Robin Sainty: Big questions on the horizon for Norwich City

Although clearly intended to antagonise, Alex Neil’s post-game remarks last week will have resonated with the travelling fans who had just watched their team hang on for a point, due mainly to the excellence of Angus Gunn as City once again struggled to generate chances while allowing the home side to produce far too many.

A word in your ear - Stoke boss Alex Neil greets David Wagner (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

In fairness to them, and despite Neil’s comments, I don’t believe that a draw was the original game plan, but with players so careless in possession and weak in the tackle there was no way that they were going to dominate a side that is clearly growing in confidence by the game.

Sadly, the reverse appears to be true of City, who laboured throughout and lacked any real cohesion, something that was exemplified by a late corner routine so ineptly executed that it left Stoke just a magnificent tackle by Dimi Giannoulis away from scoring themselves.

Gabriel Sara has been a bright spot of late but was almost totally peripheral at Stoke, Josh Sargent currently looks a pale shadow of the player who was so impressive in early season and at the World Cup, while Jacob Sorensen was given such a roasting in the first half that he didn’t appear for the second.

It was a hard watch for the City fans who once again turned out in impressive numbers but were given little to cheer about as the home support grew in volume in line with their side’s increasing control of possession.

What is really depressing is that Stoke, despite dominating the game, weren’t particularly impressive themselves and were almost as error-prone as City once they got into the final third.

It’s a fact that the last few games have seen a significant regression after such a promising start to David Wagner’s reign, but it would be harsh to be too critical of the German, who clearly hasn’t got the players to play the high energy pressing game that he favours and has been further hampered by injuries in recent weeks.

The time to judge Wagner will be next season when he has had a chance to bring in his own players and had a full pre-season to get fitness levels to where he wants them to be.

However, that process could be hampered by the financial situation at Carrow Road if, as seems increasingly likely, City remain in the Championship, and there is a growing concern among fans whether City will be capable of producing a promotion push next season.

With a significant number of players out of contract in the summer and others potentially considered unsuitable for Wagner’s preferred style, it currently seems inevitable that a major rebuild is going to be necessary, but how will it be financed?

The days of selling a James Maddison, a Ben Godfrey or an Emi Buendia are gone, and it is hard to see who in the current squad could generate a transfer fee in the sort of range that those players commanded.

Even if that were not the case, selling off star players isn’t generally conducive to building a better squad, so it’s easy to see why fans are worried that mid-table mediocrity or worse could beckon.

Of course, the big imponderable is how much involvement Mark Attanasio’s group envisage in the short term and whether that might impact on the transfer budget, but that is a question that is unlikely to be answered imminently with no announcement on the destination of the shares issued at last month’s special meeting having yet been made.

The last five years have given us both amazing highs and painful lows, but for some there is a nagging concern that City may have now come full circle.