‘I would accept 5-0’.
It’s fair to say us Norwich City fans weren’t expecting much from the game against Manchester City. The above is something I overheard a lady in a yellow and green shirt say at the station as I waited for the train.
I had been referring to the game as ‘the massacre’ as it approached. You always hope for the best but the fact that our defence has not exactly been watertight so far this season, Pep Guardiola would be bringing one of the best squads ever assembled and our injury list was so horrific that Stephen King might consider writing a story about it, I honestly feared it could be anything between 6 and 10 nil to Manchester City. The heaviest defeat in Premier League history was suffered by Ipswich, of all clubs, when they were thumped 9-0 by Manchester United in 1995. I hoped that record would not come under threat.
What followed was surely one of the most unlikely results ever in football. I wonder if the Norwich players had seen how they were being completely written off and thought ‘we’ll show you’. We were confident enough to play out from the back, not frightened to play the same intricate passing football against the reigning champions as we had played against Rotherham and Millwall last season, we were utterly determined not to let Guardiola’s superstars walk all over us and we ended up playing the Manchester City way better than Manchester City.
With so many injuries that Daniel Farke had to name two goalkeepers on the bench to make up the numbers, it didn’t bode well for a game against a club that could afford to bring world class talent like Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez off the bench. But from those who were fit enough to take the field for Norwich, new heroes emerged. Sam Byram would have been highly unlikely to play had Max Aarons not been injured on England Under 21 duty, but he was fantastic at keeping the daunting Manchester City attack as quiet as possible. Ibrahim Amadou, making his home debut, was so good he picked up the man of the match award. Usually a holding midfielder, Amadou lined up alongside Ben Godfrey at centre half and put his body on the line for the cause.
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Of course we needed some luck. Aymeric Laporte’s knee injury before the international break meant that the visitors were forced to partner John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi in central defence. The pair played as if they had never previously met and Norwich were able to capitalise with the superb Emi Buendia pinching the ball off Otamendi in the penalty area to set up the third goal. When Raheem Sterling crashed a free header against the post when it looked easier to score, I sat in the Barclay beginning to wonder if something special was happening below me.
This match will live long in the memory and reminds us all why we follow sport. We all make our predictions. We all have an idea of how things are going to play out. Then sport surprises us. A series of events occurs that simply shouldn’t happen. That’s what we got at Carrow Road on Saturday. Write the Canaries off at your peril.
LEE PAYNE 