Academy Pre-season friendly 
       Colney Training Centre,
        Hethersett, NR4 7TS 

     Saturday 28th July 12 noon
 
     NORWICH CITY  v    SPURS   
    (Yellow/Green)   (All White)   
       4-4-2          4-2-1-3
 
         1(0)           1(1)

     Steven Arnold 1 Lee Butcher
   Gareth Matthews 2 Sam Cox
       Jordan Yong 3 Yuri Berchiche
        Ross Kelly 4 Yasser Kasim
      Paul McClean 5 Takura Mtandari (C)
            Joss ? 6 Callum Butcher
      Kurtis Byrne 7 Danny Rose
        Tom Miller 8 Daniel Hutchins
       Kris Renton 9 Jonathan Obika
     Jack Dickson 10 David Hutton
      Bally Smart 11 Andros Townsend
 
           Laffen 12 Alex Olsen
        (3)60Mins    (10)54Mins
          D. Rudd 13  
        (1)46Mins.   
                ? 14 Saulo Asajile
        (9)80Mins.   (7)46Mins.
          O’Toole 15 Ajet Shehu
        (4)60Mins.    (2)80Mins.
       Luke Daley 16   
       (7)80Mins.
          Maxie ? 17  
      (10)46Mins.  
                ? 18   
      (11)87Mins.
                ? 19 
       (2)80Mins.  
         D. Kelly 20
        (5)87Mins.
            Smith 22    
        (8)87Mins  
Scorers:-
        Renton 68      Hutton 11

Due to heavy traffic I missed the start of the match which was played on a warm afternoon at the Norwich training ground in front of a small crowd.

Spurs lined up with Mtandari and Butcher at the back with Cox at right back and Berchiche at left. In front of them Hutchins and Kasim lined up in the centre of midfield with Hutton just behind Obika. On the wings were Rose on the right and Townsend on the left in and advanced position.

After a minute's silence for members of Norwich’s staff who died during the summer, Spurs had kicked off attacking the left-hand goal. I arrived just as the home side conceded a free kick outside the box to the right. Hutton took the kick quickly, curling it into the top corner.

Spurs were looking the better side during the early stages with Townsend and Rose making many forays down the wings creating several chances. The Norwich centre-backs dealt with most of them but Kasim hit a post. Townsend, Rose and Obika kept swapping positions during the half to vary the attack.

The home side threatened mainly from set pieces, due to their tall players, going close a couple of times and forcing Butcher to make one good save. Towards the end of the half Obika had a good chance but shot wide.

Spurs coach Alex Inglethorpe made one change for the second half by taking off new signing Rose and replacing him with Asajile. The home side introduced a French trialist called Maxie who added a lot of skill to their midfield and prompted the attack with some good passing. They also put pressure on Cox who was not able to cope with Smart running at him.

Once Hutton had been replaced by Olsen the Canaries began to dominate the game and after another couple of subs had come on they equalised. Following a Spurs corner Rudd quickly kicked upfield where Renton brushed Cox aside before going on to beat Butcher. Spurs responded with a shot from Obika which went for a corner. Rudd pushed that away for another one and then had to go down to save from Kasim.

Cox was taken off with Shehu coming into the centre with Mtandari moving to right back. This change shored up the defence and with Norwich making a host of other changes, Spurs were able to play out the rest of the half. O’Toole forced another save from Butcher and Rudd did likewise from Hutchins at the other end. Townsend went down under challenge from two defenders and stayed down with what looked like a bad injury. With the Spurs officials on the field the ref ended the game. Thankfully he was able to get up soon after.

This was a good run out for the U-18’s with half of the side made up of 1st year players and the two new signings it will give Inglethorpe some idea of what he has to work with. Rose looked good with pace and strength while Berchiche will need a little time to adjust. There was a freekick in the second half with Hutton ready to take. Yuri had a word and shaped to take it as well. Hutton ran over the ball and both players moved away as something got lost in translation.

Of the young players, the two Butchers did well but Cox had a hard time in the second half with Asajile not being able to show any attacking skills. Norwich are in the other southern group, but will come to the Lodge during the season so we will see how the team settles down. They open the season with two matches against northern teams starting with Middlebrough away followed by a home game against Everton.

Ray

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