Manchester City stay top after late drama against Norwich City
This was the dullest of games with the
liveliest of endings, thanks to two
separate clangers from both goalkeepers
in the last 10 minutes of the match. Joe
Hart appeared to have presented
Norwich with a share of the points
seven minutes from the end when he
dropped Robbie Brady’s cross to leave
Cameron Jerome the simplest of tap-ins,
and he must have been the most
relieved man in the stadium when John
Ruddy returned the favour five minutes
later.
The Norwich keeper came out to claim
the ball and stranded himself at the
edge of his area, allowing Raheem
Sterling a shot at an unguarded net that
Russell Martin could only divert with his
arm. The Norwich captain received a
red card as a result, while Yaya Touré
coolly slotted home the penalty to keep
his side at the top of the Premier League
table. Even then there was still time for
Hart to redeem himself with a fine save
from Martin Olsson that denied a
second Canaries comeback, and for
Aleksandar Kolarov to miss another
penalty with the last kick of the game
after Brady had brought down Sterling
in the area.
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There was plenty to talk about in the
end, though it was all packed into the
last 10 minutes. Before that Manchester
City had been making conspicuously
hard work of seeing off a resolute
Norwich side, conserving energy for
their trip to Sevilla on Tuesday perhaps
but displaying a lack of attacking ideas
and invention that will encourage their
Champions League opponents. Spanish
scouts will also have noted below-par
performances from Touré and Kevin De
Bruyne, and the fact that Wilfried Bony
is far from lethal in front of goal.
Norwich arrived with a flat back five
and a plan to stay compact behind the
ball, which worked reasonably well for
over an hour if it did invite the home
side to camp out on the edge of their
area. Bony three times had chances to
open the scoring but first found Ruddy
equal to his speculative effort from 20
yards, then he missed the target
completely from a better opportunity set
up by Kelechi Iheanacho. Having
swooped on to the ball and swept past
Sébastien Bassong in one imperious
surge the striker seemed to have done
all the hard work, only to allow Ruddy
and the Norwich goal a reprieve by
firing into the crowd. Bony had just put
another shot wide from De Bruyne’s
pass when Norwich almost scored on
the counter, Matt Jarvis showing more
accuracy than Bony from Brady’s
diagonal ball forward and bringing a
good save from Hart. While it would
have been completely against the run of
play Norwich could have put themselves
in front just before the half hour.
That did not seem to spur Manchester
City into any greater urgency, Touré
brought another save from Ruddy from
a free-kick, De Bruyne and Bony
managed to pass up another
opportunity between them and Vincent
Kompany put a header wide from a
corner. It was not a great deal to show
for almost three-quarters of the first-
half possession, in fact City were so
laboured and pedestrian they were
allowing Norwich to get away with their
conservative gameplan. Manuel
Pellegrini was boasting in the match
programme about his side having scored
18 goals in the previous four home
games and at half-time he must have
been demanding to know where the
attacking desire had gone.
Early in the second half Pellegrini made
the obvious change, sending on Sterling
in place of Iheanacho. The 19- year-old
had not looked out of place on his first
Premier League start – just prior to his
withdrawal he had created an opening
for Bony that Bassong had to be alert to
snuff out – though between them the
front pair were not really giving
Norwich too much to think about.
Sterling on the left wing and De Bruyne
moved inside seemed a better plan,
though when the former broke away
following a corner he found himself
way ahead of his team-mates in
charging up the field.
These are the sort of games in which
Touré usually steps up to make a
difference, though the Ivorian was not
having one of his more influential
afternoons and when the breakthrough
came it was a straightforward routine
from a set piece.
Norwich must have been kicking
themselves. De Bruyne swung over a
corner in one of his last acts before
being substituted and Nicolás Otamendi
rose unchallenged to nod firmly past
Ruddy from close to the penalty spot for
his first league goal for the club. It was
all a bit anti-climactic really, after all
the goals that had rained in during
October, though the City supporters
were glad enough of it by the 67th
minute. No one had any idea then of the
late drama to follow.
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