Player ratings - Norwich away

Stockdale 6. Great shot stopping to keep us in the match at 2-1 down. Utterly disastrous distribution, worse than Koosh at his worst, playing a part in their first goal. Shot stopping not at fault for any of their goals.
Bruno 7. Well taken goal. Pushed forward a lot. Hope his injury doesn't keep him out.
Greer 6. Three very good interceptions/clearances in first half. Some poor distribution.
Hughes 5. Did nothing wrong. Decent enough replacement for Dunk, but won't keep his spot.
Bennett 6. Tried hard enough, but no real penetration. Got skinned a couple of times by Redmond, but many would have been.
Gardner 4. The only time I saw him touch the ball were his comedy efforts on goal.
Ince 6. Good to see him back. Still Bambi-esque and his legs didn't get him out of trouble as often as when he was playing regularly. Better heading.
JFC 6. Decent enough game; threaded some nice through balls.
Colunga 8. His best game for us by far. Always threatening, lovely cross for Bruno's goal, confident pen. Was it a pen? Need to see it again. Candidate for MoM.
Baldock 5. Hmmm. One nice flicked header from another Colunga cross. Umm, that's about it.
Kaz 8 MoM. Dangerous, was fouled countless times. Jumped straight up every time - hooray. Nice goal.

Calde 6.
Halford N/A. Bit of a harsh yellow. Play our tallest player out on the right? Ummm, ok.

It was a object lesson in poor defending from both sides. I hope it isn't billed as a 6-goal thriller because it really wasn't. We did much better than I expected us to do, scoring 3 (and away to boot); but conceding 3 is very much a worry. If we were winning at home, then I'd be feeling much better about our position than I do.

Seems like Sami has changed tactics at last - that's 3 games on the bounce that our full backs mostly played like full backs (Bruno's goal notwithstanding).

I thought Lualua, Bruno and Colunga played really well in a decent team effort. 8 for those three, 7's for everyone else. Colunga MOM.

Goldstone1976 said:

Kaz 8 MoM. Dangerous, was fouled countless times. Jumped straight up every time - hooray. Nice goal.

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I wasn't at the game but I think this is the most pleasing thing I've read about it.

Like it or not we're in a relegation scrap so the players really need to show they're up for it. Good on Kaz

Only watched the stream and I said it was a penalty straight away as it happened. Gardner seens to be the boo boys target now.

My first reaction at the final whistle was a fair result, with an encouraging Albion performance and a well earned point. There were a couple of phases when Norwich were on top and might have taken the game away from us. It was a relief not to replicate similar positive away performances at Bournemouth and Brentford where we competed and scored goals, but lost out.

However looking back now I have a niggly feeling that we let Norwich off the hook by failing to shut them out in the final 10 mins and not making our own series of late breakaways count. Apart from the 3 away goals we still gave Norwich plenty to think about and might have nicked the points if we had shown a tad more vision going forward against 10 men. Those two extra points could be vital.

On the other hand we were guilty of some suicidal cross field passes and gifting Norwich a series of openings that really should have been taken, but for a combination of Stockdale and some wasteful shooting by the home side.

Given Norwich's strength on paper they looked surprisingly average, especially in defence. Colunga and Baldock certainly seemed to have Hooiveld's number when we gave them the right service (ie on the deck). Even the home fans around us had no argument about our penalty. I still feel that we let a handful of other chances fizzle out when we could have given Ruddy a more torrid time.

Stockdale: 7 - No chance with Martin's spectacular shot otherwise big Dave made some great saves to keep us in the game. Looked like a proper 'keeper today and probably warranted a rating of at least 8, but was let down by his distribution.....
Bennett: 7 - despite getting skinned a couple of times by Redmond I felt he had a reasonable game. We were sat in the home end with a number of neutrals around us and it was interesting to hear their compliments towards Bennett. I don't understand why Norwich didn't look to impose Redmond on Bennett more?
Greer: 6 - I really thought Jerome or Grabban might give him a more torrid time, but he coped ok. However his distribution was typically average.
Hughes: 6 - a very capable deputy for Dunk
Bruno: 7 - A terrific run at the far post and powerful headed goal. Initially looked poleaxed after his injury but gamely played on. With hindsight it was a timely substitution with both Bruno and Johnson on yellow cards and neither willing to concede an inch, it was only going to end in tears. Fortunately it was left to Johnson to have the red mist, silly boy.
Gardner: 6 - normal service, drifted in and out of the game, more wasteful shots
JFC: 6 - thought his overall game was better today but still lacks the creative instincts that we need
Ince: 6 - looked composed for long periods and drew some nice comments from home fans - but also guilty of some costly lapses of concentration
KLL: 8 - My MoM. Despite drawing a series of fouls he appeared less petulant than normal - as a result the Ref seemed more sympathetic to his claims. Hopefully Kaz will take note! He became increasingly influential as the game continued and was a right handful late on. Prompted by a neatly taken trademark KLL goal courtesy of Norwich allowing him oh so much time before he planted his shot. He could have capped it after that but didn't spot a glorious opening for an unmarked Baldock. That might just have nicked us a winning goal....if only.
Colunga: 8 - some intelligent runs, delivered a great cross and was ice cool for the penalty.
Baldock: 7 - two or three incisive runs between their defenders, showed enough pace to leave them but never really got into scoring positions.

