Ruddy not troubled enough

A lasting memory I will have from the Norwich City match is seeing John Ruddy taking his time over those goal kicks as the clock ran down. All keepers do it, and Artur Boruc is a past master at it on our side. Still the fact that Ruddy had so many goal kicks was also indicative of how often the Cherries shot wide and hardly troubled the big man into making many saves.

Ruddy might have expected a busier afternoon than what he had.

How often did we see AFCB shoot high or wide? At least 15 times according to the BBC stats on the game, but that number is not as high as we have come to see from the Cherries and with only four shots on target, Ruddy did not have a busy day between the sticks. Norwich were one of the most resilient teams that we have seen at the Goldsands. When a team brings on a defensive sub that has to go off after five minutes in the second half and then another player gets a red card, the match is truly weighted in the favour of the team that has not been on the end of such problems. But AFCB could not capitalise on events and that is what was the true story of the defeat.

AFCB have been so good with the ball in previous games that it was hard for Eddie Howe to see how his his team could not find away of breaking down the Canaries. It was an off day at the office and now and again you'll get days like that. I don't think there was much wrong with what AFCB were trying to do, but the ball was not moving as quickly as usual and the tempo was such that Norwich could cope with the attacks, and organise themselves well enough.

Brett will hope to get more shot opportunities next match.

Now AFCB have to see if they can sharpen up. A win on Saturday would reinforce belief and clear the minds for the second half of the season. The players should be desperate to get out on the pitch against Rotherham and I believe it will be a strong performance. Rotherham too though have a score to settle, so this will be a harder game than many will expect.