Clean sheets net vital points

There is no doubt that the clean sheets at home to Sheffield United and away at Barnsley were largely due to some excellent saves from David Marshall. He kept out Danny Webber's shot just seconds before Lee Croft netted the late winner against the Blades and earned a point for the Canaries at Oakwell with another fine performance, including a penalty save from Jon Macken.

The City keeper's heroics have helped his team to take seven points from a possible twelve, in spite of the fact that in the last three games most of his team mates have not performed as well as they did in the first four games of the season when the points tally was only three from twelve!

These statistics add weight to the argument, often heard at post match press conferences, that in football you do not always get what you deserve! This may be stating the obvious, but it does beg the question: "What steps should a manager take to increase the chances of getting the result his players deserve when they enjoy most of the possession?"

The 2 - 1 win at Plymouth suggested that Glenn Roeder had found the answer to that question by bringing in Antoine Sibierski to partner Arturo Lupoli in attack. Unfortunately, Arturo was muscled out of his stride in the QPR game and then picked up a hamstring injury against the Blades.

Would it be too optimistic to forecast a win against Southampton if Antoine and Arturo can link up again at St Mary's? If they do not find the net, Rusty must be good for another goal or two, now that he has played his 200th game in Canary colours; and Curo must surely hit his 200th goal the next time he comes on as a substitute!

With the Saints winning on Saturday, Tuesday night's game will be against a more confident side than might have been the case a week ago, but with David Marshall in such fine form there is absolutely no reason at all why the Canaries should not extend their unbeaten away run to four games and come back to Norwich with at least another vital point, if not all three...