When Alex Neil’s Norwich City turn up on Tyneside Sunday afternoon, the game will represent more than just the three points that are up for grabs. The Premier League table might suggest that Norwich City are in a fine position. Thirteenth place, five points clear of the drop, and just three points off the top half. But make no mistake about it: Sunday’s game at St. James’ Park is a must win for the Canaries.
Last season, Norwich played around four international breaks. Of those four breaks, Norwich only won one of the four matches just before them, a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in March. Norwich have already faced this predicament once this year after that shameful 3-0 loss at Southampton. We used the international break to mull that loss over, regroup, and come out and run over Bournemouth 3-1 at Carrow Road.
Norwich have not won in the league since then. Failure to win on Sunday would mean an entire month, plus an international break, in which Alex Neil’s side have gone without a win. This, in my eyes, would be a crushing blow to the team spirit, on top of the fact that they would have failed to get three points against the side bottom of the table.
There were a lot of different reasons Norwich were relegated to the Championship in the 2013-14 season: A manager with a bad mindset, a flustered Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, and shambolic defending all come to mind. As far as results go from that season, Sunday’s match is another chance to right a massive wrong. When you look at the other five teams in the Premier League table that season who finished fifteenth or lower, Norwich picked up just seven of a possible thirty points against these clubs. That is simply not good enough. In contrast, Norwich secured 22 out of 36 points against bottom six clubs in their first season back in the top flight in 2011-12.
This season, Norwich already have six out of a possible six points against clubs in the bottom six, with a pair of 3-1 wins over Sunderland and Bournemouth to thank for that. It is imperative that Norwich pick up the maximum points against these clubs, and that must continue on Sunday.
A factor that I think that a lot of people will not consider is that the players need to get back on track mentally, particularly those that went out to play for their country recently. The international break was mixed in terms of success for our players. Wes Hoolahan and Robbie Brady were both condemned to the playoffs with a final match loss to Poland. Alex Tettey’s Norway conceded two goals in the final sixteen minutes to lose their automatic qualification place at the Euros. Martin Olsson and Sweden suffered a similar fate.
Nathan Redmond and John Ruddy will be frustrated after yet again missing out on a chance to play for the senior squad for England. Russell Martin, Steven Whittaker and Graham Dorrans were all on the pitch when Scotland conceded a stoppage time equalizer to Poland that ended their qualification dreams. Lafferty is the main success story, but as we all know too well, his involvement is very limited at the moment.
Not to draw this out too long, but the results of the international break were not kind to many of our players. A lot of them may not be in the right mindset, and could have lost the winning mentality. Three points on Sunday are a necessity to get the mojo back.
The most important aspect of Sunday’s match without a doubt are the upcoming fixtures. After Newcastle, Norwich’s next nine league fixtures include the likes of Manchester City, Swansea, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Manchester United, and Tottenham. I understand that all of those teams (particularly Chelsea) are prone to having bad games, but it is very tough to envision the Canaries picking up many points from that stretch. A draw or loss on Sunday could start an ugly spiral over the next couple of months that could see us tumble down the Premier League table.
On top of everything else, on the pitch, Newcastle are in something of a crisis. They are coming off of a 6-1 demolishing of Manchester City, and goalkeeper Tim Krul is lost for the season after sustaining an injury during the international break. They have a new goalkeeper, and we need to take advantage of that. Get the shots in early, crosses into Mbokani, and to really put him under pressure.
We all know what this means for both teams. St. James Park has not been a good place for the Canaries in the past, but that needs to change – now. Newcastle are certainly there for the taking. It’s a case of going up there, playing as well as we have done this season, and coming away with the win. COYYs!
