Relegation battle looms for Norwich unless strikers find their shooting boots

The summer just gone was a golden one for Norwich City as they looked liked they were building a strong squad for the upcoming Premier League season, with some even tipping them with an outside chance of Europe. All of that hope has all but faded now though. The club is flirting with the prospect of another relegation dog fight towards the back-end of the season and fans must be wondering what all the hype was about.

It is the strikers brought in by Chris Hughton that have taken the brunt of the criticism and despite signing three players that have played European football in recent seasons, they have managed only one league goal between them so far. The club sits on just five league goals for the season and this is down to their lack of shots more than anything, with their shot count for the season the fourth lowest in the league.

Norwich strikers in front of goal this season

The Premier League teams with the fewest attempts on goal

It is perhaps Ricky van Wolfswinkel who has disappointed most since his transfer from Sporting Lisbon in the summer. The Netherlands international who reached the 20-goal landmark in both seasons with the Portuguese underachievers is the only forward with a goal to his name, but his form has declined dramatically since the Everton match. The striker has created just three chances for his team-mates and fired in a paltry seven shots despite starting every match so far.

Van Wolfswinkel’s season in summary

The Canaries also find themselves in the bottom five for chances created, showing their complete lack of ability in the opposition half. Nathan Redmond has been the brightest spark in the Norwich side and tops their performance score charts as well as contributing 10 shots in his 382 minutes on the pitch.

Redmond has had more success with his shots than Norwich’s strikers

Redmond is showing up his more experienced team-mates and also boasts an impressive 68% success rate for take-ons in the Premier League, completing 17 of his 25 dribbles to date.

Their quest for points has not been helped by the defensive errors from the usually so reliable goalkeeper,John Ruddy. Only Tim Krul and Keiren Westwood have a worse goalkeeping score than the former Everton shot-stopper, already making the same amount of defensive errors that he recorded last season.

These individual errors and poor performances could be blamed on the players getting used to a different style of play for the time being, they will not got away with under-performing for much longer without being replaced. Hughton may be best off resorting to the players that performed so admirably last season and easing the new players into the side at a slower rate.

Transitional periods are a common occurrence when a club brings in several new faces, especially when they’re such key figures in the side. If his side doesn’t start to click soon then they could find themselves embroiled in a relegation battle and without players with the necessary experience to get them out alive.