The ACN Match Review – Everton (h)

Biggest positive

We won we won we won WE WON! It had all the marks of a nailed-on Along Come Norwich: a manager in crisis, a team on a poor run of form, an ex-player (the birthday boy, in fact) in defence.

Yet, somehow, remarkably, here we are.

After 15 minutes I turned to those behind me and said “we haven’t played this well in months, you know what’s going to happen now.”

Seconds later Michael Keane turns it into his own net. Pandemonium. The utter disbelief on our faces, the sheer lunacy of our responses, could only be topped when young Adam Idah made the Everton defence look like fools as he made it 2.

The lad is much maligned but looks a different player. He was a bright spark against West Ham, and today ran riot with his physicality and intelligent movement.

Speaking of maligned players, Josh Sargent recorded an assist and looked the most confused individual in the ground as his teammates swamped him. I want him to succeed so badly. His work rate and determination have to pay off at some point so hopefully, today’s assist can be the start of a run of form.

I was complaining on Twitter the other day (for a change) that there’s no trepidation watching Norwich at the moment. You don’t have the adrenaline rush we all go to football for, the genuine fear of a late equaliser, the indescribable desperation for the team to finally get the goal they’ve been threatening all evening.

We got that today. I don’t know if my heart rate is ever going to return to normal. Blimey, I’ve missed this.

Biggest negative

A particularly nasty-looking injury to Tim Krul. Krul – I say this with nothing but love – is a complete shithouse, so when he went down deep in injury time the entirely Barclay assumed he was simply playing for time. The severity of the situation quickly became clear; he’s just not the kind of guy to stay down for THAT long when there’s nothing wrong. When he eventually got up he was clinging onto his shoulder and didn’t stay to receive the applause after the final whistle. Losing him would be horrendous, so it’s time to begin that all too familiar waiting game.

Funniest moment

What is it with Norwich games and pitch invaders? One at Palace, one at Charlton, and another two today. I’m not in the habit of condoning pitch invaders, it’s a stupid thing to do and can end up putting the players/staff in serious danger (see Jack Grealish vs Birmingham).

However.

The ironic joy to be found in the first Evertonian pitch invader, desperate to show his displeasure at his club’s board, stopping an Everton attack, has to be appreciated.

The pace of the steward who caught him was damn impressive too, put on a serious sprint and got his man.

What was the atmosphere like?

Put 25,000 people who haven’t seen their team score a league goal since November in a situation where said team is 2-0 up inside 18 minutes, and you’re going to get some serious nerves.

When the two goals went in I couldn’t actually hear our goal music, such were the ferocity of the celebrations. Weeks of pent up distress unleashed TWICE in the space of two minutes is a good recipe for an incredible goal celebration.

After that, we panicked. Sometimes that panic translated into insane noise levels, cheering every tackle, corner, or forward run – sometimes we stood quietly and hoped to ourselves, hoped against odds that we’d finally hold on, finally not throw away such a well-earned lead.

You can excuse a patchy atmosphere in a match like this. Bottom of the table at kick-off and some dire performances in the last few weeks, but we’re still there cheering their names until we’re hoarse. Sometimes being a Norwich fan is pretty special.

Norwich’s best player

I love Lungi. Not sure I’ve mentioned that before, but I do, and that presents me with a conundrum when he’s on the pitch. You’ve got the overall story of Norwich’s actual match, but there’s also the subplot of how Lungi’s doing, so I often find myself losing track of the game to keep an eye on him.

Which meant I got to watch some genuinely delightful interactions between him and his skipper.

It started at a corner, when Lungi went to give a distracted Hanley a high five, and instead ended up kind of holding his hand for a few seconds. Hanley gave his hand a squeeze, patted him on the back, and directed him into his defensive position.

Grant Hanley did a lot of quiet encouragement tonight, which is the sign of a really bloody good captain. I get the feeling that Lungi’s the kind of player who reacts better to an arm around the shoulder than a loud telling off, and Hanley seems well aware of this, instructing Sørensen in the way you’d see a father teaching his son to tie his own laces.

I don’t know, I like that human side of football, the underlying player dynamics. It was very sweet, and somehow increased the amount of respect I have for Grant Hanley.

Summary

We won. It’s 90 minutes after the final whistle, I’ve cleared the flags away and I’m on the bus home, and I still have to keep repeating that to myself. We WON.

It’s such a typical Norwich thing to do, ending a goal drought through an own goal from the opposition, only to immediately follow it up with a goal of our own. To concede an overhead kick (yes), just to make the final half an hour that bit tenser.

It was a different Norwich City today. The players were gritty. They were fouling, they were hassling the referee, they were going down a little bit too easily. They were running like mad for each other. They were forward-thinking. It was a special watch.

That’s not to say we’ve hit a turning point. I’m hoping beyond reason that this is the moment where our season kicks on (we’re not exactly cut adrift, even if it feels like it), but Norwich fans know our club well enough to remain cautious. We’ve been given false hope before.

It’s time for Dean Smith and his players to capitalise on this result and push on.

Yelllllllooooooowwwwwsssss