The visceral howl of triumph that burst from over 20,000 throats as Martin Atkinson blew the final whistle on Saturday was more than relief at a first home win of the season; it was a recognition that something fundamental had changed.

That certainly hadn’t happened in the first 45 minutes against Southampton as City continued a familiar pattern of sitting off and allowing their opponents the freedom to knock the ball around at will as well as gifting an early goal from a situation that needed someone, anyone, to simply put their foot through the ball.

In fact, it was a more depressing opening half than in previous home games this season, where City had at least produced a head of steam before they eventually ran out of ideas, and it could have proven fatal on Saturday, had Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson not consistently thrown themselves into key blocks and Tim Krul been at his best as Southampton consistently exploited the wide-open spaces on City’s flanks with the hosts struggling to get to grips with the Saints’ formation.

The fact that the Canaries got into half-time on level terms was a huge relief, but what followed thereafter was uplifting.

Having seen Southampton being allowed the freedom of midfield in the first half, Dean Smith made an immediate and decisive intervention by taking off the unsurprisingly off-the-pace Todd Cantwell, moving Milot Rashica from the right to the left wing and introducing more energy and physicality in the form of Josh Sargent.

It was also noticeable that City adopted a higher defensive line, which in turn made their high press much more effective as Kenny McLean, Mathias Normann and Billy Gilmour started to get into the faces of the opposition and Southampton players, who had looked imperious in the first half, suddenly found themselves under pressure and making mistakes.

With City getting a greater share of possession as they condensed the pitch the hunters suddenly became the hunted as the spaces that Southampton had exploited so effectively earlier in the game disappeared and Max Aarons and Brandon Williams repeatedly took the fight to the retreating Kyle Walker-Peters and Valentino Livramento in support of Rashica and Sargent.

Much as I appreciate possession football and neat passing, there is nothing that gets a crowd’s blood up as effectively as a few crunching challenges, and Williams, Sargent and Mathias Normann were all happy to oblige as the atmosphere was steadily ramped up, culminating in the crescendo of noise that greeted Hanley’s winner.

The fact is that City have been too “nice” for too long in a league which is awash with cynicism, so it was good to see Williams take a booking on the halfway line to stop a potential breakaway, because that’s exactly what opposing Premier League players do in the same situation.

If there was a consistent criticism of Daniel Farke’s teams it was that they could be bullied by more physical opponents, something which wasn’t too much of an issue in the Championship where their superior quality invariably won through, but proved a major problem in the Premier League where physicality is a key facet of virtually every team.

Under Farke, City relied on finesse to survive in the top division, and it wasn’t enough. That had to change and, while making any sort of judgment on 45 minutes of football is dangerous, the early signs are that Smith will expect much more aggression from his teams, and I think that’s something that we should welcome.

Of course, there will be games where City are outgunned and outclassed, but if they are prepared to dig in and battle, they will get results in games that might previously have been seen as “unwinnable” because even the best teams can be forced into errors.

It’s very early days but there might be light at the end of the tunnel.