The ACN Match Review – Southampton (a)

The line-up

I personally thought Omobamidele should have come into the side for this game, but it was understandable that Wagner went with an unchanged XI . It is somewhat of an oddity that a centre back Italian giants Milan are really keen on can’t get into a Norwich XI in The Championship.

Hurrah moment

There’s too many to choose from here.  Fassnacht scoring late on in front of the away end after having messed up two previous Norwich opportunities is going to be my pick though. A superb driving run from Giannoulis, his second in as many games, to feed the new signing was also great to see.

Boooo moment

It was an epic effort from the players (I do have some criticisms though) but I’m going to have to turn my attention to the officials who seemingly do not know the offside law and denied Ashley Barnes his first Norwich goal. The first phase/second phase aspect of the offside law has provided major talking points in recent years and I just can’t understand how the officials got this so wrong.  To then watch highlights of Newcastle v Villa and see the first phase/second phase offside law applied impeccably was rather galling. The penalty decision is also pretty soft – just how many of those have we seen turned down at Carrow Road in recent years? The ref couldn’t wait to blow his whistle. Grrrr.

Hero of the match

Josh Sargent has had a pretty tough couple of years at Norwich, heavily criticised, sometimes unfairly, but this performance might be a gamechanger for his career in yellow and green. He led the line brilliantly, contributing not just with a goal and an assist but with some tidy link-up play too. If this Norwich side carries on with their early season form, they won’t just be loved for the exciting football they are playing but for their workrate too, and Sargent’s commitment to the cause epitomises this.

Gabriel Sara was also magnificent but we must SHUT UP about him until September.

The atmosphere

It felt wrong last week that the opening game of the season was played in rain, so I was pleased to see the return of the sun making our beautiful colours shine bright again in August. It is remarkable that this team has seemingly managed to turn the mood of the fans so quickly. Everything felt possible each time we took the lead in this game, so before expectations rise too quickly, maybe Saints pegging us back with a bit of injustice thrown in keeps things in check for now.

Our post-match takeaway

Robbed! Gutted! Proud! All words commonly used by Norwich fans in the aftermath of this game. If you take the lead three times in a game and you never look comfortable trying to see it out then it goes without saying issues still persist, but nobody expected this Norwich team to be perfect, far from it, so to be disappointed with a 4-4 draw against a promotion favourite is incredible progress in a short space of time.

The main takeaway from just two games in is that this Norwich team is not only spirited but also very good and we should not fear anybody.