After Norwich City returned to Carrow Road with an action-packed 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic, Samuel Seaman looks at six things you might have missed from NR1.

Time for McCallum to step up

When Sam McCallum returned to Carrow Road this summer after a spell on loan with Queens Park Rangers, it was very much with the understanding that he'd have to unseat Dimitris Giannoulis.

The Greek was in and out of the Norwich side at Premier League level, but has proved before that he's got plenty of quality for the Championship.

As expected, he started both of City's first two games, but a fairly troubling injury looks to set to rule him out at least in the short-term.

That leaves only McCallum as a senior career left-back, with the abstract possibility of Sam Byram filling in. Having been deemed not good enough last season, the pressure is now on the defender.

Is Aarons irreplaceable?

As if he needed to underline his importance to Norwich City any more, Max Aarons produced one of his best performances of recent times for Wigan's visit.

With only Byram in his deputy and Bali Mumba out on loan at Plymouth Argyle, questions have arisen over the Canaries' lack of depth at right-back.

Speculation around the England under-21 international's future won't have been dampened by his non-committal answer to questions following the game, but Aarons is well known for his professionalism and good attitude, and won't let Smith down as long as he's a Norwich player.

As has been demonstrated by Giannoulis' injury and the resulting adjustments, these situations may be unpredictable enough for City to need reinforcements.

Premier League wounds remain

City's opening 28 minutes displayed a level of urgency and a clarity of ideas lacking at Carrow Road for over a year. Unfortunately, what happened in the 29th changed all that.

Ben Gibson's surrender of possession and the resulting finish by James McClean left the Canaries reeling to a far greater extent than they should've been.

The explanation for that seems clear; City's morose 2021-22 campaign taught them almost invariably that the concession of a goal means defeat, and that fear was palpable in the fine city as McClean struck.

It took more than 15 minutes for that to change and, although they eventually sourced an equaliser, could a win have been on the cards if not?

Hernandez hits the key features

A great catalyst for City’s resurgence came in the form of Onel Hernandez, whose 40-minute substitute appearance added a directness and urgency lacking following the Wigan goal.

He also managed to whip up a frenzy the like of which didn’t come from the on-pitch action, as he pointed at his City tattoo to send the Barclay End into raptures.


Throw in the fact that the Cuban threatened to break through without creating any real chances and Carrow Road was an Argos away from seeing every Hernandez trait crystallised.

Converting that danger into end product will be key for the 29-year-old to contribute significantly, but there were good signs there.

Sargent lacking in the box again

Dean Smith faced a dilemma when he looked to his bench to make the difference on Saturday.

In Josh Sargent, the City head coach has a player who works hard, he trusts and provides a physical presence in the opposition box. These virtues were notable in the American's cameo against the Latics, but the weaknesses he's been berated for also reared their heads.

Sargent's technical quality has been questionable at best during his Norwich career, and the problem with reliance on his physical attributes is that they usually result in an on-ball task he struggles to complete.

This was true when the 22 year old received the ball in the box twice at Carrow Road, failing to make anything significant happen.

Sargent's endeavour is admirable, but it's futile as long as he fails to deliver.

Give them something and they'll react

Even in a 1-1 draw with Wigan, Carrow Road was as lively as its been for a long time on Saturday afternoon.

The cry from supporters has been that they'll supply the atmosphere if the players give them something to cling on to, and they delivered on that promise.

As Aarons stated post-match, involving the yellow and green faithful can only be a good thing for Smith's troops this term.