In Wim Wenders’ recently re-released film noir The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty, the central character talks about the existential crisis faced by a keeper facing a spot kick. He’d clearly never seen Norwich City take one.
Last week was pretty remarkable – achieving league wins against three very different types of opponent with Grant Hanley sidelined for every game, and Onel Hernandez for the last two, was beyond the wildest dreams of most City fans.
The first few league games before the first international break always feel like a kind of phoney war, with clubs still integrating new players with old and the loan transfer window still open to allow those with the requisite resources to further adjust their squads.
In the opening minutes of last Saturday’s game the Leeds defender Luke Ayling found himself closed down by Jordan Rhodes and left exposed by his own goalkeeper who had rushed from his line with no hope of getting to the ball first.
It doesn’t seem five minutes since I was walking away, embarrassed, from Hillsborough, but after one of the best World Cups that I can remember, the Championship season is already upon us.
As City’s disappointing season meanders towards its seemingly interminable close, games and results have become almost secondary to statistics, which are being pored in over in much the same way that an ancient Roman oracle might study the entrails of a freshly-sacrificed sheep.
At least we can now resolve the long-standing debate about how to improve the atmosphere at Carrow Road. If the EFL were to appoint Tim Robinson to referee all of City’s home games I’m convinced that we would have plenty of noise.
When Timm Klose, finding no one open ahead of him, turned and played the ball back to Angus Gunn from the halfway line to an undertone of boos halfway through last Saturday’s first half I feared the worst.
I won’t dwell on City’s defeat at QPR, partly because I wasn’t at the game, but also because by all accounts it was an awful City performance with few, if any, mitigating factors.
After the stunning success of the Canary Bond issue to fund the redevelopment of Colney that he recommended, it’s a good time to look at another aspect of Stuart Webber’s impact on the club.
With yet another international break upon us it seems like an appropriate time to assess the current state of the Canary nation, and there is no doubt that the overall mood has been lifted by Saturday’s performance.
Saturday’s game was much more than just a football match, with so much raw emotion in the Carrow Road air as fans of both teams united spectacularly to show great respect for the passing of Michelle Dack and Gemma Thomas.
While promotion this season now seems a forlorn hope, the adage about defences winning titles would suggest that Daniel Farke’s Norwich City are heading in the right direction.
When we finally get to look back on this season of change I suspect that this last week may prove to be a significant staging post on the journey towards a new-look Norwich City.
The week leading up to the game at Bristol was a difficult one for everyone connected with Norwich City Football Club, with Alex Pritchard jumping ship for the greener grass of Huddersfield and Daniel Farke’s plans for the game disrupted by a late training ground injury to Tom Trybull.
