Norwich City: 4 Things About Stoke City Defeat

There is no doubt that the performance against Stoke City was one of the most disappointing of the season. However, with every game there is always something to learn.

So, I will quickly review the game. But Norwich City has the opportunity to move on from this 1-0 defeat with a home fixture against Wigan on Sunday.

David Fox Instead of Bradley Johnson Please!

I would not have said that Bradley Johnson excelled himself against Manchester United, so I was somewhat surprised to see him start the game against Stoke.

However, it was even more surprising to see that David Fox was not starting the game. Fox is really the player that makes the Canaries tick; he is the one that gets the passing game going.

Therefore, by not picking him it was almost as if Paul Lambert had given up any hope of playing passing football. Most managers seem to think that you need a strong, tough tackling midfield when playing physical sides.

But I am not so sure that needs to be the case. The simple fact is David Fox is a better midfield player.

There Is Such a Thing as Over-Tinkering

The Canaries put up a fairly good performance against Manchester United. We know that Stoke are a very different proposition. However, I am a big believer in given a side another opportunity—when they have performed well.

The decision to hand Jonny Howson his debut and play only one striker up front struck me as unnecessarily extreme. Perhaps we should focus more on playing our own game than matching up against Stoke's.    

The Mystery of Steve Morison, James Vaughan and Marc Tierney Goes On.....

A far as we know, these players are fit and available. However, they seem to be out of favor. James Vaughan has been out injured, but you would think Paul Lambert would want to get more match practice into him. The decision to leave him out of the squad seems strange.

The decision was made to play Kyle Naughton at left back. He has performed well there, but what the hell has happened to Tierney?

He started the season so well, but following injury, he no longer seems to be in Paul Lambert's plans. Steve Morison was the one of the trio that was involved in the squad. However, the Welsh international was an unused sub.

I do not want to bash Wilbraham because he is a hard-working striker. However, Morison carries a far greater goal threat. If he was injured then surely he would not be on the bench in the first place. 

We Cannot Blame Defeat on Stoke's Style

After the match I heard a lot of talk about Stoke's style. Plenty of people said they would not want to watch football like this every week.

It was almost as if people had no idea about Stoke City before the game. We all know how they play and what they are all about; it is down to us to deal with that.

I am no fan of the way Stoke play, but I do have respect for what they have achieved over the last few seasons. Stoke had a game plan and it worked!

Norwich City did not play well on the day, but it is no use blaming Stoke. Next time we play them, hopefully we can impose our passing game on them.

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