The ACN Match Review 25/26: QPR (h) | OneFootball

How did we play?

A couple of weeks ago I messaged my fellow ACNers, saying, “I’m not enjoying writing these reviews, there’s nothing left to say”. Hooray for Philippe Clement! How nice to have a grown-up in charge of our team; someone who speaks well and, on this performance, clearly knows how to train his players well. This was unrecognisable from anything we’ve seen this season and although QPR didn’t entirely ‘wannut’, we didn’t let them get much of a sniff and were relentless, with not a little (previously hidden) talent on show. It was good fun, the goals were well deserved and my son and I walked home with a yellow and green spring in our step, able to reflect with relief on how trudgy our walks home have been for way too many months. More please.

What was the best bit of the game?

Amankwah Forson’s beautiful goal was a perfect reward for some lovely team football and an excellent performance from him, and hopefully quietened some of the ‘Forson’s fucken shit’ brigade who seem to be somewhat unfairly picking on a guy who’s barely played this year. The difference he made was noticeable from minute one. It’s good to have him back.

What was the worst bit of the game?

QPR equalising so quickly and so easily after we’d gone 1-0 up, felt like the kick in the pants you get when you’re second from bottom and can’t win at home. The players looked distraught. We sensed a collapse. But this is Philippe Clement’s Norwich City now, and we’re all here for the ride.

What was the atmosphere like?

Loud and proud, as the showing on the pitch deserved. A special mention for the way the crowd got behind Matěj Jurásek when he came on. I’m not going to pretend he wouldn’t have been hammered if he’d lolloped about but, and this is down to Clement’s mature and reasoned explanation of what happened vs Oxford, he got a great cheer when he came on and an almighty one when he crunched into a tackle minutes later. Moments like that, you hope, can change careers and to have a manager who is able to articulate his thoughts clearly and constructively to players and fans in the way Clement did over Jurásek is so much more productive than simply saying “we’ve got to do things better” every week.

Hero of the match

I noticed that BBC Sport had Ruairi McConville as their man of the match and I’m not going to argue with that. He was excellent: strong, quick, his passing was superb and he worked well with Darling. Now if the pair of them can just work out how to defend crosses into the box, we’ll be fine.

Summary in Five Words

Finally, a Saturday of smiles.