Iwan Roberts on Borja Sainz, Tony Roberts and early starts

When you've got an attacking midfield player, who's given a free role in the team and scored four goals in the month of September it’s hard not to pick him.

He's scored seven Championship goals in total - he got six in 33 league appearances last year, but obviously missed a few because of his temperament that earned him two red cards. But you don't want him to lose that because I think that's a big part of him. I think that's what makes him the special talent that he is.

But on numbers alone, the standard of performances that he's been producing week in, week out, hands down he should be winning that award.

He's filled that role that Emi Buendia left. He’s not got to grips with his volatile temperament at times, he’s still got that, but it was the same with Craig Bellamy - if you took that little bit of cockiness, arrogance away from him, that wouldn’t be him.

Sainz has still got that little bit of the swagger, that little bit of attitude. We saw against Hull where something happened and he's in someone's face arguing his case - I love that.

You've got to have discipline in whatever walk of life you are in and I think there's been times where he's let himself down. He's been a little bit naive and a little bit stupid at times - the red card at West Brom last season was needless.

But I guess the older you get, the wiser you get. You get a bit more streetwise. You get a bit more savvy, but people will forgive honest mistakes.

I think he's learned his lesson. You can't take that edge away from him because he won't be the same player. You don't want to take that little bit of an edge that he's got about him because he's such a talent and he's another little gem. The club went out and got him from Giresunspor as a free agent – he’s worth a hell of a lot now.

He's been absolutely magnificent - and long may that continue. But enjoy it while you can. Sainz could walk into any team in the Championship – but if he carries on performing like he is, if he's got, say, 12, 13, 14 goals before Christmas, then watch out January.

I like what I am seeing with Sainz and Sargent: it’s not just Sainz making goals for Sargent, it's the other way round as well. It's Sargent making goals for Sainz.

They are such positive signs in the short space of time since the new man's been in charge. The way the players have adapted and grabbed hold of the way he wants them to play, his philosophy.

The signs were there early doors when Blackburn came down here, you could see going forward this team's going to score goals. Just the patterns of play that they had, the way they counter-attacked with pace and the movement in those forward areas. It's a joy to watch and we saw it against Hull.

I thought it was going to be a tough game because Hull are decent. They're very good going forward, but I thought they would give Norwich chances, which I think they did. The third goal comes from a mistake from a centre-half trying to be too clever in his box and allowed Kaide Gordon to score his first goal for the club.

If I can talk about the goals, what about Marcelino Nunez’s strike? He takes zero backlift. How the hell has he generated so much power when he's hardly pulled his right leg back to get that amount of power? It's gone past the keeper before he's even seen it. It was a magnificent.

Obviously Sainz turned provider to Josh to slide in and to be fair you say to say he’s the main man at the minute.

Roberts on Roberts

Iwan Roberts and Tony Roberts clash during an FA Cup tie against Dagenham & Redbridge in 2003 (Image: Newsquest Library)

I’m pleased to see my old Wales team-mate Tony Roberts has joined City as the goalkeeping coach.

I've only got good things to say about Tony.

The last time I spoke to him, he came on the podcast I do for the BBC and he’d just been appointed goalkeeping coach at AC Milan.

His career started at QPR, which is a bit mad, considering he is from Holyhead -you don't get anywhere further north in Wales. It’s easier to go to Dublin than London.

He's as mad as a box of frogs - but I think all goalkeepers are!

I was in the Welsh squad on many, many occasions with him and it was hard for me and Tony because I knew and he knew where we stood. I was competing with the likes of Ian Rush and Mark Hughes and Dean Saunders - I knew I could be travelling halfway around Europe and I wouldn't even get a sniff of getting on. And he had Neville Southall, best goalkeeper in the world at the time for years.

But he got on with it. He was like Nev’s protégé – he would make Nev’s tea and in their hotel room they’d throw oranges at each other to keep on top of their reflexes. I'd heard that there would be times when Tony had his back to him, and Nev would just shout at him and throw something at him, and Tony would have to save it.

I think Tony is a really good signing for the club. He's been involved with the Welsh squad, he spent years with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, he's worked with some absolutely top, top goalkeepers so I think he's only going to benefit the football club and I'm hoping I can grab a coffee with him soon because he's good company, he’s good value.

I don't know the rest of the staff and I don't know what their characters are like, but Tony makes people laugh.

I'm not being funny but you don't spend years at Arsenal, you don't get recruited by AC Milan, if you're not a good goalkeeping coach. And he was a good goalkeeper himself. I don't think he played as many games as he should have - his league career was cut short because of a finger injury.

He did come back and played a lot of games for Dagenham & Redbridge - and he’s got the worst Cockney accent that I've ever heard!

But, honestly, the lads will love him because he's a good guy. They will benefit from his experience and I'm sure he'll have his own methods and his own way of training.

Early birds

Early starters at the Hull game (Image: Daniel Hambury/Focus Images Ltd) Norwich fans must be loving these 12.30pm kick-offs!

They’ve won four out of four - Coventry, Watford, Derby and Hull.

For players, they are a bit disruptive because you've got to bring everything forward - you're getting up earlier, you go to bed earlier on a Friday night, you eat earlier. I'm a little bit OCD, but I had my routine. I did this, this, this and this and then if you're having to do that a lot earlier if it's a 12.30pm kick-off, there's some things that you won't be able to do.

If things don't go your way it does give you a bit of an excuse, but the lads seem to love it. Four wins out of four, and not just four wins, but four big wins, scoring plenty of goals while doing so.

Coventry and Derby away, 12.30pm – the fans have got to leave at the crack of dawn, but it makes it all worthwhile if you get a decent result.