Cisse clips cagey Canaries! Newcastle Vs Norwich match report.
Posted on March 20th, 2012 | 15 Comments |
When Norwich City rocked up to Saint James’ Park on Sunday with Paul Lambert (manager) and Delia Smith in tow, it was going to be a great opportunity for a bit of revenge after the mauling we took away to them earlier in the season.
Last time out we were missing a few key players in defence and midfield. This time we had a better squad to pick from, but still missing a couple in the shape of Cheik Tiote and Ryan Taylor. No matter,the game kicked off and Newcastle got straight on it. Captain Coloccini misplaced an early pass out of defence that went straight to a Norwich attacker, but Yohan Cabaye was quick to mop up, spun around and lofted a sweet ball right into the path of Pipiss Cisse, whom had beaten any offside trap expertly. John Ruddy, the Norwich ‘keeper, rushed out to close him down but he still had plenty of time to trap, then try and lob it into the Leazes net. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite get enough height on it and Ruddy duly picked it out of the air.
That spurred the team on though and it was all Newcastle for the first 10 minutes. As the clocked ticked towards the 12 minute mark, a great bit of Hatem Ben Arfa tenacity from deep in his own half, where he won the ball back from the opposition and turned it into attack. First feeding Cabaye, who returned to Ben Arfa, the ball then found it’s way to Guthrie who curved a great ball out to Jonas on the left. One touch later he whipped an excellent early ball into the Norwich area that found the marauding Cisse around the penalty spot. His deft, glancing, sidefoot shot then crashed into the top left corner of the Leazes goal. Newcastle United 1, Norwich City 0.
It was a really nice move from the Lads collectively, all made possible because of Ben Arfa’s turning defence into attack (something he’s not been noted for). Cabaye’s vision, Jonas’ lack of dallying too long before the pass and Cisse’s exquisite finishing settled the 48,000 crowd. Game on!
As the game moved towards 15 minutes it became obvious that Norwich weren’t just here to make up the numbers as they were starting to put their foot on the ball and get into nice triangles – Something they’ve tried to do throughout their first season back in the big league. To be fair to them, they then started to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and put Newcastle under some pressure. This culminated in a blasted Howson shot just over the Krul’s Gallowgate bar. First Ben Arfa won the ball beside our box, he didn’t have much on, so, chose to dribble around until he slotted a ball through to Williamson. With no one to turn to, no one moving into space, he started dribbling around the edge of our box, increasingly looking out of his depth and nothing like Ben Arfa, eventually coughing the ball up to Morison. he, in turn, fed Howson, who slammed it into the Gallowgate end, row ‘H’. Phew!
That gave Norwich hope and again, they raised their game. They were getting quite a bit of the ball now. But were mostly being forced to shoot from distance. A third of the way into the game, Cabaye again swung a defence splitting pass out to Cisse in the far left corner. He held it up for Jonas, who knocked it back to Cabaye, who’d made up the ground. He played yet another great pass into the box for Ba who was rushing towards the 6 yard box, his out-stretched leg finding enough contact to help it onto goal, but Ruddy dived, stretching every sinew, tipped it just around the right hand post. Great save!
Norwich were still putting in a shift and asking tough questions of the Newcastle defence. Newcastle broke away from one of Norwich’s attacks that had broken down on 35 minutes, with Hatem Ben Arfa, the ball was eventually moved out right, then back into Guthrie. He stepped inside and from the edge of their box attempted to lob it back into the danger area only for it to hit a defender squarely on the hand…No penalty, apparently!
While Norwich were aware of our nervousness and played some decent stuff, they still weren’t carving out any clear opportunities. But Newcastle were. In the 41st minute Cabaye once again fed Jonas, who once again threaded a delicate pass round a defender with the outside of his right foot, into the path of Cisse. Ruddy spotted the danger, closing him down. It all got a bit tight and Cisse couldn’t find the killer shot to beat the ‘keeper.
As the game drew towards half time Norwich went looking for an equalizer. Flying down our left, a great cross was put in, with Simpson looking as if he’d been pushed. The ball was then expertly brought down by Surman, who had time, but thankfully, he inexpertly scuffed his shot with 2 Toon defenders on the line. Half Time 1 – 0.
Second half
Norwich came out for the second half much as the ended the first, giving a good account of themselves. They forged an attack early on which fell to Howson. He rather snapped at a shot from fully 30 yards, when it looked as if he could maybe have taken it on and put Krul under some better pressure to save. This one flew into Leazes row ‘X’. Norwich carried on pushing though, playing neat angles until they opened up United in the 55th minute. Pilkington was sent through on an angled run, bearing down on Krul’s goal with far more purpose. He got about 10 yeards out and hit a sweet shot at Tim’s near post. Krul wasn’t about to be beaten at his near post though and made a smart, yet bread and butter save, knocking it out for a corner.
They’d definitely had the better of the opening 10 minutes of this half. From the resultant corner, Newcastle didn’t quite clear and the ball was worked out to our left. A nice, inviting ball was put in, Whitbread rose and met it perfectly, but Krul was equal to it, pulling off a game changing save. That was Norwich’s clearest opprtunity so far.
At the other end, Demba Ba had a couple of half chances to improve the scoreline, one a sweetly struck shot, the other a bit of a melee in their box. He was finding himself increasingly having to drop back to find the ball though, and Shola Ameobi was introduced and started making his prescence felt, holding the ball up well, putting in some crosses and generally giving them something new to deal with. Newcastle were coming back into the game now with 20 or so minutes remaining. Perch had played really well in midfield, looking at once, cool and collected, playing simple but effective football. From a corner it looked for all the world that we’d get a penalty as Ba was having his shirt removed by a rather enthusiastic defender, about ten times worse than the Sunderland pen of a couple of weeks ago, but again, no dice!
As the time ticked away, Norwich tried a couple more speculative attempts. A wayward overhead kick that troubled row ‘F’ and a final foray where Morison inexplicably just passed the ball tamely back to Tim Krul with Colo breathing down his neck. Newcastle pretty much had quelled their fire by this point but there was still time for another penalty appeal to be turned down, as Shola went to trap a ball into the box, claiming Whitbread had handled but it wasn’t to be. The ref finally blew for full time in what had been a hard fought 1 – 0 win. Final score 1 – 0 Newcastle!
Conclusion
Newcastle came out of the blocks well, Norwich had the best of the middle period and Newcastle finished themselves off pretty well too. Cisse could have put the game beyond them quite early in proceedings. But, alas, a win is a win and 3 points. Next up West Bromwich Albion. More revenge?
Howay the Lads!
Newcastle United v Norwich City full match video, extended highlights and interviews.
Would of been a lot easier if Cisse had put away his two easy chances –