Norwich City Fan View: Brady dismissal overshadows dour display at Griffin Park

Saturday evening’s televised kick-off saw Norwich City and Brentford play out a drab 0-0 draw in a result which has just about done enough to keep City boss Alex Neil in his job, for one more game at least. Robbie Brady’s sending-off in the latter stages of the second half at Griffin Park looked to have tipped the balance in Brentford’s favour, but City’s new-look defence, boasting three centre-backs, held firm.

After 12 months of an unvaried, and painfully unsuccessful, 4-5-1 formation it was nice to see Alex Neil try something new. When you can’t even muster two competent centre-backs, opting to play three will have certainly raised a few eyebrows but, in fairness, it worked. Against a very mediocre Brentford side, with both Youssouf Mulumbu and Alex Tettey offering protection in front of them (usually it’s only one or the other), a degree of solidity should have been the least that we expected, however. With two strikers – a rare sight in an Alex Neil side – and Alex Pritchard on the pitch, there should have also been enough offensive talent on the pitch to complement this solidity going forward.

As it transpired, however, it was dour. There is no doubting that City, or more specifically Cameron Jerome, had the better chances and on another day we could have run away comfortable winners, but at no stage did it feel like a “yes, we’ve turned the corner” type performance, as I have seen some try to describe it. Yes, we were committed, yes, we kept a clean sheet, but it was hardly inspiring, was it? Sadly, I think the fact that some Norwich fans came away from Brentford satisfied with a point shows just how low we have fallen in recent months. There is absolutely no hiding from the fact that Brentford are an extremely average side. Over the duration of the game, even with a man advantage for fifteen minutes, the Bees failed to even muster a shot on target – something that is most certainly more of a reflection of their poor performance, rather than a good one from ourselves.

As strange as it sounds, I think Neil can count his blessings that Brady got sent off. Viewing from the away terrace, I saw a very little prospect of us going on to win that game with eleven on the field, and as soon as Brady was dismissed, a point – which is all that we were ever going to get anyway – suddenly became a satisfactory result. Had Brady not been sent off and it finished 0-0 with eleven men on the field, the reaction from the travelling support would have been far more hostile, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, as it happens, the red card seems to have overshadowed and acted as justification for yet another uninspiring performance.

This being said, regardless of this point ‘earned’, Monday’s visit of Derby surely remains to be the deal-breaker for Neil. It is, quite simply, a must win for the Scot. The majority of supporters at Carrow Road will turn up expecting (and for some, hoping for) the worst and sadly, any opportunity to get on either Neil’s or our players’ backs will be taken. This will make for an atmosphere that could turn very, very nasty should things not go our way and if this does happen then there is surely no way back for Neil.
Personally, I am not baying for Alex Neil’s blood. It has got to the stage now where I almost feel sorry for him: a man who is a shadow of his once bullish, verging on arrogant, former self. I am one hundred percent certain that he should be sacked and deserves to be sacked, but I can’t help but feel that a large amount of the anger that has been directed at the Scot in recent weeks should have been more forcefully aimed at the people above him. The ‘clique’ of family and friends that make up the City board; the ‘clique’ of family and friends who, before Alex Neil, were out-of-touch and accepting of mediocrity and, after Neil, will still be out-of-touch and accepting of mediocrity.

For his own sake more than anything else, I hope that Neil’s stay of execution is not prolonged any longer, but I fear that even after his departure the future of Norwich City is a very gloomy one indeed.