Paddy Davitt delivers his Coventry City verdict after Norwich City’s first Championship win under Johannes Hoff Thorup.

1. Plus Three

Thorup opted to play it down, pre-match, but a first Championship win of his Norwich City reign felt big in the broader context of a new head coach, a radically different playing style, and a large turnover of players in the transfer window.

Borja Sainz slotted early in the second half to inflict a first home defeat on Mark Robins’ Coventry City this season.

The Sky Blues expect to be in the top six shake up come the end of the campaign but Norwich were controlled before the break and resolute after Sainz had fired then into the lead. Angus Gunn was well-protected to secure a first clean sheet in the league into the bargain.

Thorup insisted all along since his arrival in May whatever voyage of discovery he is leading this club on, it cannot come at the expense of picking up results and ticking over the points tally.

Do that and the belief grows – outside the camp as much as inside – and that all-important commodity, momentum, can carry you quicker and faster and higher than might have seemed possible after a testing opening day defeat at Oxford.

Thorup may now have wished for a swift turnaround rather than a fortnight’s pause for the international break, but Norwich will be on the front foot when they resume, and looking to pick up where they left off in the West Midlands.

2. Window of opportunity

In keeping with the scale of the business undertaken by Norwich in a first transfer window driven by Thorup and Ben Knapper, deadline day brought a consistent turnover of inward and outward movement.

But separate out the development cycle that saw three prospects depart on loan, and three arrive from Chelsea, Dundee United and Middlesbrough, and it was two loan additions for the Dane’s squad in Anis Ben Slimane and Liverpool’s Kaide Gordon.

City opted not to try and pursue a permanent addition in wide areas in the hours that remained of the summer trading, once Abu Kamara had been granted his wish to depart for pastures new.

Hard to assess definitively this close to the conclusion of summer business, but eight senior departures and eight arrivals underline the scale of the work undertaken.

City had a financial figure in mind they wanted to generate from player trading. But of far more interest to Norwich fans was the twin track process of moulding a squad more in keeping with Thorup’s vision. There is potential and youth and energy in abundance in the new arrivals.

Thorup himself rejected any notion of a 'hectic' period full of distractions, one where Norwich were reactive or buffeted by events. It was planned, it was strategic and it perhaps underscored again the painstaking methodology Knapper applies his craft.

But replacing the goals and assists of a Gabby Sara, or the off-the-cuff influence of a fully-fit Jonny Rowe in full pomp, will prove a challenge in the short term. However good this body of recruitment turns out to be. 

Borja Sainz celebrates his Norwich City matchwinner against Coventry City (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

3. Danish delight

The more eagle-eyed who lingered at Carrow Road the previous weekend, after an entertaining 1-1 Championship home draw against Sheffield United, may have noted the warm embrace and lengthy dialogue between new City signing, Oscar Schwartau, and Blades’ substitute, Slimane. Former Brondby team mates after all. Nothing to see. Or maybe not.

The plates were already shifting on a deal that has since brought a proper reunion in Norfolk, after the 23-year-old Copenhagen-born Slimane arrived on deadline day.

The duo were inseparable again for the majority of the first period as they limbered up on the touchline as part of Norwich’s substitutes. But when the likes of Onel Hernandez retreated to the dug out, the two new boys continued to stay a yard or so from the touchline.

At one point, Thorup called both towards him for what looked an impromptu tutorial on their new team mates. Sure enough, both were introduced at the interval.

The effect was almost immediate. Sainz put Norwich in front within five minutes of their arrivals but it was the calmness in possession and the speed they moved the ball, and hunted turnovers, that marked a change in tempo.

In stoppage time, Slimane also showed his streetwise edge with a pressure-relieving yellow card to halt a Coventry counter.

That eyecatching link to Real Madrid’s Reinier was a trail that went cold a few weeks ago, when Norwich pivoted towards a player in Slimane they felt was a better fit for the midfield profile Thorup demanded. Despite Madrid and Reinier’s camp pushing hard for a tour of duty in Norfolk.

You could see why on the early evidence of his City debut. Slimane looks to have both the technical quality and, crucially, the physicality to handle the muck and nettles of the Championship.

4. Bargain basement

Thorup has the steely stare about him that suggests you would be well-advised not to get the wrong side of the cool Dane.

But he also has a penchant for one-liners. When he was asked about exiting the League Cup at Crystal Palace on Tuesday he reminded the journalist there is still the FA Cup to chase this season.

When he was prompted for his plan around Josh Sargent’s future at his pre-match press call on Thursday he joked he was going to lock him in his basement to ward off any suitors.

As it turned out, Norwich did not have to ignore any phone calls or stick the freescoring US international in a bunker somewhere in Norfolk.

Once that genuine interest from the MLS earlier in the window subsided, City were thankfully spared the type of decisions they had to take on the likes of Sara, Rowe, Adam Idah, even Kamara.

It would have surely taken something akin to a club record bid at such a late stage of the summer window even to consider the prospect of this group minus the powerful striker.

Kenny McLean labelled him the best in the Championship the previous weekend, after his second consecutive league goal against the Blades.

Thorup was on the same page when he said there is none better at this level in a side looking to profit down the channels and in behind.

Alas, should Sargent stay fit, healthy and in the goals then it is inevitable there will be even more discussion around his future once the January window opens. City might need to get the excavators in to dig an even deeper trench in that case.