Following a third consecutive league defeat, David Freezer takes a look at six things you might have missed during Norwich City's 2-1 home loss to Leicester.
1 – Nightmare start
It was a horrible moment for Brandon Williams as he coughed up possession cheaply ahead of Jamie Vardy’s opening goal, getting his feet in a muddle.
Yet the Manchester United loanee had more touches (68) than any of the Norwich players, narrowly ahead of fellow full-back Max Aarons (66) and seemed to shake off that disastrous moment pretty well.
On three occasions he was taken out while on the charge, with Marc Albrighton booked for one crunching tackle, and it was the 20-year-old's interception that set Milot Rashica away and led to Todd Cantwell firing just over early in the second half.
There was a bit of misfortune as Albrighton’s winner deflected off him as he dived in desperately, after defensive opportunities were missed and left the youngster exposed.
There were positives to build upon but the competition with Dimitris Giannoulis at left-back is very much alive.
2 – Lack of protection
While the lack of recovering midfielders can be pointed to after Williams’ error for the opener, Leicester did exploit the opening with great pace and Jamie Vardy finished clinically.
But for a third game running, Billy Gilmour did not look comfortable with the defensive responsibility as the deepest midfielder.
The Chelsea loanee again pinged some nice passes around but, at times, looked unsure about his positioning and wasted a big opportunity to thwart the second goal at its source.
The 20-year-old got across to Kelechi Iheanacho on the right but missed his tackle and was left behind in a flash, when he had the chance to put his foot in near halfway.
Gilmour is too talented to fade from view but must toughen up and find a ruthless streak if he is to thrive, whether that is playing in the deeper role or if tactical tweaks free him slightly.
3 - Chances wasted
The Canaries matched the 14 shots at goal that they had against Liverpool in the Carrow Road opener, with one more on target (four) than against the Reds.
That’s more than was managed during 17 matches last season in the Championship – against a team that finished fifth and won the FA Cup, who admittedly are enduring a defensive injury crisis.
Pierre Lees-Melou and Cantwell both fired over after good work from Rashica during the bright start to the second half, after Lees-Melou had forced a good save from Kasper Schmeichel but Kenny McLean had drilled straight at the Dane in the first half.
Teemu Pukki opened his account for the season with his 68th Norwich goal, with his last three Premier League goals all coming from the penalty spot, not scoring in open play in the top flight since December 2019.
Josh Sargent and Adam Idah both had chances from the bench too, created by Lukas Rupp and Max Aarons – so City are creating the openings, at least.
4 – Max power
Aarons’ performance is worthy of mention in particular, proving a real driving force on the right for City.
He superbly picked out Pukki with a cross in the second half that the Finn headed goalwards but just couldn’t get enough power on.
The England Under-21 international also played Lees-Melou into the box for the penalty, which tempted Caglar Soyuncu into a totally unnecessary sliding tackle.
He was also given a rollicking by Ben Gibson after switching off and not tracking James Maddison after a corner, with the former City favourite finding the side-netting.
But he was still charging forward in the fifth minute of injury-time after McLean quickly whipped a throw down the line, only for Idah to fire wide under pressure as the chaotic late push for an equaliser came to an end.
Aarons and Cantwell stepped away from the warm-up to work intensely on their liny play ahead of the game and that relationship prove productive.
5 – An improvement
City had four corners combined during their first two matches. Against Leicester it was nine, a figure bettered in only one match last season during the charge to the Championship title.
More encouragingly, Rashica delivered some really dangerous corners into the danger zone, hitting dipping efforts with pace.
That’s where McLean’s bullet header came from, only for the celebrations to be harshly cut short by an offside flag that was backed up by VAR due to Cantwell’s proximity to Schmeichel.
The set-pieces really made the Foxes defence work, particularly as the crowd roared and Tim Krul contributed to the chaos in injury-time in his bright pink kit.
On the other hand, City also faced nine corners and dealt with them pretty well, with Gibson leading the way for aerials won (four).
6 – Tough reading
Most watching this game would agree that the Canaries were good value for a point but the consequence of defeat meant statisticians were waiting with fresh misery.
This was a 13th consecutive defeat in the Premier League for Norwich, following on from the club-record streak which coincided with relegation in 2020.
As TheAnalyst.com and others have recalled, City’s streak is now the third-longest in English top-flight history, close behind Manchester United’s 14 losses in a row, 12 of which came from the start of their 1930-31 relegation season.
Sunderland hold the record though, of 20. The first 15 came during their 2003 relegation and a further five followed promotion in 2005.
Sky Sports point out that it’s only the fifth time City have lost their opening three games (1938, 1963, 1976 and 1997), with the earliest two occasions extending to four before coming to an end, both in the second tier.
None of that mattered to the fans inside Carrow Road though as they roared their appreciation for the players’ spirited efforts at full-time.
NCFC EXTRA: Cantwell felt Norwich City deserved a draw against Leicester
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