Neil: We can't take our feet off the gas
ALEX Neil has made sure his Norwich City team’s entire focus is on Blackburn Rovers ahead of their trip to Ewood Park on Tuesday (7.45pm).The Canaries have Sunday’s East Anglian derby against Ipswich Town on the horizon, but first take on Gary Bowyer’s Rovers in the midweek programme of Sky Bet Championship fixtures.
Neil defined the game as City’s ‘most important’ of the season up to now.
“It’s got to be that way. We’re at a stage at the moment where we’ve got 14 games left, and we need to try and win as many as we can,” he told Norwich City TV before the game.
“We can’t take anyone lightly, and we can’t take our feet off the gas for any game in particular. We’ve got to make sure that we’re full throttle for the full 14 games, and that starts at Blackburn.
“This is the most important game of the season. We’ve got a derby on Sunday, but unless we win this one, that becomes less important. We need to make sure that we take the performances we’ve been generating lately into this one.”
Saturday’s victory at Watford marked the Canaries’ fourth in a row, and Neil’s side now sit just four points off the automatic promotion places in the table.
He is confident his players can maintain their form to meet the raised levels of expectation that come with success.
“I think, being at a club like Norwich, you’ve got to do that. I think it’s something that I’ve had to adapt to quickly too; the expectancy levels of the fans, the players and everyone,” he said.
“We’re expected to win games, we’re expected to be competitive, and if we play to our full potential, there’s no reason why we can’t be at the top end of the table.
“That’s something we’ve got to take on board, and with expectations you’ve got to be able to deliver. That’s something that we’ve done recently, and hopefully we’ll continue to do.”
On Rovers, he added: “They’re a competitive side, and I think everybody in the Championship is capable of beating each other.
“When they beat Stoke in the FA Cup, that was a result that everybody looked at and thought what a great result it was. They’re capable on their day, and we’ve got to make sure we limit that as much as we can and we have another good day.”
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