My Football Writer

1 week ago | norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com | Gary Gowers

The first thing to do is apologise for not delivering a post-match piece yesterday morning. Those who know my current ‘story’ will probably guess why, but all good. Anyway, if nothing else, it permitted me additional time to digest what occurred at Turf Moor on Friday, all while a Twitter spat raged (involving some City legends) over the hows, whys, and wherefores of Johannes Hoff Thorup’s decision-making.

2 weeks ago | norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com | Andy Head

This season has reminded me of a lab experiment. One where rats are lowered into a maze, and as they progress through they are given either a piece of cheese or an electric shock. And just as they think they’ve puzzled out the best way to trigger the cheese or avoid the shock, the rules seem to change and the opposite happens. Thankfully, Tuesday night was a cheese night. As for Friday, who knows? It’s got shocker written all over it on paper but then we thought that about Tuesday.

2 weeks ago | norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com | Gary Gowers

As 0-0 draws go, that was pretty decent. The reaction of the crowd said as much. Following on from the horror of Home Park, I expected a muted, maybe tetchy, Carrow Road, but a positive start to the game with added tempo did the trick. Those who were waiting to erupt – and, believe me, some around me were itching to – were not given the opportunity.

2 weeks ago | norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com | Gary Gowers

It wasn’t long ago that the Black Cats of Wearside were part of the four-way battle for the top two automatic promotion spots. Not anymore, though. While it’s still a mathematical possibility, Sunderland’s three recent defeats – by Leeds, Hull, and Coventry – have rendered them gallant losers in the battle for the automatics, and the best they can hope for is to maintain some momentum that they can carry forward into the playoffs.

2 weeks ago | norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com | Gary Gowers

Same venue. Same crushing disappointment. Same numb feeling. But only four of the starting XI of the 6-2 debacle of September 2023 started yesterday. Significantly, those four were Angus Gunn, Jack Stacey, Shane Duffy, and Kenny Mclean. None of them covered themselves in glory. Neither did they in debacle 1.0.Add to that Onel Hernandez, who also came off the bench in debacle 1.0—he of yesterday’s step-over in which he beat himself. It was one of those ‘if you don’t laugh…’ moments.