Standard Liege 1-1 Norwich City: Davitt friendly pointers

1. Heating up

A game played in temperatures above 30c in eastern Belgium was a true test of pre-season fitness.

But with the re-appearance of players such as Grant Hanley, Kenny McLean and Marcelino Nunez, plus Angus Gunn, Jose Cordoba and Josh Sargent in the wings, there was a noticeable gear change in Liege to a pre-season with a difference.

This is not simply about ticking up fitness levels, this is about a set of players trying to impress Johannes Hoff Thorup. The scales are now tipping from sharing around time on the pitch to thinning out a squad, and in due course a starting line up for the Championship opener at Oxford and beyond.

Thorup spoke in the shadow of Liege’s main stand afterwards about how he felt it was important to convey the message this was a fresh start and a clean slate in an environment where every player, young or old, felt they were in his plans.

But that sifting process will see some slip by the wayside in very short order. Thorup has also touched on his desire to settle on a ‘base’ woven around key personnel in key positions.

From Gunn to Cordoba to Sara to the attacking options in wide and central areas there feels a broad outline to what the Dane is striving to construct.

But in the progress made by players such as Brad Hills, Kellen Fisher, even Uriah Djedje, Thorup has food for thought as pre-season moves onto FC Magdeburg at Carrow Road, and Hoffenheim in Austria.

2. Got a shot, Gibbsy

A first outing in green and yellow since early April, and the captain’s armband into the bargain.

A good day in Belgium after, no doubt, a tough period for Liam Gibbs. Not only for the spell that coincided with the thigh injury at Hillsborough which curtailed his Championship season.

But maybe the entire campaign, which was in stark contrast to a debut tour at senior level that brought a new Carrow Road deal and the club’s young-player-of-the-year award.

Gibbs has since found himself in something approaching football purgatory.

Not trusted enough it would seem by the former head coach to play in a more central midfield role that seems better suited to his natural ability on the ball and technical level.

But trusted enough to be shoehorned into a more attacking role during various cameos from the bench. Gibbs needs clarity and a head coach who values his brand of midfield craft.

In Thorup he has a coach who was happy to make it clear after the Liege draw Gibbs has everything he is looking for in a key part of his team, and every chance to stake a claim for a starting spot at Oxford.

There were some brief glimpses in a 30 minute outing at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne of his precision to counter with penetrative passing. One such intervention created a shooting chance for Abu Kamara.

There were also inevitable signs of sluggishness for a player out for so long, with one lapse in concentration sparking a Standard counter before Hills intervened.

But Gibbs must already sense these next few friendlies could prove defining, in regards to how much of a leading role he can play under the Dane.

3. Candid Kenny

Among the speculative transfer window strands surrounding Norwich City players at various points already this summer McLean had signed for Rangers, was in line for the captaincy at Ibrox, and in recent days been heavily linked with relegated Sheffield United.

But there he was in Belgium in a Norwich shirt for the opening 45 minutes of his pre-season. The club’s player-of-the-year then left little room for misrepresentation in his post-match interview.

“I’m here, I want to be here and I’ll continue to be here. I’m looking forward to Oxford. I’ve always had a good relationship with the fans and I’ll continue that for the next couple of years.”

McLean also referenced the commitment he had shown the football club 12 months or so ago when he signed a new longer term deal amid a courtship from Leeds, which has not wavered in the intervening period.

But that was a different head coach, and a different sporting director. McLean may want to stay put but a bigger question is where does he fit in under Thorup? A head coach who demands a midfield where progressing the ball at speed and showing composure under pressure is highly valued.

That is not to say McLean does not possess such attributes, but it is much easier at this stage to see where a Gabby Sara or a Gibbs or even a Nunez may slot into the template he built at FC Nordsjaelland.

If McLean needs to change minds that will come on the training pitch, not in any transfer horsetrading.

But the Scottish international does not sound like a player willing to walk out on a contract with two years, plus an option, to run.

4. Welcome, Jose

Norwich were rapid out of the traps to get Cordoba signed before a Copa America that saw him play a leading role in Panama’s run to the quarter-finals.

So early in fact it feels almost as if an appendage to last season, not the start of Thorup’s new era.

The powerful centre back remains to this point the club’s only senior piece of business.

Those who run the numbers for a living in an increasingly data-centric football industry suggest City’s scouring of a less fashionable Bulgarian league has bought a player below his market value, and with the potential to be a Premier League performer in the next season or two.

City fans will hope that is with them and that Cordoba can be the dominant, modern day centre back – equally comfortable on the ball as muscling forwards off it – that they have missed.

Patience is required while the English-speaking defender adapts to the rigours of the Championship.

But if he can respond to Thorup’s coaching nous, and continue his career trajectory then he will quickly establish himself as a cult figure on the terraces. A club synonymous with Forbes, Fleming, Mackay et al of yesteryear reserves a special place for a totemic defensive leader.  

- The Pink Un is providing full coverage of the Canaries' time in Belgium, including both friendly matches against Club Brugge and Standard Liege, in partnership with Chips Away Norwich