Subs:
Calderon: 6. Steady.
Halford: 6. We needed his height late on. Might have done a tad better in a couple of late breakaways.

Jake was immense today

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/830039/Live Ratings

I would have given Lualua 8.5. He was fouled 8 times.

Yes, Bennett was skinned more than a couple of times. They looked really dangerous down their right hand side. I am not sure it's all Bennett's fault because Hyppia doesn't change tactics even when the opposition have particularly good wingers. I am not sure why SH made substitutions near the end. I thought we were doing OK and changing the team like that is disruptive. Draw a fair result in the end as we would have been way out of it if it hadn't been for some good goalkeeping and a bit of luck that has deserted us this season. It was a cracking game though, it had just about everything. Balls through to the forwards, and their running the line I though was much improved. They all played pretty well considering they let in 3.

What happened to Bruno? I know he went off after 70 minutes, but does it look as though he'll be out again?

Machiavelli said:

What happened to Bruno? I know he went off after 70 minutes, but does it look as though he'll be out again?

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He took what looked like a massive knock to the chest. Went down like a sack of potatoes and stayed down. Greer was urgently signalling trainers to come on before the ref waved them on. At that point it looked like he might not stay on. Then he got up and came back on, and the concern waned somewhat. Then he was subbed, restoring some of the concern. At best - just badly winded. At worst - perhaps a cracked rib?

Any more ratings?

Stockdale 6 A few great saves at 2-1 down, but also made mistakes

Bruno 7 Brilliant header and played intelligently all game
Hughes 6 solid performance
Greer 6 see above
Bennett 6 played his part in a brilliant first half defensive performance

Ince 7 played the defensive midfield role perfectly
JFC 7 passed well and won possession more than usual
Gardner 6 solid game, but wasted a free kick and a good chance

LuaLua 8 played superb the whole game
Colunga 7 one goal, one assist, excellent!
Baldock 6 ran the channels well, held up the ball, but didn't have many scoring chances (can't actually recall any?)

Calderon 6 did his job
Halford N/A not long enough to judge fairly

I thought that Norwich were the best side we have played this season. Better than Bournemouth. When we were leading 2-3, I thought I would take a 3-3 draw.

I thought some of the Norwich players played out of their skins as well: Redmond, Martin, and Johnson & Howson were quite good and Tettey not too bad.

I thought the best player on the pitch was Lualua and although Baldock did not shine he looked better than Grabban on one occasion (the penalty).

I think I would have put on McCourt rather than Halford; the idea being to keep hold of the ball.

I think I would have put on McCourt rather than Halford; the idea being to keep hold of the ball.[/QUOTE]

I would have sent Halford on as he did but employed him differently I would have put him alongside Ince and told them all to aim for row z behind the Norwich goal if in trouble forget playing the ball out just lump it. Then told the front men jto hold the ball near the corner/ touchline and kill the game and time.

The problem with McCourt is he loses possession too easily.

Any more from those who didn't get on nsc over the weekend?

For what it's worth the comprehensive match report and analysis in today's Eastern Daily Press gave refreshingly fair player ratings for the Albion:

Stockdale 7
Bruno 7
Greer 6
Hughes 6
Bennett 5
Gardner 7
Ince 6
JFC 6
Baldock 6
Colunga 7
KLL 8

Meanwhile the EDP gave 6 Norwich players a rating of 5, with only Redmond, Hooper and Martin achieving a 7.

Stockdale 7
Bruno 7
Greer 7
Hughes 6
Bennett 5
Gardner 7
Ince 6
JFC 7
Baldock 6
Colunga 8
KLL 8

Losing Possession

PS: just looked at the highlights. Blame for losing the ball in important positions: Ince 2, Forster-Caskey 2, J Bennett 1. More than once a match is not really acceptable. Both Ince and Forster-Caskey could have done better with the first Norwich goal as well. Gardner did not seem to be at fault.

All passing got sloppy for ten minutes after Norwich went 2-1 up. It was not even as good as usual for the whole match.

Average Ratings

Highest Rated:
LuaLua 8.00 (98mins, 6 votes)

The Rest:
<Colunga 7.67 (87mins, 6 votes)
<Bruno 7.17 (73mins, 6 votes)
Stockdale 6.67 (98mins, 6 votes)
Forster-Caskey 6.50 (98mins, 6 votes)
>G. Halford 6.50 (11mins, 2 votes)
Greer 6.33 (98mins, 6 votes)
Ince 6.33 (98mins, 6 votes)
>Calderon 6.25 (25mins, 4 votes)
Baldock 6.17 (98mins, 6 votes)
Gardner 6.17 (98mins, 6 votes)
Hughes 6.00 (98mins, 6 votes)
J. Bennett 6.00 (98mins, 6 votes)


Squad average: 6.60