How Norwich have fared on the opening day in the top flight

Here we go then.
103 days since Simeon Jackson’s goal at Fratton Park put Norwich in the top flight, it’s finally time to sit back and watch Norwich City’s fifth Premier League campaign unfold before our eyes over the next nine months.
This afternoon’s game against Wigan kicks off Norwich’s 22nd top flight season and in the previous 21 games, Norwich can boast that they’ve won more than they’ve lost with eight victories, six draws and seven defeats. Norwich have won eight times on the opening day in the top flight, which have come in two bursts. After drawing with Everton on their First Division debut in 1972, Norwich lost the next three opening day games, before beating West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park in August 1977. That started a run of fine opening day performances. City beat Southampton at Carrow Road the following year, pulled off a fine 4-2 win at Everton in August 1979 and beat Stoke 5-1 in August 1980. Twenty five years ago this August Norwich had their only opening day goalless draw against Chelsea and two years later started another run of four wins in five opening day gamesThe last of these came on the opening day of the Premier League season in 1992/93 when Norwich came from 2-0 down at half-time to win 4-2. Since then, Norwich’s three other Premier League opening day games have seen just one point out of nine won and that was seven years ago when Darren Huckerby’s goal helped City to a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
This season should be a cracker. Many pundits and pros initially said Norwich would go straight back down before recently changing their mind. My prediction? We’ll make loads of friends, play some great football and beat Manchester United at home and Arsenal away. We’ll finish 14th and start building for a second season in the top flight. But my big prediction this season is that it will be Paul Lambert’s last at the club.

Norwich’s opening day fixtures in the top flight:

72-73 Everton, home, 1-1

73-74 Wolves, away, 1-3

75-76 Man City, away, 0-3

76-77 Liverpool, away, 0-1

77-78 West Ham, away, 3-1

78-79 Southampton, home, 3-1

79-80 Everton, away, 4-2

80-81 Stoke City, home, 5-1

82-83 Man City, home, 1-2

83-84 Sunderland, away, 1-1

84-85 Liverpool, home, 3-3

86-87 Chelsea, away, 0-0

87-88 Everton, away, 0-1

88-89 Nottingham Forest, home, 2-1

89-90 Sheff Wed, away, 2-0

90-91, Sunderland, home, 3-2

91-92, Sheffield United, home, 2-2

92-93, Arsenal, away, 4-2

93-94, Man United, home, 0-2

94-95, Chelsea, away, 0-2

04-05, Crystal Palace, home, 1-1

P W D L F A

21 8 6 7 36 32

Irish eyes could be smiling on ‘Go-To’ Hoolahan in Norwich’s Premier League season

