Norwich City column: Anis Ben Slimane shines in Johannes Hoff Thorup’s first victory at Coventry

The first international break provides the perfect opportunity to take stock after what has been a chaotic start to the season for Norwich City.

Rewind a month: a new head coach, a squad in transition and an inexperienced sporting director meant there were plenty of questions ahead of the new campaign. Those doubts were only heightened by the abject opening-day defeat at Oxford United, coupled with the sale of Gabriel Sara and the unfolding Jonathan Rowe saga.

At that time, optimism levels were not high. But since then, the Johannes Hoff Thorup era has really gone from strength to strength. Performances have improved game on game, culminating in a first league win of the season at Coventry City last weekend.

For all the promise shown to that point, it feels vitally important to get those first three points – to enable the positivity around the club to continue to grow.

I felt the victory owed a lot to Hoff Thorup and his tactical nous. It was so refreshing to see a head coach act proactively, and there’s no doubt his double half-time change swung the tide in our favour, following an even first half.

New signing Anis Ben Slimane added some much-needed steel to the midfield and his arrival from Sheffield United could turn out to be shrewd business.

While we have plenty of talented players in that department, it’s often felt over the last few years that we’ve lacked the nasty streak needed to win tight games.

Slimane certainly has that – case in point his sublime professional foul to stop a Coventry counter attack in stoppage time. On the whole, after a busy summer of ins and outs, I feel that Ben Knapper has delivered a squad capable of competing.

We may be one or two quality players light in attacking areas, but it was always going to be tough to deliver the complete rebuild needed in one transfer window.