Pre-match
The policing on the walk to the ground from the townhouse was dangerous and heads should roll over the logistics of that. Two genuine flashpoints where they escorted the walking Ipswich fans into a waiting 30-50 Norwich group. Plenty of posturing and few actual punches thrown, but could have been absolute carnage in other circumstances. Don’t be surprised if the Norfolk plod response is to close the Townhouse next time rather than blame their operation.
The game
Another one where our midfield balance caused us problems for me. We struggle when teams pick up pockets wide of our midfield two to create double ups - Morsy/Luongo don’t want to vacate their space, the full backs don’t want to over-commit and the tens are not really interested in that work. Stuart Armstrong did it masterfully for Southampton the other day and it’s a worry that we can’t really get out easily in these games because of massed bodies squeezing our space (two banks of four out of possession for Norwich) but that others can get through us quite easily by playing into that wide midfield channel. Ultimately it was a very low quality game and Norwich will be delighted but I’d fancy us to work it out a bit in a two-legged play-off game.
Atmosphere
Definitely the worst from us I can ever remember there, by quite a distance. Obviously lots of talk of these free 400 tickets but it didn’t seem like there was 1,600 others chomping at the bit for it either. Usually at Norwich it’s a case of too many people trying to get chants going at once, but yesterday there were just hundreds stood there offering nothing. In the early second half there was a concerted effort to get blue and white army going for a long time and it could have been a Barnsley-esque moment but it just never gained enough momentum despite a fair few trying. |  |
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