Grant Holt, Paul Lambert and Delia Smith have hogged plenty of Norwich City’s headlines since The Canaries remarkable upward ascent began in August 2009, but it’s diminutive midfield maestro Wes Hoolahan who is set to be the star of Norwich’s first Premier League season in six years.
The all-action Norwich number 14 has made the attacking midfield slot his own in three seasons at Carrow Road and last season was the best exponent at playing in that key position at the front tip of the midfield diamond in the Championship.
The last decade in the Premier League has seen team use central midfielders in a variety of roles. Didier Deschamps was the archetypal Water Carrier (as named by Eric Cantona), that no frills midfielder who broke up play and got the ball moving forward. Claude Makelele and Patrick Vieria followed in a similar role, Newcastle’s Chiek Tiote excelled in the same role last season.
Norwich boss Lambert was quick to recruit Bradley Johnson from Leeds to fill that role, and another Lambert signing, David Fox, is the man who fills the Quarterback role for Norwich.
We’ve recently seen the emergence of the that role named after the key man in American football – with Tom Huddlestone and Paul Scholes a good example of a QB (a term first coined in football by Harry Redknapp) – the midfielder who sprays passes around from deep and rarely gets forward.
But the role Hoolahan plays is, to borrow another phrase from the American sporting vernacular, the ‘Go To’ guy.
This is the role that Lionel Messi and Luka Modric execute week in week out. They’re the players that the ball is off-loaded to around the edge of the box when things need to happen.
In American football the quarterback will look for this Go To man when there’s nothing else on or if he’s pressurised and just as Messi is for Barcelona and Modric is for Spurs, Hoolahan will be for Norwich.
Under Paul Lambert, for whom he originally played at Livingston in 2006/07, Hoolahan has become the most inspirational player for Norwich during the last three seasons. It is expected he will see plenty of time on the ball in the forthcoming season and, while Norwich fans may dub him ‘Lionel Wessi’ in honour of his importance to the side, there is genuine optimism that he could also rekindle his international career with Ireland with a season in football’s elite league.
It’s all a far cry from the summer of 2008 when Hoolahan signed for Norwich from Blackpool in a £250,000 switch that saw promising Canaries’ keeper Matt Gilks go the other way. Hoolahan made his debut for Glenn Roeder’s City at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena in August 2008 and of the 13 other Canaries on duty that day, only Hoolahan is still at the club.
He’d recently made his Ireland debut too, coming on as a late substitute in a friendly against Colombia at Craven Cottage, which was Giovanni Trapattoni’s first match in charge.
While Hoolahan’s international future looked bright back then, he has been overlooked by Trap ever since and failed to make it back into the Irish squad since.
On paper, former Juve boss Trap’s decision looks sound. Hoolahan has played in three different divisions for Norwich since that international debut.
The 2008/09 season ended for Hoolahan in March 2009. He was far from influential in the first half of the season as Roeder’s team, made up of too many short-term loan signings to have any consistency about them, floundered with relegation.
When Bryan Gunn took over in January 2009, Hoolahan burst into life, scoring twice at Carrow Road in Gunn’s first two games in charge. Those goals were his first two in a Norwich shirt, the second against Southampton was an absolute cracker. Sadly for Norwich and for Hoolahan, his season ended in mid-March with injury. He watched on helplessly as Norwich were relegated to League One.
His next Carrow Road appearance was in the infamous 7-1 defeat to Colchester which spelt the end for Gunn at the club. Reunited with Lambert, Hoolahan has appeared as the most advanced player in a midfield diamond for the club for the last two seasons with spectacular results.
He’s bagged 21 league goals in two seasons and proved to be a crucial influence on City. Any Canaries fan who saw Hoolahan in action last season will tell you he’s the perfect complement to the more pedestrian Fox. Displays towards the end of the season were most noteworthy for the sight of Hoolahan’s thick mop of hair (he vowed not to cut it while City were on such a good run of form) flowing as he twisted and turned in midfield in order to find space.
Last season there were the occasional stunning moments – the goal against Leicester and the festive treble against Sheffield United – mixed in with the frustrating – the agonising missed penalty at home to Preston, but it was his overall work ethic that really stood out.
He made the Championship team of the season and finished third in the club’s player of the season voting, but there is little doubt that Norwich will look to Hoolahan to inspire them in this coming season.
At Carrow Road he’ll drive the team forward but it’s on the road where he could come into his own. If Lambert opts to play five across the middle, as so many teams of Norwich’s stature do, that could mean Fox and Johnson both utilised as the Water Carrier and the Quarterback.
Go To Wes would be the man to pick the lock of those Premier League defences and, who knows, perhaps at the end of the season he’ll be a part of Ireland’s Euro 2012 plans, should they qualify.
As if to remind Trapattoni of Hoolahan’s quality, Norwich will play some of those away games in their newly designed away kit of green shirts and white shorts that looks just like the Republic of Ireland’s strip.

Case for the defence – does Paul Lambert need to lavish millions on a load of new defenders?

