West Brom 2-2 Norwich City: Amankwah Forson player watch

The Canaries may have earned an encouraging point against a solid West Brom side, but he’s still looking for a striking solution without Josh Sargent, worrying about Jose Cordoba’s new place on the injury list and planning for a Plymouth clash without Marcelino Nunez.

His defence are still conceding too many goals, his team are without a win in seven games and young talent Kellen Fisher is now suspended after his fifth booking of the season. There’s plenty to improve upon in yellow and green as well as all the positive strides.

But amid that plethora of conundrums, Thorup may well have solved two of them in one experimental tactical change on Saturday.

Previously the right wing position had been an uncertain one in the City team, while Amankwah Forson’s form since a blistering start at Carrow Road was something they were keen to turn around. Thorup even went as far as admitting publicly that the midfielder had lost confidence.

But bring those two small crises together and he appears to have killed two birds with one stone. At least he did at The Hawthorns.

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup (right) has been on a mission to get the best out of Forson (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) Not only did Forson cut out the errors that he’s produced regularly since a rocking shoulder dislocation at Crystal Palace, he looked a genuine attacking threat against a well-organised Baggies side. Gone were the misplaced passes and easy giveaways, replaced by clever runs and technical quality.

He fired a warning shot early on when he curled just wide of the far post, giving Jack Stacey enough space to take the attention away before shifting quickly onto his left foot and leaving those in the away end with hands on heads.

Shortly after he drifted into a similar position, this time receiving Borja Sainz’s centre and forcing Alex Palmer into a good save. Minutes later he threatened to break with pace, but was let down by an under-hit Ante Crnac pass.

Even defensively there was improvement, and after Welsh woes against Swansea and Cardiff they were needed. He blocked shots, tracked back and was seen multiple times clearing from the edge of the box. Perhaps that’s to be expected from a midfielder, but it gave Norwich an added dimension on the wing.

The 21-year-old’s substitution for Liam Gibbs midway through the second half marked a change in strategy from his head coach, but the impression he’d left was unquestionable by then. From the depths of a midfield battle he was unlikely to win he all of a sudden looked a shoo-in to start out wide for Plymouth Argyle’s visit on Tuesday.

That doesn’t mean it was the perfect performance, however. Much as Forson’s contributions were encouraging, they weren’t as frequent as they could have been or indeed were at his best in a Norwich shirt. Almost every involvement was a positive one, but his name appeared nowhere near as often in commentary as Sainz’s or Emiliano Marcondes’.

In many ways that’s understandable, and City supporters are learning that inconsistency is the mark of adaptation. What they’ll be pleased with are the signs of a talented player, signs they saw and lapped up in August meetings with Oxford and Stevenage.

Ever since then the debate has been about how to unlock that same player once again, how to relive those heady early memories. Much of the focus has been on the individual and how Thorup can boost his confidence or iron out the kinks in his game.

Little thought has been given to the tactical changes that could benefit Forson, and in truth there was little evidence to suggest a positional switch would yield such results. That’s why the Dane earns the big bucks though, and with this tweak he may have struck gold.

It is, of course, just one game, but at this stage of the rebuild fans are mainly looking for hints of a prosperous future. Forson provided a number of those in the West Midlands.

Verdict: Plenty of quality from the Ghanaian when he got on the ball from a different position, but more involvement would have made this a top-tier performance.

Rating: 7 out of 10.