Norwich City 1 - West Bromwich Albion 2

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Ratings submitted so far: 14

Ancient Baggie:

Great start. We were second best for long periods but defended really well and found a way to win. It's the sort of performance that gets results in this league, O'Leary was outstanding.

There are obviously things to work on but this is a relatively new group of players and hopefully they will grow through the season. Lots of positive performances, JJ looks like a natural goal scorer something we've been desperate for for years.

On paper we have a really tough start to the season but this win gives us something to build on.

Fantastic support as always. COYB

Brendan Clegg:

Interesting starting lineup with the Horn coming in for Alex Mowatt.

Personally, I think getting a fee for Mowatt is pretty incredible given we signed him on a free his age and the fact he can’t run. With the way Morrison wants to play we need players who can recover when our press is breached.

Given it was Norwich away, I’d definitely have started Molumby for the known quantity, that continuity and championship knowledge.

After a bright start, Norwich took control and really had most of the first half.

We worked hard but we couldn’t get hold of the ball or keep it well enough and I felt the Horn whilst eager to impress wasn’t great positionally. Our midfield pair looked like the truth - a duo who had never played together.

We needed O’Leary to pull off some decent saves and our defence to really be at it. Even then, Norwich probably should’ve made more of their chances. It took a long time for us to have a meaningful attack or shot on goal and although we settle down a little bit, we really needed half time to come to sort things out.

There were no subs at the break a night it’s got straight on the attack again, but we did adjust things. Jimmy Jay Morgan didn’t have a sniff in the first half and was moved to a wider left starting position before drifting into support the attack.

This bolstered our midfield shape and allowed us to get on the ball a little bit more so we came into it.

The introduction of Molumby helped to swing the game more our way alongside a really exciting debut from Rabby who looked to have quick feet, a strong tackle and an eye for a pass.

A great move from the back saw us work the ball through the lines and feed it wide to Jimmy J who crossed left footed for Heggebø to bundle home. Replays showed it was his hand, but I didn’t especially clock it in real time.

It was a bit undeserved but was a reward for our resilience and it stunned Carrow Road into silence.

Price - who I thought had been unfortunately back to his most careless - hit a great effort from range which was tipped onto the bar.

We then did really well to stem things and avoided them building any real momentum, defending resolutely when they did. After another couple of blocks, O’Leary got the ball and launched a rapid side fade goal kick out wide to Morgan, who took the ball, drove on, shimmied inside and then planted the ball back across the keeper into the bottom corner. You may whisper… that was a bit like Harvey Barnes.

Frustratingly we conceded on the 90th minute to make the end a bit nervy but a few subs and so no-nonsense play got us through the extra minutes beyond the 4 that went up on the board.

A cracking win to open the season. I’d have happily taken a point before. This is a team with huge promise if we can add another experienced forward and a wide player who can really hurt teams.

Morrison and his coaches have shown they can improve individuals- they got Imray firing after a shakey start, they found Campbell’s best form, they made Styles consistent, Price became useful again, they found the player in Diakite’s potential and curtailed Molumby’s silly side.

I have every confidence we’re going to see it with the exciting players we’ve signed, including O’Leary who is coming for more in his box and is releasing it fast when breaks are on.

This is a very likeable team. Young players and players not used to the league will have good and bad days as they develop and it’s hard to look beyond the strongest squads in the division but, as with the last 10 games of last season, the Albion are enjoyable and entertaining to watch again for the first time since the Bilic era.

• O’Leary - 8 Solid saves, came for crosses, got an assist.
• Galves - 6 Will be a good learning for him. Couldn’t raid forward much but stood up to them.
• Phillips - 7 Forget the passing, he stuck a head on everything and got the blocks in.
• Campbell - 7 Solid from the skipper. This is a strong pairing.
• Styles - 7 Tenacious. Reliable.
• Whitwell - 6 has got lovely feet and showed nice touches.
• Diakite - 7 passing was a bit off but how did we cope without his physicality in there before?
• The Horn - 5 We saw glimpses and he covered ground but wasn’t in sync with the others
• Price - 5 Gave it absolutely everything but there were some really poor moments. The one on the edge of his own box that he looped up right back into danger was really something.
• Heggebø - 6 Great at the physical stuff but thought he looked slow. Cult goal!
• Morgan - 6 A great goal and an assist yet he wasn’t in it for 45. That’s actually pretty exciting.

• Molumby - 7 Thought he gave us better structure.
• Rabby - 7 The kind of debut that makes you immediately pay attention. Very early, but he looks to have a lot of attributes.
• Stewart - 6 Useful.
• Meps & Bielik - Got stuck in and contributed.

Kev Buckley:

Managed to watch a short highlights package, without a clock on the screen, and without knowing the score, having just watched Bangladesh complete an absolute pantsing of Australia, inside four days.

Was fearing the worst after the first five highlights all showed Norwich seemingly waltzing into our box at will, down both sides, only for some last ditch defending in the middle to prevent then from taking the lead.

Still fearing the worst when Heggebo clearly handled the ball into the net, but at least we'd created a highlight of our own - but what's this: it hasn't been spotted, and we're in the lead. How long to go? No idea!

After a bit of chaos in the box from a corner, and yet another last ditch block, O'Leary calmly delivers a long ball towards the space in their left-back area; the defender fails to cut it out, and Morgan skips free, and across, into the box, evading a couple of defenders and shoots back against the grain for a 2-0 lead. How long to go? No idea!

Still time to witness a box, packed with players "defending" our goal, manage to allow a rebound to fall to a seemingly unmarked attacker, who could hardly miss, but not enough time to see us throw it away.

Good to see Mozza ticking off a couple of items on his brand new management-speak, bingo-card, so early in the season, in saying that he didn't see the handball, but was sure that these things would even out over the season - in which case, we are due for a massive slice of bad luck at some point.