Norwich 2-0 Birmingham: Paddy Davitt Championship pointers

1. Mood music

What unfolded in such graphic fashion at Plymouth, in Norwich’s previous Championship assignment, carried no real material impact on their league status. Bar an unwanted dent to the goal difference.

Relatively speaking, it is still too early in terms of any one result that could limit the horizon of what this group, and David Wagner, can achieve.

But what it certainly did do was sour the mood and prompt the type of searching questions about the quality and character at Wagner’s disposal that surfaced at the end of last season’s downward spiral.

Not enough water has flown under the bridge to feel there had been a definitive break with the recent past.

A battling Fulham midweek cup defeat, with nine changes, did as Wagner remarked, at least mark a step in the right direction. ‘We cannot change the past, we can do something about the future.’ But this day back on Championship duty was going to be the true weather vane.

Was Plymouth a horrid blip, or symptomatic of a deeper malaise? A first half where Norwich had chances, but not in the quantity to feel they had shifted the dial, left the sense the home crowd were still in a holding pattern.

But the mood shifted decisively when Gabby Sara headed home, and then Jon Rowe hammered home, in the space of five minutes just before the hour mark.

By the end it was back to mutual shows of applause between players, coaching staff and fans. Wagner himself was the last to leave the pitch. What a contrast from the previous final whistle in the league seven days ago.

2. Cruise control

Another day to see Sara grace Carrow Road in green and yellow. The Brazilian may have slipped off that high perch he occupied in winning the Championship player-of-the-month in a blistering August. But he remains by some distance the most complete operator in Wagner’s ranks with the ball at his talented feet.

Or head, for that matter, given he powered Dimi Giannoulis’ cross past John Ruddy to open the scoring at Carrow Road.

Yes, those defensive instincts do not come naturally to Sara in a more withdrawn role alongside Kenny McLean.

One need only rewind to the carnage that unfolded at Plymouth, and the manner Sara was as culpable as many of his under-performing team mates at Home Park. Although he did earn a booking in this game after his goal, for clipping Krystian Bielik to halt a Blues' counter.

But give him time and space and the licence to roam, going the other way, and he as good as any in the second tier.

In a Wagner template that positively wants to goad opponents to come out and press, you need a player of Sara’s calmness on the ball and cleverness to find those pockets of space, and offer the right angles for the likes of Shane Duffy and Ben Gibson to locate him.

The pick of his work in open play was arguably the clip with the outside of his left that arced into Rowe who shovelled it onto Jack Stacey but the full back was unable to take the ball in his stride.

That vision and that technical ability to execute the pictures he sees is what sets Sara apart. There was another gorgeous clip Giannoulis took on his chest but volleyed over. Whatever this season holds from here for Norwich, Sara will be absolutely crucial to the final outcome.

3. Charmed life

After six shipped at Plymouth, a clean sheet at Carrow Road for the same defensive unit. But this latest Norwich home win was not without a few alarms for Angus Gunn, Jack Stacey, Gibson, Duffy and Giannoulis.

Gunn had to make a superb stop early in the second half to foil Jay Stansfield. That prompted Wagner to label him as good as anything in the league in his post-match media.

The Scottish international also had to ride his luck when Koji Miyoshi’s body swerve lost three of the City back four in one shuffle, before he crashed a rising shot against Gunn’s bar.

Jordan James was left unmarked two minutes into stoppage time but woefully failed to hit the target with a header inside the six yard box. There were also a few uncomfortable moments prior to the interval when Birmingham countered with pace and probing deliveries.

A clean sheet was the currency required.

Fair to say Norwich’s defence were left exposed the previous weekend by a midfield who went AWOL. But the likes of Duffy and Gibson were also found wanting.

No doubt plenty would have called for one or both to make way, after Jaden Warner’s assured League Cup debut and the experience of Danny Batth now available. Wagner stayed faithful, and despite a few scares a City backline which underpinned an impressive unbeaten start to the campaign responded.

If the broader debate is whether this Norwich defensive unit can handle the type of aggressive pace and intent Plymouth mustered in abundance, then it will take more than a Birmingham clean sheet.

But as Wagner alluded to in midweek, and those on duty demonstrated at Craven Cottage, when City’s shape is compact and hard to break down out of possession the individual parts are not exposed, or vulnerable, in quite the same way it unravelled at Home Park.

That is likely to be the head coach’s primary focus moving forward, rather than shuffling personnel.  

4. Trading places

Przemyslaw Placheta’s improving form line earned him a first Championship start of the season, which meant a re-deployment for Rowe to occupy a central tract in the vicinity of Adam Idah.

Wagner revealed afterwards he had sat Rowe and Christian Fassnacht down in his office with a view to the duo offering chief support to Idah. Albeit the weight of that responsibility fell to Rowe.

The youngster had made that left-side of the Norwich midfield his own in a goal-fuelled start to the season. A drop-off in productivity was inevitable. 

His reputation is already preceding him now with opponents, who have clearly identified a key part of City's attacking armoury. So there was method in Wagner’s double selection call.

Rowe linked beautifully with Idah for a big first half chance, when he had Ruddy sprawling. Placheta clipped the bar with a drifting cross and, but for an inadvertent touch off Duffy’s back, would have headed home Idah’s near post flick.

Although on the other side of the ledger it was his turnover that forced Gunn into a fine smothering block from Stansfield shortly after half-time.

The Pole, nevertheless, looks a different player to the one who had previously struggled to make any lasting impression. Once Placheta departed before the hour mark, Rowe was shifted to the right, and Hwang Ui-Jo introduced alongside Idah. It brought an immediate dividend with a superb low finish slotted past Ruddy.

Maybe that underlined in both cases it is a work in progress. It will need a bigger body of evidence to feel either Placheta is the 'go to' on the left of the Norwich midfield, or Rowe is the answer in that second striker, in the continued injury absence of both Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes.