Norwich 1 Stoke 1: Ten things we now know

I've dispensed with regular boring match reports after the Norwich City games I go to this season and will be writing a list instead, like one of my favourite sportswriters, Peter King.

American Football journalist King writes for Sports Illustrated and files his Monday Morning Quarterback column after the weekend NFL games. One of the best bits, is his ‘Things We Now Know’ section which is his observation of what happened in that week’s action.

In an ode to the legendary king, here are my ten things we now know from this afternoon’s Premier League clash with Stoke.

1 – Premier League, we are back!
Perfect bound programme for £3.50, flashy electronic advertising and new seats in just about every spare bit of space, Carrow Road was really rocking today. Is it fit for Premier League football? Well, when you consider we had more fans at today’s game than Bolton did against Manchester City, then yes it is.

2 – John Ruddy had almost a perfect 90 minutes.
Man of the match? Quite right. Not that much to do early on but came into the game big time on 28 minutes with a great save from Matthew Etherington. Didn’t have much else to do in the first half but came into his own in the second half. An excellent penalty save, and a superb tip over from a dangerous free-kick, Ruddy is good enough for the Premier League. Deserved a clean sheet and unlucky not to have got one.

3 – Grant Holt will be able to trick Premier League referees.
The game was only a minute or so old when Jonathan Woodgate conceded the first of many free-kicks to Grant Holt. He may have made a habit of it in League One and the Championship and today we saw that he really is worth at least half a dozen free kicks from pretty dangerous positions. Seven years ago this week Woodgate was signing for Real Madrid while Grant Holt was playing for Rochdale.
Now they’re equal and I felt Holt had the measure of him today. Ryan Shawcross did better against Holt and the two came close to blows at a corner late on.

4 – Wes Hoolahan may only play 15 league games this season.
If Paul Lambert feels that he can’t field a skillful play-maker like Hoolahan in a game like this against a physical Stoke side then we may not see that much of Wes this season. Stoke had six behind the ball for most of the game and players like Dean Whithead and Glen Whelan are unspectacular but solid midfielders. Plenty of Premier League sides have players like them and as much as we love Wes at Carrow Road, it could be time to face up to the fact that he fast becoming a luxury player for Norwich.

5 – Bradley Johnson has been Lambert’s best summer signing.
I was as surprised as the next man when Norwich signed Johnson on a free transfer from Leeds, but after watching him against Gorleston I was pleasantly surprised. Sure that was just a friendly, but today I thought he was just what we needed – an enforcer ahead of the centre halfs. He didn’t put a foot wrong and pulled off a couple of nice moves too. David Fox certainly has a better range of passing, but Johnson offers far more security.

6 – Ritchie De Laet could become a cult hero at Carrow Road.
Not since Gary Doherty has Norwich had a player like De Laet at the club. He runs with his arms on the ground, has a face that would be perfect for radio and has an eye for goal. His opener today was brilliant – watch it again on Match of the Day Two tonight and you’ll see the perfect dummy run for the opener that gave him the space for that header. He was good at the other end too, and looking at the table tonight, he’s done more than most to earn those two valuable points so far.

7 – Pilkington and Bennett are going to be key players this season.
Home debuts for both and while Bennett was key in earning the free-kick from which De Laet scored, it was Pilkington down the left who caught my eye, certainly in the opening 25 minutes when the game was rather chess-like. He’s got some pace and pops in a sweet cross. He is one player I could certainly get used to watching more of in a yellow shirt.

8 – Chris Martin played today like it was January 2007.
There’s not much to recall about the second half of the 2006/07 season apart from the emergence of Chris Martin around the time of the Blackpool cup replay under Peter Grant. Martin was a fresh face that season and today it was a surprise that he started the game. He put in an excellent show, had a couple of cracks at goal and to all intents was like having a fresh face in the City squad. Only a few weeks ago he was linked with a move to Barnsley,

but today he showed that he’s certainly worth a place on the bench in any Premier League game.

9 Stoke didn’t honestly deserve to nick a late winner.
Any Stoke fans reading this, I am sure you will agree that you were lucky to get a point. Norwich fans know we were lucky last season to score so many late goals and, although the goal was coming for the last ten minutes, I thought Stoke’s attitude after Leon Barnett’s red card was a bit strange. Sure Tony Pulis knows what he’s going and Stoke really are a model for Norwich in terms of top flight resilience, but I was surprised he didn’t opt for a more attacking shape. Nobody stood out in a Stoke shirt today, the likes of Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Etherington were kept quiet, the front two had off games and I think they’ll struggle to match the heights of last season. I’m sure they’d have taken a point at Carrow Road before the game, but they really should have come and taken all three – just what were they scared of?

10 – Barnett and Ayala passed their tests against Stoke’s battering rams.
Elliot Ward and Zak Whitbread were the preferred pairing in central defence towards the end of last season after Barnett’s injury against Stoke, but today it was Barnett who was first charged with marking the handful that is Kenwyne Jones. I thought Barnett did well, but to be fair, I’ve seen Jones have better games. Ayala came on following Barnett’s dismissal and didn’t let anyone down. I’ve already praised De Laet, and feel that our defence isn’t actually as bad as certain sections of the media think.