I hope I haven?t lured you here under false pretences.

It?s reasonable for MFW readers to look to these previews for sage words and insight into the forthcoming game, in particular the way our team will set up and perform.

If I could offer you that, I gladly would. Anyone who?s watched Norwich City this season, though, may sympathise with my difficulty.

All we can do is our best to make some sense of an ambivalent and confusing situation.

At least it?s now ambivalent. Back in October and November that?s not the word I?d have chosen; as I recall, ?miserable? was one of the more polite ones. But ambivalent it still is.

To start with the negatives. Our team remains prone to individual and collective aberrations, sometimes sustained. It?s hard to improve on Ashley Barnes? description of our first half at QPR as ?crap?. Having pulled back to 2-2 at Carrow Road on Tuesday, Watford looked the more likely winners until Gabriel Sara?s precision strike.
But?

The tweeter who said of David Wagner ?He?s got lucky again? was wide of the mark if he was summarising the past six weeks. Our past seven league games, most of them against teams above us at kick-off, have produced 14 points. That doesn?t happen by luck alone, or even mainly by luck.

Yes, it started with a negative set-up against Southampton and a fortunate win at Hull. But what?s followed has been a clear and substantial improvement ? including a welcome run of successive good performances against West Br...