Robin Sainty: City backline going with the flow

Whilst there was plenty of criticism about City’s work going forward in Tuesday’s night draw at Reading, there was little to complain about in their defensive efforts, which followed up an equally commanding performance in the win at Blackpool last Saturday.

Grant Hanley and Andrew Omobamidele are becoming a formidable partnership, but what City are doing much more effectively now is defending as a unit, with the midfield working back when out of possession to ensure that the back four aren’t left exposed. The soft underbelly of the last few seasons has disappeared.

I appreciate that not everyone will feel the same, but I derive as much enjoyment from watching well-organised defending as I do fluid attacking football, because there is skill involved in reading a run or timing an interception just as there is in a drag back or stepover.

Consequently, while I understand the frustrations about some of City’s attacking play, I admire their defensive efforts in producing a return of four points from two tricky away games which presented very different challenges.

Blackpool were clearly fired up to take the game to opposition that had been in the Premier League last season and were aided by a vociferous crowd and some tricky weather conditions, yet created very little, while Reading, despite being able to field experienced Premier League players like Jeff Hendrick and Andy Carroll, were limited to three attempts on target.

In normal circumstances, the fact that City are level on points at the top of the league having racked up 23 out of 27 points in a nine-game unbeaten run and secured a draw at the team with the best home record in the Championship would see all their fans delighted, but that’s not the case currently.

Norwich head coach Dean Smith and assistant Craig Shakespeare watch on at Reading (Image: (C)Focus Images Limited www.focus-images.co.uk +44 7813 022858)

There are many who feel that results have been achieved despite performances and there is no doubt that City have rarely fired on all cylinders this season, but it’s a matter for debate as to whether that’s a positive or a negative.

On the one hand there are those who argue that at some point things will implode and results drop away, while others will suggest that there is more in the tank and that overall performances will improve. As ever, football is a game of opinions with no monopoly on being right.

However, what I do struggle with is the suggestion that the Championship is a poor league, not least because I’m unclear of the context for that argument.

To me any league in which it is perfectly possible for any team to beat another on any given day is by definition highly competitive, unlike the Premier League where a struggler beating one of the Big Six is treated as a huge shock.

What is beyond argument is that the gulf between the Championship and the Premier League is growing year on year, both financially and qualitatively, but does that make the former a poor league per se?

To be honest, I see little difference in quality between the Championship now and that of two and four years ago, although it’s hard to make accurate comparisons when 25pc of its teams change each season through promotion and relegation.

Maybe there’s a degree of romanticism about City’s last title-winning season, based on a rose-tinted view of how well they actually played and exacerbated by the peculiar situation of fans having to watch remotely due to lockdown rules.

Certainly, there were a number of tight games where they scraped through via good fortune or late goals, despite putting in less than convincing performances, something which the passage of time has perhaps glossed over.

Again, that’s something that people will have different views about, but hopefully City can extend the unbeaten run today and in a perfect world they will do so with a more flowing performance to keep everyone happy.