I’ve been one of his biggest critics, but Rodrigo may well have struck the most important goal of our season on Sunday.
Okay, it was no goal of the season contender, but who cares? When his scuffed shot somehow evaded Tim Krul it earned us victory in what was a must-win game.
And not only did it earn us the win, it also gave is the platform to finish the game with the type of confidence we haven’t seen much of this season. It was interesting really because you could see we were caught between two stools in those final minutes. Did we go for the kill or simply see the game out? I’m pleased to say we saw it out instead of risking anything.
The Leeds of last season would have gone for the kill and would probably have won by four or five, but that isn’t where we’re at right now. We had just one win to our name, we needed another, and we had to show some balls and character.
I got it wrong on Friday when I said Norwich couldn’t be that bad…because they are a poor, poor side. Defensively they were awful, and given that they will have seen the Leeds game as a real opportunity, they were a million miles off. They look poor and the pundits might be right in saying that they are one of the worst teams ever to play in the Premier League.
But you can only beat what’s put in front of you, and we did just that. We had our own pressures and concerns, but there were a lot of positives, not least the spirit and togetherness to dig deep.
Kalvin Phillips’ return was a huge boost and Raphinha scored with a moment of brilliance. But, most significantly, it was the way we came straight back from the equaliser to take the lead again. Their goal could have finished us, but we hit back straight away and once Rodrigo’s shot had hit the back of the net you knew we would win the game.
Now, we have some daylight and can look upwards. Burnley may have got their first win at the weekend, but Norwich are already looking beyond hope, and Newcastle United have a hell of a lot to do, despite having money to throw it at it in January.
There’s two months before the transfer window – there’s areas we need to address as well as the teams around us – but hopefully we can build on that from Norwich now and finally start to move things forward.