David Hannant: Norwich City show shades of Paul Lambert era

The first half in particular was a great watch and on another day, City may well have gone in two or three goals clear.

Admittedly, the second half did fall a bit flat and looked to be fizzling out to a stalemate, but the last-minute drama was certainly what the doctor ordered.

It was so refreshing to hear Carrow Road rocking on the final whistle and see fellow supporters walking away with springs in their steps instead of the disheartened trudge that we've become used to seeing. 

Clearly, it was only the first game and with all due respect to Hull, they're not Real Madrid and there will be bigger challenges to come - but it was a great early sign.

But credit where it is due, I liked what I saw from the new-look Canaries on Saturday.

As is to be expected when a manager makes such a mark on a club, anybody who follows is always going to face inevitable comparisons.

Dean Smith proved that Daniel Farke was a tough, tough act to follow, particularly given the beautiful football we played under him.

Bringing in David Wagner, whose nationality and career path are identical to Farke's, was therefore always going to lead to expectations of other similarities.

The fact of the matter is, they are still very much their own men with their own playing styles.

What I saw on Saturday though actually got me thinking of another former City boss, who left his own fine legacy at the club.

On Saturday City were solid, purposeful going forward, got balls into the box for strikers to attack and capped things off with a dramatic late winner.

All these things, particularly the late goals, were real penchant of the Paul Lambert side that famously earned back-to-back promotions - before staying in the Premier League.

Under Daniel Farke we were utterly spoiled for playing style at this level - fluid, attractive football that oozed goals.

This, combined with his acrimonious exit and hilarious spell in charge at you know where, perhaps muddied Lambert's legacy at the club and as a result blotted the memories of how good that team was to watch too. 

While they may not have been quite as easy on the eye as Farke's side, Lambert's was still an absolute joy to watch and most crucially, made winning a habit.

Paul Lambert's team was largely built around team spirit, players who together became greater than the sum of their parts and individuals who had real points to prove.

There are plenty of players in the current set-up who have kindred spirits in Lambert's team.

The obvious comparison is Ashley Barnes and Grant Holt.

While it is probably fair to say Holty will likely be more prolific than City's current number 10 - but the similarities are numerous.

Both are big men that are more than willing to put themselves about - who lead from the front and motivate others.

There were many occasions on Saturday I noticed Barnes ushering others forwards, picking his teammates up and doing all the kinds of things Holty did.

Likewise, it looks as though Wagner is looking to build the team around a proper, out-and-out striking partnership between Barnes and Josh Sargent.

This was another big characteristic of Lambert's time, particularly in the romping League One title win when Holt and Chris Martin developed a telepathic link-up.

It's something we haven't really seen for some time and has almost fallen totally out of fashion in football.

But with this team showing energy in wide areas and isn't hesitant to get balls into the box, I can't see why it can't work.

In Gabriel Sara we have a midfielder oozing with creativity who was making things tick and seeing things others weren't seeing - the Wes Hoolahan role.

Kenny McLean was providing the engine room in the way Andrew Crofts and later Jonny Howson did.

Jack Stacey looks every bit peak Russell Martin - who we'll come to later - looking dependable defensively while adding plenty to the attack bombing forward.

One sloppy error aside, I was impressed with Shane Duffy's performance on Saturday - he looked level-headed and assured in the same way Elliott Ward always did under Lambert.

I seem to recall Simeon Jackson ending up on a wrong end of the doubters before sparking into goalscoring form out of nowhere, finding confidence and flying. Adam Idah anyone?

There was a lot to like about that Lambert team - and let's not forget he managed to achieve the one thing at Carrow Road that Daniel Farke never did, keeping us up.

If we continue to show the same shades of Paul Lambert's team that we saw on Saturday, we could very well be in for a fun campaign.

Which brings me to Russell Martin's Southampton side, who City visit this weekend.

While he is new on the block at St Mary's, the statistics in their opener showed exactly the kind of team they're likely to be.

As we saw with his Swansea team last year, when Russell Martin gets a team going, their football is very easy on the eye and hard to play against.

While I've warned against comparing Wagner with Daniel Farke, Russ has even started to look like his former boss.

Saturday's contest will provide us with a great early litmus test against a team who will likely be one of those fighting towards the right end of the table.

The Hull win was a great start - here's hoping it wasn't a one-off.