Norwich City: Canaries Must Now Strive for Away Consistency

It was certainly good to see Norwich City pick up their first away win of the season at Stoke City on Sunday, especially since the pressure was building on Chris Hughton to get results. It’s a well known fact that their away form has not been great under Hughton.

Last season, only two wins were recorded on the road, and on both of those occasions, it was an attacking display that won it.

In a way, this was what was strange about the win against Stoke. It was certainly a strong first half performance, but once they had the lead the game plan seemed to be very much one of defending it.

This is something that Hughton has done in the past and will surely look to do the same plenty of times in the future. We can continue to argue about defensive and attacking football, but ultimately it’s about winning.

The Canaries certainly want to progress this season and the away record will certainly be crucial to that. The slight change in formation seemed to suit the team, and it will be interesting to see if this turns out to be the system of choice.

The thing that I have noticed with Hughton is that he seems to react pretty well to being under pressure, but doesn’t always deliver when he is not. We saw that last season with a strong ending to the season and on Sunday when the whole club needed a result.

As ever, consistency will be the key in both home and away games.

There is every reason to believe that could be achieved with the higher quality players that have now been signed. It will certainly be interesting to see how the next few games go for the club. Norwich performed as well against Stoke as they did against Southampton, but now fans want to see some more consistency.

It’s remarkable to think that Gary Hooper still hasn’t started a league game, and that will need to change in order to keep him happy. On the other hand, Ricky van Wolfswinkel needs to pick up his game—only one goal so far is a poor return considering his transfer fee.

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