Six things you might have missed from City 3-2 Derby win
After Norwich City’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Derby County, Connor Southwell looks at six things you might have missed from Pride Park.
1 – Hat-trick hero
After a day of controversy and chaos, it is Borja Sainz’s hat-trick that will come to dominate headlines.
The Spaniard became the first Norwich City player to score a hat-trick since Teemu Pukki’s three goals against Huddersfield Town in a 7-0 demolition back in April 2021.
The history books have to be flicked back to March 2018 for the last time a Norwich player completed a hat-trick away from home, with James Maddison achieving that feat in a 4-3 defeat to Hull.
Maddison’s hat-trick included two penalties, meaning Efan Ekoku’s famous four-goal haul at Everton in September 1993 is the last time it was done consisting of purely open play goals.
Sainz is the first to complete an open-play hat-trick away from home in the second tier since Mel Machin in a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in October 1974. It was a day to cherish for the 23-year-old, who confirmed post-match it was the first of his career.
It comes after some conversations surrounding his output and two weeks after a profligate display away at Swansea.
Sainz is an agent of chaos for City. His brilliance in front of goal at Pride Park came alongside the lowest pass completion rate of any Norwich starter and miscontrolled the ball more than any of his colleagues.
That feeds into the work that Johannes Hoff Throup will still want to do with him, but Sainz has already matched his goal return from last season.
2 – Showing the way, Jose
It is little coincidence that Norwich City’s uplift in attacking output has coincided with Jose Cordoba’s introduction to their backline.
That statement within itself is an illustration of how influential those in City’s defence have become to the creation of their attacking situations from deep. Callum Doyle has earned similar praise for his progressive passing ability.
Cordoba has been pivotal to City’s progression of the ball up the pitch. No player has done it more through passes or carries per 90 than the Panamanian in the Championship so far – albeit his data sample is small.
His inclusion in City’s side has enabled Norwich to be more aggressive with the high positioning of their back line due to Cordoba’s ability to defend in large spaces and sweeper-like qualities.
No City player had more touches than Cordoba (97) during this encounter. Only Kenny McLean had more of the ball in the middle third than the defender. He has become an intrinsic part to the execution of Johannes Hoff Thorup’s game model.
Cordoba and Norwich also have Shane Duffy’s improvement to thank for their progress.
After a shaky start to the campaign against Oxford and Blackburn, Duffy has grown into the campaign effectively and has gone under the radar in terms of his work in possession.
