Paddy's Pointers: Five observations from the Canaries' 2-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton

1. Out of tune

It felt like a big, big night before the game in the context of Norwich City’s Premier League relegation bid.

They ended it flat and flailing. The Saints’ pre-match entertainment included a marching band to rouse the home fans, as they paraded around the perimeter of the St Mary’s pitch belting out their club anthem.

Worth stating the hosts had only lost once in the previous 11 games. That included a draw against Manchester City and an away win at Tottenham. This result against Dean Smith’s strugglers was never seriously in doubt once Che Adams bundled them in front. Although it took Oriol Romeu’s late thunderous hit to seal the points.

In between, Norwich hung in gamely but only had the odd flurry in and around Fraser Forster’s goal.

Smith opted to change shape and personnel in the second half. City marginally improved, albeit that owed as much to the hosts failing to notch an earlier second, and the inevitable desire to protect what they already had.

Smith’s crew looked laboured and lacking in any real intensity. The midfield three were unable to engage their opposite numbers quick enough. It set the tone for a dispiriting outing. After the enriching effort on Merseyside this was reality crashing back in.

2. Game’s up?

Norwich passed up the chance to get their blow in first on Friday night. For all Smith’s protestations about keeping the blinkers on and averting the gaze from what their closest rivals are doing now they face an uneasy wait for the rest of this weekend to unfold.

A desperate situation at the bottom of the Premier League could look even more forlorn by the time the likes of Newcastle, Burnley et al have strived to build on their recent upturn in results.

You know things are not in a good way when it requires stumbles elsewhere simply to stay on the coat tails with games fast running out.

You would hardly file Southampton in the same category as Manchester City or Liverpool, yet they are one of the top flight form horses over recent weeks.

But City’s next two league opponents, Brentford and Leeds, have the same need to look over their shoulders with the Football League on the distant horizon.

After a pointless trip to the south-coast nothing less than a full house looks to be the currency of choice from the next two.

Both Smith and his assistant, Craig Shakespeare, have been in stickier situations from here, and found a way to buck the odds. But the cards and the pack look stacked against them.

3. Well short

When the dust does settle and Norwich City’s league status is confirmed, the focus on their central midfield will possibly leave more questions than answers.

In the first, faltering skirmishes it was the huge hole vacated by Olly Skipp after his return to Tottenham. For a period Mathias Normann appeared to be a viable solution until his lengthy spell out following surgery.

Now the Norwegian is back in the mix but one negative constant remains. Smith alluded to it after Liverpool when he highlighted the lack of goal output right across his central midfield stocks.

Normann’s strike in the win at Brentford that sealed Daniel Farke’s fate remains the only Premier League goal scored this season by a Norwich central midfielder. That is a desperate metric when you witness the classy finish produce by Romeu, or the residual goalscoring threat from Saints’ captain James Ward-Prowse.

One can only recall Kenny McLean’s skied half-volley early in the second half as an effort worthy of the name from any of the five central midfielders who either started or finished this contest.

There will be many factors that collectively could seal Norwich’s fate between now and the finish line.

But chief among them is the inability to source a presence in the centre of the park who over the course and distance could muster both the defensive resolve and, crucially, the attacking output.

4. Case closed

With Tim Krul fit and available but left on the bench this was a chance for Angus Gunn to complete the circle. The last time he trooped away from St Mary’s in the Premier League he was part of a Southampton team embarrassed 9-0 by Leicester City.

That, with hindsight, was the beginning of the end for him as a Saint.

But with Krul ruled out for a period through that shoulder issue, Gunn has grown into the role. There has been plenty of work to do, and plenty of evidence any lingering scars from that career low point are behind him.

This result may not have carried a fairytale ending but there was a composure to his work, capped by a fine stop to foil Mohamed Elyounoussi at the back post when the game was goalless, and another when Kyle Walker-Peters unleashed a volley in the 70th minute.

There was little he could do when his attempted stop saw the ball spiral towards Adams to bundle home from close range. Or for that matter Romeu’s late stunner.

Krul may find himself back between the posts for the FA Cup trip to Liverpool, and even if Smith opts to ease him back into the Premier League line up to use all his experience Gunn has shown in an extended run he is a viable alternative for the longer haul.

He may have secretly settled for that when he returned to Norfolk last summer, given Krul’s omnipotence at Carrow Road.

5. FA Cup audition

For those who still retain hope there is now the not inconsiderable challenge of an FA Cup return to Anfield to take on a Liverpool who are already at Wembley this weekend in League Cup final action.

Ozan Kabak was not part of Smith’s plans against Southampton but is expected to play at another of his former loan outposts. More interestingly will be whether Christos Tzolis gets a fresh chance to nudge Smith into more Premier League consideration.

Smith spoke with almost a paternal air in the build to this defeat, about a young perhaps suffering a crisis of confidence and maybe weighed down by the scale of the price tag that brought him to Carrow Road.

Jonathan Rowe, Kieran Dowell, maybe even Krul, will all sense they may get a grand stage to convince Smith they can play some part in the defining phase of the Premier League quest.

Be sure the City chief will say all the right things about his desire to progress to the next round but while there is still a lingering shot at retaining their Premier League status, he would surely place a higher premium on one or two of his shadow men stepping into the light.