A quality Brentford side put Norwich City to the sword on Saturday at Carrow Road, and they deservedly came away with a 1-2 victory courtesy of goals from Jota and Pritchard, despite Nathan Redmond’s equaliser in the first half.
The warning signs were all there in the opening few minutes – a compete lapse in concentration and errors in midfield and defence enabled a run on goal for Brentford striker Andre Gray, but the ball took a horrendous bobble and it pinged off his shin and over the bar. A let off, an early warning sign; but Norwich failed to heed those cries of anger from the 26,000 home fans. City’s slow and sluggish start was thoroughly exploited by a high-tempo, exhilarating Brentford side, who used the most of their pace and quick passing to tear Norwich to shreds. Brentford could’ve been 0-3 up by the time they eventually took the lead, with their goal coming from Steven Whittaker giving the ball away with a horrific mistake, and a quick breakaway was slotted home by Jota. The Brentford winger was a live-wire all game, continuously threatening to increase the visitors’ advantage, yet it was nothing short of what the Bees deserved.
Despite a horrendous first half performance, Norwich were back on level terms again thanks to some trickery from young winger Redmond, executing a flip-flap to beat his man then rifled a low, left-footed drive through a crowded area and into the net. Potentially, Norwich were on the up.
However, the confusing choice of Whittaker at central midfield – a decision Alex Neil says was forced due to an injury sustained by Gary O’Neil in training – meant that often, it looked as if Norwich were playing with ten men. When he was eventually brought off at the 70-minute mark, there were cheers from all sections of the ground, but it was too late. Earlier, Turner had committed a foul in the box and the referee – who had a poor game today, it has to be said – pointed to the spot. Pritchard went to Ruddy’s right; Ruddy went left. After that, Brentford were in control and chants of “Olé!” came from the away end. Cameron Jerome had a chance to equalise after Bradley Johnson had hit the bar with a cracking effort, but it was straight down the middle of the goal and brought a fine save from the Brentford ‘keeper. Jerome seemed to be continuously offside and just wasn’t himself today, and Norwich struggled to create any clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities. One, however, did fall to Lewis Grabban late on but his tame effort was palmed around the post, out for a corner.
Boos greeted Norwich at full time. One of the worst performances by City this season – matched only perhaps by the 4-0 defeat to Middlesborough – had finally come to an end, and if Alex Neil didn’t know how big the task on his hands was before, he certainly knows now. Horrendous performances by Whittaker, Russ Martin and Michael Turner undermined and defence solidarity Norwich thought they may have after back-to-back victories, and with no real cutting edge, they struggled with the intensity of Brentford. Their high-pressing game forced Norwich into just hoofing the ball long to no one in particular, and when it did get to Jerome, he was usually offside and apologising. The strikers didn’t defend from the front; the midfield was bypassed and the defence was horrendous. Still, credit to Brentford for playing like they did and exploiting a very, very poor Norwich side.
