1st October 2024. EFL Championship.
Nobody should underestimate the achievement of getting a point last night at Carrow Road. The Canaries are a formidable side at home – unbeaten in 19 league games there going back to November 2023. It was a tough ask, but Leeds came through unscathed albeit another injury to a key midfield player early in the game was another huge blow just when we were getting into our stride, both in this game and in the season.
Leeds started this game strongly, but one of the first Norwich attacks caught us sleeping a little at the back when both Junior Firpo and Largie Ramazani allowed Ante Crnac to squeeze between them both on the edge of our area. He then played a lovely disguised pass through to the dangerous Josh Sargent and he outwitted Joe Rodon, cutting inside onto his left foot while Joe swung a lazy boot catching the Canary’s standing leg to give away a stonewall penalty. Illan Meslier has many good qualities but saving penalties is not one of them and, this time again, I winced when seeing the replays that showed Sargent’s penalty was only slightly right of centre with Meslier just late getting down. Arguably he should have done better. It was the first goal Leeds had conceded in this, our 4th away game of the season.
The penalty didn’t really interrupt our early positive approach and, for the sake of a few inches, we’d have been level only four minutes later. Willy Gnonto, again looking the star of our side, tracked from right to left across the area down in front of the Leeds fans before suddenly releasing a reversed left foot shot that beat Angus Gunn in the home goal all ends up. Sadly, the ball struck the foot of the right post as Gunn stood rooted to his line. The Canaries are having a boatload of good fortune just as the moment – as witness two of the goals they scored at Derby at the weekend, both of which would have been struck off had VAR existed in the Championship!
Joe Rothwell was on by this time, replacing the injured Ilia Gruev, and he was to quickly assert his presence in the side. He immediately took on the set piece duties and fired a free kick into the wall before Gnonto smacked the rebound at goal; Gunn saved that one comfortably. Rothwell would gradually grow into the game and was possibly the most influential player on show in the second half as Leeds pushed forward.
Leeds continued to look the more likely to get the next goal as the second half got underway with Norwich adopting the Burnley way of doing things – slow the game down with every trick in the book. Leeds were having pot shots at the Norwich goal but without the finesse or accuracy we needed. Rothwell ran onto one loose ball about twenty yards out but smashed it straight at Gunn. Willy Gnonto continued to look the most likely to create the breakthrough, he’s fast filling the void left by Cree Summerville.
The well-deserved equaliser finally came in the 60th minute after a long spell of Leeds possession and probing in the final third. 10 or 12 Leeds passes were briefly interrupted by a Norwich interception but instantly the busy Ao Tanaka won the ball back. More passing to and fro between Struijk and Rodon followed before, finally, Pascal spotted the opening – Willy Gnonto making a little run into the area, turning his marker to get goal-side, before sliding the ball left to find the unmarked Ramazani. The Belgian winger struck the ball first time with his left foot across Gunn and the ball nestled low in the right corner. 1 – 1.
I have to mention referee Steve Martin at this point – yet another in a long list of appalling Championship referees. He is another one who believes he keeps control of a game by issuing yellow cards every few minutes only to then realise he was out of ammunition when any real fouls were made. He capped a dire performance by missing a straightforward foul on Willy Gnonto in the Norwich box and then booking Willy for his protests! He issued 5 yellow cards when a top ref would probably have issued none! Once again we watched as tackles were randomly either penalised or waved on with no sense as to which were more severe!
Leeds had other chances to win this game as the minutes ticked by – Aaronson fired a decent chance high over the bar when the ball broke to him after the foul on Gnonto, and then Jayden Bogle blasted a shot over when he could have done with the composure he showed on Saturday when scoring from a similar position. Overall Leeds had the bulk of the possession – 54% to 46% - and twice the number of goal attempts – 14 against 7 – but our old lack of accuracy bit us again as only three hit the target – the Ramazani goal and two saves from Gunn. We are still not making use of our corners either, another six in this game with hardly a sniff from any. The good news is our defending of corners has improved - nine were unsuccessful for the Canaries.
I’d guessed before the game that this one might end all square – 2 – 2 was a popular prediction from pundits and fans alike – and, remembering that home record of the Canaries, a point is satisfactory and keeps our momentum going. Yes, it could have been more, but let’s not get greedy. We have to remember that Ao and Joe Rothwell were having their first minutes as a new midfield pairing too; both were excellent I thought although Ao did get caught in possession a few times before he acclimatised to the pace of this game.
All eyes now turn to Sunderland on Friday, another long trip for yours truly travelling up from Shropshire. At least I’m stopping up there for a couple of days. It will be another stern test for Leeds, particularly if we are now to have to do without Ilia Gruev, but I believe we have enough in our locker to get at least a point up there and who knows, with a little luck going our way for a change, maybe more. Everything feels on track at the moment and I think we can cope without Ethan and Ilia for a while at least.
Sky Bet Championship
Norwich City 1 (Sargent 15’ pen)
Leeds United 1 (Ramazani 60’)
Norwich: Gunn (GK), Duffy, Doyle, Sainz, Sargent, Crnac (Gordon 70’), Slimane (Schwartau 70’), McLean (C), Nunez (Forson 80’), Cordoba (Stacey 45’), Fisher. Subs not used: Long (GK), Hanley, Hills, Forsyth, Myles.
Leeds: Meslier (GK), Bogle, Firpo (Byram 82’), Struijk (C), Rodon, Aaronson, Ramazani (Piroe 70’), Joseph (Bamford 70’), Tanaka, Gnonto (Gelhardt 82’), Gruev (Rothwell 20’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Debayo, Chambers, Crew.
Venue: Carrow Road
Attendance: 26,261
Referee: Stephen Martin
Booked: Sargent, Doyle (Norwich) Struijk, Rothwell, Bogle, Gnonto (Leeds)