|
|
Arindam Rej at Daily Telegraph |
Norwich (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0
There were two new attacking signings on show for Norwich City, but the same worrying outcome; yet another failure to score. Luciano Becchio was making his first home appearance, then debutant Kei Kamara emerged late on, but neither could break Norwich's habit of drawing blanks, which has dragged them down into a position where they cannot be entirely confident of safety.
Chris Hughton's team have scored just one in six games and would have been frustrated by this latest failure as it came against a Fulham side whose ambition was limited. Grant Holt, who has been suffering from back spasms, was a conspicuous absentee. Becchio did not inspire much confidence that he could be the man to lift the burden Holt has been carrying.
"Fulham have a lot of quality," Hughton said. "But our aim was to get the three points and we didn't have enough in the final third."
Fulham looked a different side to the one that was scoring so freely earlier in the season though. Dimitar Berbatov was struck in the face by Bradley Johnson after 68 seconds, leading to a nose bleed that forced him off temporarily, needing a stitch.
Becchio had a shot that was pushed away by Mark Schwarzer. He had two further headed chances before half-time, but headed over on both occasions. It was the first time Emmanuel Frimpong and Steve Sidwell had played together for Fulham, but they never looked like being over-run in midfield. "We lacked a bit of momentum and tempo so we couldn't hurt them," Jol said.
Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Bunn; R Martin, Turner, Bassong, Garrido; Johnson, Tettey; Snodgrass, Hoolahan, E Bennett (Jackson 75); Becchio (Kamara 87).
Subs: Camp (gk), Whittaker, Howson, Surman, Tierney.
Booked: E Bennett, Snodgrass.
Fulham (4-4-1-1): Schwarzer; Manolev, Hangeland, Senderos, Riise; Ruiz (Dejagah 90), Frimpong (Emanuelson 64), Sidwell, Duff; Berbatov; Rodallega (Petric 75).
Subs: Etheridge (gk), Karagounis, Hughes, Kacaniklic.
Booked: Frimpong, Manolev.
Referee: Howard Webb (Yorkshire).
Source .