Player Focus: Norwich Need More From Inconsistent Snodgrass
Given how tight the bottom of the Premier League table is, Norwich have done well to avoid too much talk of an imminent relegation battle by remaining delicately poised just above the real stragglers for the duration of the season thus far. On Saturday, they staved off the threat of the drop zone further with a vital single-goal victory over Hull, and the relief around Carrow Road was clear to see when Ryan Bennett broke the deadlock in the 87th minute.
The strike ended a run of 9 straight matches without a win for the Canaries, but hardly spelled the end of their ongoing problems on the pitch, and manager Chris Hughton is coming under increasing pressure to instil new life into a stagnating side.
A summer of relatively lavish spending and intriguing imports led to optimism that the club could build on last season's 11th-placed finish and aim for the top half. That they are currently 12th doesn't quite tell the whole story, though. They finished last season 5 points off eighth and 8 points above the drop zone; at present they are 13 points off 8th and just 5 points ahead of rock-bottom Cardiff.
The widely held view last season was that improvement was needed in attacking areas, and Hughton duly obliged, signing strikers Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Gary Hooper and Johan Elmander during the off season, as well as midfielders Nathan Redmond and Leroy Fer. The latter has been a revelation, and provides creativity from the heart of the team, but more often than not playing in a central midfield two, he has defensive duties that restrict him in an attacking sense.
Redmond, Pilkington and latest signing Jonas Gutiérrez are charged with creating from the left flank, and the manager has persisted with Robert Snodgrass on the opposite flank, despite a significant drop in his performances this season compared to last. A lack of consistency on his part has led to murmurings that he has perhaps lost motivation to play for the club, and his childhood club, Celtic, have now been linked with a move for the Scot.
After the game he gave a distinctly noncommittal riposte to suggestions Neil Lennon might be interested, while Hughton insisted that he wasn't for sale, but what was most noteworthy was the manager's decision to highlight the midfielder's work rate, 'even on days where perhaps he doesn't produce as much as we would want'. A lack of production, though, has been precisely the issue this term.
It took more than 86 minutes of his 15th appearance of the season and 42 chances created for Snodgrass to register his first assist of the season, that coming from the corner which set up Bennett's aforementioned winner at the weekend. Given, the strikers at Carrow Road have not performed adequately well - Van Wolfswinkel has 1 Premier League goal from 23 shots this season - but Snodgrass has not maintained the same level of performance we came to expect of him after last season's heroics.
With 6 assists in 2012/13, he created twice as many goals as any other Norwich player, setting up 14.6% of his side's goals, a proportion only 6 players in the whole league bettered. Furthermore, the strikers then were certainly part of the reason that he was restricted to just six. Only Leighton Baines (22) laid on more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities in the whole Premier League than Snodgrass (16), who did so on average every 2.25 games. This season, he has managed just 2 in 15 appearances; one every 7.5 games. While last season Norwich as a team ranked 9th in the Premier League for clear-cut chance creation (1.3 per game), this season they are last in this regard (0.6 per game). Perhaps if Van Wolfswinkel and Hooper were provided with the calibre of chances that Snodgrass was laying on last season, their goal tallies would be greater and the Dutchman would not be considered the expensive flop he currently is.
Snodgrass himself, too, is not scoring enough goals. A solitary strike - albeit a beautifully hit free-kick against West Ham - remains his only Premier League goal this season, while he netted 6 times last campaign. 3 of those came direct from free-kicks last season, so maybe opponents are more clued up to his threat from such situations, but there is still a clear decline in front of goal on his part that needs to be addressed.
Even if his manager's posit that he is still working hard might be true, his defensive stats indicate that he is doing less without the ball; tackles and interceptions have both dropped, while he is being dribbled past more often. A good performance at the weekend will have given Hughton renewed hope that he can produce more consistently, but they need more than just one-offs, they need their top players performing week in, week out.
When you are in a relegation scrap and your best players aren't playing well, the worst thing for them to do is give up. Only marginally better is it, though, for your best players to be trying hard but still failing to perform. Whichever of these is the case, the fact of the matter is that Snodgrass simply hasn't been as effective this season. Hughton needs to squeeze the very best out of his previously so dependable midfielder, and fast, or it may well be time for him to cut his losses and cash in on him.
How have you rated Snodgrass's performances this season? Should Norwich cash in on him? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
