Norwich City: Are Canaries defensive woes being overlooked?

The Canaries' injury problems are well documented by now and have rightly been the mitigation for a dreadful spell of form between the October and November international breaks.

Without Angus Gunn, Brad Hills, Liam Gibbs, Onel Hernandez, Marcelino Nunez, Gabriel Forsyth, Ashley Barnes or Josh Sargent it's no wonder that selection crisis is being diagnosed as the sole virus damaging Johannes Hoff Thorup's City system.

Sargent's absence in particular is occupying assessment of the side's current struggles, his presence sorely missed amid an emergency that's disproportionately affecting attacking players and midfielders. The defenders at the other end of the pitch are doing their best, but they can hardly produce results by themselves when those in front of them are dropping like flies.

Or can they?

The Canaries are missing key attacking players including Marcelino Nunez and Josh Sargent (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) There's no doubt that those offensive problems are hurting results on the whole. Before Sargent's groin injury Norwich scored an average of 1.8 goals per league game, and since they've scored just 0.3. They've created fewer chances, come up with fewer ideas and looked much less coherent than with the American.

But since the October break they also upped the number of goals conceded per game from 1.1 to 2, looking less solid under pressure and more vulnerable to the sort of counter-attack that Nahki Wells finished off last time out. Individual errors have increased while team-wide resistance has decreased.

There are, of course, explanations for this that go beyond simply blaming City's defensive personnel and lambasting individuals in receipt of significant praise just a few weeks ago. They've lost Kenny McLean to suspension for the last three games and with him an extremely effective screening presence in front of the back four.

They've also lost a significant amount of pressing up front, an amount that contributes to stopping opposition attacks at source. Throw into the mix an injury to their first-choice goalkeeper and it's easy to sympathise with the players currently making up Thorup's backline.

That doesn't mean there's nothing they could have done, however. When they've been the only department spared a slew of injuries, the only seemingly reliable source of continuity, they've shrunk back into the shell they seemed to grow out of early in the campaign.

Players like Callum Doyle (left) and Shane Duffy have regressed after strong starts to the season (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) Shane Duffy appears to have lost his newly re-discovered eye for a pass, and that's why fingers were pointed at him for that Wells strike. Callum Doyle, seemingly a Barry Butler Memorial Trophy contender in September, has gone quiet and been exposed by pacey wingers. Jose Cordoba has allowed his impressive cool-headedness to turn to laxity on occasion.

Much as the mitigation is worthy of consideration, there are individuals who aren't performing as well as fans have seen them perform earlier in the season. Perhaps it's that very fact, that they've shown how good they can be in this system, that makes their faults stand out when they appear.

But if their attacking team-mates are to be afforded time, and their failures chalked up to a period of transition, then perhaps they should be too. Even in a section of the squad richer in experience, many of the same sentiments about consistency apply. If an old dog can learn new tricks then maybe it can suffer from the process just like any young pup.

There's no denying, though, that the defence have played their own part in City's recent decline, and it does feel like that's gone slightly under the radar. While the outside focus has been on injuries, attacking issues and George Long errors, Thorup will know there's plenty of work to be done in front of the goalkeeper. 

Ask him what's going wrong at present and there are plenty of answers he's likely to give.