This match against surprise package, Brentford presented Norwich City with a great chance to not only replace them in the top six but also to close the gap on the top two.
As it turned out we witnessed one of the worst Norwich performances of the season.
The initial signs were not good when I saw the team before kick off. The major talking point was that Steven Whittaker was going to play in central midfield in place of the injured Gary O’Neil – it’s suspected that O’Neil may have broken his foot in training on Friday.
For half a minute I wondered if Alex Neil was going to play a 5 man defence with wing backs but no, Whittaker was playing centre midfield.
Other than that there were no real surprises and Seb Bassong was back on the bench as City lined up in a 4-4-2 with Lafferty being asked to play as an out and out left winger(!) At the back, Cuellar and Turner who were poor last week, were back much to my dismay.
Within sixty seconds of the first whistle, City should’ve been one nil down. Stuart Dallas played in Andre Gray 20 yards from goal. He looked around and couldn’t believe there wasn’t a Norwich player within 15 feet of him and he was on-side. He ran forwards and with just Ruddy to beat, somehow smashed the ball over the bar from 12 yards. Gray looked at the ground and pointed, blaming a bobble.
To be frank, it was such a bad miss that he couldn’t really do anything else – a massive let off but a sign of things to come as City’s defensive frailties would show themselves again.
City were being pegged back by a slick, well drilled Brentford side with Alex Pritchard pulling all the strings. City’s best chance of the first 15 minutes came from a quick John Ruddy throw to Redmond on the right and his long, cross field pass picked out Gary Hooper, who tested David Button in the visitors’ goal from a tight angle.
Finally on 21 minutes the inevitable happened. With Whittaker in possession on the edge of the Brentford box, the makeshift midfielder tried a trick, lost possession and thirty seconds later, Brentford were in the lead.
A quick, flowing move saw the ball come to Jota, who passed the ball into the City net with Ruddy helpless.
It was no more than City deserved – body language was poor from many in a yellow shirt and we were being out fought, out passed and out thought in every area of the pitch.
City did manage to get on level terms on 27 minutes, against the run of play as Redmond cut inside onto his left foot and his decent effort was deflected past Button.
It was a good time to get level and Brentford’s passing game seemed to stutter a little but they still looked a major threat on the break up until half time.
HT 1-1
The second half saw the introduction of Elliot Bennett in place of the ineffective Kyle Lafferty. Once again, Laffs was asked to be a winger but he doesn’t track back enough, a winger has to defend to help his full back. Surely he is a striker, isn’t he?
The biggest feature of this game, to my mind was the shocking defensive display from Turner and Cuellar – I couldn’t see them talking to each other much and on occasions, they went for the same ball, getting in each other’s way. Turner constantly misplaced passes and clearances when not under pressure.
He was bad in the second half last week, this week he was awful throughout.
Russell Martin also had a poor game, by his standards, while Martin Olsson, who had a shocker last week, did much better this week and was the best of the back four – although that’s not saying much.
The winning goal for Brentford came in slightly strange circumstances via an Alex Pritchard penalty on 71 minutes. It was difficult from the River End to see exactly what happened but both Turner and Cuellar seemed to be on the floor, so I’m assuming one or both of them brought Andre Gray down.
I don’t think that many in the crowd could believe the poor display on show here and despite having chances to draw level – it wouldn’t have been deserved. Of those chances, Johnson hit the bar and then the rebound fell to Jerome, whose first time shot was brilliantly saved by the outstretched fist of Button and late on, Grabban’s effort was again well saved by the Bees’ keeper.
FT 1-2
The best player on the field was Alex Pritchard, on loan from Tottenham. He is small with a low centre of gravity and teased and bewitched his opponents as he showed them the ball before dragging it away and making a pass.
Norwich have a player in a similar vein to Pritchard, his name is Wes Hoolahan and he spent most of the game on the bench. Hoolahan replaced Hooper on 69 minutes and immediately showed the sort of touch and quick passing that the Canaries had been missing – we were much more of a threat with Wes playing.
The biggest mistakes made by Alex Neil today were to play Steven Whittaker in central midfield and play Turner and Cuellar at the back.
I understand that Neil had been drilling his side to play in a certain way and a certain formation all week and that the late injury to O’Neil, with Tettey, Howson and Odjidja-Ofoe all unavailable meant he only had Johnson as a recognised central midfielder but Whittaker was never going to be the answer. It reminded me of Kevin Keegan playing Gareth Southgate in midfield against Germany in that last game at the old Wembley.
One caller on Canary Call described him as ‘barely a right back, never mind a midfielder,’ that made me laugh on an otherwise humourless afternoon. The fact that Neil kept him on for 79 minutes is a worry, as we could all see it wasn’t working. It wasn’t the player’s fault though. He was asked to play out of position and it didn’t work. He didn’t fail for a lack of effort, it was technique and lacking understanding of the position that let him down.
Johnson and Whittaker didn’t have much understanding and the middle of the field was often empty with massive gaps there against a team that played three in the centre. When outnumbered like that, you need to be disciplined and if one goes forward, then the other needs to stay – that didn’t happen.
Despite his lack of muscle, Wes should’ve played there or maybe sacrifice Hooper to play him behind Jerome.
At the back, the display by Turner and Cuellar was poor at best and shambolic at worst. They cannot play together again. They were appalling and both are big lunks that lack any pace between them. Turner turns about as quickly as a supertanker and was bamboozled by Pritchard on several occasions, it was painful to watch. That doesn’t include his poor distribution either, he literally couldn’t pass water – absolute garbage and Cuellar wasn’t far behind.
Now that the pipe of peace has been smoked by Bassong and his new manager, Seb has to play next week. Who plays alongside him is another question. I’m not sure Ryan Bennett will be fit, but if not then I would play Miquel. I haven’t seen much of him, none of us have, but he’s got to be better than the two chumps that played here.
I can’t remember ever writing a match report and being so harsh on a couple of players before and I apologise if I’ve banged on too much but they were that bad.
Another feature of today that I didn’t appreciate was the number of long balls thumped forward looking for Jerome or Hooper. Jerome can play that game but Hooper can’t and he didn’t see too much of the ball as a result. Is that what Alex Neil is going to offer us? Hoof ball? I sincerely hope not.
Next up is a tricky trip to St.Andrews against a rejuvenated Birmingham City. The Blues are playing well and are a long way from the side we played at Carrow Road at the start of the season.
This loss was a chance to close the gap, well and truly lost. Season defining? I hope not but unless things change quickly, it just might be.
Congrats to Brentford though. They are short of superstars but what they do have is team spirit, a willingness to work for each other and the understanding that only come with being a ‘team.’ I remember being in their position as we looked for a double promotion, they fully deserved this win and good luck to them.
OTBC
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