Robin Sainty on Swansea and the need to supply Sargent

In a game between two sides with very similar philosophies, City put themselves behind the eight ball within five minutes when Kenny McLean decided to try to play out from near his own corner flag instead of allowing the ball to roll harmlessly out for a goal kick.

He wasn’t helped by Jack Stacey haring upfield instead of offering a short ball option or by Amankwah Forson blundering into the resultant cross, but it was a totally self-inflicted wound from which City never recovered.

It was definitely a backward step after the encouraging win at Coventry and there was widespread frustration among fans on Saturday evening, but with a developing side this is going to happen and I’m sure that this won’t be the last time that we see it.

Connor Southwell’s excellent piece earlier in the week set out the stark statistics of how many times City gave the ball away and that was the root of the problem.

Borja Sainz, Forson and Oscar Schwartau in particular were frequently guilty of heavy first touches when in promising positions and there was a general trend of poor decision-making, not least on the part of Sainz, who squandered three glorious chances through a lack of decisiveness.

Even Callum Doyle, whose passing has largely been exemplary so far this season, gave the ball away in dangerous positions leading to Swansea breaks.

Ironically, despite all those City errors, Swansea rarely threatened Angus Gunn’s goal, which made the fact that Johannes Hoff Thorup’s team came away without even a single point all the harder to take.

I have quite a lot of sympathy for Thorup, who has had to battle through a challenging transfer window where plans were disrupted by players holding the club to ransom, resulting in a revolving door that has seen eight players in and nine out.

While that high turnover may actually prove to be a positive in the longer term, in the present it’s meant changes game after game, and it is only now that he could expect things to settle down and give him a chance to work out what his best side actually is.

However, this week’s departure of Narcis Pelach and Paul Clements to Stoke City has provided another unwelcome distraction.

While I’m sure that City fans will wish Pelach well in fulfilling his ambition to become a head coach, the positive aspect is that it will provide an opportunity for Thorup and Ben Knapper to bring in their own selections to the vacant posts.

An injury to Anis Ben Slimane hasn't helped City's plans (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

It was also frustrating that, after his excellent debut at Coventry, Anis Ben Slimane joined the list of City players to fall foul of the curse of an injury at the start of their Carrow Road careers and I’m sure that Thorup will be hoping for a swift recovery for one of the more experienced midfield options available to him.

Regardless of that, the big issue at the moment is how to get a decent supply line to Josh Sargent. As usual the American worked his socks off at Swansea but received very little in the way of service, and that should be a real concern going forward.

There is no doubt that City have looked increasingly stronger defensively as the season has gone on, but there is a clear need for that improvement to be matched in the offensive third, where City have had plenty of possession but not really translated that into many clear-cut chances.

There is little doubt that Sargent is one of the best strikers in the Championship, but City have to find a way to get the ball to him in and around the box much more often. If they can, we know that he can do the rest.