That was dreadful. Today, Hull City were outperformed by a stronger outfit in the Championship, far tougher than our previous three encounters, all of which were struggling at the bottom end of the table. We are not clicking well against these teams and the international break could not have come at a better time–we have Sunderland and Burnley at home coming up, both sitting at the top of the table.
I did not go to this one and I feel for those who had to get up early for a 6.30am departure. However, we were on Sky Sports, so watched it from the comfort of my home; we looked worse on the television. It is wonderful winning three on the bounce, but it must be backed up with a quality performance against a top opponent, otherwise we will gain a reputation of being a side that does brillianty against teams at the bottom half of the table, but cannot score a goal against the bigger boys.
The gaffer, who is beginning to build a bond with the fanbase, made two changes to the starting eleven who triumphed over QPR on Tuesday night, replacing Palmer and Simons with Zambrano and Mehlem. These were unnecessary changes as the eleven on Tuesday were linking up well and earned us two vital goals in the first half. Nonetheless, we lined up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows: Pandur in goal; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin and Drameh as the back four; Mehlem, Zambrano and Slater in the middle; and Bedia, Millar and Belloumi as the attacking three.
It was disjointed from both sides in the opening ten minutes of the game, but it was the hosts who settled quicker and forced an early save from our keeper in the 11th minute. It resulted from an error at the back after Zambrano took a poor touch and allowed Sargent to outmuscle him off the ball, thread it through to Sainz, who, one-on-one with Pandur, attempted to chip him, but the Croatian stuck out a strong hand and diverted it off target.
We were forced to defend for the next five minutes and were boxed into our own half, which was frustrating. They opened up the scoring in the 16th minute. The Canaries made an exquisite and fast move, which resulted with Sainz on the left flank, who cut in and ran across the frame of the box, before flicking it back to Nunez who found a gap and curled the ball into the left-hand corner of the goal.
They caught us lacking again in the 20th minute and doubled their advantage. This time we could not do much about it as it took three quick, neat passes to get the ball into the box from the left, which was slotted past Pandur by an onrushing Sargent. We have not won at Carrow Road since 2010–it seemed like it was going to stay this way.
Yes, we did move the ball well, but it was not at the same level as Norwich and every bit of confidence we have built up over two weeks dissipated every minute. It was depressing, to be honest, as they dominated in every aspect of the game, enjoying 61% of the possession, eight shots, with five on target, compared with our seven and three on target. Out of their eight shots, seven were inside the box, which demonstrates how weak we were at the back. I do not recall an opportunity or attack which was exciting, except a shot from Millar, which was tipped over the bar. But, if someone was going to come back from behind, it was us.
To my chagrin, that did not happen.
The Canaries came out of their nest hungry for more goals and to quickly put the game to bed, which they could have done in the 54th minute after they earned a penalty. Again, failing to clear the ball, Nunez took it off us in the box and shot, which smashed onto the arm of Coyle; after a moment's hesitation, the referee looked over to the linesman, who flagged it for a penalty. Fortunately, Sargent failed to fulfil his duty and we escaped.
Our best chances of the afternoon came in the 60th minute when we earned a set-piece just outside the box. Belloumi was the one to take it and he fired it onto the crossbar. We were able to gain the ball back and recycle it into the box, where Charlie Hughes (subbed on at halftime for McLoughlin) hit the side netting.
Through another arbitrary mistake at the back, the men in green and yellow were able to treble their lead, crushing any hopes of a Tiger comeback. They countered in the 66th minute and had a man one-on-one with the keeper, however, our two centre-backs tracked back well to win the ball. Gallingly, instead of hoofing it out of the box, Hughes attempted to play it out from the back and was caught by Gordon, who nestled it into the goal.
To pour salt into the tiger’s wound, they went four to the good in the 78th minute from nothing. Callum Doyle put a lovely ball over the top, releasing Sainz, who, spotting Pandur off his line, looped the ball over him, which this time trickled into the back of the net.
Not the afternoon in Norfolk us City fans were anticipating. We underestimated Norwich and looked over confident heading into this fixture (and rightly so). We should treat every team equally and play in the same manner because this is what happens. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and head into our next game against Sunderland with our heads held high and the same ego we had in our previous three victories.