The tactical awareness that Alex Neil showed last night in regards to Lewis Grabban was abysmal, in my opinion. Norwich succumbed to a penalty shoot-out defeat by the hands of Everton and I think Grabban can be to blame.
Despite actually scoring his penalty in the shoot-out, Lewis Grabban looked poor for the majority of the game and the few times that he did get a clear-cut chance in front of goal, he fluffed his lines and didn’t make the most of it. This is becoming an all too regular occurrence for Lewis Grabban; who is yet to score this season, even though he has had more than enough good chances to do so.
Lewis Grabban did look the part for large spells in the Championship last season, scoring 12 goals in total, including two against Ipswich in two games in the league. However, the 12 goals came in two little bursts of good form, with him spending the middle part of the season either injured or bang out of form. Which, unfortunately, is how he has started this season.
It has been an open criticism of not just Grabban, but of Cameron Jerome as well this season about their failures in converting clear-cut chances in the Premier League. However, I think there is one distinct difference between Lewis Grabban and Cameron Jerome; work rate. If you put Cameron Jerome on a pitch for 90 minutes then he will run himself into the ground chasing lost causes and giving the opposition defence something to think about. However, if you put Lewis Grabban on a pitch for 90 minutes, yes he will make some good runs now and then, but for the majority of the game he just looks disinterested and wasteful.
It is just so blatantly obvious that Lewis Grabban is not good enough for the Premier League and therefore, Norwich as well. He has had plenty of chances to prove himself this season, yet has failed to impress me in any game he has played so far. Switch back to the opening day of the season against Crystal Palace. Much to the surprise of many, if not all, Norwich fans waiting to see their sides first game back in the Premier League in over 12 months, Lewis Grabban was picked to start upfront on his own. However, Alex Neil was not left with much of a choice but to start him; Cameron Jerome was struggling with a knock and was only fit enough for the bench and Norwich had still yet to sign a new striker during the transfer window at that point.
This meant that Norwich were starting their Premier League campaign banking on Lewis Grabban to score the goals. Now that is not a situation a Premier League side ever wants to be in, I assure you. This proved dividend as Norwich created the first clear-cut chance in the match and a moment that would have completely changed the game. A ball was fizzed across from the right on a plate for Lewis Grabban to net Norwich’s first Premier League goal of the season and give them the lead against Palace. But no. Lewis Grabban somehow managed to divert the ball wide of goal from around 3-yards out from goal. Norwich went on to lose the game 3-1, Nathan Redmond with the Norwich goal, and had Lewis Grabban scored, it could have been a much different outcome.
However, this was just the beginning of the bad news for Lewis Grabban as he was subsequently dropped for the next two Premier League games against Sunderland and Stoke, which Norwich accumulated four points from. Then, if you thought things could not get worse for Lewis Grabban, think again. Norwich traveled away to face Rotherham in the Capital One Cup and just hours before kick-off, whilst in the team hotel, Lewis Grabban went missing. He had fled from the hotel and caught a train home to Norwich before the game kicked off, supposedly without Alex Neil’s permission and was subsequently suspended by the club until after the transfer window was shut.
There were many theories as to why Lewis Grabban left the hotel, some suggesting that it was because Alex Neil told him that Ricky Van Wolfswinkel was starting up-front, and some suggesting a more personal reason to do with an altercation with Bradley Johnson, who was also sold to Derby County just days later. Either way, it was a poor decision for the forward and was rightly blasted by his manager/club as well as the fans for his actions.
The incident came just days before the end of the transfer window and left many pondering whether they had seen the last of Lewis Grabban in a Norwich shirt. Increasingly so when Norwich announced the signing of Congolese striker Dieumerci Mbokani from Dynamo Kiev on a season-long loan deal, with an option to buy. This deal was announced the day before the deadline and Norwich were continuously linked with moves for another striker throughout deadline day. Dwight Gayle looked almost certain to join, with a deal reportedly being agreed, yet, due to Palace not being able to bring in a striker of their own, Gayle did not join Norwich and Lewis Grabban stayed at Norwich. Had Dwight Gayle have signed then Lewis Grabban looked nailed on to re-join former club Bournemouth, who reportedly had a large bid rejected for the striker on deadline-day, which Norwich would have likely accepted had they signed another forward.
