It took a mere 90 minutes of football to make the more emotional elements of Norwich’s fanbase switch from optimistic thoughts of a play-off push to condemning the team to ‘a long old season’ in the bottom half of the table.

As ever, things are neither as good, nor as bad, as the initial reactions to an opening day 2-1 defeat would have you believe.

My overwhelming feeling walking away from Carrow Road yesterday was that it was a result that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Millwall are a good Championship side and Alex Neil was able to start this season building from the foundations he laid in the second half of the last one. They looked the more cohesive team and that was to be expected. Norwich showed some endeavour in the first half, yet Millwall took control in the second half and were deserved winners.

How things turned out

When the teamsheet came out – 15 minutes earlier now in the EFL – the main talking point was what formation we would be starting with. Three at the back looked most likely and so it proved.

The concern was whether there would be another attacking oomph and that concern felt justified based on the performance.

Both Forson and Crnac showed a few nice touches early on before gradually drifting out of the game. Although Crnac was able to get into an advanced position, more often than not that made him harder for his teammates to find rather than being beneficial.

The problem from there – which is always the key with a 3 at the back system – was the dependency on the two wing backs to provide width and real quality (rather than just support) in the final third. Schlupp and Stacey did okay with that in the first half, but that’s not enough to be consistently threatening when the front three players aren’t getting lots of the ball.

Tactically, that’s the key point of discussion at the very start of Manning’s era: is he wedded to 3 at the back and, if so, do we have good options to fill the wing-back roles?

Millwall’s approach

The contrast with Millwall’s average positions illustrates the point. Whilst their base formation was a 4-2-3-1, their two full backs (#4 Tristan Crama and #14 Alfie Doughty) were able to get higher up the pitch than our wing-backs did.

Crama was especially effective in the second half, putting in the cross for the opening goal and regularly offering a passing option to his teammates.

Other things of note

There were contrasting fortunes for some of our debutants. Mirko Topić was impressive in the first half, particularly on the ball for someone touted for his defensive qualities. Meanwhile Jakov Medić had a difficult game, albeit not helped at times by Jack Stacey’s positioning and decision-making.

Josh Sargent earned his lucky bounce of the ball for his overall display, serving as a reminder of how big a loss he would be if he is sold.

Rumours of the much-favoured pie option being removed from the Gunn Club menu unfortunately proved true! There were good reviews for the Puerto Rican chicken and rice dish, plus the pizzas, to balance that out a bit though. And the temporary turnstiles on entry couldn’t help but raise a smile.