Ian Russell, Capital Canaries One point from the first two league games and bundled out of the League Cup at Milton Keyes is scarcely the start we would have hoped for and, with some tricky games ahead, we shouldn't expect it to get a great deal easier.

Ian Russell, Capital Canaries

One point from the first two league games and bundled out of the League Cup at Milton Keyes is scarcely the start we would have hoped for and, with some tricky games ahead, we shouldn't expect it to get a great deal easier.

That said, I'm reliably informed that Rome wasn't built in a day and so I think it's reasonable to assume that most of us are resigned to patiently allowing the manager to put the pieces of the jigsaw together and giving his new group of players time to gel as a team.

It is of course frustrating that we're effectively back to first base as we were 12 months ago when Mr Grant was re-building his own Norwich City team.

Aggravatingly, unless you happen to be one of the big four, football seems all too like a game of Snakes and Ladders; you get the picture.

Any positives from the draw with Blackpool? It was hardly a memorable game or one of high quality on either side, but there were glimpses of some good things which should give us heart for better things to come.

I think my five-year-old nephew could tell me that we could do with a big man up front; the sooner we get the man we need the better.

When Peter Crouch was loaned in from Aston Villa five years ago, the impact and rise in confidence to the rest of the team was immediate; Cureton and Lupoli must be crying out for someone to hold the ball up and allow them to get on with what they (hopefully) do best - score goals.

Probably our best player in the first half was Matty Pattison.

He's clearly got a big engine and an even bigger heart, but he's a scruffy player and certainly not a right winger.

Credit where it is due though and I didn't see another City player in the game more than Pattison in the first 45.

To have Chadwick, Bell (looking forward to seeing what he can do) and, a hopefully an in-form Croft should give us the balance and penetration we need down the right flank.

I was impressed with Hoolahan. The little Irishman has clearly got a box of tricks and he may haunt a few defences this year. To fill the boots of you know who is a tall order, but what I've seen so far I like, particularly in the closing stages last week when he drifted down the middle and run at the Blackpool back four.

As for my namesake, Rusty, he may have cut the locks off but Darel looks in good shape again this season and currently deserves a place in the first eleven.

Roeder will know better than anyone that there's a lot of work still to do, but if we supporters can witness evidence of progress game on game, then we may dare be able to expect to climb a few ladders.