Paddy Davitt delivered his Manchester United verdict after Norwich City's 3-2 Premier League defeat.

1. Conflicting emotions

A scrambling of the senses. From despair to delight and back to despair. When United players are time wasting, with an elaborate attempt to tie boot laces, and the home fans stopped whistling at their own to demand the referee blow for full-time, you know Norwich have achieved something.

Alas, not enough in the context of a battle to beat the drop which in truth ended some time ago. What a draw at Brighton, followed by a win against Burnley achieved, was to foster some positivity and hope for a brighter footballing future under Dean Smith.

They marvellously came back at Old Trafford from two goals slotted by Cristiano Ronaldo, but sourced in Ben Gibson’s failure to defend properly.

But with the Canaries pouring forward, and pockets of the home fans chanting ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’, up stepped a player who writes his own scripts.

Ever the showman, there was a sense of dread when he stepped up to crash a vicious free kick that Tim Krul barely had time to get his hands away from his body, as it appeared to brush his fingers and slam the inside of a post.

Dean Smith expressed disappointment afterwards Krul was unable to keep out a match-winning strike.

Norwich were unable to dig deep another time. But the final whistle brought audible chants of ‘Yellows’ from the travelling support.

Whatever the toxicity around the Red Devils, this was another positive step in the right direction of travel under Smith. The great leap forward will have to wait.

2. Hail the GOAT

What more is left to be said about free transfer Teemu Pukki? Nothing of anything tangible value so best to stop there. Suffice to say, a nerveless slot past David de Gea brought his tally in another season seemingly heading to the exit door to double figures.

Matching his feat the last time Norwich walked among the elite.

That is some achievement, when you consider the endless games under both Daniel Farke and Smith this season where the Finn had to forage on scraps, and the type of sporadic service that contrasts sharply with the plentiful supply lines he has usually enjoyed in two Championship title wins.

Thankfully, it appears Pukki will be back there again for another tilt in green and yellow. The club have confirmed they plan to exercise a 12 month option. Pukki himself is happy he no longer has to deal with questions on his future.

Talks over a longer term deal will surely be part of those on going negotiations. There is no visible signs of wear and tear, or a dimming of his predatory instincts, his movement down the channels and his enduring ability to lift this City collective to greater attacking heights.

But he also needs solid support moving beyond this season and into the summer. Pukki may stay in the building a little while longer, but there has to be a longer term succession plan to the King.

3. Renaissance man

Kieran Dowell looks a player reborn over recent days. Two Premier League starts, a goal and an assist at Old Trafford and surely fresh evidence in the right midfield mix he has plenty to offer.

The reverse ball he threaded through two red shirts for Pukki to race on and beat de Gea was pure class. It was the instinctive act of an operator with the technical ability to hold his own at the highest level.

Why Dowell has failed to stamp his authority on Norwich’s creative urges this season might require academic study. It is a puzzle when you see him on the ball why he was unable to leave a stronger impression until the final stages.

But as he was starting to prove towards the end of the previous Championship title success, City do possess a talent who can exert a decisive creative influence.

Extracting what he has served up in the past two games is a challenge for Smith and Craig Shakespeare.

At 24, Dowell also needs to step up and understand he has to grasp this opportunity that could present itself moving forward.

4. Carrying the can

Smith said he did not need to admonish Gibson at half-time, after his painful brush with Ronaldo. Or to be accurate, Anthony Elanga, who pounced on his indecision seven minutes in - if you were being kind.

A rash error of judgement might be more accurate, as he tried to drag the ball away from the United youngster just inside his own area. Elanga rolled it across to Ronaldo, who slotted a simple close range finish.

He doubled his, and United’s lead, when he was sharper out of the blocks than Gibson to crash a header past Krul from Alex Telles’ corner.

Gibson had recovered a from a similarly rocky display in a Carrow Road home defeat to Brentford.

But individual errors in the biggest moments have been the sad story of Norwich’s Premier League journey this time around.

Whatever the quality threshold of rubbing up against, what Smith succinctly described on Friday was a player ‘with multiple Ballon d’Or awards’ Gibson and his team mates have been too error-prone.

Irrespective of City’s lowly league status if you have to score more than two goals at a place like Old Trafford to get anything then clearly there are regressive trends Smith must address.

Whether that be personnel changes or perhaps the less exacting environment of a return to the Championship. But if it is the Football League, the primary goal will be a swift return to a level where basic individual errors, in these quantities, have to be eliminated.

5. Toon, toon

Newcastle next up at Carrow Road, and you can be sure those home fans will expect City to carry off in the vein they swarmed over Burnley on home soil.

When these two met on Tyneside early in Smith’s tenure, the Canaries spurned a massive chance against 10 men for 80-odd minutes to pick up a win which would have injected more momentum into a vibrant start under new management, while denting Eddie Howe’s own bid to harness some upward mobility.

Since when, Newcastle's ownership uncertainty has been resolved, a January transfer window navigated, and Howe has dragged the Magpies well clear of any relegation danger.

Trust Smith to distil the good and the bad from a defeat at the Theatre of Dreams and at least, post-Brighton, build on a sense there is an identity and style of play beginning to emerge.

City look comfortable on the counter attack, they also look like an attacking threat.

They need to serve up more evidence between now and Tottenham’s final day visit this is more than a brief interlude.