Saturday's game against Watford is a massive one for Norwich City.
Many supporters will have seen this game as possibly the only real chance Norwich had of winning any points in the opening five fixtures of the season.
Watford, after a good win on the opening weekend, have all of a sudden lost their last three and haven’t found the back of the net in any of those games. One thing is for sure, if the lads are going to get anything from this game and bring this shocking run of defeats to an end they are going to have to stand up and be counted and compete physically with Watford, who bullied their way to two wins over Norwich last season.
In fact, I looked back at the last four meetings between two of my former clubs and it's fair to say Watford have won all four by being stronger, more powerful and more physical all over the pitch. And if Norwich don’t match these qualities then, sadly, I fear the worst for them.
Two years ago last Tuesday we witnessed one of the best days I have ever seen at Carrow Road, when Norwich went out and deservedly beat the then Premier League champions Manchester City. It was a truly magnificent performance which had all the ingredients and qualities you need to be a successful team. Talk is cheap and sometimes players need a little reminder of what they can achieve with hard work, determination and, don’t forget, that little bit of quality.
If I was Daniel Farke I’d be delving into his DVD collection and showing everyone up at Colney the performance from September 14, 2019. It could be just what’s needed for those players that were involved two years ago to find the belief that they are good enough at this level. And for the new lads that arrived in the summer, that they are the levels required to compete and win games in the Premier League.
Defeat at The Emirates last weekend was a tough one to take - especially when you look at the winning goal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was clearly standing in an offside position, but because of this very complex new offside rule, which really leaves many of us scratching our heads, he was ruled to be onside after the ball rebounded off the post then hit Pepe and bounced kindly into the Frenchman’s path - while still standing in an offside position - for him to score.
I think the offside rule nowadays is so complicated it's causing chaos nearly every weekend and I’m not sure if the officials are 100pc sure of it - already we’ve seen some really controversial decisions and the season is only in its infancy. Sadly, I can only see it worsening as the season goes on.
Saying that, Arsenal did muster 30 efforts at the Norwich goal, but didn’t cause Tim Krul too many problems. But to be fair that was more because of some top-class blocking by the lads in front of Tim. Saying that, if you’re letting a team have that amount of efforts on your goal you’re asking for trouble.
The loss against Arsenal was City's 14th consecutive Premier League defeat - only Sunderland have lost more consecutive games in a row.
It's a really unwanted record. Aston Villa were second with an 11-game losing streak back in the 2016 season, but the defeat at The Etihad the other week meant Norwich moved into second place all on their own.
Mind you, they’ve still got a way to go to beat Sunderland’s record-breaking 20 consecutive defeats across two different Premier League seasons between January 2003 and September 2005!
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