Paddy Davitt delivers his Swansea City verdict after another Championship away defeat.
1. Negative equity
A fourth away defeat on the spin. Three in the league, if you wish to excuse the battling effort at Fulham in the League Cup. But, nevertheless, a regressive trend that has sucked much of the optimism out of the Canaries’ early-season efforts.
Norwich look lacking in creative ideas, or defensive resolution, when they head away from Norfolk. Not a great combination, and the type of toxic formula that will now put David Wagner and his under-performing players under the microscope.
Confusion and indecision involving Shane Duffy and Adam Forshaw was punished by the Swans within three minutes of the kick-off.
After Gabby Sara’s leveller, and with a sense the win was there for the taking, they were breached again in the closing stages. Angus Gunn brilliantly denied Oliver Cooper before Duffy’s defensive instincts produced a goalline block.
But Bashir Humphreys reacted quickest to lash home, after a bout of pinball at a late Swansea corner. In games of fine margins – Plymouth aside – Norwich continue to be found wanting. That is surely a concern for Wagner and his coaching brains.
2. Changing man
The head coach clearly felt he had the strength in depth at his disposal, despite the injury absence of Josh Sargent, Ashley Barnes, Grant Hanley et al. Norwich City fans may have been forgiven for raising a collective eyebrow when the team sheet dropped from the Swansea stadium and Forshaw, Tony Springett and Hwang Ui-Jo were included.
Christian Fassnacht’s levels have perhaps dropped in recent outings, but Adam Idah’s absence was tougher to grasp. Springett himself returned to the starting line up after not making the matchday squad for Birmingham at the weekend.
When Wagner has spoken about shuffling his pack to deal with the rigours of a congested spell, sandwiched between two international periods, he meant it on this evidence.
When Jamal Lowe sidefooted Swansea in front, after a sloppy passage of play involving Duffy and Forshaw, you feared the worst - in terms of the narrative that would be wrapped around Wagner’s selection calls.
Yet, in truth, at 1-1 the game was finely poised for Idah, Przemyslaw Placheta and Onel Hernandez to enter the contest as finishers. Norwich had a measure of control from the moment Sara headed then level. Gunn was a virtual spectator for a large portion of the second period.
Idah headed Placheta’s fierce cross over inside the six yard box, and when the heat came on at the opposite end Norwich succumbed again from a needless corner concession, sourced from Placheta’s weak touch.
It was a show of faith from Wagner in his available squad. But the manner of this latest defeat suggested there is a lack of depth and an abundance of vulnerability.
Changes in forward areas failed to ignite City’s work in the final third, and his tried and trusted backline were again undone.
You could package them as brave calls from Wagner but he knows better than most how the game works. Get them right, and he embellishes his credentials. Get them wrong, or his chosen players fail to deliver, and there will be even greater scrutiny on his selection policy.
3. Sky Blue thinking
A trip to last season’s beaten Championship play-off finalists, Coventry City, now awaits before a fortnight to sit and stew when the international calendar takes over once again.
Wagner was honest and forthright in his assessment on the opening nine league tussles, before this latest away league defeat. Some good, some bad, and some where he had struggled to find the right words without resorting to expletives.
There is no question Norwich must now deliver a positive result, first and foremost, in the West Midlands against Mark Robins’ team.
After a shaky start, perhaps an inevitable hangover following Wembley sudden death penalty heartache and the sales of two quality attackers, Coventry have picked up two consecutive league wins.
Norwich surely know what is coming. This season has now stalled and the questions will only grow louder from here for Wagner and his players.
In his second away game in charge after he had replaced Dean Smith earlier this year the freescoring Canaries were deserved victors at the CBS. But this vintage look increasingly hesitant and lacking in self-confidence, or self-belief, away from the secure confines of Carrow Road.
They need a fast-acting remedy. Increasingly the loss of big characters like Sargent and Barnes feels exponentially bigger with each lacklustre offering on the road. It will require real leadership to emerge in their absence.
4. Gauntlet, thrown
A second consecutive Championship assist for Dimi Giannoulis plonked on the head of Sara. Quite the attacking double act. The Greek looked up, worked out his angles and clipped the perfect ball for the Brazilian’s diving header to draw Norwich level.
It was further evidence of Wagner’s pre-match comments Giannoulis has hit a rich vein of consistency.
Certainly going forward there can be few better at this level of the English game. Cooper earned a booking when he hauled back the raiding full-back after he had been nut-megged.
Yet those defensive concerns still persist, albeit Giannoulis’ general work out of possession, and his combative streak, have improved in what could be his final tour in green and yellow.
The Greek international is one of those out of contract in the summer of 2024. Wagner was quick to downplay any trace of urgency in regard to Giannoulis’ longer term Carrow Road prospects. His full focus, and that of his player, is on the job in hand of accumulating Championship points.
But the fact he has been an ever-present in the German’s league line up is a signal Giannoulis is now an integral part of this expected tilt at promotion.
There was a period when Sam McCallum might have fancied his chances of challenging his rival.
For now that debate is over. As Wagner himself stated in the build up, Giannoulis has raised the bar for himself and his left-back rivals. But there was also a challenge from his head coach he must maintain this over the entire duration of the campaign.
Do that and you can be sure Norwich will be keen to sit down with Giannoulis and his representatives to plot the next phase of his career.
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