Norwich City are finally back on the goal trail but defensive vulnerability led to just the solitary point being gained, despite scoring thrice. Brighton – 20th in the table before today – came to Carrow Road and attacked. They were not adverse to throwing men forwards and subsequently scored three times and picked up a valuable away point. However, with the complaints that Norwich could not break down teams who put ten men behind the ball and defended, when it went the other way it was the same issue but in reverse. City could break them down, yet they were also left vulnerable and lacked solidity in their own third. Instead of poor defensive positioning, for example, it was individual mistakes that cost the Canaries.
Dreadful marking by Martin Olsson led to Brighton’s first goal, a refusal to tackle by Russell Martin and Michael Turner led to Kazenga LuaLua literally standing still with the ball in City’s own area before rifling a shot past Ruddy, then Jos Hooiveld took down Adrian Colunga in the area, with the latter picking himself up to easily roll the ball past John Ruddy. Colunga did a stutter in his run-up and perhaps if Ruddy had decided to stand up and wait instead of immediately committing to a side, he could have saved a relatively weak penalty.
Calls for the dropping of either Cameron Jerome or Lewis Grabban – both of whom missed golden chances today – will be strengthened by Gary Hooper’s immediate impact on the game, striking in the equaliser to make it 3-3 with minutes remaining. Jonny Howson, however, capped a great performance by almost single-handedly hauling Norwich back into the game on 38 minutes when he started and finished the move, with Nathan Redmond’s pinpoint cross finding the ex-Leeds midfielder who nodded home.
Russell Martin marked his 200th appearance for the club with a stunning goal from all of 35 yards to put City ahead four minutes after the restart, and after that Norwich were much the better side – for all of 15 minutes. LuaLua’s goal came against the run of play, but it stifled the Canaries and at 2-2, the next goal was only going to go one way. A poisonous atmosphere had built around the ground, as fans had been looking to Adams and the touch line for the last ten minutes when it was 2-1 to see who had been sent to warm up. The answer: no one. It took until the 78th minute and for Brighton to be 2-3 up before Gary Hooper was summoned and hauled on in place of Hooiveld. A few minutes later and Kyle Lafferty entered the fray and Grabban made for the bench. It was going to be the Englishman who rescued a share of the spoils though, with Hooper’s immaculate touch falling nicely for himself to hit a low drive past Stockdale. Carrow Road collectively emitted a sigh of relief as the ball hit the net, but the fans wanted more. Norwich need to be beating teams like Brighton at home and they knew that. However, any hopes of a fourth goal was extinguished when Russell Martin and Alex Tettey ran into each other. Brighton broke away and Bradley Johnson was left to stop the attacker but he did so illegally, earning himself his second yellow card and an early bath. Adams’ decision to risk Johnson and not put Gary O’Neil on when City were leading 2-1 backfired, yet now O’Neil was called for and he replaced Cameron Jerome.
Altogether, not the result Norwich fans were expecting. Not the result that Norwich desperately need. Now, the game against Reading becomes a must-win and Adams is a man walking a tightrope. Many feel his time is nearing its end and whilst others are prepared to wait, the majority are leaning towards the former. The appointment of Phelan can go one of two ways: he either helps Adams and together they help Norwich back to where they should be, or he is a contingency plan for if Adams doesn’t turn this around.
