The Norwich City view with My Football Writer

As Gary Gowers from My Football Writer so eloquently explains to us, Norwich City’s Premier League has not been a good experience for the Canaries.

They are rock bottom of the table with just a handful of games left to play. And although they aren’t mathematically certain of an immediate return to the Championship yet, Gary and most Norwich fans think the Fat Lady is well into her set.

What does that mean for the future of the Canaries’ young talents? And are there any positives to be had from their brief return to the top flight?

Here’s what else Gary from My Football Writer had to say in a fascinating interview ahead of the Albion’s visit to Norwich.

Most pundits are talking like Norwich are all but relegated despite safety still being mathematically possible. Do you think there is any hope that the Canaries can survive?
Most pundits, in this particular instance at least, are right. We’re cooked. The only realistic hope we had was for the season reset to enable us to regroup and hit the ground running while those around us struggled to get up to speed.

But that’s not happened and, in fact, over our first two league games, we’ve looked possibly the most sluggish of the lot. It’s just not happening, which is a shame because with everyone else at the bottom struggling to pick up points, it offered a genuine opportunity. We’ve just been not good enough to take it.

It doesn’t sound like lockdown has had a positive impact on Norwich in terms of performances then?
We’ve come out of it badly. Like most of the teams at the bottom, yourselves apart, the lack of crowds has laid bare the quality gap between the relegation battlers and the rest.

With home advantage, and/or X-factor driven by a noisy home crowd stripped away, the teams at the bottom have shown why they’re the teams at the bottom, and we’re part of that. We played well against United in the FA Cup, but still lost, but in our opening two league games were awful and, in fact, worse than we were before lockdown.

Have there been any noticeable differences between the Premier League in 2019-20 compared to what it was like in your last season in the top flight back in 2015-16?
Not particularly. Still the same inhospitable, unwelcoming place, especially if you’re Norwich City. It’s a phrase I use a lot, but we always tend to feel like unwelcome guests at a posh party whose presence is only just about tolerated.

Our refusal/inability to chuck money around to try and stay doesn’t endear us to anybody and, as before, it’s generally been a miserable, disheartening experience; one that in nine months’ time we’ll no doubt be straining every sinew to repeat in 2021/22.

In terms of pure football, the Championship offers a better experience – “just as well” I hear you say – but the finances make the Premier League the only place to reluctantly be, even if it is merely a battle to avoid 18th, 19th and 20th. So, no, not much has changed.

What will happen to Norwich’s squad this summer? Do you think you will keep your young players together or is a rebuild likely?
A bit of both. It’s inevitable we’ll lose two or three, in fact, our financial model kind of relies on it, but I’m hoping there won’t be a complete rebuild.

We also have brought through the academy, and purchased cheaply, a group of promising young players, so I remain hopeful we can keep the core of the group together while still refreshing it. I’ll be amazed if Max Aarons, Ben Godfrey, Jamal Lewis, Emi Buendia, and Todd Cantwell are all here next season.

What did you make of the last meeting between the two sides when Brighton won 2-0 at the Amex back in November?
It was awful. One of the worst of a fairly long list. We’ve been hit hard by injuries almost from the word go and the 2-0 at the Amex epitomised that, as we literally had only one fit centre-back that afternoon.

It meant Alex Tettey had to play there and we then had no Tettey to shield the back-four. But, apart from that, we were just generally poor. I wasn’t happy.

(When Gary says he wasn’t a happy Norwich fan, he really wasn’t a happy Norwich fan – his My Football Writer report makes for brutal and brilliant reading)

What strengths and weaknesses can we expect to see from Norwich?
Strengths you say? Tricky one. Well, if given the time, we do play a brand of football that’s really good to watch and we do have two outstanding fullbacks who’ll happily join in in the final third.

And in Emi Buendia and Todd Cantwell, we have two youngsters with flair and creativity who, on their day, can hurt teams, but all too often these good things don’t all happen at the same time, or even in the same game. We have an exceptional keeper too who, of course, was on your bench for a season.

Weaknesses? Blimey… well, to say we’re a bit susceptible from set-pieces would be an understatement but, equally, we’re not especially good at defending from open play either.

Over the course of the season, teams simply don’t have to work hard enough to create openings against us – if they’re patient enough, we’ll end up coughing up a chance or two for them.

And we’ve not yet worked out how to pass our way out of a high energetic press, especially against sides who rely on physicality rather than guile. We’re a bit fragile and have been bullied far too often. I’ll leave it there…

Brighton & Norwich have been regular opponents through the years. Do you have any favourite memories from games against the Albion?
Memories yes, fond ones, not particularly. We’ve not a great record at the Amex and we had an equally bad one at the Goldstone Ground – where I remember Jimmy Case scoring a rocket that knocked us out of an FA Cup quarter-final in 1983 – the year you got to the final.

One odd memory, was when we won 2-0 at the Withdean on our way to winning League One in 2010. Weird times but memorable nonetheless.

Finally, what is the My Football Writer prediction for Norwich v Brighton?
2-0 to Brighton. Let me elaborate… 0-0 at half-time, a soft concession from a set-piece early in the second half, and then a late second for you as we push for an equaliser, leaving ourselves short at the back.

Thanks to Gary for answering our question. You can read the refreshingly honest coverage of Norwich City over on My Football Writer. My Football Writer are also on Twitter – do give them a morale boosting tweet if Maty Ryan channels his inner David Stockdale to score two own goals in a Norwich win.