Next stop on the Norwich City train to Disaster City is Wigan Athletic. A fixture that carries all the potential for more disappointment, with the Canaries hurtling towards the bottom half – which is where Wigan lie. In fact, the Northern side are second bottom – the only team worse than them this season is the footballing nightmare that are their rivals, Blackpool. A team Norwich managed to beat (as you would hope), notably on the back of an unbeaten 8 game run. This time against Wigan, Norwich approach the game having yielded just six points in ten games – Bolton at home being the only victory since the aforementioned away trip to Blackpool. A car crash in slow motion, in which all the offending details can be seen. And yet, there’s no sign of change; performances have deteriorated each week and consequently the points have dried up, with Norwich have slipping down the table as we enter the Christmas period.
Saturday’s fixture versus Wigan really is the last chance for Adams – he’s been given more time when many would have axed him before he could even get down the Carrow Road tunnel last week. If he can’t manage to overturn a struggling Wigan that is surround by the media controversy of Dave Whelan and Malky Mackay’s racist accusations, then time is surely up.
LAST GAME
Last Saturday was the icing on a cake. Unfortunately, that cake is an undercooked mess of mismatching ingredients. Hooper just about opened the scoring despite the linesman’s best efforts to wrongly disallow the goal for offside – luckily referee David Webb was poised, positioned, and authoritative enough to confidently revoke his colleague’s decision. The goal stood, but was shortly cancelled out in compilation of classic City mistakes. Corners proved our downfall; the first, a long ball to the back post that met the free run of Cooper, who towered above Turner to head home. In a situation like this, there are two things you can do; shake it off, learn from it, and bounce back, or concede through the exact same melee of disorganisation later in the half. Norwich chose the latter, this time Ruddy was at fault. He missed the vital connection of ball to fist as he flung a flailing glove and ghosting in at the back post was Cooper, again. Two-one; Norwich’s lacklustre, laboured, lifeless play meant the score remained in Reading’s favour for the remainder of the game.
The most worrying thing is that Adams clearly doesn’t know the answers to the questions which this horrible run poses. A problem, no doubt. Many have talked of the vast and superior squad we have, so much of the responsibility therefore lies on the man in charge. His inability thus far to utilise the skills of certain players and formulate them into a squad which complements their attributes is certainly concerning, and is proving to be Norwich’s downfall. At the start of the season, we benefitted from the new-manager syndrome and various episodes of lucky play. Grabban grew in confidence, but a good portion of his goals weren’t of his own doing, so now when the ball isn’t falling right, he struggles to impress. It’s the same for others, but the inconsistency of the formations is making any sort of rhythm impossible to sustain. Each time Adams tries something new he manages to solve one problem, and churn up two others. It’s a thoroughly frustrating watch at the moment.
PREVIEW
So where does he go at Wigan? Does he opt for the combination of Redmond and Grabban on the wings, where the latter becomes isolated and fairly useless? Or perhaps bring back the diamond?
The encouraging news is that Wes Hoolahan and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe should be back from injury, and possibly in the squad for Saturday. We haven’t seen much of the latter, whose regular introduction into the team was abruptly disrupted in the 0-0 draw versus Sheffield Wednesday. Hoolahan, however, has been greatly missed; his creative spark and ability to pick a pass are both vital attributes, especially when playing two strikers and the diamond. O’Neil certainly has passing ability, but not in the same way as the ‘Irish Messi’, nor does he occupy the same advanced positions. Murphy is another who has showed promise, but without space and time, is often frozen out of games. Adams also insists on playing him as an impact substitution, and while I don’t believe he’s a ninety-minute man, this process may under-represent his talents.
Recently, we have fallen into the trap where Redmond has become our only outpost. With him being the only winger on the pitch in a formation that regularly involves a striker (be that Lafferty or Grabban) on the opposite flank, and so most of our wide play channels through him. It’s the same situation that we had with Snodgrass, just less extreme.
If we were to start with Murphy and Redmond, then we would be less predictable, and therefore more effective. Then, bring back the 4-2-3-1 style in which Hoolahan works behind the striker freely (if he is fit enough – so far not clear), being covered by the two holding midfielders and we might start to get somewhere. The defence however, is a whole other debacle.
