1. Fight, fight, fight

Kenny McLean and Shane Duffy appeared to take the pre-match instruction from Liam Manning to heart in a first half verbal stand-off that at one point required Josh Sargent to act as peacemaker.

Duffy never re-appeared after the interval but in his absence the Canaries did discover a backbone to salvage a hard-fought point from their relegation battle against Sheffield Wednesday. Although Manning insisted in his post-match media that substitution was down to a change of defensive shape.

In so doing they halted a run of six straight league defeats that had seen pre-season optimism replaced by fan angst and protest.

But no-one is going to be fooled this represented anything other than a sliver of respite. The first half was another insipid offering. Lacking in energy, appetite or desire. How about those for behaviours.

It took 11 minutes for the first chants of ‘You are not fit to wear the shirt.’ It was 25 minutes before the first bar of ‘Ben Knapper, get out of our club’ rose up from the 1,000 or so travelling support.

This is a deep hole Manning and his players have dug.

Sargent should have put Norwich in front inside the opening minute when his attempted lift over Ethan Horvath drifted wide of the far post. But they lost their way again after Barry Bannan’s fourth-minute banger.

Sourced in McLean’s intended pass to Sargent intercepted and Mirko Topic’s inability to cover the ground to halt the Scot.

City did show fight and character after the interval and had a huge chance to win it in stoppage time when Horvath denied the visitors.

But only Vladan Kovacevic’s shot-stopping instincts preserved a point which, in truth, does little to alter Norwich’s lowly status in the table or arguably lift the mood, or more importantly convince the disaffected.

2. Changing man

Manning has either tried to be the poker player to end all poker players. Or he genuinely wanted to use the majority of his recent public pronouncements to highlight the deficiencies of his players.

Or that ‘nice’ cosy culture at Colney and Carrow Road. Or the recruitment strategy. Or the horrendous record of keeping multi-million pound assets fit and healthy. Which diced another way could be seen as highlighting Knapper’s deficiencies.

The sporting director led City’s ambitious summer outlay, both in numbers and financial scale, and equally pledged to leave no stone unturned to address the enduring problems around squad fitness and unavailability.

Manning has always sought to caveat any perceived criticism or harsh focus as directed at the collective, of which he should be a key part.

But publicly questioning his troops’ ‘hunger’ and ‘desire’ at various points on this downturn felt like a high-risk approach. Maybe Manning simply felt he had nothing to lose, and the point of no return had been reached.

Speak to some inside the club and there was a sense he was too collegiate, too accommodating, too willing to try and entice rather drag those he is employed to lead in the right direction.

But those attack lines have increasingly left him open to accusations of arrogance and deflection. While ‘changing me won’t change a huge amount’ sparked a predictable backlash on social media going into this Sheffield stalemate.

Manning is at pains to reiterate no-one could fight harder or commit more to this cause. But he remains teetering on a precarious tightrope.

3. Danish delight

Among the endless cycle of injuries the sight of Mathias Kvistgaarden hobbling to the side at Coventry City in mid-September felt a crushing blow.

The club’s headline summer signing had just opened his goal account against the Sky Blues, after a key support role to Sargent in the previous weekend’s Championship away win at Blackburn.

Kvistgaarden’s presence at Ewood Park also ended the American’s growing isolation amid City’s on-going struggles for some degree of midfield invention and genuine attacking support.

Given Kvistgaarden possesses the same penalty box instincts there was the added upside of easing some of the goalscoring burden on Sargent’s broad shoulders.

It was a nascent Norwich partnership of some promise. One that must have featured prominently on Manning’s check list; pairing a proven Championship goal getter with a Danish international who brought an impressive conversion rate of his own from his time at Brondby.

A player who, it would appear, had is pick of some big leagues across the continent.

The 23-year-old could be forgiven for wondering from the sidelines during his knee injury absence what he had let himself in for. A relegation battle was not what he signed up for.

But that is what the Canaries find themselves locked in, and their prospects of scrambling to safety may well hinge on keeping Sargent and Kvistgaarden fit and firing.

With the pair in tandem Norwich have a goal threat and clinical edge. Sargent’s channel burst onto McLean’s second half pass needed a willing runner arriving late in the penalty area, and it was no surprise to see Kvistgaarden range into view for a tap-in against the Owls.

Manning again kept him under wraps from the kick-off at Hillsborough. The time has come to unleash him.

4. Home is where the hurt is

Back to Carrow Road for Leicester City’s weekend visit. Whether a hard-earned point against a financially stricken club bumping along the bottom of the table will check the fury and frustration and mood of protest that swirled around the Canaries last time out on home soil is a moot point.

You suspect not for a large constituency who have had their fill of Manning, Knapper and many of these under-performing players.

But if a draw at Hillsborough is to mean more than brief respite from those six straight league defeats then a long, long, long overdue first three points of the season need to arrive against the Foxes.

Otherwise the international fortnight that follows will begin with even louder calls for change.

Manning acknowledged those fans who protested outside Carrow Road after a Tigers’ mauling were well within their rights.

The beleaguered City head coach introduced Kvistgaarden, Amankwah Forson and Matej Jurasek as he chased a way back against the Owls in the second half.

It felt on one level perhaps a final throw of the dice. Walk off the pitch as the first team to lose at Hillsborough in the league since April 21 this year and he was best advised to keep on walking.

Those charges he is too conservative, too functional in his approach have followed him for the duration of his rocky time in charge.

Jacob Wright was again left in reserve on the bench. No reprieve yet it would seem for the former Manchester City playmaker.

No point in taking a backward step now. For many reasons, Manning needs to go for broke against Leicester.