Norwich’s miserable run of only two wins in twelve was prolonged on Saturday evening, as the ten man Canaries were held to a goalless draw at Brentford.
Regardless, there were some positives to take from a game that Norwich probably deserved to win but were also stifled by poor refereeing decisions.
For one, Alex Neil opted for a formation plenty of the Canary faithful have been dreaming of; 3-5-2. Jerome and Oliveira both started the game, with fan-favourite Timm Klose implemented back into the teamsheet at the expense of Bassong.
However, the game’s biggest talking point came on eighty minutes; an extremely harsh red card was shown to Robbie Brady for a seemingly 50-50 sliding challenge, Norwich’s second dismissal in two games.
The dramatic change in both formation and players utilised by Alex Neil was certainly what the fans have been crying for, but not necessarily what they expected given the arguably obstinate one-up-front lineups always picked by the manager.
Now it’s a case of carrying forward the positives from Brentford to Monday’s home game against Derby, who Norwich lost to in the reverse fixture. Steve McClaren’s Derby are the form team in the league, having won eight of their last ten games. Despite this, they ended 2016 in slight disappointment with a goalless draw at home to Wigan.
Here is the lineup I predict Alex Neil will opt for against Derby on Monday.
John Ruddy
Brentford had zero shots on target on Saturday as Norwich’s excellent defending earned the clean sheet as opposed to the goalkeeping.
However, there is no reason for Ruddy to be replaced by McGovern or Jones, so will keep his place.
Russell Martin
Martin played as the sweeper of the back three and has expressed his enjoyment for playing this role in the past. Had a decent enough performance to maintain his place if the formation is kept.
Ryan Bennett
Was arguably Norwich’s best player on the night. Made a superbly-timed sliding tackle on Hogan in the dying minutes of the match to ensure the clean sheet was kept.
Timm Klose
The only other contender for man of the match. Put in a delightful performance on his long-awaited recall to the starting XI in a back-three Neil has clearly been working on at Colney.
Martin Olsson
Brady suits the wing-back role better than Olsson due to his attacking preference, but his red card means he misses the Derby game. A player of Olsson’s quality will comfortably fill the role, though.
Ivo Pinto
Right wing-back seems to be the ideal role for Pinto. More defensive cover behind him means his attacking skills are fully put to use.
Jonny Howson
A needed return from a one-match suspension picked up a Reading means the Canaries now have a sitting midfielder who can bring the ball forwards and make runs.
Alexander Tettey
Tettey wasn’t at his finest on Saturday and somehow seemed slightly more clumsy than usual. After hauling down Ryan Woods, the Norwegian then earned his regular yellow for an avoidable stamped challenge later in the game.
However, with Neil vocalising his desire to get used to the lack of Mulumbu for African Cup of Nations duty, there isn’t another midfielder to take Tettey’s place.
Steven Naismith
As awesome as Pritchard has been for the majority of games he’s featured in, it seems that it only takes a slightly below-standard game (such as the Brentford match) for the wee Englishman to be dropped by Neil.
That being said, Naismith is a slightly more defensive attacking midfielder with a better work-rate, and possibly suits the role in the 3-5-2 better.
Cameron Jerome
The misfiring Jerome received his criticism for his wastefulness, but the striker, with six goals to his name thus far, got into positions well as well as running the channels effectively.
If Oliveira rightly keeps his place, then Jerome’s only competition comes from Jacob Murphy, who was benched last game, and an out of favour Lafferty.
Nelson Oliveira
Lord Nelson provided some nice touches and layoffs to his teammates to link up play but had a relatively quiet game in front of goal.
Regardless, he is still Norwich’s inform player currently for scoring, so it would be foolish to drop the Portuguese striker.