Norwich City head coach Dean Smith gave canaries.co.uk his post-match reaction to Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at home to Newcastle United.
“First and foremost, I don’t think it was a 3-0 performance,” he said, “but we’ve continually made mistakes that have given goals away. We did it last week at United and it keeps costing us. If you do make the level of mistakes that we make, it’s going to cost you wins and points and it has done all season.
“Are we developing? I think, individually, they are, but not quick enough at this level and that’s something that we have to be aware of.
“The first goal changed the game. I thought there was nothing in the game. I thought we’d threatened. Teemu had a good chance. Last week, he slotted it. This week, the goalkeeper’s done well to force him wide and they had a chance with Murphy, but pace has killed us in the end today and we didn’t deal with their pace over the top for the first and second goals.
“Ultimately, it’s a big ask to come back and Tim makes a mistake to make it three, so I’m frustrated again, but the supporters don’t want to hear me being frustrated. They want to see us winning games, but at this level it’s really tough unless we cut out the mistakes we were making.”
Smith wanted to see changes from his side in the second half, but Bruno Guimaraes’ goal was a sucker punch for City.
“We felt we needed to get up to their sixes a little bit earlier and stop them building as quick,” he said. “We certainly needed to defend the ball over the top of us a bit better than we did.
“I thought our build up was good in the first half. We played into their hands a couple of times, but in general I thought we moved the ball quite well. We just needed to do it quicker and go and play in their half. Unfortunately, we did at times in the second half but at 3-0 down it’s really tough.
“I felt we were getting caught with pace so I moved Sam inside alongside Grant, which would give us that pace in the central defensive area. Max gives us pace as well. Pace and athleticism in this league is in abundance with all the top teams and we got done with it for a couple of goals today so we needed to make sure we didn’t concede anymore.”
Christoph Zimmermann made only his second Premier League appearance of the season, and Smith was keen to highlight the centre-back’s contribution to the squad.
“Zimbo’s attitude since I’ve been here has been first class,” he said. “His first game for me was against Liverpool in the cup and he was excellent. It was a tough game and a tough time for him to come in today.
“Gibbo’s made a couple of mistakes that have cost goals and it’s tough because he hasn’t played as many games, so had no rhythm, but I just felt I needed to make that change.
“All I can concentrate on now is Villa next week, digest this game, reflect on it and see what we can learn from it. That’s all we can do and we need to come back better next week to not give goals away like we are giving away at the moment. Hopefully, we can then put in a performance at Villa Park.”