Date: Saturday 3rd December 2011
Kick-Off: 15.00
Venue: Ethiad Stadium
I don't know why, but for some reason the first thought that popped into my head when signing up to do this preview was: How would Stephen Fry go about doing this?
I'm sure he would have written at length about Edwardian England's favourite past-time pleasure of keeping Canaries, and of how this lead to the rather odd colour combination of yellow and green. He would probably also go on about king Raedwald and East Anglian rule being overthrown by the Mercians. And perhaps, should he have known about it, he might have told an anecdote about how a devout, Swedish, Manchester City fan almost became a Canary when given a pair of Patrick FC Nantes as his first pair of football boots.
But stuff Stephen Fry and his pompous ramblings. Let us instead borrow a line from his fellow Norwich City celebrity fan and majority shareholder, Delia Smith:
"Let's be 'aving you!"
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Delia's somewhat besotted half time entertainment, fittingly enough, dates back to the last Premeier League meeting between Manchester City and Norwich on February 28, 2005 -– a night most Canaries (Delia certainly included) probably wish they could forget. City, away at Carrow Road, fought their way back from a two nil deficit in the first half after goals from Siberski and Fowler. The latter then clinched the victory with a 93rd minute goal.
If Delia's lack of motivational skills is to blame or not, we might never know, but things went from bad to worse and at the end of that season Norwich were relegated from top flight football. As a result the two clubs have only played eachother ones since then: a third round League Cup clash in 2007, which City won 1–0, thanks to a goal by Gorgeous George Samaras. In 2009 the Canaries were relegated once more, but replicating the achievement of Saturday's opponent, Manchester City, the club bounced back in spectacular fashion with back to back promotions.
Norwich seem to have taken on the fight to survive in the Premier Lague in a cautious but shrewd manner. Despite a fairly big turnover on players, the club's transfer dealings have been quite frugal. A few squad players, who were deemed not to cut the musterd on the highest level, have been shipped out, and hungry, youngish players have been brought in for low fees, on free transfers or on loan. The best signings so far are holding midfielder Bradley Johnson (joined from Leeds), 23 year old attacking midfilder, Anthony Pilkington (Huddersfield), and Welsh international striker Steve Morison (Milwall). The latter two are joint topscorers with supersub, Grant Holt. All three players have scored four goals so far this season (three of Holts goals have come in sub-appearances –- the winning 2-1 goal against QPR last weekend came only three minutes after he entered the pitch).
Supesrub Grant Holt have scored four goals this season, three of the have come in sub-appearances
Form
Manchester City are still unbeaten in the domestic competitions. But form wise the Blues actually have their worst week of the season behind them, with a loss against Napoli in the Champions League last week and a draw at Liverpool on Sunday. The League Cup win away to Arsenal on Tuesday restored the order and City are going into the game against Norwich with a record of WWLDW from their five last games (WWWWD in the league).
Norwich's victory over fellow Premier League newcomers, Queen's Park Rangers, last weekend, saw them put an end to a streak of draws and defeats. The club's record in the five last games is LLDDW. That said the Canaries have had a fantastic start to the season. The club is sat prettily in tenth place with 16 points, seven points clear of relegation. What could be a concern for City is that 11 of the 16 points have been picked up away from Carrow Road.
The teams
City manager, Roberto Mancini, seems to be taking a more daring approach in home games this season. Last season the Italian prefered to play with two controlling midfielders in a 5-2-3-1 formation, even at home and almost regardless of opposition. This season the basic formation, at least against lesser opponents, is closer to a straight 4-3-3 with very offensive fullbacks. However, Mancini does seem bothered about the team's defensive displays of late, which leads me to believe that he might resort to the more cautious tactics used last season for this game, playing Barry and de Jong behind an attacking line up of Yaya, Milner/Nasri, Silva and either Dzeko or Balotelli.
Manicini's man management skills have sometimes been questioned in the past, and it will be interesting to see how he will handle the Kolarov situation. The Serbian fullback was played out of position in midfield in the Lague Cup game against Arsenal, but was taken off before half time. Will Mancini now give Kolarov a starting position to help him regain his confidence, or will the back four purely be selcted based on form an opposition?
Norwich usually play a 4-3-3 with Steve Morison leading the attacking line flanked by Pilkington and Bennet. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Norwich manager Paul Lambert switches to a classic 4-4-2 for this game, giving Holt a place next to Morison up front, to give the attack a more physical presence.
Injuries
The City squad is fully fit, although training reports suggest that Kolarov's substitution on Tuesday might not purely have been down to being outrun and outplayed by Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
"What, me injured?"
The Canaries' injury list is longer, but the only regular starter doubtful for Saturday is Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet, on loan from our recently not so noisy neighbours.
Players to watch
Manchester City's whole team is pure eye-candy. However, Bosnian international Edin Dzeko showed promising form against Arsenal in the League Cup. If he is rewarded with a place in the starting line up, I think he will repay Mancini with a great performance and a goal or two.
Starting or not, the man in green and yellow to look out for is Grant Holt. The 30 year old striker joined Norwich in League One for the 2009-2010 season and scored 24 goals in 39 appearances. The following season, in the Championship, Holt was good for 21 goals from 44 games. This season Holt has mainly been used as an impact sub, but some impact he has had!
In the last five games Holt has scored three goals, all of them after coming on as a sub. He's total goal tally so far is four goals.
Predictions
I struggle to see any reason why Manchester City would not walk away with three points from this game. Yes, Norwich has shown great form for a promoted team and their away form is very impressive. But City are miles ahead of the Norfolk club in terms of quality. My prediction is that Mancini will try to get City back on track defensively. Not conceding any goals will therefore be priority for the Italian. That said there is enough fire power in the skye-blue side to break the Norwich down.
City 2 – 0 Norwich
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