Iwan Roberts: Norwich may have been too quick to fire Dean Smith

I get the fans' frustration with the style of play under Smith, it wasn't good. The lads were scraping through games, winning by the odd goal. But in his 23 games, he got 36 points. If he had done the same in the next 23 games – and I know there are no guarantees, I get that – then City are finishing fifth on 72 points, so they’d be above Coventry.

David Wagner enjoying the moment after victory at Preston in his first league game in charge of Norwich City (Image: Russell Hart/Focus Images Ltd)

David Wagner had 20 games in charge and won 26 points. In those 20 games they played nine bottom-half teams and he failed to beat seven of them.

City have lost 10 of their last 17 games at home. They didn't score in 10 of their last 17 at home. You know what they say about teams that can't win their home games...

Seven points from their last 11 games, not scored in over half those games.

You look at what David Wagner's done and it's not been anywhere near good enough.

It’s worth looking at the games City had in the period before Smith was sacked, which was after the home defeat to Blackburn. From October he lost five games before Blackburn, which isn't good, but they were to Preston, Watford, Luton, Burnley and Middlesbrough. At the time, they were all teams in and around the top six or chasing.

Jay Rodriguez's late penalty consigns Norwich to defeat at Burnley in October (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Middlesbrough were getting a head of steam up and chasing – Michael Carrick had taken over and they turned a corner. Blackburn just missed out on the final day. Preston were hard to score against. Burnley won it and Luton finished third.

So, maybe they should have given him a little bit more time. I know there's going to be thousands of fans disagree with me, but at the end of the day, when Dean Smith was sacked City were fifth in the Championship.

Smith had got a great run of six wins on the spin, they didn't lose in nine – won seven of those nine. Then obviously there was that October spell that also included a draw against Reading, who I know have been relegated but they were alright then. And they drew 2-2 at Sheffield United, which was not bad, at a team that has finished second. Yes, they beat Stoke at the end of October, but it wasn’t a great month.

So you've got to look at the bigger picture and who they played in that month – and possibly with a squad that we've built up to be better than it actually is.

I'm looking at that squad at the start of the season and I'm thinking, it should be going up automatically, but they are nowhere near that.

Of course, Wagner hasn’t really had the benefit of a proper transfer window so you have got to give him the benefit of the doubt. He comes in, he's working with somebody else's squad, somebody else's team. You haven't got a pre-season. You have got to hit the ground running, which he did. His first two games were outstanding, as if there's a load of pressure taken off. They had more of a freedom in their performances, so maybe it is a bit harsh to be too critical and to judge him too much. But if he's going be in charge, then he's got a massive few weeks in front of him.

Because I'll tell you what, there's some dead wood down there. I think he needs a thorough clear-out, which is a really hard thing to do.

People do go on about only being able to get out of this division with money and stuff like that. The top two have been in the Premier League recently, but you look at the four teams in the play-offs and there’s not a parachute payment between them.

It is a big rebuild, no doubt about that. All I would say is Stuart Webber has done it before. He has built two squads at two different clubs that have won promotion to the Premier League. But he has a massive job because a lot of people are against him, which is not easy to come back from.

Backing for Barnes

I’ve seen that City have been linked with Ashley Barnes – he would definitely improve things.

I saw him on Monday at Burnley, his last game there, and he was made captain and led the team out – he has still got a lot to offer.

He's a bit of the old fashioned target man. Obviously he's not the quickest, but he is intelligent. He scored a great goal on Monday. I don't know of the goals that he scored for Burnley, if he has scored better. He put himself in some good positions. He was taken off with about 15 minutes to go and got a standing ovation - he's a massive favourite at Burnley and has Premier League experience. He's only 33 – which is not old if you are giving him a year or two. But I saw the hunger was still there. I saw a centre forward who still wants to score goals, who still wants to work hard, still wants to be a real nuisance for defenders.

I had heard a little rumour that he'd been down and looked around the training ground and maybe a new challenge and a fresh start at a good football club in a nice city is just what he needs.

It might not be the ‘club policy’ of getting in a younger player and selling him on for a profit, but sometimes you need that bit of experience.

In an ideal world, it's great getting all these youngsters in and paying £10m for them, but if they're not improving you're not going sell them what you paid for them.

Barnes is strong and physical and I think he'd drag more from the players around him. It would give some of these youngsters someone to look up to, to see how hard he works at training, what he does in the game, because at the minute - I'm not being disrespectful, but I don’t think I have seen enough from Adam Idah or Josh Sargent. I've not seen anything from Idah that would say that he's ready.

It is going to be a massive summer and the priority has to be trying to replace Teemu Pukki.

Ashley Barnes is different to Teemu, he's not one of these that likes pull on to a defender’s shoulder. He thrives on crosses. In the last two or three years, Norwich have been reluctant to cross the ball when they've got in good positions. But if you add someone of the size of Ashley Barnes, then you have got a presence.