That was a tough watch.
Once again Norwich City failed to score, let alone win a game at home as they played out a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest, their eighth home draw of the season and fifth in a row.
The big news of the night was that Nelson Oliveira had been dropped. Before the game PA journo, Nick Mashiter tweeted that it was for “disciplinary reasons,” something that Daniel Farke confirmed after the game.
Apparently he was dropped because of his attitude in training and as a result, he didn`t even make the match day squad. It isn`t the first time that Oliveira has been dropped because of his attitude and I`m sure you will remember the incident after he scored a late equaliser on the opening day at Fulham that led to him being dropped for a couple of games.
Farke showed again that he will deal with this sort of thing, as he also did with Josh Murphy and Marley Watkins earlier in the season.
“It`s up to Nelson how he responds” Farke said on Radio Norfolk afterwards.
The problem with Nelson is that he isn`t a prolific goal scorer and it looks to me from the outside that he thinks he`s better than he actually is.
He`s managed just one goal in 13 games currently, that 40 yarder that John Ruddy let slip, a shot that any goalkeeper would normally back themselves to keep out. He`s also only got into double figures for goals scored once in his career so far and that was last season.
So what to do with him?
It`s going to be up to him to some extent but if we get another £9m offer for him in the summer then I`d expect that he`d be sold. He`s got some bridge building to do to show that he`s prepared to tow the line and do what is expected in training, which is to give 100% – that`s the bare minimum expected.
When he`s on song, he`s a decent player, he isn`t our best player but he`s up there in the top 6, I`d say. His big problem is that he just isn`t doing the business and that is an issue for any striker.
His replacement last night, Dennis Srbeny who is now the only other recognised senior striker in the squad, ran around a lot but was ineffective. He`s a big lad but couldn`t make something happen himself and didn`t get any service. Literally nothing.
Some strikers can make stuff happen themselves and Nelson is one of those but some need service and Srbeny looks like one of those. It is far too early to write him off though after just 65 minutes here and his other start at Molineux.
Getting back to the game, we need to move the ball quicker.
That is clear to everyone in the stadium and visiting teams know that if they stay organised and press us then we aren`t much of a threat.
In the first half, we did get chances but again failed to take them (at least four), while in the second half Hanley and Maddison had good opportunities but somehow Maddison fired high and over after Hernandez`s clever cut back.
Forest were winding down the clock early and got the obligatory booking for time wasting as is now seemingly the norm at home games for the opposition. They seem to come to get a point and that will do them, virtually all of them and it makes for a very dull watch.
The first half was just about acceptable from a Canary point of view due to the chances created but the second was dire. I should`ve brought some paint, slapped it on the walls and watched it dry.
Until the club buy a player or two who can score regularly then we will be a mid-table side and nothing more and just to clarify, even if Nelson had played, I doubt he`d have made any difference.
Have a good day.
OTBC
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