Luton Town 2-1 Norwich City: Paddy Davitt Championship pointers

1. The long goodbye 

Another defeat. Against a team 17th in the Championship at kick-off, and who played the final 10 minutes or so with 10 men after Gabe Osho’s second yellow card. Not the response Dean Smith needed to get Norwich City fans back onside after a mutinous evening on and off the park at Carrow Road against Blackburn last time out. 

But will it keep City’s owners, Stuart Webber, Zoe Ward and the rest of the executive committee onside? That is a more pertinent question.  

Three wins in 13 is a team under a coach going backwards. There was no visible sense those inside the tent were prepared to jettison Smith after the toxic events that unfolded in Norfolk prior to Christmas. But with Reading to come in front of their own later this week Smith’s position now appears untenable.  

He made it clear after the Rovers loss he is not in control of his own future, and has never worried about that aspect at any stage of his coaching career.  

But given the dire displays on the pitch, the total lack of any cohesive strategy with or without the ball, the clear sense the players are not buying into his methods, and now the chasm between himself and the fan base there appears only one way out of this impasse.  

2. It’s all our fault 

Smith himself brought up the topic of ‘narratives’ in that incendiary post-match Blackburn media call, when he hit back at what he felt was the negative connotations around him and his style of play.  

You can debate that elsewhere. But there is another narrative now firmly in focus. Both against Rovers and more pertinently at Kenilworth Road there was audible criticism directed at the head coach during the contest, woven predictably around the sense his Blackburn comments had tried to shift the focus and responsibility in their direction. 

Smith countered that on Friday at his pre-Luton presser and was at pains to suggest he had not intended to ‘drive a wedge’ between himself and a support he appealed to rally behind his players. But he departed the scene at Luton with his head bowed, hands in pockets, as the chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ rang out from both the home and away ends.  

He looked a man alone, a man no doubt well aware he was on the thinnest of ice before this game. He said it himself, in fact.  

There was precious little margin for error. He certainly has zero credit in the bank with a fan base who for all Daniel Farke’s faults at Premier League level, never turned in anything like the same fashion. 

3. Carrow Road cauldron 

Hard to imagine at this stage, given the rawness of feeling and the sense of abject disappointment as Norwich’s season heads in a desperate tailspin, but should Smith survive in charge over these next few hours and days then Reading’s visit to Carrow Road on Friday could truly be one for those with a strong constitution. 

Smith hinted at that prior to the Luton trip, when he said a positive result and ideally a performance, would buy him and his players some time against the Royals. Time has run out now it would seem for the overwhelming majority.  

Should Smith be in charge for the festive home double header it already has an air of the sorry end for Nigel Worthington for those Norwich fans with longer memories.  

That sense a fan base is not being listened to, or their views taken on board, has fuelled much of this current state of affairs. Smith, in many respects, has become the fall guy. His record is indefensible in charge of the green and yellow, but there are much deeper faultlines in play, and irrespective of how this season concludes on the pitch, so much work to do off it to repair the damage.  

It already looked and felt like the point of no return had been reached against Blackburn for the head coach. The question is when does that apply to the Canaries’ own Championship prospects?  

4. Three wise men 

Despite the acidic late twist, Adam Idah’s introduction, and a deeper attacking midfield role for Josh Sargent, did certainly inject some drive and offensive threat in the second half. But there was an interesting exchange between the trio during a prolonged break in play for treatment to a home player. 

It looked from the body language, and the exaggerated hand signals, as if Smith’s attacking spearhead were trying to decipher between themselves how to make it work, and where to operate to maximum effect in an area of the pitch Luton had enjoyed an easy ride.  

Within a minute of that conflab, Teemu Pukki had burst down the left channel to square a ball for Idah, bursting towards the near post but with a Luton marker for company.  

A minute beyond that Sargent tried his luck on the half-volley from just inside the area. The shot was blocked but it was more evidence of the type of threat all three should be capable of mustering at this level.  

Ironically, Dimi Giannoulis’ gaffe served up a breakthrough for the hosts in the same spell, before Pukki spanked Ben Gibson’s throughball beyond Ethan Horvath.  

The question now is will Smith get the chance to persist with a three-pronged spearhead for the defining battles ahead? It looks a long shot, but if so, he could do worse than consider it in his losing battle to court public opinion.