Despite lashing out on six new faces as Norwich City get ready to start their first Premier League campaign in seven years, most Canaries fans are waiting for Paul Lambert to sign a defender.
Ritchie De Laet has been snapped up on a season-long loan, but with two strikers, two wide men and a defensive midfielder coming through the entrance door with him this summer, there are concerns that more cover at the back is needed.
Or is it?
Norwich have eight defenders on their books that would be considered good enough for the first team and in a 25-man Premier League squad that would certainly be sufficient.
Premier League teams in the last decade have started to use full backs in an ever more advanced level. The likes of Ashley Cole, Gareth Bale, Leighton Baines and the Da Silva brothers at Manchester United have rewritten what it means to be a modern full back.
Pacey and adventurous they are a crucial part of Premier League attacks – to the extent that Bale is now used as a midfielder.
Norwich’s success at getting out of the Championship last season was noticeable for the impact of their full backs. Russell Martin popped up with five goals and carried City forward down the right. When Marc Tierney signed at the turn of the year he did the same down the left.
Both are sure to go into the season as first choice full backs and cover for Tierney would naturally come from Adam Drury, City’s most experienced player now in his tenth year at the club.
Norwich’s two friendlies over the last four days have seen impressive performances from right back George Francomb, pictured, and left-sided player Josh Dawkin so the cover extends further down too.
Dawkin, who scored twice against Wroxham on Tuesday is a midfielder, but his rampaging combative qualities could equally be at home as a modern Premier League full back.
With two full backs on either side plus possibly Dawkin, that leaves four centre halves.
Elliott Ward and Leon Barnett looked good in the centre of defence until Leon popped his hamstring against Reading and Zak Whitbread slotted effortlessly into the team. De Laet can play in the centre if needed, although he is usually employed as a right back.
I think he’d have to go some to oust Russell Martin from the starting line-up – remember it was De Laet who totally lost the flight of David Fox’s cross that Simeon Jackson nodded home at Portsmouth back in May.
Paul Lambert said at the start of the summer that there would be seven new players and speculation is rife that an experience top flight defender – Titus Bramble, Matthew Upson or James Tomkins – is that seventh signing.
If no defender comes, I think City aren’t too far short of what they need in terms of numbers at the back. Back in 2004 Gary Doherty wasn’t signed until August 20, so that’s still a month of where we are today.
With six weeks to go until the transfer deadline window shuts, Lambert will probably wait and see how the defence handles the games against Wigan and Stoke before shoring up the defence in time for the Chelsea game if needed.

Norwich's big Premier League season kicks off with 7-0 friendly romp over Gorleston

Norwich City’s Premier League season is under way after a comfortable 7-0 win at a wet and soggy Emerald Park with plenty of Paul Lambert’s summer signing son show.
Last season my football-watching campaign was bookended by a trip to Anderlecht at the end of July and a seat at the Champions League final at Wembley to end it. This season will end in over a year’s time at the Olympic 2012 football final also at Wembley and it started today at Gorleston of all places.
Norwich put out a really strong team, making multiple substitutions and, barring Anthony Pilkington, most of Lambert’s squad were on show.
I’ve not been to Emerald Park before and after shelling out the questionable £15 for a ticket I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s a great little ground and the fact that it was covered all the way round was a huge plus on a very grey Norfolk afternoon.
City started with Chris Martin and Grant Holt up front with David Fox and Wes Hoolahan pulling the strings in midfield and it was clear early on that this was to be one of those days when it was a question of how many goals the strikers would pick up.
The scoring started early with Holt bundling home the opener and soon after Zak Whitbread made it 2-0 with a header from a corner. City were creating chances at will and after a crude hack on Martin which looked initially worrying enough for Paul Lambert to leave his dugout seat and prowl along the touchline, Holt hit his second form the penalty spot.
After half an hour Holt and Martin were replaced by Steve Morison and Simeon Jackson and the Canadian looked by far the liveliest of the pair. Korey smith drilled home a fourth from long range and Jackson re-directed Morison’s goal-bound header to make it 5-0 at the break.
Plenty of fresh faces joined the action in the second half – John Ruddy, Russell Martin, Leon Barnett, Elliot Ward, Elliott Bennett, Andrew Crofts, Andrew Surman and Bradley Johnson who was perhaps the most impressive player of the second 45 minutes.
The former Leeds player’s shooting skills are well known and he must have had four or five cracks at the Gorleston goal, one of which made it 6-0 with plenty of time left on the clock.
Morison and Jackson made way for the third new striker partnership of the afternoon on the hour as James Vaughan and Aaron Wilbraham came on and both seemed intent on getting their name on the scoresheet.
I do feel a bit sorry for Wilbraham who was picked up at an important time in the Championship season and you feel won’t have much of a part to play in the Premier League. In fairness he did struggle to score against Gorleston and you worry if that really is the case what good he’d be if he needed to come on in the Premier League.
Wilbraham did score the seventh, so credit to him for that, but I think it may be a good move for both player and club if was sent out on a season-long loan.
All in all a great game, lovely to see City in action today after a 10-week break and can’t wait for the build up to the news season to get ever more intense ahead of the Wigan clash four weeks today.

Is it morally wrong to make a sportsman play a game on the tenth anniversary of 9/11?

