Norwich City Under-23s coach Alan Neilson was pleased with what he saw from his side but reiterated the need to continue striving to improve.
City got off to a winning start in their Premier League 2 campaign after Abu Kamara’s hat-trick on Sunday afternoon, his goals the difference in the Canaries 3-0 victory.
Speaking in his post-match interview, Neilson said he was proud of what he saw from the young Canaries after an interrupted pre-season before the campaign officially began, especially under their new formation.
“I was happy with the performance, pre-seasons are really tough for the whole football club with COVID outbreaks and, for some of our lads, this is our fourth game.
“We’re still behind from the pre-season, but some of the effort levels from the lads was absolutely superb. We know we’ve got the ability, but we’ve got to keep on working hard all the time and keep on pushing them, so they get better and better.
“It was really good, the new shape will take time for some of the players to learn, we’ve been playing 4-4-2, we’ve changed it now to a 4-3-3. It’s just slight tweaks, but we’ve got to work hard, we’ve got to get angles to pass the ball to each other.
“I think at times today, we did that really well, other times we were a little bit sloppy in possession, so there’s things to work on. The players know me, I’m a nit-picky coach, I’m wanting to do better all the time.”
Despite the end result, it wasn’t an easy game for the Canaries, being pegged back by the hosts early on, which led Neilson to call on the U23s to push each other harder to improve and avoid those moments.
“Southampton kicked off and they went through us too easily, they went through our midfield and nearly got into our backline, and we’ve got to be stronger. We are a very young Under-23s, so they will learn that in training and push each other on all the time.
“I actually thought the two centre-halves were really good, little things that they can do better, but on the whole, they were really good. We’re trying to build a passing team, a bit like the first-team and we all make mistakes.
“I tell the boys that I’m not worried about making mistakes, I’m worried if the reaction is really bad and we don’t get the ball and they go hide. I thought they were really good against a bit more of an experienced team in Southampton.”
Finally, discussing Abu Kamara’s hat-trick, Neilson praised the striker for his clinical nature in front of goal, but re-emphasised the importance of the team in all three goals.
“Abu is a very young player in the U23s, he scores goals calmly, we saw that with his two penalties. But it’s a whole team effort, Tony [Springett] did really well for the second goal down the right wing.
“Abu can help us keep clean sheets, but that’s the defenders’ job and if you keep clean sheets, you win football matches.”