as it looks like they may have Wilshire and Walcott back in contention and we`ll need to ask questions going forward, just like last season or it will be a long afternoon.
A draw here isn`t a disaster but it concerns me that we cannot seem to open the gap to third bottom decisively, yet. We still have games against Reading, Stoke and Villa to come – I just hope it`s done by the time Villa come to Carrow Road.
On the plus side, compared to last week, we had 12 shots and 9 on target so that must be an improvement. We are stumbling towards the finishing line very slowly, a win and a draw should do it – let`s get it sooner rather than later eh?!
OTBC