Canaries so chirpy as City beaten
NORWICH kept their twopoint lead at the top with a thrilling 3-2 win against in-form Bristol City.
Jamie Paterson put the visitors ahead at Carrow Road, firing across Tim Krul and into the far corner.
Norwich levelled after 36 minutes through Kenny Mclean but City were back in front straight from the kick-off as Callum O’dowda dribbled through the Canaries’ defence before firing home.
Ben Godfrey drew things level once more for Norwich in the 55th minute, tapping in Maximillian Aarons’ cut-back.
Daniel Farke’s side won it thanks to Mclean’s stunning 25-yard strike midway through the second half.
Sheffield United and Leeds remain hot on Norwich’s heels, though, after beating West Brom and Bolton respectively.
The fourth-placed Baggies would have leapfrogged Chris Wilder’s side with a win but Kieran Dowell’s 14th-minute header was enough to give United a 1-0 triumph.
Victory extends the Blades’ unbeaten run to five league games, while West Brom remain winless at home in 2019.
Leeds had moved up to second temporarily ahead of the late kick-off at the Hawthorns with a 2-1 success against Bolton.
Bottom club Ipswich were denied just a third win under Paul Lambert by Joe Garner’s late equaliser for Wigan.
Semi Ajayi snatched a point for Rotherham in a 1-1 draw with fellow relegation strugglers Reading. FANS love to see one of the kids come through the ranks. If that kid is a skilful winger or playmaker, so much the better. Middlesbrough have a proud reputation of developing their own players through an Academy which has gained a Europe-wide reputation for excellence. Even before the building of Rockliffe Park in 1998, the club was well known for unearthing gifted young players. A constant conveyor belt of homegrown talent has bolstered the first team pretty much since Middlesbrough were formed in the 19th century and many of their their greatest ever players – George Hardwick, Wilf Mannion, Micky Fenton, Brian Clough, Tony Mowbray, Alan Peacock and Gary Pallister – hailed from Teesside. Fast forward to the current season and there is a new generation knocking on the first-team door - and Tony Pulis has hinted two lads in particular are close to a call-up. However, the manager is keeping tight-lipped about the identity of those players. Boro, in Pulis’s own words, lack pace and power and many fans feel the answer can be found in the development squad. Two players in particular, Marcus Tavernier and Harry Chapman, have been proposed by excited supporters as possible solutions over the past few weeks. The latter, of course, has now signed for Blackburn but the former rarely features in the first-team squad.
In fact, his appearance on the bench at Ewood Park marked the first time Tavernier had been included in a Championship matchday 18 since the win at Birmingham on January 12.
With Stewart Downing unable to start due to the clause in his contract, Pulis has a distant lack of wide options.
His solution has been to used wingbacks and the result has largely been efficiently effective.
However, Pulis’s preference as a manager is to play with two pacy wide midfielders in a 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 formation. It is why he was so keen to get the best out jet-healed Spaniard Adama Traore last season.
Fans, and journalists for that matter, wonder why Tavernier cannot be an option in such a system and why, when he was on the books, wasn’t Chapman?
The problem is, playing as a creative wide midfielder is an extremely tough role for a senior pro - never mind a young player lacking experience.
It is one of the hardest, most demanding positions to play.
You are expected to be creative, chip in with a few goals, provide an outlet and also cover the full-back.
A player like Tavernier can certainly do a job for a game or two and has certainly looked comfortable at a first team level - but maintaining that form weekin, week-out is a different story.
Pulis spoke about Tavernier at his pre-match press conference on Friday, saying: “Tav was so unfortunate in respect of not playing at Blackburn.
“It was him or Fletch (Ashley Fletcher). Eventually I went for Fletch but Tav was very unlucky.
“He dipped a little bit before Christmas but in training in the last two weeks he has been first class again.
“That is what they do. He is only 19, he has everything. You have to be careful with them but they are good kids.”
Pulis makes a hugely important point because young players do suffer dips in