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Norwich City have made an average start to life under Liam Manning in the Championship this season, as they have won two, drawn one and lost the other two of their opening five fixtures this campaign.
While this form is not electric, Norwich City legend Chris Sutton has been encouraged by the performances and results so far under the new manager.
Sutton believes they are ahead of where he expected them to be going into the campaign and believes they could launch a bid for the play-offs by the end of the season.
However, he has identified one area that needs to be fixed to allow Norwich City to challenge for the top-six positions by the end of the Championship campaign.
Chris Sutton believes Norwich City need to make Josh Sargent less isolated
Josh Sargent has been in fine form for Norwich City this season, as he is currently sitting top of the goalscoring charts in the Championship, with five goals, alongside Haji Wright of Coventry City.
While Sutton has been impressed by the quality of Sargent and his form for the Canaries this season, he admitted he cannot do it all himself and needs support from his Norwich teammates.
In his Pink Un column, Sutton said: “Regular as my praise has been for Josh Sargent in this column, no striker is good enough to score enough goals to get into the play-offs alone.
“They’ve needed players from elsewhere, other sources of goals, and as a summer signing who cost a good chunk of money, Kvistgaarden should be a big one of them.
“He might not have exactly the same all-round abilities as Sargent – not many people do – but he’s got that diminutive style where he can run in behind and dribble with the ball at times.
“I do think that leaving Sargent less isolated is important for Norwich going forward.
“At Coventry you could see him dropping deeper and deeper as his team did, and although holding the ball up is a skill he’s got, making the most of that relies on other players getting closer to him. Manning will be well aware of that.”
Chris Sutton growing in confidence Norwich can get promoted due to ‘strange teams’
The former Blackburn Rovers legend believes that this season may be the best opportunity for Norwich to make a bid for promotion back to the Premier League.
This is due to the strange nature of the opening few weeks of the Championship campaign so far, as teams have surprised both positively and negatively, according to Sutton.
He said: “Who knows how important the points they’ve already collected will be at the climax of the play-off race, especially when you look at the Championship as it is at the moment.
“There are some really strange teams in the league, and right now it’s quite hard to predict. Take the Friday night game, where Ipswich Town beat Sheffield United 5-0.
“United were within touching distance of the Premier League only a few months ago and now are rock bottom, having sacked as many managers as scored goals. Ipswich had a slow start but suddenly roared into action to take advantage.
“Add to this element the usual velocity, brutality and relentlessness of the second tier, and it’s almost impossible to predict things. What I can sense is a broad optimism from fans, and I’m probably in that boat too, based on what I’ve seen so far.”