Norwich City fans have this week been reminded of one of the irritating aspects of the Premier League as four of their opening dozen games have been moved for television coverage.
While it may no more than a minor inconvenience for most fans, the home game against West Bromwich Albion now kicks off on Sunday, September 11 at 1.30pm.
That match will be played at exactly the same time as the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the USA back in 2001, and for Norwich’s American central defender Zak Whitbread it’s sure to an extremely emotional day, whether he plays or not.
All across the USA there will be memorial services as there are every anniversary, but this one is special – ten years is always a massive yardstick and will be given extra poignancy this year following the death of Osama bin Laden.
For Americans all over the world the time that the first plane hit the World Trade Center is etched in their memory, and that time in the UK is 1.46pm, so that means Zak Whitbread will either be entering the 16th minute of the Premier League clash or sitting in the stands watching the game.
Whitbread was just 17 when the attacks happened and has never played a first team game on September 11 since 2001. While it may not seem that bigger deal for us Brits, it’s a bit like being made to play at 11am on Remembrance Sunday – no league games ever take place then.
I think it would be totally understandable if he asked not to play in the WBA game, like most Americans of his age it is the biggest thing to happen in their lives and I believe he should be allowed to not play.
Of course he may not even make the bench, let alone the first team, but I think Sky have presented the club with a bit of a dilemma by moving this fixture.
I’m a huge Norwich fan and will of course be in my Jarrold Stand seat for this match, but I am sure I am not the only Canaries follower who has a mind that expands far further than events at Carrow Road. If Norwich weren’t playing I would be at home watching the memorial service, thinking back to 2001 and paying my own respects and thinking back to how I felt that day.
Ironically I was on a ten-day holiday with my mate Gordon in Italy and we’d planned to watch loads of football and go to the Grand Prix.
After watching AC Milan on Sunday, September 9, we took a train to Genoa which is where I was on the 11th. The following day we travelled to Parma ahead of their UEFA Cup match against HJK Helsinki on the 13th but the game was postponed – for security reasons and as a mark of respect for those who died.

Happy shopper - how Paul Lambert is way ahead of Nigel Worthington in the summer sales

Paul Lambert has been the second busiest Premier League manager this summer making five permanent signings and one on loan since the end of last season.
It’s in sharp contrast both to the other promoted duo of Swansea and QPR who have made just two signings between them (both Swansea) and to the summer of 2004 when Norwich City fans last went on their summer holidays with a Premier League season in front of them.
By July 11, 2004, with Greece’s recent Euro 2004 victory fresh in the memory, Nigel Worthington had made just two signings, grabbing David Bentley on a season long loan from Arsenal on June 3 and signing Youseff Safri (pictured) from Coventry in a £500,000 deal on June 24.
By contrast between May 27 and today, Paul Lambert has snapped up James Vaughan, Steve Morison, Elliott Bennett, Bradley Johnson and Anthony Pilkington, plus signed Ritchie De Laet on a season-long loan.
So we’ve got four more players already in place than the summer of 2004 and only Sunderland’s Steve Bruce has been busier, signing nine players so far.
Five Premier League clubs, Chelsea, QPR, Everton, Stoke and Aston Villa have yet to sign anyone and three further clubs, Tottenham, Bolton and Blackburn have each signed one player yet not spent any cash. Norwich have signed more players on their own than half the teams in the Premier League!
Whether this makes us better prepared for the forthcoming campaign is anybody’s guess, but Paul Lambert has certainly done just what he did last term and got in and out with his business early.
The signings he’s made so far certainly look great players for the future, though there is still plenty of time for him to sign more players, and perhaps, like Nigel Worthington, they’ll be players with more experience.
Wednesday will be the seventh anniversary of the £250,000 signing of Simon Charlton from Bolton who was soon followed into Carrow Road by veteran Dane Thomas Helveg who signed on a free from Inter on July 22.
Mattias Jonsson signed from Brondby on August 5 2004 and with the season already underway, Worthington made Gary Doherty his last summer signing, snapping up the then 24 year-old from Tottenham on August 20.
With 51 days until the transfer deadline closes, it’s clear that Lambert is way ahead of Worthington in the transfer market as he attempts to do what Worthy couldn’t do and keep Norwich in the top flight for two successive seasons.