Dean Smith is too long in the tooth to worry about appeasing the court of public opinion. But he knows Norwich City must step it up in the Championship.

Tracking at two points per game tends to end in a place in the Premier League. Smith is on target to achieve that mission. But a grinding few days at Carrow Road does nothing to convince some who perhaps crave the footballing aesthetics of his predecessor.

That conveniently overlooks many hard truths about Daniel Farke’s tenure. Pertinent to the current situation is the gruelling nature of the club’s most recent Championship tour.

Norwich did not cut a swathe through the division in 2020/21.

It was incremental, it was stodgy at times, it was a season packed with one goal wins and much more focus on a defensive base than the combustible creative genius of Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia to power another gloriously uplifting title triumph.

Those who want a return to 2018/19 will be left disappointed. Smith is a pragmatist but he is no lover of functional output. That is another misconception.

City’s most inventive force on a frustrating afternoon against West Brom was Aaron Ramsey, as he has been for many of the previous six league wins.

A player Smith enticed from his old club, Aston Villa, on a season long loan. A player with the vision, imagination and speed of thought and deed to really add a new dimension to Norwich’s attacking urges.

Smith’s willingness to welcome Todd Cantwell back into the fold was another signal, albeit Cantwell has had to defer of late while Smith tries to tweak and refine in a quest for more control, more composure and more polish when Norwich do have the ball.

Understandably, given the mess he inherited last season, his primary focus was on City’s defensive structure. Concessions such as Dara O’Shea’s free header, to slot the Baggies in front, may suggest otherwise, but overall Norwich do look more solid and less prone to the vulnerability that has plagued them at the highest level under Farke and latterly Smith.

The Canaries’ head coach tellingly opted to link both the midweek Bristol City win and this latest draw during his post-match media duties, and point out the relentless nature of the opening phase of this season.

That should be taken neither as a cheap excuse, or a bid to distract; not when you see how sluggish and laboured essentially the same starting roster – bar Gabby Sara replacing Cantwell – looked in trying to press the Robins, or press the issue against the Baggies.

Steve Bruce openly admitted in his search for wins to match performances – a mantra we heard from Smith after Norwich’s opening three winless Championship affairs – the visitors had sought to frustrate and hit on the counter.

O’Shea’s early gift helped embellish such a gameplan, and Norwich lacked the guile and physical and mental freshness to deconstruct the problems in front of them.

Yet they picked up four points from two home tussles, and sit in the automatic promotion spots after 10 league games. How it feels and how it looks may jar at present but the evidence is there in the league standings.

Smith knows they can play better and they must play better. His post-match reveal Isaac Hayden is due to train over the international break may have got lost in the search for answers. But it was a key footnote.

In an area of the squad that was woefully short in the Premier League, Hayden’s summer signing, Smith’s first at the club and following a personal appeal from the Norwich head coach, marked a step in the right direction.

It was an acknowledgement of what he felt was lacking. It is also why Liam Gibbs was fast-tracked into the mix before his recent injury blow.

Kenny McLean has dropped into that deeper-lying midfield role, in front of a back four, in the past two home games. But the Scot’s natural urges are to break forward.

His partnership with Olly Skipp in the previous Championship title winning season worked because the Tottenham loanee knew the position and the demands; and his fire-fighting instincts blended with McLean’s all-action style.

Smith will be loathe to fast-track Hayden into frontline service immediately, but there is no question City still lack that streetwise operator and, by definition, the control and composure to make life much easier in the Championship grind.

It would heap undue pressure on Hayden to label him the balm to soothe underlying concerns, or the glue to bind what defines this head coach’s preferred method.

Dimi Giannoulis’ own return from injury can bring the natural defensive balance, width and attacking thrust Smith has also highlighted recently.

But undoubtedly Hayden’s experience, quality and leadership are key components in how his boss envisaged Norwich would go about the task in the second tier.

It is much easier to revolve and rotate attacking midfield options around Teemu Pukki when you have a player who offers both defensive ballast, and the ability to progress the ball.

Until he is available this feels like a holding pattern before the big reveal.