Opportunity knocks for Murphy
Tuesday night’s game can’t come quick enough if you’re a Norwich City fan. After a soul-destroying 1-0 defeat at the hands of lowly Fulham, the Canaries will be looking to get back on the horse with three points against Leeds United.
Fallen from grace, the Premier League seems a distant memory for Norwich City, however, a good start to the gruelling campaign of the Championship has put us in a commanding position to fight for promotion once again.
Despite not tasting victory in our last three games, I remain quietly optimistic ahead of the crunch tie on Tuesday night. Neil Adams has stamped his own philosophy on the way we play and it’s been a pleasure to watch. Promoting simple, attractive, attacking football is precisely what City fans are in need of after the dry, stale and uninspiring performances under Chris Hughton.
City’s squad on paper looks to be one of the best in the league, but as every manager would say: “You cannot predict the Championship.”
With the attacking threats of Lewis Grabban, Cameron Jerome, Kyle Lafferty, Gary Hooper, Nathan Redmond and Wes Hoolahan in the Canaries arsenal, City will feel they have the ability to find a way into the game. But that’s been the problem; we have given the opposition a licence to go a goal or two ahead before we make a dramatic comeback late into the tie. If we can prevent Leeds from gaining a goal advantage on us early on, I feel that we have the quality to punish the Whites’ defence.
A game which promises to live up to the expectations it has been burdened with; Norwich v Leeds will be one to watch.
Another “one to watch” is Josh Murphy, heavily touted as a future Norwich City star; I would claim that the young lad is now ready to make the step up to the first team. Experienced enough now to start in the Championship, Murphy’s cameo performances have shown up the likes of Redmond and Hoolahan in recent weeks and I think it’s time that Murphy has his chance.
A player who excites crowds with his pace and ability to take on his man, the born and bred Norfolk lad needs to be given his bow in the league.
Murphy’s chance may come sooner rather than later as today it was confirmed that the Irish Messi (Hoolahan) has sustained ankle ligament damage that will keep him out of the fray for some weeks.
Is this the perfect opportunity for City to give Murphy that gentle push and kick on?
We can only wait and see…
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