Saturday’s game against Birmingham was a strange encounter that split the Norwich faithful in two. Half of the fans took the viewpoint that taking a point out of a game where we were 0-2 down is a positive. The other half thought that anything less than a win against a deteriorating Birmingham side couldn’t be excused. I am with the latter of the fans but I did take some plus points from the game. Going into the match I expected a convincing winning scoreline and after the Brentford performance I’m sure most other Norwich fans anticipated the same. What we saw in the first half against Birmingham was a country mile below the standard that we expect from a team of our quality.
Experienced players like Hooiveld and Hoolahan forgot how to play football and Ruddy fumbled a shot that you would expect a keeper of his calibre to save with ease. Although we had collapsed embarrassingly in this period, Carrow Road still oozed optimism and faith in our team. It was a strange feeling being 0-2 down and fans still coming out with ‘we’ll smash them second half’ and ‘it’s only a matter of time until we score’. Although all of this was true, it illustrated the shift in mentality since the Hughton reign when we knew if we conceded first we could kiss good-bye to 3 points.
After two fantastic Cameron Jerome goals we all expected us to go on and secure all 3 points but it wasn’t to be. Nathan Redmond nearly stole the headlines with a last minute strike but it went agonisingly wide, a real shame for him who deserves a goal with his much improved recent performances. There are two main things have to be addressed before our game with Shrewsbury though:
Our inability to start the game quickly has been the talking point in recent weeks, admittedly Jerome went close after 20 seconds but except for that we have been way below par in our last few games. This really can’t carry on. Adams has said in interviews that this needs to be worked on and I have full faith in our coaching staff to abolish this bad habit before it becomes an epidemic. The second bad habit Adams has to erase is our incompetence when defending on the edge of our 18 yard box. Over the past year we have conceded far too many goals from that area, another one was scored at the weekend from Gray and it’s so avoidable.
Anyway on to tomorrow’s game against Shrewsbury. Lots of people say that the Capital One cup is a hindrance and the league is much more important. Something that Norwich have in their favour is depth and a squad more than capable of performing in both competitions. I fully expect Adams to take this years cup tournaments seriously. They are the perfect platform to make the most of the youth and give fringe players game time. Our game against Crawley proved the managerial class Adams has – the balance between experience and youth was perfect and worked wonders against Crawley who were no pushovers.
Shrewsbury are currently under a transition period under new manager Micky Mellon who is known for his successful time at Fleetwood. The Shrews can also flaunt the talents of James Collins and Ashley Vincent who give the side an evident attacking flair. They were relegated from League One last season but are one of the favourites to gain promotion from League Two this campaign, many fans expect a mid table finish though as some stability needs to be found. Shrewsbury beat Premier League outfit Leicester 0-1 in the second round which proves they’re not a side to take lightly.
Expected Team:
In conclusion I fully expect a much changed team to triumph in this tie. The Norwich fans are owed a cup run and these games could provide huge confidence and momentum. Who knows, a star performance from one of the youth players could propel them into the first team as well – Josh Murphy gave Adams a selection nightmare after his two goals against Crawley in the last round. If we take this game seriously, as I’m sure we will do, I expect us to win 1-3.
