What a difference a week can make in football, and for Norwich it finally feels as if they got their season started.

After the Hull game and Norwich sitting bottom of the league, there was a palpable sense of anger across social media. While much was hyperbolic, Dean Smith was certainly drawing the ire of many fans. His message to fans that there was ‘no panic’ was maybe not heeded in every corner of Norfolk and did hold a certain irony as it was the same message he gave Aston Villa fans days before he was sacked there.

On a personal note it also feels as this week the season started as for the first three league game I was in Tokyo visiting family. There is nothing like an eight-hour time difference and a holiday to disconnect yourself from Norwich City. While I of course claim no personal credit for Norwich’s turnaround, I did make a quick visit to a shrine while away to ask for divine assistance and Norwich’s returning to winning is surely no coincidence, I’m sure.

Someone who probably can rightfully take credit though is Josh Sargent. His moving to the central striker role, a role he would say is his preferred one, has seen Norwich not just fashioning chances but now taking them.

Many will claim that Smith style just doesn’t suit a striker like Pukki, although the fact Ollie Watkins and Neal Maupay were Smith’s strikers of choice in previous teams calls that into question. Where there is a bigger question is whether Pukki can just expect a Norwich team to be built in a style that perfectly suits him, especially as he is now 32 and in the final year of his contract.

I’d say that the system isn’t perfectly suited to Sargent’s style either, but he worked harder than anyone on the pitch last week to make sure he made it suit him and took his chance.

Sargent has now shown the attributes that encouraged Norwich to part with almost £10m for him.

His work rate has never been questioned, but his technical ability has been. In the last two games it has been possible to watch a player grow in confidence and bravery in front of all our eyes and by the time he was subbed off against Millwall they must have been breathing a sigh of relief to see a striker who not only can drop deep and hold off a defender, but has the pace to get in behind.

It is remarkable the difference a little bit of self-belief can make, and Sargent certainly hasn’t had the easiest few years. With back-to-back relegations both at Norwich and in Germany with Werder Bremen, he has also lost his place in the USA squad with a World Cup on the horizon. It is easy to understand why his performance levels were below those that brought him to prominence as a carefree 18-year-old who scored with his very first touch as a professional in Germany.

With an American impressing on the pitch, the news of an American coming in off the pitch as well means it has been a big week for trans-Atlantic relations for Norwich.

While the imminent arrive of Mark Attanasio won’t see money pouring into the club like a takeover from an oil state might, a fresh voice on the board will be highly valuable to the club. If Attanasio can bring about even a small part of the success that fellow baseball team owner John Henry has at Liverpool then Norwich could be onto a very good thing. While it is easy to be snooty about our American cousins and their approach to ‘soccer’, their influence is certainly growing and with it they bring fresh ideas, and fresh ideas is possibly something Norwich have been lacking recently.

Say it quietly, but things are looking up for Norwich after a difficult season and I haven’t even touched on the Marcelino Nunez, who appears to be the happiest man in Carrow Road at the moment as well as a highly talented footballer.