“You can’t win them all…”
So the saying goes and it has been proven right time and time again over the years.
There was a general level of thought among must of us in the Canary nation that Hull City would prove little in the way of opposition when you consider the run that Norwich have been on.
However, football is a funny old game (which is another famous saying) and you can’t underestimate teams that have something to scrap for.
False Praise
Nigel Adkins was glowing in his praise of Norwich City in the build-up to the game, telling the media that Norwich are currently “probably better than Leeds.”
It’s an old tactic to flatter the opposition and it lets your own fan base get ready for a thumping. If you lose you can simply point to the fact that “They’re top of the league” but if you get anything better than that, you are the heroes.
Well played, Nigel.
J J J Jaded? (Aerosmith reference)
Was it just me or did we look a little jaded? I thought that Onel Hernandez and Teemu Pukki were looking a little tired and with Norwich having had two long haul away days that couldn’t have been much further apart in the space of four days, I guess that fatigue can become a factor.
The number of chances created (19 shots but only 4 on target) should’ve been enough in these horrible, windy and wet conditions but it wasn’t to be and Pukki didn’t get a sniff.
Hull Rolling Their Sleeves Up With A Little Help From The Grounds Staff
Hull weren’t great, we could all see that and they are where they are for a reason but on this occasion, they were compact, hard working and offered a threat on the break, albeit not through Chris “Stroller” Martin who barely made much of an impact on the game.
For that level of effort and desire not to lose, Hull deserve some credit. As do their ground staff, who had clearly let the grass grow a bit longer to slow the ball up.
Daniel Farke happy enough, although he did clock the lawnmowers coming out the moment our interviews started.
Collective idea was that they probably hadn’t been used for a couple of weeks, so probably could’ve been left another 30 minutes. #ncfc pic.twitter.com/6hUFAmCLNs
— Michael Bailey (@michaeljbailey) November 27, 2018
Get Used To This
The way that Hull managed to clearly raise their game against the Canaries is something that we are going to have to get used to, I’m afraid.
We’ve seen this type of resilience on a regular basis under both Farke last season, when teams opted to try to stop us playing out from the back and under Alex Neil, when teams would look to sit tight and keep compact, looking for a counter whether they were at home or away.
That’s likely to be the norm from here on in and you can expect teams like Rotherham and Bolton to try to stifle, suffocate and frustrate us. Why wouldn’t they? You have to play to your strengths and it will be up to Farke’s men to unlock those opposition defences.
Nobody is going to just roll over.
Did Super Tommy Trybull Do Enough?
In short, not really. He had the best chances of the game with a shot in the first half that David Marshall somehow managed to push the wrong side of the post and that glorious free headed chance near the end.
Six yards out and he glanced it wide. It was a head in hands moment and we all knew it.
To be fair, he hasn’t played regularly at all this season, such has been the form of Moritz Leitner and Alex Tettey. Trybull isn’t so forward thinking as Leitner but is still usually decent in possession. I don’t think it’s right to expect him to come into the midfield and play at the level of Leitner immediately, that’s highly unlikely and it will be tough on Tom if Leitner comes straight back in.
If Mo is fit for Rotherham though, expect that to happen.
OTBC