Today we return to club football with a trip to The Emirates for a game I’ve been desperate for since the final whistle blew two weeks ago after our 2-1 defeat to Leicester City.
As I left Carrow Road that day, I wasn't too disappointed - rather I was proud and optimistic for the future.
It may have been because I took my four-year-old daughter to Carrow Road for only her fourth visit. But considering the last time I took her was a pre-season friendly two years ago, this time it was possibly make or break for her.
With plenty of goodies on stand by, it was nice to see her eyes continually looking around before kick-off and her actually looking happy to be there. I must confess that she cheered when Leicester scored and I had to tell her it was the Blues who had scored, not us. She replied with a big boo and thumbs down. I laughed inside, but it confirmed to me she was definitely my daughter!
She enjoyed the goal celebrations after Teemu Pukki scored, as well as when Kenny McClean scored - but she didn’t know it had been disallowed. She was telling people she saw the next day that we had scored two goals. I didn’t have the heart to say, 'no, we didn’t'. She also pulled a sad face when she said the Blues had won.
As I walked back to my car after the game I was the proud dad, knowing my work was done - because she said she wanted to come again.
Unsurprisingly, she didn’t give her match opinions on the game, but I look forward to the discussions we will be having in years to come.
And it’s opinions that is another reason why I think football is great.
Since the Leicester game there have been many debates over who should be starting today, especially after the arrivals of Mathias Normann and Ozan Kabak.
It’s going to take same tough calls from Daniel Farke, but don’t be surprised if there are not many changes today, with Farke liking to spend some time with individuals.
A lot of credit must go to so many people who have made this transfer window the most fascinating one I can ever think of (I'm not going to say the best ever just yet. I’ll reserve that until maybe end of the season).
I’m not going to lie, the I hadn't heard of the majority of signings, but what I’ve read or heard have all sounded very promising. I have not resorted to watching any YouTube videos of the players... I'm still wary7 of that after watching all the videos of Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
It’s getting harder to keep up with our international players, with me flicking between channels to catch a glimpse of any of our players on duty. I remember when it was so easy when I only had to watch Wes Hoolahan.
But isn’t it great to see our three strikers, Teemu Pukki, Josh Sergeant and Adam Idah, involved in all three of their games, with Idah getting a man of the match award in one? It's just a shame no goals have come from these three.
One of the players who deserves a shout-out is Andrew Omobamidele. His performance against Portugal after coming as a sub was nothing short of first class. Then a certain Cristiano Ronaldo had to go and spoil it with two very late goals.
Big Andy looked crestfallen and didn’t deserve that, but with all the talk of Kabak needing to start, he’s not the only one who could be looking for a start. Omobamidele has a chance.
Some fans may think he’s not Premier League quality as he’s only played Championship, but after keeping tabs on players like Ronaldo and Diego Jota, he is. And it appears I was not alone with the praise he received from many pundits in Ireland.
I just hope my daughter doesn’t want Omobamidele's name on the back of her shirt in the next few years. I don’t think you can fit it on a kid's shirt.
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