Andy Head

Martin has an unshakable belief in his own ability. You can hear it in every interview he gives. Whilst he commendably doesn’t shy away from admitting to a mistake, he will always believe that he can put it right and that he should be in the team to help right any wrongs.

It can’t be denied that the demands of a 46 game Championship season, playing Saturdays and Tuesdays, (while still playing for the Republic of Ireland in every international break) are catching up with the wee man. As much as we may want him to, he can’t go on forever.

We have McGovern with two years left of his contract who inspires zero confidence from the City fan base and seemingly little confidence from what currently passes for our defence, as they have no clue where he is or whether he’s coming to collect the ball at any given time.

Parts of the crowd turning on the back four seemed akin to a teacher calling the kids in the bottom maths group stupid when giving them an arithmetic problem he/she knew they could never solve. You might feel better for releasing frustration but you’re not really helping. These are never going to be straight A students no matter how much you shout at them.

If we can keep Jerome, Howson and Wes healthy, add in a fit again Naismith, and Pinto we can still light up the darkest of days going forward. But with all the positive attacking potential we know the negative defensive potential that undermines it and cancels it out.

This summer represents a watershed moment for the entire defence. Whittaker, Turner, Bassong and Bennett are all out of contract whilst Dijk is highlighting on social media at every turn a “four months” caveat, which serves to remind that left-back is far from settled.

Lambert was very aware of the mood of the crowd. His post-match comments repeatedly highlighted how conscious he was of the ability to turn Norwich’s own fans against them, and how close his team came to doing just that after their equaliser, and capitalising on the tinderbox housed within the Barclay, the Snake Pit et al.

The famous scene that defined the movie was where Al Pacino’s embattled head coach had seen his team reach the Super Bowl and in the inspirational speech-to-end-all-speeches he explained that, like life, football is a game of inches.