CANARIES TRULY TOP-FLIGHT

THIS is the second time Norwich have appeared on my page this season but I could not let this week’s column pass without discussing them again. A couple of weeks ago, I was at Carrow Road for their game against Chelsea. They lost 3-2 but I spoke to Stuart Webber, their sporting director, that afternoon and he left me feeling even more convinced they would flourish, not just stay up. Stuart is such an impressive man. He talked me through the idea of having a system and a set way of playing and finding the manager and the players to make it click. His work at Huddersfield to get them into the Premier League — and keep them there — was superb and he is repeating the feat in Norwich. The easiest thing for the Canaries to do after they had been blitzed by Liverpool on the opening night would have been to panic and concentrate on making themselves hard to beat. But manager Daniel Farke has not lost faith and stayed committed to his beliefs. Norwich were rewarded spectacularly against Manchester City seven days ago and it could be that their 3-2 win has shown other teams that attacking the champions may reap dividends. There was no fluke about the result. They are very good side. When I was at Stoke last year, our trip to Carrow Road stuck in my mind. I was on the bench that day and they stood out a mile as the best team in the Championship. Thanks to the work of Webber and Farke — plus the players — they are going to prosper at the highest level.