Pots; Jamal Lewis

What does a Norwich player have to do to get some attention these days?

Get himself voted into the Championship team of the season? Well, when three of them do that it doesn’t seem to count for as much. Perform solidly for the whole season? Most of them have done that, so it doesn’t really get you that far. What if they were a young academy graduate who was playing at international level? We’ve got a few of those too, so no great shakes.

Jamal Lewis must be pondering the very same thing. This season he’s been as consistent as anyone (he’s only missed four games and we didn’t win any of them). He’s put in great performances; dependable at the back and threatening going forward, always looking assured and comfortable. He might even be the most unruffled player out there, generally speaking. He’s neat and tidy with his feet and with his passing. He very rarely gets beaten. He reminds me of Adam Drury in all of the aforementioned, which can only be a good thing, but he’s a lot more useful going forward. The fact that he’s the only outfield regular yet to find the net for the Canaries this season is by the by. He’s always lurking and opposing defenders know it.

Maybe he’s a little forgotten due to coming through to the first team in such swashbuckling style last season (although he got plenty of praise at the time). We’ve had so many newcomers surprising us all (including Stiepermann in a brand new position) that it’s understandable if he’s slipped under the radar a little. Maybe we just got used to him being so good a while back.

Jamal is emphatically not one of those players who ‘has a mistake in him’. There’s barely been an error to speak of this season. There was one, when he was playing for Northern Ireland, which was very uncharacteristic, but I’m struggling to think of any others. Occasionally, when an opposition player has got the wrong side of him, he’ll make the foul to ensure that the situation doesn’t get any worse, while doing it cleverly (or slyly) enough to make sure that doesn’t get a booking. He never looks even close to losing his head (moments after he headed the equaliser at Stamford Bridge notwithstanding).

One thing that warmed the cockles of this Norwich old timer’s heart is that time we saw him bombing forward late on against Leeds, away from home when we were leading 2-0. It would’ve been fine if he’d decided to stay back to keep the shape, but he went flying past Hernandez, took the pass from him and put a ball into the box, leading to a goal, and a shriek of delight/ecstasy/schadenfreude from me (3-0 up against Leeds? Party time).

His on-field relationship with Hernandez is interesting. He’s very often getting himself up there into dangerous positions, but our Cuban Missile often uses his runs as a decoy, twisting and turning his way inside (which we all like to see), but this can mean that what is an important contribution goes unnoticed. When it’s the other way around he’s a good bet to play the right pass, to Hernandez or whoever it may be that’s making a decent run. Tracking back after bombing on is no problem at all. He’s very quick and never seems to get tired. The kid has some serious legs on him.

On the other side of the pitch, Buendia tucks in and plays deep a lot more than Hernandez. He’s not the type of player who likes to get to the byline like Onel does, which leaves Aarons with more space to move into to receive the ball (see the first goal against QPR at home for an example). This could perhaps explain why Max gets a bit more attention, along with the fact that he’s younger and newer, as mentioned earlier.
Another point could be made as far as our full-backs go, in relation to what happens when Farke switches things around. When the occasion demands, there is sometimes a switch to a 3-4-3. On a lot of those occasions, Lewis becomes the third centre-half and Aarons switches over to become the left wing-back, with Hernandez moving to the right. This can only mean that Farke sees a great deal of defensive solidity, not to mention versatility, in our impressive young left back.

With everything young Jamal can do, I’d say he’s absolutely ready to play in the Premier League. Which, when you think about it, is very handy indeed.