There are plenty of reasons as to why Norwich City have turned things around on the pitch, key among them is team spirit which is something that I wrote about earlier in the week.
One of the constant themes that has come out of player interviews recently is the “togetherness” of the squad and how everyone is pulling in the right direction. You expect to hear that sort of thing from the Head Coach but it makes a difference when the players mention it, seemingly unprompted.
Jordan Rhodes is one of the new boys from last summer and he’s saying that the squad togetherness “is right up there” with his experience of dressing rooms.
As we sign off for the evening, we'll leave you with Jordan Rhodes summing up just what it means to be a part of Norwich City Football Club right now…
Goodnight, Canaries! 🐤#ncfc pic.twitter.com/0jY0GLMeEF
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 23, 2018
Having come from behind to win for the second time in four days, against two of the division’s fancied promotion protagonists no less, the spirit and will to win is there for all to see.
WATCH: Jordan Rhodes has his second of the evening!
Norwich have come back from a goal down to take the lead against Aston Villa!
Watch live on Sky Sports Football or on the Sky Sports mobile app and follow it here: https://t.co/IVB1mgN6Zx pic.twitter.com/CLAwNnc53L
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 23, 2018
Daniel Farke isn’t the sort of chap to allow anyone to get carried away and as Darren Huckerby said on Canary Call on Saturday, “You can’t allow yourself to get too high or too low.” Nothing is determined in October but this is a great start, for sure.
On the pitch last night, Moritz Leitner literally ran the show from the middle of the park. He seems to just have so much time on the ball and wants it at every opportunity, always showing as an option for his team mates and appearing to be always one or two passes ahead in his mind.
He clearly sees pictures on the pitch that nobody else does. He was denied his usual midfield partner though due to Alex Tettey’s wife giving birth just prior to kick-off. That meant that Tom Trybull stepped into the midfield after a long period kicking his heels on the sidelines.
Super Tom did really well but he’s not Alex Tettey, who is still unique in our squad and I fully expect that he’ll be restored to the side on Saturday.
Jordan Rhodes grabbed all the headlines, and rightly so after his poacher’s brace won the game but I have to mention the performances of Jamal Lewis, Todd Cantwell, Marco Stiepermann and Max Aarons.
Stiepermann continues to influence the game at both ends of the pitch due to his energy and physicality. In the first half when he skipped past a couple of Villa defenders before narrowly being squeezed out of a shooting opportunity, I remarked: “quick feet for a big man” to my mate.
In terms of the young trio I mentioned, all were good but Aarons, in particular, was superb. He dealt with Albert Adomah, El Ghazi and Neil Taylor with aplomb. At times he made it look easy, looking for all the world as though he was the most experienced of the players operating on that flank, not one who has played just nine Championship games.
Villa huffed and puffed and Jack Grealish caused trouble with his movement between the lines on plenty of occasions. As the clock ran down, he succeeded in tempting various City players into tripping him or blocking him off to concede rather needless free kicks just outside the area but fortunately, Villa couldn’t capitalise.
I did think that Farke should’ve made some earlier substitutions and Rhodes, in particular, looked shattered in the final 10 minutes. I think that bringing Srbeny on then would’ve really helped to keep the pressure on Villa but hey, he’s the coach and he got away with it. What do I know?
The only really sour spot in the evening came when Louis Thompson came on and almost immediately fell awkwardly and it seems, dislocated his shoulder. If the lad didn’t have bad luck then he wouldn’t have any at all, is how it looks to me.
DF: “Louis is in a lot of pain right now. It might be a dislocated shoulder. He has had so much bad luck. We are pretty sad for him but fingers crossed it’s not too bad.” #ncfc
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) October 23, 2018
He seemed in a lot of pain and I heard it reported that he was given morphine at pitch side. Terrible luck for him and hopefully it won’t set him back for too long.
Next up are Brentford on Saturday in the second game of this Carrow Road double header. They’ve had a decent start to the season but it remains to be seen how the loss of Dean Smith will affect them in the long term.
After these last two wins, confidence will be high among the players and the fans and what was most enjoyable last night was that there was audible support from all corners of the ground – even the River End.
That’s because we are ALL pulling in the right direction.
OTBC