Both sides pay for the price for missed chances as spoils are shared at Carrow Road
At three PM yesterday I was standing on my friends decking, doing my best barbecue chef impression, whilst also mulling over whether my 1-0 prediction was particularly foolhardy. The stats showed on average there'd been five goals every time these two clubs have met in the Premier League, and the closer kick-off became the more I doubted whether the Swans would be able to keep a clean sheet.
As it turned out, there I was, flipping some lamb and mint burgers, when it sounded like I'd missed the first goal. A quick dash inside left me watching replays of Michu burying a low drive into the bottom right corner of Mark Bunn's goal, only for it to be disallowed for a foul by Luke Moore on a defender in the buildup to the goal. The Swans wouldn't have long to wait for their goal though, in an excellent first half hour where they retained possession in a manner we haven't seen for a couple of weeks. Impressively, they did so without the inclusion of midfield metronome Leon Britton (absent as his partner was giving birth to twin baby boys - congratulations to both!) who would have been making his 400th league appearance.
The Swans lined up with De Guzman, Ki, and Michu as a midfield three, with Routledge and Dyer out wide and Luke Moore up front. While I still prefer seeing Michu playing in front of Ki, Leon & JDG, yesterday I thought Michu's link play was excellent, and the stats show he managed nine efforts on goal, so playing in a deeper role clearly didn't stop him getting shots off. While yesterday he only managed to convert one, more often than not you'd back him to bury a couple, and so it was that after 35 minutes some good work from Chico and Dyer played in De Guzman, who let the ball run to the byline before cutting it back for Michu, arriving late, who lashed it into the roof of the net with his right foot. 1-0 Swansea. I've been critical of De Guzman recently but I thought he was excellent yesterday, possibly as the result of playing in more of a traditional three-man midfield.
 |
| Robert Snodgrass celebrates opening the scoring with Wes Hoolahan. |
The Swans didn't hold on to their lead long though - and Dyer missed a great chance after Michu played him through, dragging a shot wide with men in support. Norwich proceeded to go straight up the other end, and after Kamara put Elliott Bennett away down the right his cross seemed to completely beat Vorm, and Robert Snodgrass was there to head into an empty net. How he had quite so much space is another story, and until full highlights are up on Swans player it's hard to say, but it appeared Tiendalli lost his man spectacularly.
So, 1-1 going into halftime, and back to the barbecue. Some grillsteak and square sausage baps later, I returned to the TV to find it occupied by the bloody Grand National. We all watched it, although I'm sure none of us really cared who won (aside from the few of us with bets on), and subsequently missed Michael Turner putting the Canaries in front after 60 minutes. After seeing replays it's clear that again the marking at the back post left a lot to be desired, and to be honest it's another one you'd have to watch a few times as I couldn't even work out who was supposed to be marking the tall centre-back. As it happened, the ball dropped to his feet and he smashed a half-volley first time which Vorm had no hope of keeping out, and Norwich had their noses in front (Grand National pun intended).
 |
| Luke Moore: time for him to have an extended run in the team? |
Laudrup made a couple of changes; Pablo and Lamah coming on for Routledge and Dyer, and Rangel replaced Ben Davies with Tiendalli shifting over to left back. Davies had earned himself a caution in the first half for a cheeky bit of rugby tackling, and it's possible Laudrup saw this as a chance to rest him, as he wasn't having his finest day in a Swansea shirt. The fresh legs seemed to benefit Swansea, who I felt looked the more likely to score throughout. Both Norwich goals seemed to come against the run of play, so it was a relief when after 75 minutes a deep ball found Angel Rangel, who headed the ball back across the box for Luke Moore to tuck it home. You can't argue with results, and Moore has scored some important goals in recent weeks with limited gametime; it would be interesting to see how he does with a proper run of games under his belt as the last time he enjoyed such prolonged inclusion in the first team must be back when we first signed him in the Championship?
Grant Holt came off the bench and made an immediate impact (literally). He'd been on the field a matter of seconds when Chico beat him to a bouncing ball, and Holt's studs came down on Chico's shin; leaving a massive hole in the Spaniard's sock showing exactly how bad the challenge was. The MOTD pundits thought it was a red card, but amazingly the referee saw fit not to punish Holt. There was still time for one last real chance, and it came as the 90th minute arrived. Good work down the right from Pablo saw him cut the ball back for Michu, once again arriving late in the box, but he couldn't repeat the trick from the first half. His right-footed snap shot was high, wide, and not at all handsome, and not long afterwards the referee blew the whistle to draw to a close the latest in a line of excellent matches between these two sides.
All in all both managers will have been satisfied with a point, as both teams allowed chances for the opposition to clinch the winner which ultimately weren't taken. Dyer's miss at 1-0 was a turning point; 2-0 there and Norwich would have struggled to get back into it, but the Swans really do need to work on set pieces. We had the worst defensive record in this area going into the game, and a goal from a free-kick and a cross to the back post won't have done the statistics any good, so there really is a lot of work to be done. Still, the first point for the Swans in four games and and the best performance for a while, there were lots of positives to take from this match. Southampton at home next, and with the game not coming for two weeks the Swans have plenty of time to work on set-pieces in training. Let's hope it works!
Swans boss Michael Laudrup:
"Ending the run of losses is good, but it’s harder for me to answer whether I’m satisfied with one point.”
“We dominated completely the first 30 minutes, we were 1-0 up and maybe should have been 2-0 up. We allowed them into the game out of nothing, but showed character to come back and score the second goal. Michu had a few chances, including the one at the end that could have been the third goal.
“Am I pleased with one point? We could have won, but we could have lost too.”
Norwich boss Chris Hughton:
“We didn’t start the game too well – Swansea are a very good footballing side and we found it quite difficult. I thought the response of the players was excellent because you could sense a little bit of anxiety, and I think that’s normal – it’s a home game – but I think we coped with that really well.
“We got into the lead 2-1, and at that stage – even though a good Swansea team had good possession of the ball, I was very comfortable that we were going to go on and win the game. For a team like ourselves who have found it a little more difficult to score goals, I thought we looked a threat but I was disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“You prepare the team and you’re desperate to win the game. If that ball’s not bouncing well enough for you – you can’t accuse the team of not putting in that effort because they are, but sometimes things don’t go as well as you want. The timing of the goals was good and the effort of the players was excellent.
“That’s another thing – when you get that disruption early in the game [losing goalkeeper Mark Bunn to injury], it’s a bit of a blow for you. It also affects what you’re able to do with your substitutes, but I thought Campy (Lee Camp) came in and did really well.”