I’m starting to get irritated with comments like “a year go we would never have dreamed of losing 2-1 at Fulham” that seem to be coming from some of the Norwich support. Players, managers and football fans want to win and are disappointed when we lose. I sulk for at least a few days when we lose regardless of if that is against Barnet or Barcelona so I’m not going to shrug it off as being “grateful for where we are”. We don’t need to be grateful, we have earned our place in the Premier League and we should be looking to win every game. If you don’t go into any game expecting to win then what is the point? Anyway, rant over.
Last time Norwich City visited Craven Cottage, all we needed to do was get a draw to stay in the Premier League back in 2005. Instead we got beaten 6-0 and ended up being relegated, and I wanted to dust off those demons on my trip to Craven Cottage but instead I came away feeling frustrated in a game where we had 62% of the possession but let in 2 early goals and struggled to find the spark upfront from that dominance.
It was another baffling starting line-up from Paul Lambert with 3 at the back – Ward, Whitbread and Bennett (making his début). 2 wing backs with Naughton (still being played out of position on the left) and Martin. 4 through the middle with Howson, Hoolahan, Surman and Fox then a lone striker up-front Morison. Now, I don’t care what everyone says about how it’s good to tinker, this formation just clearly didn’t work and was the reason we let in two goals in the first 13 minutes. The 3 centre halves looked lost and disorganised which was reflected in the first goal. Ward and Whitbread both assumed the other was clearing the ball allowing Ruiz to have a clear shot on goal which was parried by Ruddy but into the path of Clint Dempsey who beat Martin to the ball. The second goal was similar with Duff running too easily passed Whitbread. At this point, I think we all thought we were in for another 6-0 defeat as those two chances were created from one of the very few times that Fulham managed to get the ball off Norwich in that first 15 minutes.
The stats above say it all to be honest. We dominated possession with 62% of the play, managed 63% more passes than Fulham and 20 more crosses yet we had the same number of shots on target as Fulham – 12. We passed the ball around brilliantly at times, some of the best play I have seen all season but the problem was it never really got anywhere. At half-time Lambert changed back to a flat back 4 with Whitbread making room for Simeon Jackson who came on to support Morison up-front who had failed to impress in the first half. We continued the 2nd half much the same as the first but created more chances and when Wilbraham came on in the 66th minute we started to test the Fulham defence and keeper. Wilbraham in the 77th minute scored his 100th league goal and his first premier league goal with a nice shot to the left of Schwarzer. It was all too late though and despite more pressure and a few chances from Fulham as well we had lost the game in those first 13 minutes.
Next Page: Positives and Concerns, plus midfield comparison & Norwich goal scorers.
