Norwich are the Championship’s highest scorers, and in 15-goal Borja Sainz have the division’s top marksman, but it’s so far only translated into ninth place after an inconsistent start results wise - Phil Harris gives us the latest from Carrow Road.
How's the season started at Norwich?
Despite having failed to win 12 of our first 18 games, we’re the division’s top scorers. Although we’re a team that’s fabulous to watch at times, we are only now just recovering from a slump which gleaned a meagre four points out of a possible 21. We’re fresh from putting ten past Plymouth and Luton last week and yet not entirely sure that another nosedive isn’t around the corner. "Will the real Norwich City…etc?” We’re strapped in, enjoying the ride, but still with no real idea where we’re headed quite yet.
To be fair, that gruesome late Autumn slide after a really promising start to the campaign wasn’t helped by a run of five away games out of seven, and coincided with a crippling injury list which tested the limits of a new-look squad. Add in Kenny McLean’s four game ban for an agricultural foul, and even more agricultural language in the direction of the referee, and it is no surprise that we began to wilt.
But players are now returning and the team already looks far more comfortable and coherent again, playing with the same swagger that saw us put four past Watford and Hull in the early weeks of the season, in a campaign where we have now scored at least three times in a third of the games we’ve played.
We’ve taken on six of the eight teams currently above and haven’t lost to any of them, and yet Oxford, Cardiff and Swansea are among a clutch of beatable teams who have all taken three points from us so far. "Will the…?” etc etc etc.
Norwich in the league so far…
Oxford 2-0 Norwich Harris 28, Brannagan 58
Norwich 2-2 Blackburn Sargent 65, Sainz 73 – Hedges 20, Ohashi 87
Norwich 1-1 Sheff Utd Sargent 22 – Arblaster 31
Coventry 0-1 Norwich Sainz 49
Swansea 1-0 Norwich Forson og 4
Norwich 4-1 Watford Doyle 3, Sainz 45, Nunez 54, Chrisene 89 – Andrews 26
Derby 2-3 Norwich Forsyth 60, Blackett-Taylor 90 – Sainz 45, 65, 87
Norwich 1-1 Leeds Sargent pen 15 – Ramazani 60
Norwich 4-0 Hull Nunez 16, Sargent 20, Gordon 66, Sainz 78
Stoke 1-1 Norwich Manhoef 45 – Crnac 45
Preston 2-2 Norwich Greenwood pen 6, Holmes 12 – Sainz 45, Duffy 61
Norwich 3-3 Boro Sainz 9, 71, Dieng og 80 – Conway 13, 40, Azaz 45
Cardiff 2-1 Norwich Robinson 89, O’Dowda 90 – Sainz 52
Sheff Wed 2-0 Norwich Windass 12, Iorfa 34
Norwich 0-2 Bristol City Mehmeti 16, Wells 63
West Brom 2-2 Norwich Holgate 11, Maja 43 – Marcondes 20, Heggem og 41
Norwich 6-1 Plymouth Sainz 2, 17, 72, Duffy 51, Silmane 80, Crnac 82 – Bundu 39
Norwich 4-2 Luton Crnac 23, 33, Marcondes 81, Sainz 86 – Adebayo 20, Brown 48
First impressions of the new boss?
Johannes Hoff Thorup is an impressive guy, adapting effortlessly to the nonsense of the Championship. He’s always calm, despite some of the chaos on the pitch before him from time to time, and with a crystal clear approach to how he wants his players to perform. As is always the case at this level, his adherence to short, quick passing out of defence gives supporters the willies, and we’ve conceded as a direct result in each of our last two games. But we’re playing a totally different game to the one espoused by David Wagner last year and, crucially, established players are taking to it well.
As I’ve said on these pages previously, his appointment was clearly very carefully considered and a refreshing change after the basic knee-jerkery of the previous Sporting Director’s choices. The players look happy, there's competition for some key places - which Thorup appears to be handling well - and he will get plenty of time (and a few more windows) to absolutely nail it all down.
Sainz, running his own goal of the season competition, linked everywhere... Real deal or just in hot form?
Time will tell. But, on my life, I have never seen a player score what appears to be exactly the same goal on so many different occasions. Cut in from the left, show the defender inside and then curl it into the right-hand corner from 20 yards. It’s brilliant, the strikes are so sweet, but do defenders not watch *any* videos?