Lewis Grabban stayed at Norwich and has been given his fair share of chances since. He came off the bench in Norwich’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool and it is fair to say that even though he was only on for 20 minutes, he didn’t really look at all interested. He then proceeded to start in Norwich’s cup tie with West Brom alongside Mbokani upfront. Lewis Grabban was once again, poor. He gave the ball away in silly positions and consistently drifted away from his position, gifting West Brom all sorts of space, also it would not be a customary Lewis Grabban performance without a relatively poor effort on goal, and, he obliged, firing the ball straight at the goalkeeper with all sorts of space on the edge of the box.
Lewis Grabban was then dropped for the next four Norwich games as he failed to feature in any of them, not even making the bench for two of them. That brings us back around to last night. Away at Everton in the League Cup and many looking forward to seeing Cameron Jerome or Kyle Lafferty being given their well deserved chances to play. Yet, for some bewildering reason, Lewis Grabban was selected up-front on his own against Fumes Mori and John Stones. I have not questioned Alex Neil’s ways too drastically since he arrived, however, I really had to here. It was a dreadful decision. How he could consistently give chances to a player that has a clearly poor attitude on and off the pitch and consistently fails to perform on the pitch is beyond me. To make it worse, he was being picked ahead of Cameron Jerome, who is ten times the player Grabban is, in my opinion, and works harder for the team, oh yeah, and he scored over 20 goals last season. Not only that but he was being picked over Kyle Lafferty, who was one of the top scorers in European Championship qualifying and was working his socks off to get in the team. Lafferty also scored in the last round against West Brom and more than deserved a crack at it.
Despite all of the evidence and common sense pointing to Cameron Jerome or Kyle Lafferty starting; Lewis Grabban started. Yet again, he produced another dismal performance and looked way out of his depth. However, Alex Neil can also be criticized here, not only for starting him, but also for not taking him off when it was clear that it was not working. It got to half-time and it was clear that Lewis Grabban was failing to get any change from Mori and Stones and they were keeping him quiet with their superior physical presence. Yet, he reappeared for the second half. Everton then put Darren Gibson at centre back alongside Mori and it became even clearer that Cameron Jerome or Lafferty should come on. Alex Neil strangely kept him on the pitch and proceeded in bringing Matt Jarvis, Graham Dorrans and Steven Whittaker on. This was a poor move by Alex Neil, as Lewis Grabban consistently failed to make the ball stick for Norwich and gave the ball away far too much, with Everton building-up steam and eventually scoring the equalizer. To make it worse, Lewis Grabban then missed a golden opportunity to win it late on with a header and was invisible in extra-time before Norwich lost on penalties.
I also spoke to one of our other writers here at ReadNorwich, Jacob Sinkins, about what he thought of Lewis Grabban. This is what he had to say:
Lewis Grabban was a promising championship level striker. He played well for us at the start of last season, and his goal scoring streak closer to the end helped. However, he was overshadowed by the skill of Jerome, a better player in all aspects. I could still accept him at the club, see him used occasionally for his pace. However, he lost all my respect with his little hissy fit. He has no place at the football club, and should have been sold to Bournemouth when we had the chance.
So, this leaves the question; should Lewis Grabban ever play for Norwich City again? In my opinion, absolutely no way. Now that we are knocked out of the cup, Lewis Grabban should be nowhere near any Norwich City squad until January, when we should move him on as quickly as possible and bring in another forward to replace him as Lewis Grabban is nowhere near Premier League standard and should never play another minute of first team football for Norwich, in my opinion.
Do you agree with me? Should Lewis Grabban be sold as quickly as possible?
