Any long time reader of this column will know that I like international breaks as much as I like holes in the head, the music of Ed Sheeran and well done steaks.
As a fervent club-before-country chap, I've never been a fan of proper football making way for international games - especially when it is for made-up non-tournaments like the Nations League.
As much as Cristiano Ronaldo fans are desperate to count it as a major international trophy, it just isn't.
The fact this one was also a double weekender didn't exactly fill me with joy either.
But as we now head into another busy run of fixtures playing catch-up as a result, few can dispute the respite may well have come at a welcome time.
It goes without saying that the theme heading into the international break was City's leaking defence.
In the space of six days preceding the international break, our backline was breached a blithering 13 times.
For mathematicians out there, that's a goal conceded every 20 minutes played.
Even the most optimistic of fans, which I tend to count myself among, can't really argue that isn't worrying.
It is abundantly clear that something just wasn't right heading into the break.
While there is obviously a school of thought that it's better to rip off the plaster, some wounds just do need time to heal.
Knowing what we know about Philippe Clement, there will clearly have been no actual rest over the break and no stone left unturned to find the solutions.
In a week's time, Southampton come to visit, but in all likelihood they won't have needed to send a spy to know what must be going on at Camp Colney the past fortnight.
Having some of the party away on international duty probably isn't ideal, but nonetheless those still around will surely be going through defensive drills of the highest order.
Never mind normal drills, it's pneumatic power drills we need.
Obviously the big elephant in the room is the ever-growing injury list, which seems to be part and parcel of Norwich City life these days.
However, the gift of time is not the only positive spin we can put on this international break.
And ironically enough it comes in the shape of one of the handful of players not around to benefit from the opportunity to reset.
While his defensive colleagues have likely spent the past two weeks justifiably having the riot act read to them by a certain Belgian, Ruairi McConville's international break probably couldn't have gone much better.
The City defensive standout made four appearances for Northern Ireland, in which time they conceded a grand total of zero goals.
The break was capped off with a man of the match performance against Georgia and a starring role in the 3-0 win over Ukraine.
No doubt he will be bounding back into Colney this week full of confidence, hopefully having shattered any battering it may have taken with the six days of hell before.
As a defender, if four consecutive clean sheets at international level doesn't put a spring in your step, nothing will.
The one concern is that squeezing four games into 11 days, with international travel to boot, might take its toll - but his youth and the confidence boost may well counteract that.
For those who haven't travelled, one has to hope the break has served as exactly the circuit breaker needed to kick-start what is already turning into a stop-start sort of season.
Getting back under way with an away trip to the league leaders could actually be the perfect way to grab the season by the scruff of its neck and press on.
Even with the extended time break, it isn't actually long before internationals take over again, but with a seven-game mini-season crammed into the next month, it's vital we start to build some momentum.
Clement has proven before he is capable of rescuing a season as it was heading down the pan.
Time to do it all over again.
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