Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said his side found it difficult to find their rhythm as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Preston North End.
Milutin Osmajić scored the only goal of the game as Preston finished as 1-0 winners at Carrow Road in the Sky Bet Championship.
"It's as we expected," the head coach said. "We knew they were coming with a lot of physicality. We knew we had to find our rhythm and passing in the game very quick to stay out of too many duels, but we didn't manage to do that.
"It's a game where they are probably a little bit more on top and they had a game like they really wanted it to be. We have the opposite, we try to get it to be our game again and we didn't succeed. It was difficult for us to find the rhythm out there.
"The average age of our team today was 23-something, that's one of the reasons for the form. Many guys out there, it's fair to say it's the first time they've faced a game like this where it's so physical and with so many tackles.
"That's a part of it. Of course, some of it is that we're still a new group where we have to bring them together. That will come with ups and downs and that will be the same with the rest of the season as well.
"We still think and we still believe we're a good team, we need to reach our standards to the rhythm and the flow. In a position where we need to get to our standards, as all the games in the Championship will be difficult."