Norwich City: 4 Things About Wigan Draw

Hopefully by now Norwich City fans have recovered from the game at Carrow Road on Sunday. The Canaries may have secured a point from the game. But in truth, it was a poor performance and felt more like a defeat. The game finished 1-1 with Wes Hoolahan getting the goal for Norwich.

As always, there are things to analyse and points to ponder. So with that in mind, here is a slideshow to review the game.

Andrew Crofts Inclusion and the Tactics

I have nothing against Andrew Crofts personally. He is in the typical mould of a hard working midfielder player. Andrew was a key player for Norwich in the Championship. However, he may lack that bit of Premier League quality.

Norwich were up against a five-man midfield from Wigan. Lambert's response to this was to play a conservative midfield three of David Fox, Andrew Crofts, Andrew Surman, and a creative outlet in Wes Hoolahan.

However, should we be fearing the Premier League's bottom club this much?

Personally, I would have preferred to have seen Pilkington starting the game. It is more than likely that Norwich's best attacking options would have caused Wigan some real problems.   

Work-Rate of Grant Holt and Simeon Jackson

With Norwich electing to start with a narrow midfield, the Norwich City strikers were devoid of decent service throughout most of the match, but they both worked tirelessly.

It was pleasing to see, and one of the few bright points of the game. However, both strikers will of been disappointed to not get on the score sheet. 

John Ruddy's Performance

Let's be honest, the Norwich City defense did not give John Ruddy much support on Sunday. Therefore, the goalkeeper deserves a huge amount of credit that Wigan only scored one goal.

Whitbread and Ward will need to up their game, because new signing Ryan Bennett is waiting in the wings to make his debut. Ruddy has surely only strengthened his claims to be on the plane to Euro 2012.

The Return of Steve Morison

It was good to see Steve Morison coming off the bench on Sunday. There has been speculation on the nature of his absence. But we need him fully focused on the job of scoring goals for Norwich City between now and the end of the season.

Steve will have been disappointed to not get on the score sheet. He did see a header well saved and will want to get back on the goal trail at the earliest opportunity.

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