NORWICH 4 CITY 3
After witnessing the humiliating defeat at Portsmouth I went to Carrow Road with my friends in Norwich with zero expectations. At least I knew that I would get a superb meal at Delia’s restaurant, irrespective of the result!
Sousa brought in Ikeme in for Logan, Kennedy in for Berner and Lamey in for Nielsen. I felt from the beginning that both left and right back choices were gambles. Wellens was brought back into midfield. Yet again Fryatt was left on the bench. Just what is Sousa’s problem with Fryatt?
We were just settling down into our seats when Waghorn cut in from the right, sent in a hard low shot that somehow squirmed past the goalie at his near post. Could this be a change of luck for City at last? 0-1.
City gained confidence from this early goal and pressed and tackled well. The midfield looked good and for a spell achieved domination. Howard was winning his headers but players generally were too far away to benefit. The Norwich defence looked fragile. The Norwich fans started to moan around me- always a good sign that your own team is playing well. Nevertheless Norwich gradually started to claw their way back into the match and scored a good equaliser, which started from a good cross which Kennedy should have done better to stop……
Half time arrived with the score 1-1 and not many chances. Hobbs and Morrison looked back to their old selves in the centre of defence. No one could have guessed how the second half would develop….
The match turned early on in the second half when, yet again, a City defender, this time Kennedy, handled a cross and gave away a stupid penalty. 2-1. City wilted from this point and our domination of the early stages seemed a long time ago.
This is a time when you look for players to stand up and be counted. The defence got more jittery as Hobbs and Morrison tried to cover for Kennedy and particularly Lamey, who looked more and more out of his depth.
Norwich scored a third, which again started from a Lamey mistake and it looked all over. 3-1. Fryatt was brought on for Oakley as City gave up midfield to Norwich. Amazingly, after hardly having had a touch, Fryatt scored a good poachers goal. 3-2.
Interestingly Fryatt got heated as the Norwich fans would not give the ball back from the crowd. You sensed his frustration at not playing from the start was boiling under the surface and he had a point to prove.
Sousa brought on Abe and Gallagher for Wellens and Dyer. The Wellens substitution baffled me. From that point we lost even more control of midfield. Abe was too easily knocked off the ball and lost possession easily. Norwich scored a good goal from distance when Abe should have closed his man down. 4-2.
It looked all over and then Fryatt coolly slotted home classic goal to bring it to 4-3. I could not see what then happened, but it looked like the Norwich defender would not let Fryatt get the ball back and then Fryatt tried to kick the ball out of his hands. A red card was issued and our chance of getting something out of the match was killed off.
Despite down to ten men you could tell that the old City spirit was still there, but it was not difficult to spot from the body language that there was a gap between the Pearson core of players and the new Sousa signings from his exotic global scouting network.
Howard continued to charge around the pitch like an out of control heifer but Norwich City fairly easily played out time and the City players trudged off the pitch having lost yet again and remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Defeat was cruel but had arisen from individual mistakes.
Is Sousa then an unlucky manager or a poor manager? His post match comments are always the same, bemoaning mistakes that are being punished. Never once does he question his team selection or formation. His signings are looking of dubious quality already.
The last thing we need is a revolving door of managers and a lot of below standard new signings that we are trying to offload during the season. We know where that led us to last time- League 1!
However, after a few glimmers of hope, I just cannot see any sign of progress with Sousa and it looks like the players do not believe in him either.
When Fryatt comes back from suspension I get the feeling he will be forced out if Sousa stays. I am sorry to say it but, for my money, Fryatt stays and Sousa goes and we start to somehow kick start our season before it is too late.
Leicester City: Ikeme, Lamey, Morrison, Hobbs, Kennedy, Oakley (c), King, Wellens, Waghorn, Howard, Dyer. Subs: Logan, Teixeira, Gallagher (Dyer 66), Fryatt (Oakley 54), Berner, Abe (Wellens 67), Moussa.
Norwich City: Ruddy, R. Martin, Drury, Crofts, Holt (c), Jackson, Hoolahan, K. Smith, Lappin, Barnett, Ward. Subs: Rudd, Fox, C. Martin (Jackson 72), Johnson, McNamee, S. Smith (Hoolahan 81), Askou.
Referee: P. Walton Attendance: 25,091
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation