Robin Sainty: Enjoy this City form while you can

For 45 minutes City pounded Coventry incessantly and probably deserved more than a two-goal half-time lead, but then took their foot off the gas and found it hard to regain their momentum until the injection of energy from their substitutions.

Clearly the players were growing frustrated with themselves and each other, but when a game is so easy there is always a danger of sloppiness creeping in.

While it might look alarming from the stands, players shouting at each other over mistakes as noted by several fans is generally a healthy sign that standards are high and that anyone dropping below them will get some sharp words.

Football is a passionate game and lots of things are said and done in the heat of the moment, but are forgotten over a drink later.

However, the wider issue of fans struggling to get excited about what is happening is more worrying. Five consecutive wins would have most fanbases excited, but the second-half silence from the City fans while their Coventry counterparts sang the roof off was worrying, as were subsequent comments from fans about how bad another season in the Premier League would be if City were to get back there.

That may well the case, although by no means a given, but why deny yourself the joy of watching your team playing well and winning when they are?

I’ve spent plenty of the 50-odd years that I’ve been a City fan watching some pretty poor teams who never challenged for anything, and a rollercoaster ride is infinitely preferable to that.

Saturday was a big day for Aaron Ramsey, who has made a slow start to the season and has also suffered to some extent because of the high expectations and low returns from Billy Gilmour last season.

This time we saw the real Ramsey and the second goal perfectly illustrates his awareness and pace. As Coventry took their throw-in, he was behind his marker, but he was first to spot that Michael Rose had misplaced his pass and was two yards clear when Todd Cantwell intercepted it.

With space to drive into he could have carried the ball, but played an inch-perfect first-time pass ahead of Teemu Pukki that allowed the striker to reach the ball at full pace, and once Pukki turned inside it was Ramsey who arrived at speed and with sufficient awareness to know that Josh Sargent was better placed to score.

That sort of run into the box by a central midfielder was missing for the whole of last season, but it will make City harder to defend against, with 11 different players already contributing goals this season to take the pressure off Pukki.

We have already seen the dynamism that Marcelino Nunez has brought, as evidenced again by his high press to create the opener, while Kieran Dowell’s goal came from another late and perfectly-timed support run.

Todd Cantwell is winning over the Norwich City doubters (Image: (C)Focus Images Limited www.focus-images.co.uk +44 7813 022858)

It’s also only right to highlight Cantwell’s excellent raking pass to start that move and I sense that fans who had turned against him last season are being won back over by his effort and he is a player who, when fully motivated, any Championship club would like to have.

Now the tests become harder, but given that tonight is the ninth game of 46, a win or draw make it no more likely that City will dominate the league than a defeat would mean they can’t.

That said, it’s a great chance to put down a marker to their promotion rivals and continue their unbeaten run, and with Mark Attanasio coming onto the Board, hopefully the excitement level will increase over the next week or so and raise City fans spirits.