Ever since winning on the biggest stage of them all in English football back in May, Norwich City haven’t even turned up to a big game since. And it was no different on Saturday afternoon in South Wales, as they fell to an season-defining 1-0 defeat.
Hopes of a vital win started to decline an hour before the game had even started, as it was revealed Cameron Jerome would start despite looking utterly incapable of being able to score a goal all year. The five at the back formation was also changed despite working so well in recent weeks, but with the greater need to attack rather than defend this decision was a bit more justifiable.
The first half was nothing more than a 45 minute long demonstration on why both sides have struggled so much this season. It was a cagey affair, with neither side looking to have any of the quality required to score or even just to keep possession. The 23 club coaches travelling from Norfolk, who started their journey at 6:30am, must’ve wished they had stayed in bed.
Would Alex Neil make a change at half time to spice things up and try take the game to a team which were there to be had? No, of course not, this is Alex Neil. He stuck with Jerome for another 15 minutes, despite being bordering on a hinderance to the Norwich attack in recent weeks. And, like always, the opposition had one opportunity and converted it.
Sigurdsson showed in one moment that little bit of Premier League quality that Norwich have searched for all season.
At this point the desperate rookie manager thought it would be a novel idea to actually let Patrick Bamford play, as he’s currently proving much more expensive than the seat warmers on Amazon.
The best chance, however, came to the only man who has shown any threat in front of goal in the last month in Nathan Redmond. A scuffed clearance rolled to Redmond inside the box, giving him a free shot at goal. Unfortunately for the 3,000 strong travelling contingent behind the goal, the winger must’ve left his shooting boots back at Carrow Road on Tuesday night as the ball trickled wide of the post.
But in truth, the side who still looked most likely to score was the home side who had a number of half-chances on the counter. Both sides huffed and puffed, but it was the sole moment of quality that was the difference between the two poor sides.
City continue to rely on others to avoid joining Aston Villa as relegation favourites, with the next battle being Champions League hopefuls Manchester City.
