There may have been positives in defeat to Liverpool but defensive resilience is the Norwich City positive that I hope we're discussing after today's game at Manchester City.

Whether the Canaries can do enough to thwart the billionaire champions, or not, that resolute streak that proved the backbone of last season's Championship success needs to be on show.

It felt like there was an element of City trying to run before they could walk last weekend, perhaps buoyed by the rejuvenating relief of Carrow Road finally returning to full capacity - producing epic and unforgettable opening scenes.

Despite all of the good play and promising signs, the undercooked hosts couldn't make the breakthrough and Liverpool had a 1-0 lead at the break thanks to a bit of good fortune. You make your own luck though and the Reds had created several clear chances by that point.

That the visitors went on to control the second half and win 3-0 was little surprise, given City's pre-season issues, but the lack of protection for the defence was concerning ahead of another daunting clash this weekend.

It shouldn't be forgotten that until the superb nine-match winning streak started in February, Norwich weren't exactly blowing away the Championship last season.

One way or another they were edging wins and grinding out points, doing enough to keep the back door shut to allow the attacking quality to provide the edge, as confidence returned and new faces breathed life into a squad that had suffered a brutal relegation.

No less than 13 of the first 16 wins had been thanks to a one-goal margin. Once the injury crisis had eased and Dimitris Giannoulis had settled the left-back problems, then City could really flourish and start to blow teams away.

Building a similarly solid foundation is far from easy amid such a tough return to life in the Premier League but emerging from the opening four games with respectability would be so helpful to kicking on after the September international break.

So while Giannoulis and Max Aarons may be exciting ball carriers as they push forward from full-back, this afternoon does not seem like the day to fight fire with fire, to take on the title holders and Champions League runners-up.

Leicester, Manchester United and Chelsea - with Billy Gilmour in central midfield in a 3-4-3 shape - managed to win at the Etihad last season.

The only other team was Leeds, winning 2-1 in April thanks to an injury-time goal from Stuart Dallas, despite playing all of the second half with 10 men. Marcelo Bielsa's side had just 29pc of possession, scored with their only two attempts at goal and held firm against Pep Guardiola's side having seven of their 29 shots on target.

Liverpool and West Brom were the only other teams to take points at the Etihad, with 1-1 draws.

The Baggies had just 23pc of possession, faced 26 shots, seven of which were on target, and 13 corners but held out thanks to some heroics from goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

Burnley, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Southampton and Everton all conceded at least four when they went to Manchester City - who have been able to spend £100million on Jack Grealish and could yet spend more than that on Harry Kane.

Today is undoubtedly a difficult fixture for Farke to prepare for. A clean sheet would be superb in the circumstances, as a full house returns to the Etihad for the first time.

There may well be an element of learning from competing with a top team and getting significant minutes for key players is also a priority for City's boss, who has very rarely shown a desire to park the bus, opting for bravery and ambition.

That is part of the German's popularity and will hopefully play out successfully during the rest of the campaign. As I said in last week's column, as long as the additions of a full-back, centre-back and defensive midfielder are made, I still have high hopes for survival.

Yet few will complain if defence is the priority on this occasion, valuable lessons can be learned there too. Defensive strength will be so important to giving the Canaries' attacking assets the platform to shine this season. That was all too obvious during the mid-season spell of 2019-20 when leads kept slipping away.

Leave space behind the full-backs and the defence exposed against the likes of De Bruyne, Sterling and Mahrez and this afternoon could be painful.

The 5-0 defeat at Manchester City which confirmed a 10th successive defeat just over a year ago was an experience that nobody connected with Norwich City ever wants to experience again.

This group were hailed as streetwise, organised and defensively astute in the Championship. I sense most fans will remain patient during these testing few weeks but showing signs of those attributes again would certainly help on that front.

NCFC EXTRA: Defender hopes faith of Norwich City fans boosted despite defeat