Chris Sutton: Optimism remains despite Derby Day defeat...

(Pinkun)

I’m not just saying this, but I think Norwich were slightly unfortunate, to put it mildly, with some of the decisions on Saturday.

I was watching the game up in Salford, and I felt Marcelino Nunez should have been sent off, hence Kieran McKenna taking him off.

That was incredible; how the referee didn’t give him a second yellow, I’ll never know. I also thought Kenny McLean should have been awarded a penalty, and the Ipswich penalty was also very soft.

But that aside, I think, other than in the final third, where they just lacked that little bit of quality, guile and end product, you can see the team are miles ahead of where they were earlier in the season.

I didn’t hear the reaction after the game, but as sore as it is to lose a derby game, I would like to think that Norwich City fans appreciate how far the team have come, despite how disappointed everybody was.

Going into the game, I was pretty confident based on recent performances. I’ve got a couple of friends who are Ipswich fans who were saying, well, they haven’t actually played particularly well this season, but they’ve still got good quality and resilience at the back as well. I like Dara O’Shea; he’s big and strong and a good leader for them.

But yeah, all in all, it was always going to be a tall order for Norwich to get into the play-offs, and that basically ended there. Ipswich will probably get automatic now, but I just think it’s about finishing the season as strongly as the team can and keeping the momentum and the performance level.

There are always going to be bumps in the road, and I think Philippe Clement’s record has been exceptional since he’s come in. It was disappointing in the way that the game ended, especially if you’re a Norwich fan because of what it means to the team and to the supporters. But still, I think everybody’s feeling pretty optimistic.

I enjoy watching the team again; I’m quite excited about watching Norwich City, which I’ve got to say, in truth, hasn’t always been the case. The way that they build, and you can see there’s a confidence.

I think the most important thing for the club, and I’m sure they won’t under Clement, is to not rest on their laurels and think they’re just going to rock up next season and everything’s going to be hunky-dory again, and they’ll just carry on from where they left off.

First of all, they’ve got to finish the season strongly, keeping that confidence going and building those relationships and combinations; then it’s going to be an interesting summer.

We mustn’t forget there are a lot of players in this squad who, under Liam Manning earlier this season, underperformed. Philippe Clement has come in and lifted the team, the squad and the mood around the place.

I know a fair bit about Clement from his time at Rangers. He’s a bit of a hard-liner. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and if he sees people who aren’t pulling their weight and he’s not quite sure about the attitude and application, he won’t tolerate it.

So, I think it’s really important for the players at the end of the season because if he, as manager, sees people just tailing off and already on holiday, I think he’ll be looking elsewhere.

I’m sure Ben Knapper is looking elsewhere, and Philippe Clement is looking to strengthen the squad. We can all sort of pontificate and talk about next season, with the expectation that because the end of this season has been good and there are a few games left, that will just roll into next season.

The Belgian will be well aware of that, and especially the experienced players at Norwich City, the likes of Kenny McLean; they’ll understand football has a nasty habit of, just when you think you’ve cracked it, of giving you a boot up the backside.

It’s about standards and really maintaining those high standards, winning games, finishing as high as possible and then going into the summer with a bit of optimism and confidence, looking forward to next season. That’s not always been the case at Norwich City.

It does for the first time in a while feel like the club is really moving in the right direction, but then next season expectations will be there from the supporters because of the way the team has performed under Philippe Clement.

Then you’ve got the teams coming down from the Premier League; you’ve got Wolves, who, I know, got walloped by West Ham United but look like they’ve improved under Rob Edwards; you’ve possibly got Tottenham Hotspur coming down, which is a frigging disaster for Championship teams. I don’t care what anybody says.

I know we’ve seen Leicester City and their dramatic drop-off, and that’s a lesson for all clubs, really. I looked at their starting eleven on the weekend, and you’re thinking, ‘How are they in the relegation places?’ Oliver Skipp played at Norwich City; they had Harry Winks, Patson Daka, and the winger Abdul Fatawu, who is a good player. It can be brutal, the Championship.

We’ll see Burnley come down again. I know Scott Parker’s not really adored by the Burnley fans. What’s done for Burnley this season is Leeds United and Sunderland really competing well in the Premier League.

They’re a bit like Norwich City, aren’t they? From a fair few years ago. They are now a yo-yo club. Norwich City aren’t anymore.

Also, if you’re a Norwich City fan, I think you see the likes of Leeds United and Sunderland competing this season in the Premier League. And because of what’s happened in the previous two seasons, where at least the promoted sides have come straight back down, if you’re a fan of a Championship club, you think it can be done. I think there’s a bit of room for optimism there as well.

It feels like the club has turned a corner, but we all know that things can change quickly, especially in this day and age where nobody’s got any patience. You lose the first two games of the next season, and the wheels are off, and Philippe Clement will be a dud.

Football has changed in that sense and people’s views and attitudes. We were talking on The Monday Night Club about Arsenal, who are top of the Premier League, and they get booed off by a section of the fans against Bournemouth.

The game’s mental. It’s absolutely mad. Just at a time when the players really need support. But that’s the world we live in.

SUTTON EXTRA: Thoughts on VAR in the Championship?

No, I’ve got to say I’m one of those people who cover a lot of Premier League games and a lot of Scottish Premiership games, and I think VAR is extremely frustrating for various reasons, especially the re-refereeing of the game. I quite like that referees make mistakes; they do. Of course, you’d like to think they limit them, but no, I quite like the game without VAR, really.

The length of time referees take to make decisions with VAR at times has been absolutely farcical, and with VAR, it’s still somebody making a decision elsewhere. I’ve seen enough decisions of officials getting things wrong even with the benefit of re-watching the game. I quite like that about the Championship, that they don’t have VAR.

Of course, when decisions don’t go in your favour, you always feel hard done by. The Nunez decision was absolutely ridiculous. The referee can miss the potential Kenny McLean penalty; I get that.

With the penalty award, the referee actually turned away, though, didn’t he? And then it was given. I’m not saying it’s easy, but that was just odd, the way it all panned out. I don’t know what Kieran McKenna said after the game; he’s a balanced guy, and he’s passionate about his team, but had that been at the other end, I think he would have been disappointed had Norwich City been awarded one.

Posted By: DrDublin, Apr 15, 08:06:42