You need look no further than the Norwich dug-out these days for a sign of just how far the Carnies have come under Glenn Roeder.
With the greatest of respect, when you see a line of fresh faced and inexperienced teenagers warming the bench it doesn't suggest that there is exactly a keenly contested competition for places in the team.
This problem has been there for quite a while, but whereas the previous regime struggled to tempt players to come and join the Carrow Road crusade, Glenn Roeder picked up the telephone and made things happen.
Now there is also valid argument in highlighting that some of Roeder's loan acquisitions didn't exactly arrive at Norwich with a couple of hundred league games tucked under their belts either, and some haven't really made a significant contribution yet or featured as much as they might have expected.
Nevertheless, when you looked at the substitute's bench yesterday that comprised top-scorer Jamie Cureton and the highly impressive Ched Evans, and when the likes of Jon Otsemobor and an injured Daren Huckerby were sat in the stands, it's safe to say that the depth to the squad has increased in recent months meaning that a situation has been created whereby the players are all looking over their shoulders at the moment and mindful that unless they produce the goods on a Saturday afternoon then there'll be someone eagerly waiting for an opportunity who is just as capable of doing a job.
And when you put that little nagging doubt at the back of players' minds, more often than not you tend to get a decent response.
Well, that's how it is in theory anyway.
Trouble is, the way that the starting XI performed yesterday you'd have been forgiven for thinking that there was no one else around to threaten their places at all.
It all went horribly wrong from the start.
The City boss decided to go with a 4-5-1 formation and match Coventry like for like, but the fact that within half an hour he had made two substitutions and abandoned the unfamiliar system would suggest that nothing at all was going according to plan.
Put simply, City were being ripped to shreds, and but for a Coventry side with a bit of composure in front of goal and an heroic performance between the sticks from David Marshall this would have been an absolute rout.
Similar as at Watford in mid-week the Canaries were puzzlingly very slow starters. But unlike at Vicarage Road they never for one moment looked like would be able to find their rhythm.
City were shell-shocked and seemingly at a loss to prevent a Coventry side that was just one place above the relegation zone before kick-off from doing exactly as they pleased.
And that was basically the pattern that ensued for the following hour-and-a-half until the referee mercifully called a halt to proceedings with the Canaries treading water with just eight outfield players on the pitch and ? one Jamie Cureton shot aside – completely unable to trouble their opponents at all.
A horrible afternoon all told, in which the only positive aspect being that Coventry didn't rack up a cricket score in the manner their Midlands neighbours Leicester did three weeks ago.
Earning a credible point away at Watford on Tuesday night and standing toe to toe with one of the most physical and direct teams in the division is one thing, but then producing nothing of the sort four days later is very much another and, systems and formations aside, very worrying.
That's just one win in six matches now, and an additional example of what happens when, for some reason, City decide to put their feet up and have another day off.
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