Another win and again it was whilst playing at some distance below what Norwich City are capable of.
That comment shouldn’t take anything away from Blackburn Rovers though, who I thought were excellent throughout. It was something of a novelty for a team to come and actually attack us, home or away. We’ve become used to teams sitting back and trying to catch us on the counter or get something from a set-piece, so when someone has a right go, like Blackburn did, you can only applaud and appreciate that.
The Blackburn tactics made for an enthralling and entertaining game of football that saw Norwich have less than 50% ball possession for the first time this season.
Daniel Farke made one change to the side as he dropped Marco Stiepermann to the bench and brought in the ever willing, Alex Tettey. Mario Vrancic moved into the number 10 position but other than that it was a case of “as you were” for the Canaries.
Right from the first whistle, Blackburn were on the front foot, pressing their visitors and trying to stop them having the ball. With a central midfielder and a young, inexperienced winger in front of him on the left flank for Norwich, it was a noticeable tactic to try to exploit that and put pressure on the Norwich left side.
Michael McGovern made a super, one-handed reflex save early on from a Sam Gallagher header while at the other end, Josh Martin scuffed a shot when well placed and then Teemu Pukki fired just wide as Norwich worked their way into the contest. Pukki made no mistake in the 22nd minute when he spun and shot on the turn, beating the Rovers keeper, Kaminski at his near post. It should’ve been at least 2-0 by half-time after Pukki saw a shot crash back off the bar and Sorensen’s follow-up shot was then blocked by Kaminski’s out-stretched foot.
The second half saw Rovers come out like men possessed. I can only imagine that Tony Mowbray threw a few tea cups around during the break because his men upped the pace considerably in the second half. Ex-Canary, Bradley Johnson headed straight at McGovern, who also saved well from a powerful Lewis Holtby shot but he could only watch as Sam Gallagher’s pile driver hit the bar and went over and into the stand behind.
Harvey Elliott is the 17-year-old, on-loan Liverpool wonder kid who was charged with causing the trouble on City’s left flank. Jacob Sorensen did well against him for the most part but in the 59th minute he and Martin were waltzed past as Elliot surged into the area. He also danced past Grant Hanley and then coolly fired past McGovern, who could only get a hand to it.
Rovers now had their tails up and Farke was clearly worried as he readied a triple substitution of Kenny McLean, Todd Cantwell and Marco Stiepermann. I imagine he was going to change things considerably only for Stiepemann to be told to sit down in the 65th minute before the changes could be made. That was because of the goat, Teemu Pukki.
On a rare foray forwards at this point, Emi Buendia had a long-shot from just outside the area that was deliberately deflected into the goal by Pukki, via his shins.
Making his 100th appearance for Norwich, Pukki scored twice here taking his tally to 9 for the season, so far, and 50 goals in 100 appearances. He is easily one of the best free transfers of all time and there’s no doubt he is the best striker in the Championship – again.
The way he moved his body to deflect the ball with his shins was the instinct of a man who lives to score goals. In a similar way to that which saw Grant Holt drag Norwich up through the divisions a few years back, I think that much of City’s success in the last couple of years has come courtesy of Pukki’s prolific strike rate.
It was a goal against the run of play and it rocked Rovers back on their heels. The rest of the contest was more even, although the hosts had the best of the second half overall, I’d say.
Norwich saw the game out by bringing on Jordan Hugill and Marco Stiepermann for the last few minutes and Marco should’ve scored when he received Hugill’s cross, only to side foot the ball straight at Kaminski. Hugill helped with some game management, holding the ball up and generally being some fresh legs.
His return to fitness, along with Cantwell, McLean and Kieron Dowell is timely with the busy festive period rapidly approaching. With Xavi Quintilla and Sam Byram hopefully also due to return in January, things should start to improve and hopefully we will see the best of Norwich soon enough.
We are still top of the table, despite the horrendous injury crisis, and that is pretty amazing, I think. There is clearly a lot more to come from City and it puts me in mind of the old adage that says “winning while not playing well, is the sign of a good team.”
OTBC