Brentford (h); The Review

28/10/18

9 points in a week and the Canaries are flying once again. Jon Punt and Andrew Lawn pick out the pertinent talking points from a forgettable but welcome win.

Biggest positive

3 wins from 3. Little more can be asked from the Canary faithful. Brentford are an organised footballing side and many people’s tip for a top 6 spot at the end of the season, so to beat them in a fairly comfortable manner is hugely positive. This may not have been a swashbuckling performance in which we blew them away, but it was a solid, professional one.

That this City side looked largely untroubled, conceding few chances (with the exception of a Krul double wonderstop) is also a huge plus. Clean shit for the Nodge on the week Seb Bassong entered back into professional football. No coincidence.

Moment of the match

Maupay channelling his inner Ronnie Rosenthal and hitting the bar when it was surely easier to score was great fun. Well done Neal.

It was the only time City’s defence looked in any trouble of being breached, despite the visitor’s best efforts.

Random star performer

Max Aarons was again outstanding. His partnership with Jamal, is (at least in the opinion of our podders) the best full-back partnership we can remember. The way they work together with one going and the other dropping, coupled with their terrier like desire to win the ball back high up the pitch, provides a platform for much of our brightest attacking play. Plus, Max is solid defensively and called Maximilian. Wow.

Aside from the two youngsters, Timm Klose was also at his imperious best. The man mountain hardly put a foot wrong and does more to link play from defence into the midfield engine room this season than ever before. While he’s at it, he’s also looking to mount attacks quickly, something notably absent from last season’s play and evident in his long raking ball for the opener, courtesy of Buendia’s genius to turn the ball home.

Weekend whinge

Jordan Rhodes on pens. Who’s next?

There has to be question marks about the decision to have Rhodes on spot kick duties, given his master plan was to serve up the same tame strike which frustrated Carrow Road just a few weeks back. Moritz Leitner, Stiepermann or Buendia may be better placed next time around. Actually, scratch that, we’ve got it. That Head of Partnership Activation has been PROLIFIC this season, get him on penalty duties.

Farke watch

Another solid win, earned without draining too many batteries. Farke made changes when we started to look a little leggy and needed some fresh impetuous up top to stretch Brentford when we needed to release any building pressure. The team (and bench) he picks on Tuesday will be interesting. Vrancic, Hernandez and Ben Marshall are all in need of minutes on the pitch to keep them finely tuned.

Prior to the game, Farke was at pains to emphasise the growing bond between the fans and the players. The catchphrase trotted out on more than one occasion was ‘One Unity’. That’s something we can all get behind right now.

Atmosphere rating

From our point of view, the flag display was the best yet and we are starting to get somewhere. There were lots of reports of people wanting to take them home, which is great, but if you do, they won’t get back in the ground so please leave them in your seats for us to collect. They’re also the only flags on poles in the ground so we know they’re not yours and you haven’t bought it from the club shop. City fans raised the money to buy those flags, so they’re from everyone and for everyone. Let’s all enjoy them please.

And for those wanting to get involved in flag displays, please come and talk to us at games or get in touch through our email/socials. If these displays are to become bigger and better we’ll need help, and it would be greatly appreciated.

During the match the atmosphere was enigmatic, but there was a consistent level of noise which was absent just a few weeks prior. Post match Christoph Zimmermann gleefully acknowledged all four stands, as did most of his colleagues. But Christoph does it better, and with a smile wider than a Kardashian’s backside. Zimbo gets it.

Great chat among the Barclay End Norwich gents during one of the E-I-E-IE-I-Os too. Has everyone got used to saying Farke is our king? For some of us it was still Worthy, others wanted to say Lambert. Best left there really.

Summary

This was the sort of game you win if you’re going to finish in the top 6 in the Championship. It was cold, wet and miserable and we faced obdurate opponents, who have a consistent way of playing, so beating them is a huge plus. Was it a memorable game? We forget. It was a win though.

Perhaps on a day like yesterday though this wasn’t a win we should remember. The tragic events at the King Power stadium remind us all that this is only a game, and our thoughts are with the Leicester family.

Comments

There are no comments on this article yet.

Brentford (h); The Preview

27/10/18

Farke's men face their second tricky opponent at Carrow Road in 5 days, with the arrival of Brentford.Tom Parsley spoke with Billy the Bee from the Beesotted podcast to hear what mood we find the Londoners in...

Best Of Luck Paul, You Need It

29/10/18

Duncan Edwards dissects Ipswich's appointment of a certain Mr Lambert. Nothing to see here, move along....

Along Come Norwich © 2024