They have got to start on the front foot and get in Birmingham’s faces and work their socks off first and foremost, because they are a talented bunch. I saw them against Leicester and they passed the ball well.
But from the Plymouth game that produced so many negatives, there was one positive – and this is where the selfish centre forward in me comes out: I was delighted for Adam Idah for scoring both the goals. His second was from the penalty spot and only one person was ever taking that! And fair play to him, there was plenty of pressure, taking it in front of the Norwich fans. He’s still a young lad, he knows what people say about him – and what people, were still saying after the game. I don’t quite understand it; he’s doubled his goals tally in a shocker of a game.
Four in three starts this season, and career-wise, 10 in 22 in the league, which isn’t bad. But he has made so many appearances off the bench – a regular starting role and who knows what he might get you?
I think the club should have sent him out on loan a couple of years ago when they were in the Premier League the last time, but I do think now there is no Josh Sargeant for a while, he needs to start on a regular basis.
And I think David Wagner should call him into his office and say, ‘listen, I’m trusting you, I’m going to give you the opportunity that you haven’t had so far because there’s probably been better players in front of you, but you’re my main man now’.
Needless to say, I didn’t see the Plymouth scoreline coming! I think Norwich went from having the sixth or seventh best defensive record to the joint third worst – in the space of 90 minutes.
I thought it’d be a tough game at Plymouth – there’s a lot of travelling and it’s not an easy place to get to, but had you asked me ‘do you think Norwich will concede six goals in a Championship game this season?’, I’d have laughed at you!
I have to say I’m not convinced by the two centre halves. I think they’re too similar and I hate saying it, because I think Shane Duffy has been a good signing, but I think they both lack pace.
When you lose by six, people always look at the goalkeeper and the back four. But I think you’ve got to look deeper and further than that. Are people protecting them enough? They didn’t on Saturday. Are you getting enough from your two wide players getting back to support your full backs? I don’t think they did. Are you getting enough pressure on the man on the ball to stop him from putting quality service in?
If someone scores from a cross people always say you should be picking them up, but I think that first and foremost, stop the source, stop the cross. Get close to the crosser, get his head down quicker so he can’t put as much quality in and he has got to rush to put the ball in.
There were a couple of shots from just outside the box that I thought Angus might’ve done better with, I thought he was a bit slow to react, but I just think it’s one of those, you can’t point fingers at individuals. You’ve got to take full responsibility and you’ve got to live with that. I’m sure they will. I’m sure by the time they got back to Norwich, it would have been out of their system.
I think I’ve probably done it before after we’ve had a bad result and I’ve not played well, but I never took it home with me. By the time I got home there was nothing I could do. Don’t get me wrong, they will have been hurting and will want to make amends for one of the worst performances in the Championship in the club’s history. But I don’t think you can dwell on it. You’ve got to get on with it.
By the time I got home, I’d moved on to the next game already. It’s gone.
It’s different for supporters, they take days to get over it sometimes. They paid a lot of money on Saturday, left at goodness knows what time to get to Home Park. And you know, I do sympathise – but it is wrong sometimes when fans probably think players don’t give a monkey’s They do. They might not show it all the time, but they do.
The way the games come now, thick and fast, you’ve got to get it out of your mind. You’ve got to put it to one side, box it up.
Birmingham should be their only focus now.
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