Personally, I would drop Olsson for Garrido, Whittaker for Cuellar, and shunt Martin back into the right-back position. Then clasp our hands, and hope.
WIGAN
Form – D L L D L
Wigan find themselves two points adrift of relegation safety, and while they’re renowned for tasty match day pies, the football at the DW has been less than satisfactory. Chairman Dave Whelan decided to fire the reputable Uwe Rosler when things appeared to have turned sour, bringing in Malky Mackay who remains tied up in a court case with Vincent Tan over alleged racial, sexist, anti-semitic, xenophobic and homophobic text messages. The controversy was always going to follow Mackay who lost all respect from the media and the public, but when Dave Whelan openly supported some of the things Mackay had said, affairs sparked once more.
Since his appointment, Mackay has managed one point from two games – an impressive draw against high-flying Middlesbrough. Last week, however, they suffered a stinging 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday who were on a winless run of 11, having originally led through McCann.
They still possess some of the quality that saw them compete in the Premier League just two years ago, but at the moment, show no sign of even threatening to return. Their midfield is full of solid Championship players with the likes of Maloney, McManaman and Watson – who scored the winner against City in the FA cup final two years ago – as well as Roger Espinoza who represented Honduras at the World Cup in the summer.
Goals have at times been a struggle, but it’s more the case of failing to control and close out games. Wigan have dropped twelve points from winning positions so far this season; a stat that would safely see them in the top half sniffing at the play-offs, had they managed hold out. Instead, they languish in 23rd, despite rare moments of brilliance, such as a 2-1 win away from home to Derby. Earlier on, they also achieved back-to-back victories against Blackpool, and then Birmingham, thumping four past the latter. In terms of form, they haven’t won in the last five, but have sustained ten points from the previous ten games, so it’s not too bad in some regards. If they can continue that point per game record they may find themselves crawling up the table, but Mackay will be hoping for a few more victories here and there, as will the fans who have watched four goalless draws this season.
Key Men – As I have mention before, the midfield is Wigan’s strong area; McManaman has fruitfully contributed 5 goals this season making him top scorer – striker Fortuné has managed just two. He has also played over 1100 minutes this season, featuring in 18 of Wigan’s 19 fixtures; an ever-present figure to say the least.
James Perch is wonderfully versatile – this time a more defensive option who has managed to contribute two goals, and no doubt, towards the six clean sheets they’ve managed thus far.
Last Meeting
Norwich’s last meeting with Wigan was last year, where we were beaten one-nil courtesy of Kone goal that slipped past 3rd goalkeeper Lee Camp at his near post. It was a game one of the games Norwich needed to win at the time, as a win would have propelled them to 9th, just 3 points away from that magic 40. Arouna Kone was just one of the players Wigan failed to keep ahold of following relegation that season, along with the likes of Franco Di Santo and Jordi Gomez. Striking options they haven’t really replaced since, even with the signing of Grant Holt (albeit, an out-of-shape, out of game time Grant Holt).
Ex-Canaries
Grant Holt would be an obvious choice for this section, had he not gone out on loan to Huddersfield. In terms of permanent players Leon Barnett is the only other – still regularly getting into Wigan’s defence, yet yielding a red card and two other yellows this season, the former for illegally denying Hugo Rodallega of a goalscoring opportunity.
Injuries
Vadis Odjidja Ofoe and Wes Hoolahan may be back in contention, but Adams may not want to rush them either. Ryan Bennett is also on the way back from injury, but he’s unlikely to be thrown straight into this tie against Wigan. If Hoolahan is fit enough to start/come on, his record against Wigan is an impressive one; he’s scored in three of the last four games against them, including Norwich’s first goal back to the Premier League in 2012.
Predicted Team:
Verdict
I’m going to be optimistic, and say 2-1, partly on the basis that Wigan are pretty awful, and partly down to the fact we can’t really play any worse than last week. Perhaps players returning from injury will help steady a ship that is sinking quickly – one which will likely see its captain (Adams) thrown overboard if we lose.
