Iwan Roberts on Norwich City age blend and Dave Carolan

You’ve got Angus Gunn, who is 28, Shane Duffy, who seems to be producing the goods in recent performances, Marcelino Nunez and Kenny McLean in the heart of midfield, and you’ve got Josh Sargent up front, so if you look at the spine of the team, I think that's solid.

Then you've got legs in and around them, and it certainly worked against Watford, so it looks like Johannes Hoff Thorup has got the mixture spot on and hopefully they can continue that.

Six of the players who started against Watford were 23 or under. I never played in a team with that many, but when Johannes came in, his background was working with and developing youngsters and bringing them into the first team at Nordsjaelland.

That was one of the big reasons why he was given the opportunity with the Academy here doing so well and producing a lot of local talent.

That was one reason why I signed for Watford as a 17-year-old, because they had the reputation of ‘if you were good enough, you'll be given a chance’. It happened to the likes of Nigel Gibbs, Nigel Callaghan, Kenny Jackett and Malcolm Allen.

I could have gone to three or four clubs which would have been a lot closer to my home in North Wales, but I just thought Watford was the right club for me because they liked to develop their youngsters and give them opportunities.

These young lads now at 15, 16, 17 playing at their age levels at Colney, they should be looking at these youngsters who have come in - even the likes of Jonathan Rowe and Abu Kamara, boys who broke through into the first team picture.

If they do well enough, if they keep listening and developing and improving on a daily basis, their time will come because that's the head coach’s philosophy, that's the way he likes to work. He likes to give youngsters an opportunity and then it's down to them to take it.

I think 100pc seeing those youngsters getting into the first team makes the others work harder, because that's the end achievement for them, they've got something to aim for.

It’s good to see an improvement of late  – it didn’t reap the rewards in the first few games, but the signs were definitely there. I remember after the Blackburn game, I said they looked so good going forward. There was a goal in that game that started by the Snake Pit and 10 seconds later it's in the back of the Blackburn net. It was magnificent play.

And the goals at the weekend – let’s be honest, they could have been 2-0 up before the opening goal anyway: Sargent missed a great chance after a few minutes and Doyle rifled one in. Kenny’s ball for Sainz’s goal was magnificent, but Sainz’s first touch was ridiculous, it makes the goal to be fair.

City scored four – but they had scored only seven in their previous 10 league games.

But it’s just what was needed ahead of a hard week coming up.

Derby are a difficult proposition at Pride Park (Image: PA Images)

First up is Saturday’s trip to Derby, managed by Paul Warne, and then it’s Leeds at home in midweek followed by Hull here on the Saturday.

Paul did a great job at Rotherham, on the lowest budget in the league. Yes, he had a couple of relegations but he took them back to the Championship and they were punching well above their weight.

He’s a great lad and he's done a great job at Derby - he had a tough time when he first went there, I don't think the fans really took to him and I don't think the performances were what he wanted or what they wanted. 

But he's turned it around and their home form has been superb: they have nine points this season, all from home games, and they’ve yet to concede at Pride Park. They’ve won their last 10 competitive games at Pride Park.

They’re a stingy side and that is a big task for Norwich, but having scored four against Watford, who have had a great start, they'll be confident.

I was there a couple of weeks ago when Cardiff went there - they only won 1-0, but they were miles better than Cardiff. In the press room before the game I was talking to someone from BBC Radio Derbyshire and he told me I’d be surprised.

He said ‘this place is bouncing’. I haven't been there for a couple of seasons, but it was full and they get behind their team. They see their players working their socks off for the manager and for them, and if you don't match you are in trouble.

Carolan of love

Dave Carolan - back in the day (Image: Newsquest Library)

There’s a familiar face in Derby’s backroom staff – my old sports scientist at Norwich, Dave Carolan.

I didn’t realise Dave was at Derby until my recent visit - I was sat at my desk in the press box and I heard someone shout ‘Robbo’, and I'm wondering ‘who's that?’ I looked and he's on the pitch, putting his cones and preparing for the warm up.

He disappeared and five minutes later, he's come up with a coffee!

It was hard for Dave at Norwich because it was all new to us. He was the first real sports scientist/fitness coach that I’d had. I was coming towards end of my career, I was a bit old school. He came in my second season and, yes, there were certain things I wasn’t too keen on. But I played until I was 37 and he was one of the main reasons for that.

He helped me with my nutrition, got me to go in the weights room far more often than I used. I told him, ‘I don’t want to bulk up, I'm slow enough as it is. If I bulk up I’ll be even slower. I’m going to lose a yard of pace and I haven't got a yard to lose’.

So I've got a lot of time and a lot of respect for Dave.

It was hard for Dave because he came from a rugby background and he was coming into football. But he was such a knowledgeable man.

Don't get me wrong, if you asked him, he’d tell you, ‘yeh, they whinged and moaned at everything I asked them to do’, which we probably did.

But he definitely helped me play until I was 37 and if you ask him, when I left Norwich in 2004 at 36, I was probably fitter, leaner, had less body fat than when he joined in 1998.