Norwich City still waiting for a Premier League penalty

 

It is a startling statistic on this season that Norwich City have yet to be awarded a Premier League penalty. Nevertheless, they have seen them awarded against them, and will feel that it is their time. I have watched in astonishment this season at some of the decisions that have gone against the team.

The law of odds and probability would surely have resulted in one of those such decisions going the right way for Norwich. However, that hasn’t yet happened. In fact, the team have received yellow cards for diving instead.

I think we all know that there are plenty of penalties awarded that were actually dives. The Canaries are not a team that look to dive in the penalty area. But like every other team have done so on occasion. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be necessary to resort to such tactics in order to get a decision from the referee.

However, it is a sad fact of our times that the player that stays on his feet when fouled doesn’t get the decision, while the player that goes down usually does. I think it’s also fair to say that referees sometimes don’t give penalties, because they realize that if they do, then a red card will also need to be awarded.

There is every possibility that this has played a part on why the Canaries have not been awarded a penalty this season. There is also the school of thought that Chris Hughton’s negative and defensive tactics have played a part. The theory being that a lack of attacking play likely means that there won’t be a lot of opportunities to win a penalty.

There is, of course, also the theory on bigger clubs getting the decisions. History also tells us that the team does not have a huge amount of success in winning spot kicks. Therefore, there might be a number of factors at play here. But the Canaries will be hoping that they do successfully win a penalty kick in the Premier League before too long.

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