Neil Adams will have plenty to think about come next Sunday and the opening Championship fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers – the key point being how to solidify a defence that has continued to leak goals throughout last season and this pre-season. A ropey back-line was saved by the fluidity of City’s strike-force, however, and it was Lewis Grabban – playing out on the right wing – who grabbed a brace.
Norwich started very quickly; a beautifully weighted diagonal ball from Martin Olsson fell into the path of Grabban after Kyle Lafferty had let it run through, and Grabban took a touch and neatly tucked it into the bottom corner with his left foot. Only five minutes had been played, yet once again the Canaries had struck early after also taking an early lead against OGC Nice on Monday.
Grabban had doubled his tally soon after; this time it was Wes Hoolahan the architect. It came, once again, from the Norwich left-hand side. Hoolahan played a lovely one-two with Lafferty, before the Irishman flicked the ball over a despairing lunge by a Celta defender then picked out Grabban on the six-yard box. The ex-Bournemouth man does not miss from there.
After that, however, City were on the ropes and retreated deeper and deeper into their own half. There were replications from last year: free kicks hitting the first man; no closing down; misplaced passes. Every Norwich fan had seen this happen before and they saw it happen again. On twenty-nine minutes, the defence simply switched off and Michael Krohn-Dehli picked out Nolito on the right-hand side of the six-yard box, who finished excellently by chipping Ruddy. It was a goal that was applauded by all spectators.
Larrivey then saw his shot cannon back off the post and hit Ruddy’s back before being cleared by Olsson, but Nathan Redmond also went close for City.
Four minutes before the break and Celta were level through Krohn-Dehli. A distinct lack of closing down after a Celta corner was cleared to the edge of the area meant that Krohn-Dehli was able to rifle a shot low through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom corner of Ruddy’s net. It was an entertaining first half, but if not for some poor defending, Norwich would have led. Instead, they had thrown away a two-goal lead.
The second half passed largely without incident. The La Liga side were the more dangerous of the two teams, whilst Redmond brought back memories of last season when he cut inside onto his left foot before firing over the bar. A cause for concern could be the fact that towering striker Kyle Lafferty limped off down the tunnel accompanied by medical staff after being replaced by Elliott Bennett.
Fabian Orellana tested Ruddy with fifteen minutes left to go, whilst Yelko Pino’s sweetly-struck volley from the edge of the area went narrowly over the bar. At the other end, Bradley Johnson struck a fierce shot that could only be parried by the visiting ‘keeper. Following up on the rebound was a rather unfit Gary Hooper who could only hit the post from six-yards, but he was deemed offside anyway.
One point of note is that Neil Adams confirmed in his post-match interview that club record signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel had a medical at French side Saint Etienne with a view to a season-long loan deal, much to the disappointment of the majority of Norwich fans, who have been voicing their discontent at the move on social media.
Next up for City is the trip to Wolves for the beginning of the Championship season and – hopefully – the dawn of a new era.
