Norwich City fans are angry.
The Canaries lost on Friday night at home to Huddersfield and have now only won two of their last 10-games.
From being in the automatic promotion places in the Championship earlier this season, they’ve slipped to ninth. Unless they can dramatically improve their form, the play-off places may be their best chance of securing an instant return to the Premier League.
Norwich fans are understandably pissed-off with the situation the club have found themselves in.
Alex Neil is under pressure, and his decisions are being questioned – which going to happen when you’re leaving Wes Hoolahan on the bench, as the Norwich manager did for the 1-2 loss to Huddersfield.
#JusticeForWes https://t.co/8Hxsp4LftE #NCFC
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 16, 2016
However, a fair few Norwich fans have are directing their anger towards Hoolahan’s Republic of Ireland teammate, and one of the team’s most talented players – Robbie Brady.
The 24-year-old set-up Norwich’s equaliser for Jonathan Howson with a brilliant cross from the byline…
And he was given an excellent rating by football statistics website WhoScored.com.
This man has magic in his left boot https://t.co/cp7kfug5Qh
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 16, 2016
Brady scored eight out of 10, the highest rating of any Norwich player and only Elias Kachunga, who scored twice for Huddersfield, received a higher score.
Of course, statistics don’t tell the whole story and the Norwich fans watching the team every week may have a different view on the team’s players than those who occasionally watch the team play.
However, the criticism of Brady by some of the team’s fans seems excessive and misdirected.
The Dubliner isn’t putting a shift in, apparently.
And needs to pull the finger out.
“Conning a living.”
Just go away.
He’ll play for Ireland though…
There was a lot of anger…
An awful lot…
Seriously, lads, this is a bit much…
Even if Brady was poor last night, this criticism is over the top.
It could be argued the former Manchester United youth-team player is also an easy target to turn into a scapegoat.
He’s a flair player, and as such is going to occasionally concede possession – it’s a natural by-product of attempting to make things happen.
Unless you’re Andreas Iniesta or Xabi Alonso, not every pass is going to be successful. Unless you’re Lionel Messi, not every attempt to dribble is going to come-off. And when you’re playing for a team who are struggling for form, as Norwich are, confidence is bound to be low and fans will be restless.
British football’s default outlook is also to distrust flair players, that the way to win games when things aren’t going well is to play it safe – which means hoof it long and get it up the pitch as quickly as possible.
If you lose the ball attempting to create something, don’t do it again. Run around aimlessly, shout, show “passion”, get stuck-in and whatever you do, don’t take any risks. Don’t get your head up and look for a pass.
Be like Tom Cleverly and don’t look for the ball. If you get a pass in the middle of the pitch, play it sideways and hide.
Robbie Brady strongly linked to Premier League club he really should avoid https://t.co/lF4jStWQXU
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 21, 2016
The anger at Brady could also be a result of reports linking him with a move away from Carrow Road.
The Dubliner was reportedly priced out a move in the summer by the club, with Leicester City and West Ham among the Premier League clubs understood to be interested, but put-off by the £15m price-tag.
Since then, Brady has been linked with moves to Sunderland and Aston Villa. As such, any sign of him playing poorly could be misconstrued for a lack of effort based on his head being turned.
Of course, this is just nonsense.
Brady knows his best chance of playing in the Premier League, with Norwich or anyone else, is through playing as well as he can this season and he handled his transfer situation as a model professional.
Robbie Brady is just an example of these bullshit boundaries that separate the top tier from the rest https://t.co/NP7Kh6xpRx
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 1, 2016
It’s never one player’s fault for a team being in poor form. Football is a team game, and it’s clear something isn’t right with Norwich at the moment.
Brady is arguably the least of their troubles.
