The Bournemouth result proves Norwich have realistic survival ambitions. Norwich City cruised to a 3-1 victory over fellow new boys Bournemouth with goals from Cameron Jerome, Wes Hoolahan and new loanee Matt Jarvis – enough to give the Canaries their first home win of the season.
Well, what a fantastic result! I felt before the game that this match would go a long way in deciding whether we have enough quality to stay in the Premier League. Bournemouth are no easy team and they showed that by putting four past West Ham two weeks ago; but they are a side we must be beating if we have serious survival ambitions. It was also a big game for the management team at Carrow Road, having been heavily criticised from fans after not strengthening in key areas before the transfer window closed. Thankfully, Norwich passed these tests with flying colours in a game which Bournemouth, apart from a couple of short spells, never looked like winning. Norwich dominated and looked a different class from the team that succumbed to Southampton 3-0 before the international break. Not only does this result give us three important points, it sends a warning to the other teams in the league that it will be no easy afternoon when they arrive in Norfolk.
The importance of winning our home games cannot be underestimated and it will have a big say in where we end up come May. In our two previous successful survival seasons in 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, we won eight and seven of our 19 home matches those seasons while only winning a handful away from home. We subsequently ended up in 12th and 11th position respectively. These stats tell of the necessity to make Carrow Road a fortress and make it difficult for teams to come and play while draws away from home aren’t always to be sneered at. But strangely, Norwich have been better away from home since Alex Neil joined in January than at home with Norwich only suffering the one solitary defeat to Southampton two weeks ago. This could be used to our advantage and if we can keep solid away form all season while winning the important home matches then we could see that 40 point safe zone alongside Norwich’s name quicker than ever before.
However, the one negative is that we don’t have the strength in depth in defence. Should we have the unfortunate event (touch wood) of Sebastian Bassong getting injured for a couple of months, we would be left with only Russell Martin and Ryan Bennett as our senior centre-backs and quickly we would struggle without Bassong’s physical presence. We showed how poor we were without him at points last season and I fear our lack of execution on the defensive front could cost us. In the wing backs, we aren’t so limited. We saw Andre Wisdom make his first start at right-back due to Steven Whittaker’s suspension but he failed to really stake a claim for a regular spot although as the game went on he gradually became more confident and assured of himself. But, it was good to see Martin Olsson return from his lengthy injury with a substitute appearance, although, he might find breaking back into the first team all the more difficult due to Robbie Brady performing far better than expected at left-back in the opening weeks of the season.
All things considered, this performance has made me and thousands of other Norwich fans more confident that we have more than a fighting chance while Alex Neil continues to impress at the helm. People are always quick to praise Bournemouth and their manager, Eddie Howe, for the job he’s done at Dean Court and have often overlook Neil and how he’s transformed Norwich; Saturday’s events may instigate a change in attitude.
Next week, it’s Liverpool at Anfield in the first big test of the season and we actually go into that game ahead of the Reds in the table after their defeat to Manchester United on Saturday evening. They will be eager to bounce back and Norwich go into the match under no massive pressure to win the game so will be able to have a go, similar to West Ham two weeks ago. If the result is the same as that game then City fans will travel back from Merseyside very happy indeed.
