Norwich City head coach Dean Smith says the players have been working hard to put things right on the training ground ahead of tomorrow’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Canaries lost last time out against Leeds United on March 13, a performance that Dean Smith was not happy with and as a result the players, who have been at the Lotus Training Centre during the international break, have been working hard.
“The players have had to earn their days off,” said Dean. “I was not happy with the game against Leeds. Normally the players will probably see their friends or rest themselves up, but they have had to earn their days off and they have. They have worked hard and we will go into the Brighton game now and we will try and put things right.”
Norwich are currently bottom of the table with nine games of the season to go and asked if it was getting to a make-or-break time for the team, in terms of needing to pick up wins, Dean added: “It certainly is. We knew that with the two games previous. We didn’t get the results that we wanted, and we need to go into these games now and get results. That is the end of it really. The players know what is at stake. They know the performance levels that are required. Individually and collectively, we have got to be better.”
Brighton & Hove Albion have lost their last six games, asked if Norwich City could exploit that poor form, Dean added: “They are a good team. Graham (Potter) has been there a couple of years now and done really well. It is a tough game for us. They are on the back of a bad run, but I think the days are gone where we have to worry about what the opposition are going to do. It is about what we are going to do and it is about concentrating on ourselves.
“I have said before that we have been over reliant on Teemu Pukki and we need goals from other areas of the pitch. We have to go and create chances and the other players have to stand up and be counted and go and help out Teemu in terms of goal returns.
“We have been creating chances, it is the conversion rate that needs to improve. If we convert the chances that we are getting, then we can be on the right side of results. That is something that we have been working on in the last three weeks.”