It should be one of the easiest selections decisions of Glenn Roeder's 12-month reign. Same again.
And come 2.50pm tomorrow afternoon, it should equally be one of the shortest pre-match speeches of Glenn Roeder's 12-month managerial reign. Same again.
Certainly after Tuesday night's thumping 5-2 success against league leaders Wolves, that's exactly what the home faithful will be expecting tomorrow against Doncaster Rovers. The same again.
“We set the standard against Wolves,” said Canary midfielder Sammy Clingan this week.
Yep.
Unless this morning's pre-match Press conference reveals anything wholly untoward on the injury front, it would raise more than an eye-brow or two if the City chief opted to tinker with such a winning formula.
The biggest decision ahead of Tuesday night was to go with two, out-and-out attacking wide men in the shape of Lee Croft and Wes Hoolahan.
That's where Roeder broke the recent mould and – attacking-wise – gave Wolves something to think about on either flank; not just the one.
It was helped by the fact that Hoolahan marked his return from the recent selection wilderness with a tightly disciplined display; that said, the bonus came in the extra craft and creativity he brought to the party. And with Leroy Lita in such a goal-scoring mood, it clicked. Just as the Darel Russell-Sammy Clingan partnership appears to be doing in the heart of that Canary midfield.
Now with a captain's armband to his name, Russell is back in his preferred position; Clingan is looking more and more like Gary Holt with passing knobs on. As each week and contest passes, his name becomes ever-more the first on the team-sheet. Certainly both players are going to take some dislodging – particularly when it all goes quite so well on the night as it did against a shell-shocked Wolves.
“It just goes to show how good we are potentially – if we can just get everything clicking right,” City's new skipper told the club's official website.
“We should be a lot further up the league than we were and, hopefully, we can continue to produce results like we did on Tuesday and get ourselves moving.”
Drop below Clingan's 'standard' and Rusell knows that it will, in effect, be another stumble back after the giant leap forward that this week's win offered.
“We now have to look ahead to Doncaster ad a performance that's anything less than we did against Wolves will be a disappointment,” he said.
Not everything in the garden is wholly rosy. This wouldn't be Norwich if this were the case.
Traditionally, they have a habit of tripping up against the Doncasters of this world; blossoming against the Wolves'. By all accounts the Championship new-boys did themselves proud in the narrow 2-1 defeat at Reading in mid-week. They're no one's mugs.
Likewise, Lita's expected exit back to the Royals straight after next weekend's trip to Burnley leaves a huge situation vacant there – that someone has to step up to that particular goal-scorig plate if Norwich's momentum up the table is to be sustained.
Again, at the back, as well as Gary Doherty did on his first competitive start for five months and for all the Premiership experience that Dejan Stefanovic brings to the party, Norwich still look vulnerable to a soft, soft goal every time a deep ball is punted into their penalty area – be it at Ashton Gate or at Carrow Road, two of the biggest players on the pitch have been left nigh-on unmarked to either tap the ball home from eight-yards or head the ball down for a sudden life-line.
That has to be addressed. At least – albeit on the basis of just one game – there may be evidence of how the Canaries might look after John Kennedy returns to Celtic in January; that Doherty can be one alternative in the likelihood that there won't be the funds to source an alternative.
Russell, however, summed up Norwich's more immediate needs – to replicate that effort against Wolves in every regard and not be found guilty of only turning it on when the big boys are in town.
“It seems we play our best against the top sides,” said Russell, a trait that has been all-too common down the years.
“It can only be a psychological thing – when we play those lower sides that we don't put on as good a performance. But we need to put that right now and Doncaster is one of those sides that we perhaps have that stigma with.
“We need to produce the right result and the right mental attitude for that game.”
Leave a Reply