He's genuinely electric at the moment, a total joy to watch and it’s no surprise that he is being linked with moves abroad. He has a season and a half left on his contract and supporters accept that the self-funding model requires big cash injections from time to time. It would be a crying shame to see him go in January, not least, at the most basic level, because he’s just so much fun to watch right now. But I can understand that we may not get the opportunity to pull in £20 million in the summer and very careful thought needs to be given to what’s best.
Assessment of your transfer window in hindsight?
A pretty good window with a number of promising young players arriving, some of whom are beginning to make their mark. Ante Crnac arrived with a large (by our standards) price tag and started slowly – but he’s looking really on it right now and, in the absence of Josh Sargent, he’s now finding the net regularly.
Callum Doyle is equally comfortable at centre back or on the left and Jose Cordoba has slotted in seamlessly alongside Shane Duffy. The other stand-outs are midfielder Anis Ben Slimane, who annoyed Chris Wilder by seeking a loan move from Sheffield United to reunite with his former boss (so a big tick there) and former Brentford man Emi Marcondes who arrived as a free agent in October, immediately begging the question why no-one else had picked him up.
We were sad to see Gabriel Sara leave for Galatasaray but fully appreciated he had outgrown us. Less tears were shed for Jonathan Rowe who refused to play for us on the opening day as he engineered a move to Marseilles, and Adam Idah who left for Celtic with some parting guff about professional standards, but without the goalscoring record to back it up.
Ins >>> Ante Crnac, 20, CF, Rakow, £9m >>> Amankwah Forson, 21, CM, RB Salzburg, £4m >>> Jose Cordoba, 23, CB, Levski Sofia, £3m >>> Oscar Schwartau, 18, ST, Brondby, £2m >>> Ben Chrisene, 20, LB, Villa, £1.5m >>> Callum Doyle, 20, CB, Man City, Loan >>> Anis Slimane, 23, CM, Sheff Utd, Loan >>> Kaide Gordon, 19, RW, Liverpool, Loan >>> Emiliano Marcondes, 29, CM, Unattached, Free
Outs >>> Gabriel Sara, 25, CM, Galatasaray, £15m >>> Adam Idah, 23, CF, Celtic, £9m >>> Abu Kamara, 21, RW, Hull, £5m >>> Christos Tzolis, 22, LW, Dusseldorf, £3m >>> Dimitrios Giannoulis, 28, LB, Augsberg, Free >>> Ben Gibson, 31, CB, Stoke, Free >>> Sam McCallum, 23, LB, Sheff Utd, Free >>> Danny Batth, 33, CB, Blackburn, Free >>> Joe McCracken, 24, GK, Dundee, Free >>> Jonathan Rowe, 21, LW, Marseille, Loan >>> Daniel Barden, 23, GK, Swindon, Loan
Stand out performers?
Sainz is obviously the headline grabber – but with Sara now gone, Marcelino Nunez is the team’s most important player. He fits the Thorup style perfectly and the team machinery runs so much more smoothly when he plays. He was probably the biggest loss from injury of late, and no-one picks a pass like the hugely popular Chilean. With him back in the side and firing, the chances of City moving back up the table can only increase.
The aforementioned Slimane and Marcondes are impressing, and the second coming of Shane Duffy has taken most of us by surprise. He’s been really solid, and his occasional spring forward, like some kind of Derry Beckenbauer to set up genuine goalscoring opportunities, adds another dimension.
Weak links?
We do still concede a lot of goals but that’s hard to pin on any individuals. As mentioned previously, it’s a style thing (I’m available for detailed tactical analysis at great rates by the way). George Long endured a horrific run of games in goal when he replaced the injured Angus Gunn, so we’re delighted to welcome back the Scottish international. Meanwhile, new signing Amankwah Forson does appear to be struggling a little with the physicality of the Championship at the moment.
Ante Crnac looked lost for the first couple of months, but it’s clear he’s growing into the side now and he was outstanding in a man of the match display against Luton.
Revised expectations for the season?
I said previously that I could see us finishing lower midtable in much the same way that Daniel Farke took a season to sort out the mess left behind when he arrived in 2017. But we’re pretty much a match for anyone in the division when our best players are fit, and perhaps with an addition or two in January a play-off push would not be unrealistic.
We’ve seen 62 goals in our 18 games so far this season and no-one has found the net as often as we have so far. It’s great fun, a little wild at times, and so, why not? A trip to Wembley exactly 10 years after Alex Neil’s side triumphed there against Middlesbrough would be fantastic.
9th it is then.
Links >>> Norwich Official Website >>> The Pink ‘Un — Local Press and Forum >>> Eastern Daily Press — Local Press >>> My Football Writer - Norwich City >>> Along Come Norwich - Blog
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