QPR 1:0 Norwich City
A win at last, yipee!
Wow, a win. I don’t really know what to say! I’m going to move away from the lengthy pieces I’ve done in some of our past matches on this blog and try summarising some thoughts in a shorter piece. So, here goes…
I liked what I saw of Martin Cranie. I think his starting positions were good; not too high up the park and not too deep either. It seemed to give us better balance and he was able to clean up danger and win headers with some competence.
I love the way Rowan Vine makes time for himself on the ball. As soon as he gets the ball under control he’s dragging it away out of danger and providing himself with some great angles to do something useful with it too. He’s clever when he brings the ball down as he turns on the half-spin and knows there’s no way of the person in close proximity being able to dispossess him at that moment.
Mikele Leigertwood was excellent in midfield. He started well, got up and down the pitch and provided great protection for the back four all night. He played with such a high tempo and his energy got him where he needed to be throughout the game. I thought he was our best player and although the quality in his final ball is not always there, he does get about the pitch with considerable ease and in a way that I’ve not seen from many of our midfielders down the years.
I’m a little bit concerned about Ben Sahar. I have a feeling, as does Sam, that the other players may not have taken to him too well? When we played against Southampton, I remember Dexter Blackstock giving him a real hard time over not picking up players when defending from the front and Hogan Ephraim gave him a real ear-bashing in this game too for not picking up somebody from a throw. Sahar didn’t react too well to it either.
Stefan Moore did well when he came on. For once he seemed to sense that his pace could cause the opposition trouble and one particular knock and run caused panic in the Canaries defence. I was pleased for him, he put in a good cameo performance although once again I was disappointed to hear fans booing him as he came on. The good thing however is he came on and was positive from the outset. It’s important to be able to smell fear in other players and he surprised me by the way he just ran at his full-back, it was like he knew he had the beating of him and that’s a good sign.
Hogan looks like he’s just finding his feet and form. He’s not quite sparkled fully yet, but in the past two games he’s shown us why we brought him to the club. He’s clicking at the right time and has immediately linked up well with Rowan Vine. The news that his deal has been extended by a further month is very welcome, although the disappointment is we’ve got an international break now which eats away at the amount of matches he could have played.
It’s not often you see a team that’s playing as bad or worse than we have been, but I was utterly amazed at how bad Norwich City were. They have traditionally been a great football club, just like Ipswich Town are and it’s a shame to see them struggling like they are right now.
Darren Huckerby was non existent, although I’ve felt the same before when he’s played against us and Lee Croft looked out of sorts and nothing like the player I remembered when he was last here and causing havoc. They’ve got a lot of work to do to turn things around.
As for us, in the first-half both teams looked nervous and afraid of taking a risk, although I thought we looked the more likely. I felt that all we needed to do was come out and give it a go in the second-half, because surely whoever would attack first would wobble whichever defence came under pressure.
I said to myself at half-time that all we needed to do was go for it and thankfully we did. Martin Rowlands hit the post with a great run and drive and eventually we won a penalty. It was a very well taken one too by Martin and although the win came by way of a penalty, it was good enough for me and just what we needed.
It was also pleasing that we were positive throughout and went looking for a second goal after we realised that Norwich were offering very little threat. It’s important we build on this performance and victory, so in the games ahead I’m looking for more sustained pressure and a willingness from the team to score from open play.
