CANARIES NOW LOOK THE PART
Finishing touch all that’s missing for Smith’s men
NORWICH couldn’t quite achieve three consecutive Premier League wins for the first time in nine years but there was nonetheless plenty of encouragement for boss Dean Smith.
His arrival has undoubtedly galvanised things at Carrow Road and his team really should have beaten an underwhelming Wolves here.
The most significant performer on the pitch was visiting goalkeeper Jose Sa, who made crucial saves from Max Aarons, Teemu Pukki and Milot Rashica to ensure his side remained sixth.
Considering Norwich are second bottom and have just changed manager, they played the superior football, worked harder, exerted the more meaningful pressure and created all the best chances. Only their finishing let them down.
But Smith knew there would be plenty to work on, in all areas of the pitch, when he succeeded Daniel Farke over the November international break.
He will have learned plenty from this stalemate and also drawn optimism as he plots Norwich’s path out of the bottom three. They looked fully like a Premier League outfit here.
The home fans stood and applauded their team at the final whistle, appreciative of the effort those in yellow had put in.
By contrast, the clearest chance Wolves enjoyed came from Norwich almost shooting themselves in the foot just before half time. Otherwise, they were under the cosh, especially in the second-half.
‘The performance was better than last week’s against Southampton,’ Smith said. ‘Maybe last week we were fortunate to gain two points but we are unfortunate we lost a couple this week.
‘When I first came in, I said I wanted us to stop giving away big chances and we restricted them to very few. Tim [Krul] has had very little to do and we created four big chances and on another day we win the game.
‘I always believe if you are not creating chances that is the worry but we are creating them and we have players who can score.
‘I feel that confidence and belief is growing and we have to make sure we continue with that momentum.
‘But we can’t take the pats on the back, we have to keep working hard and the results will come.’
It was Wolves’ stirring fightback from two goals down to win 3-2 last month that contributed to Smith getting the sack from Aston Villa. He was determined not to be stung twice.
With Norwich’s confidence restored after back-to-back wins over Brentford and Southampton, they seized the initiative.
Josh Sargent, brought into the team to replace Todd Cantwell, who’d been below his best last weekend, flashed a first-time shot
high and wide in the opening minutes.
Wolves had lost just one of their last nine league games, elevating them against all odds to within touching distance of the Champions League places.
They found some joy in the firsthalf down their left, with Aarons strangely reluctant to get close to
Rayan Ait-Nouri, picked out time after time by the diagonal passes of Ruben Neves.
When Sargent couldn’t track back in time, the France under-21 wingback was given licence to cross and from one delivery, Raul Jimenez sent a shot over.
But Norwich were undoubtedly the better side. Billy Gilmour was again impressive pulling strings in midfield and one through pass set Pukki clear. The Finn took an extra touch and allowed Wolves skipper Conor Coady to block.
Storm Arwen was always likely to have some impact on the game and a heavy downpour almost resulted in disaster for Norwich.
Grant Hanley tried to pass his way out of defence but had nowhere to go under pressure. Stuck, he turned back inside his own box and attempted to go home to Krul, only to see his pass slow up on the wet surface.
Hwang Hee-Chan almost beat Krul to the ball before the Dutchman blocked Joao Moutinho’s follow-up with his legs.
That almost saw Norwich undeservedly behind but in stoppage time they might have moved ahead. Aarons got forward for pretty much the first time, drove into the Wolves box and played a neat onetwo with Lukas Rupp only to be denied by Sa.
Norwich’s fans had been serenading Rashica by singing his name to the tune of Tequila by The Champs and he caused Wolves plenty of problems after the break.
Pukki passed up an even better opening with 20 minutes left. Clean through following Rupp’s defencesplitting pass, he would have scored had he aimed either side of Sa. Instead, he allowed the Portuguese to block with a foot.
And late on, Rashica couldn’t get sufficient power on a side-footed shot to win it.
‘It is a point but I think in those moments in the final third, we should have done better and been more aggressive,’ said Wolves boss Bruno Lage.
NORWICH CITY (4-3-3): Krul 6; Aarons 6, Hanley 6, Gibson 6, Williams 6.5; McLean 6.5, Normann 6 (Rupp 35min, 7), Gilmour 7; Sargent 7 (Tzolis 68, 6), Pukki 6, Rashica 7 (Dowell 82). Booked: Gilmour, Gibson. Subs (not used): Gunn, Cantwell, Lees-Melou, Giannoulis, Idah, Omobamidele.
WOLVES (3-4-3): Sa 8; Kilman 7, Coady 7.5, Saiss 7; Semedo 6 (Dendoncker 76), Neves 6.5, Moutinho 6.5, Ait-Nouri 7; Trincao 6 (Traore 68, 6), Jimenez 6, Hwang 6 (Hoever 90). Booked: Neves, Semedo. Subs (not used): Moulden, Ruddy, Marcal, Silva, Cundle. Referee: S Hooper (Wiltshire) 7.