Liam Manning backs Norwich City struggler to ‘keep improving’ and make an impact this season

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Norwich City have had an inconsistent start to the season, to say the least, but one man who hasn’t featured yet could be on his way back stronger and better than ever.

There were high hopes for Norwich City before the season began, with a number of new arrivals and the talents of Liam Manning making them one of the top contenders for promotion.

The Canaries have registered two wins and two defeats in the Championship so far and currently sit in midtable. There’s a long way to go, of course, and Manning may well find that his squad improves very soon with the return of one player we haven’t seen yet this term.

Forget all the new Norwich City signings, it sounds like January arrival Matej Jurasek is hot on the comeback trail and Manning is very happy with what he’s seeing.

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Matej Jurasek is making good progress at Norwich City

Jurasek joined Norwich in January for a fee of around £6m, but only made two brief appearances for the Canaries before injury spoiled the rest of his campaign.

However, speaking to the Pink’Un, the Norwich manager had nothing but good things to say about the young Czechia winger, which will have Canaries fans very excited for what’s to come.

Manning said: “I think he’s pushing now to have a real impact. He keeps improving, keeps improving and he keeps getting better. And in terms of level of training these last few weeks, and conditioning, he’s in a much better place. You know, mentally, he looks in a much better place.”

An exact return date for Jurasek is unknown at this moment in time, but it sounds like he’s heading in the right direction, at least.

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Norwich City’s next five games are a huge challenge

Manning will be desperate to get a full complement of players as soon as possible, especially when you look at the next five Championship fixtures for the Canaries.

A trip to the CBS Arena this weekend to face free-scoring Coventry City will be a mammoth task for Norwich. Hosting a dogged Wrexham side a week later will not be much easier.

Norwich then come up against two teams that have started the season really well, with Stoke City away and West Brom at home. There’s every chance that Manning could head into the all-important East Anglia derby on October 5th on the back of a run of four games without a win if he’s not careful.

Manning said he wants his team to be more ‘streetwise’ from here on out. That’s not a bad shout, actually, considering how impassioned the fans will be for that impending clash with their rivals, especially after Marcelino Nunez’s move across the border.

Norwich have all the quality and flair they need to be successful this season, but they need to show more resilience, become more stubborn and hard to beat, and find ways to grind out results.