- Clement praises squad discipline as City overcomes physical Derby challenge.
- Amankwah Forson shines on his return to the lineup with good contribution.
- Toure proves his elite mentality after bouncing back from penalty heartbreak.
Norwich City secured back-to-back wins in the Championship after seeing off Derby County at Carrow Road on Tuesday night. But what can we as fans take away from the game?
1. Good discipline = Good rewards
Philippe Clement praised his players for not rising to the ‘provocation’ from those of Derby County, who had a real physical edge and nastiness about them.
But in footballing quality, it was the Canaries who were better throughout the 90. Vladan Kovacevic pulled off some incredible stops, Jose Cordoba was a titan of a defender, and with that type of performance will be brimming with confidence ahead of the World Cup.
Mo Toure may well have missed a penalty within the first ten minutes, but his ferocious strike helped him score his eighth goal in nine Championship games. Remarkable.
But that collective discipline was at its most evident when Derby levelled, after David Ozoh pounced on a rare Kenny McLean mistake.
Back in front, City went when Liam Gibbs slotted from the edge of the area. It was not free-flowing by any of the high watermarks seen on Clement’s watch, but they got the job done.
2. You’ll do for(me)son
Amankwah Forson has certainly had his share of highs and lows as a Norwich City player. The stoppage time brace to sink Coventry last season, and the curling efforts in home wins this campaign against both QPR and Sheffield United.
Plus, he won the penalty last night and set up Toure for the opening goal. But what perhaps has limited his gametime in yellow and green is just how vast the periods in time are from when he shows these flashes of brilliance.
In fairness to Forson, he has had injury issues, and maybe both Johannes Hoff Thorup and Liam Manning felt that he hadn’t earned their faith and trust to be a first-team regular.
But there is a player in there, and you would like to think Clement is going to get real satisfaction from getting Forson to produce it consistently after a first league start in four months.
3. Toure is a mentality monster
Clement gave his new Australian striker quite a comparison in his post-match press conference, when asked if Toure’s goal after missing his penalty showed his positive mentality.
“That is the power of the strong strikers,” he said. “I have also seen strikers tremble and start to doubt. That is not the case with Mo. There will be a moment when he goes several games when he doesn’t score. That is part of a being a striker.
“Many years ago, I saw a young (Erling) Haaland playing in Salzburg, and I was so impressed with how he prepared in the warm-up. They were putting in crosses, and he was missing chances, and he was really angry, and when he scored, it was like winning the Champions League.
This”But you felt the fire in the boy. I think he was 17 or 18. I said to my staff, ‘This guy is going to have a really big future.’ That is also a quality. It is not only technical and physical qualities, but the mental qualities to be a good player. Mo is showing really good stuff in that respect.”
