Norwich City head coach Dean Smith was pleased with his side’s reaction to a disappointing first half in Thursday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Chelsea.
“The first half, we were nowhere near it,” he said. “A very good team toyed with us at times. We gave a goal away from a set-piece after two minutes. We’ve spoken about set-pieces and how important they can be for and against you.
“We’ve conceded from one against Brentford and Southampton and it’s something we’ve got to get better at, people taking responsibility, whether you’re a zonal marker, a blocker or making man to man, because you can’t concede goals like that against these top clubs. It’s too hard to play against them when you’re a goal down.
“It felt like the atmosphere that we had in the dressing room before and from the supporters, it’s like somebody sticks a pin in a balloon so early. I wasn’t sure whether it was the system or the attitude, because when you’re a goal down after two minutes, goals do change games and I felt with the personnel we’d gone with, and we went with it for a reason, we never got to see as much as I would’ve liked.
“We were hoping that we could get to half-time at 2-0. I didn’t want to bring anybody off in the first half and change the shape, but we might have had to if they’d have scored another one.”
Smith went on to explain further the decision to start the game with three at the back.
“I’ve seen Chelsea destroy teams with their wing backs,” he said. “They play five on your back line and cause teams lots of problems. They’ve done that today even though we didn’t flatten off quick enough in midfield. Mason Mount caused untold problems by picking up lots of space in the opposite pocket and we never filled it well enough, which gave us problems.”
“I said to the lads at half time that we needed to go and fight and prove to our supporters that we’re willing to go and scrap to remain in the Premier League. We changed the system and changed personnel and I thought it worked. Our attitude was better.
“We were front foot, got up to people and put them on their backsides sometimes when we needed to. I don’t think there was enough of that in the first half, it was too passive.
“I’m so glad that it was the second half that we put in that performance rather than the first half, going into Leeds.”
Ozan Kabak was involved in the starting lineup, and Christoph Zimmermann appeared with a first league start in 13 months.
“It’s unfortunate for Zimbo that he had to come off at half time,” Smith said. “He played really well against Liverpool in the cup but he understood we had to make a tactical change. Ozan is struggling with his shoulder but I thought he put in a really good performance, similar to when he played here against Manchester United.
“We’re trying to get that consistency for him and will keep working at it. He certainly is and I thought his performance today was good.”
Leeds United are next up for City on Sunday, and they also face a quick turnaround following Thursday night football.
“It’s the same for Leeds,” Smith said. “We’ll have to go and recover now and we need to take what we can from that second half performance into what is a really big game. There are 10 games to go and every one of them is going to be massive for us. We need to stand up and go and fight for them points.”