Norwich Up To Second But Buendia Was Targeted As Birmingham Just Couldn’t Live With Rampant Canaries

Norwich City got back to winning ways with an impressive win over Play-Off chasing Birmingham City on Friday night, coming out comfortable 3-1 winners.

When the team was announced, I was pleased to see that Daniel Farke had decided to play the same team that I predicted he would play earlier.

You can read that article here.

Tom Trybull came back into the team alongside Mario Vrancic in midfield and Marco Stiepermann returned to his number 10 role after missing the last few games.

Right from the off, Norwich were at their opponents, with Birmingham simply unable to live with their passing and movement. I think it’s no exaggeration to say that they just couldn’t live with us.

The movement of Buendia, Stiepermann and Pukki was too much to handle for the Birmingham back-line and Onel Hernandez added to their woes with direct, high-speed assaults on their area.

It was no surprise when Pukki scored his 16th goal of the campaign with a first-time finish at the near post from a Jamal Lewis cross. However, the Canaries were knocked back on their heels as Birmingham scored straight from the kick-off to level it up.

The classic “goal conceded after you score” moment came courtesy of Jota, who looked the stand-out player all night, and the impressively powerful Che Adams.

Jota’s through ball went past eight men and was an exquisite piece of skill. Adams seized upon the chance and smashed a first time ball at goal, beating Tim Krul at his near post.

That’s normally described as a goalkeeping error but due to the power in the shot, I don’t blame Krul too much, more the defenders that allowed it to happen. Ben Godfrey allowed Adams the space but again, I hesitate to criticise Ben too much as he is new to this Championship business and the rest of his game was generally on the money.

Norwich’s heads didn’t drop though and they simply picked up where they left off. The ball was passed around delightfully and a second goal duly came just seven minutes later when Buendia made space for Mario Vrancic and his left foot strike from 25 yards hit the corner of the net.

Three minutes later and it was 3-1 when Tom Trybull headed home from an excellent corner delivery from Buendia. That would be almost Emi’s last contribution though as he was substituted for Todd Cantwell, due to a dead leg. Prior to that, Emi had been kicked from pillar to post. It almost looked like he was being targeted by different players, several of whom picked up yellow cards for their troubles. If one got a yellow though, it seemed as though another was then handed the job of clattering him.

It’s tough in the Championship and one of the tactics of various less technical teams is to “stick a reducer” onto some of the more skilful of their opponents. Blackburn did the same and we lost Mo Leitner. It is what it is.

3-1 up with 25 minutes played and the game was effectively done.

The second half was much less of a spectacle, with Birmingham adopting a strange policy of not seemingly wanting to attack. Anyone would’ve thought that they were 3-1 up away from home and looking for the counter-attack.

Perhaps it was damage limitation? Maybe they thought Norwich would pour forwards again? As it was, Norwich dominated the ball, as you’d expect, and played a more pragmatic game (as Daniel Farke later described it).

Todd Cantwell tested Lee Camp with a save for the cameras, Onel Hernandez wasted a one-on-one and Marco Stiepermann should also have added to the tally in the second half.

Maxime Colin also pushed Vrancic over (it was admittedly soft) and then appeared to deliberately stand on him. I didn’t see it with my own eye but the Sky cameras picked it up and I hear they made a bit of a deal about it. Colin wasn’t booked so might expect something from the authorities.

That’s how it finished as City moved back up to second in the table, a point behind the leaders and leaving a nice Saturday afternoon ahead of those of us in the Canary Nation, with a watching brief.

OTBC

Norwich City				Birmingham City
Pukki 13', Vrancic 22', Trybull 25'				Adams 14'
Krul				Camp
Aarons				Colin
Zimmermann (c)				Morrison (c)
Godfrey				Dean
Lewis				Pedersen
Trybull				Jota			71'
Vrancic				G Gardner
Buendia			39'	Kieftenbeld			56'
Stiepermann				Maghoma
Hernandez			90'	Adams
Pukki			85'	Jutkiewicz			61'
Substitutes
McGovern				Mahoney			71'
Rhodes			85'	C Gardner			56'
McLean			90'	Vasssell			61'
Passlack				Solomon-Otabor
Hanley				Dacres-Cogley
Srbeny				Trueman
Cantwell			39'	Harding

Game Statistics
10	Goal attempts	8
4	On Target	4
5	Corners	6
5	Fouls	22
0	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	0
66	%	34