After Paul Lambert’s Canaries had thumped their local rivals 5-1 away en route to Premier League promotion in April 2011, overnight Ipswich became known by the variant spelling of “1p5wich”. The name has stuck ever since, at least to the north of Beccles.
Norwich go into Saturday’s play-off semi-final second leg with something of a sign over Ipswich. There’s that 2011 result, not just the score but the quality of the goals and the photo of Grant Holt laughing his jowls off as the third went in. There’s also the two largely comfortable league victories this season – 1-0 away and 2-0 at home – and a steady, controlled performance in the first leg. Now all they have to do is win the biggest East Anglian derby in history (for the record, some still insist that this title belongs to the Milk Cup semi-final of 1985, but they are very much a splinter faction).
Football has a funny way of bucking trends just when you least expect it (or want it) and so this week has been quite a nervous time for Norwich fans. The countdown to Saturday’s 12.15pm kick-off has not been helped by Mick McCarthy, among other Ipswich voices, suggesting the pressure is all on Alex Neil’s men. But since January’s arrival from Hamilton of the 33-year-old there has been a distinct change of attitude among club, players and fans alike that suggests while Norwich fans may get nervous, they shouldn’t descend into wobbliness.
When Neil signed up at Carrow Road, Norwich were seventh in the Championship, 11 points behind the leaders Bournemouth. They finished the season in third, three points off the automatic spots. Their league record under Neil read played 22, won 15, lost three; a win ratio of 68%. A six-game winning streak through February was followed by a five-game streak in April. The latter run ultimately foundered on a 1-0 home reverse against Middlesbrough, the result that stopped City going up automatically. It is a fixture that may yet be repeated at Wembley.
Neil’s success to this point has had that eerie quality that accompanies good managers; so much of what has gone right seems obvious. The first half of the season under Neil Adams saw the team constantly chopping and changing personnel and formations. Under Neil the team went to 4-1-4-1 and stayed there. He chose the same back five week in, week out, recalling the former player of the year Sébastien Bassong and turning two of Norwich’s most inconsistent players – the full-backs Steven Whittaker and Martin Olsson – into two of the most reliable.
Going forward, by inserting Alex Tettey as a screen in front of the defence, Neil crafted a space in the team for Wes Hoolahan, the totemic playmaker whose magic feet always open up space but whose lack of physicality sometimes make him a defensive liability.
He also accelerated Bradley Johnson’s transformation from a defensive midfielder who struggled to distribute the ball to a marauding left-sided player with a 20-20 eye for goal. The striker Lewis Grabban was suddenly given purpose too, while the England Under-21 forward Nathan Redmond had the pressure taken off him – with the odd game on the bench – and has responded by creating more chances and assists than anyone in the squad and most in the league.
The football is good. Neil’s Canaries play a passing game at a quick tempo that gets the best from the club’s technically proficient players. They are flexible between positions and score goals. All of this has helped to win back a Carrow Road crowd that had been on the brink of insurrection with every misplaced pass as Norwich slowly slipped out of the Premier League and failed to live up to their billing in the early months of this Championship season. All of the credit for this is due to Neil, though he would probably deflect any praise with what is fast becoming his trademark: a raised eyebrow and a diffident shrug of the shoulders.
Norwich still have weaknesses in the side – the striking options are varied but do not quite add up to a forward they can build the team around. At the back they still look susceptible, especially on the counterattack, but also to unforced errors. If the club get up to the Premier League these problems will be magnified tenfold. Before that can become a possibility though, they need to renew their mandate for the title of Pride of Anglia. With what’s at stake it’s fair to say most fans would take a scoreline that read “1psw0ch”.
