Norwich City were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, but Tim Krul said that a good performance against the calibre of opposition is an encouraging sign.
“To be disappointed against the sixth-placed team in the Premier League is a good sign that we’re heading in the right direction,” he said.
“We created enough to win it today, so we’re on the right track, unbeaten in three and looking forward to the game on Tuesday now.”
Krul spoke to OTBC during the week about the Canaries defending from the front, a strategy epitomised by Teemu Pukki winning a throw-in deep in Wolves’ half in the 19th minute.
“When they set the standards up there, it gets the whole team going because we know that we can’t slack,” he added. “When those boys are putting the effort in, we know we have to follow and that’s what we’ve been doing the last three games.
“We really put a big shift in today. I’m proud of them because I think we did enough to get the three points, but it wasn’t to be today. If you don’t win, make sure you don’t lose. It’s an important point for our target.”
Norwich had 14 shots during the game and restricted Wolves to just five, Jose Sa keeping the visitors in it at Carrow Road.
“The goalie kept them in the game,” Krul said, “with the save from Max in the first half and the Teemu in the second half.
“We have to sometimes give the other team credit as well, but to keep top players like Jimenez and Neves quiet… I don’t think they had any clear chances.
“We’re on the right track, doing the right stuff in training and just excited to keep this run going. Everybody will make sure we recover now and put in a big shift on Tuesday because that’s a massive game for us.”
City now travel to Newcastle with seven points from the last nine, the Magpies still searching for their first win in the Premier League.
“It’s all about confidence in this league and we’re showing that now,” Krul said. “We’re on the front foot and pressing as a team.
“The quality is there. Today, unfortunately, we were just missing that bit of extra quality in the front three. Apart from that, we’ve been great.
“We’ll be in the ice baths tomorrow to get recovered. It’s a huge game up there, not an easy one because they still haven’t won, but they’re a top team on their day and especially at home, so we can’t underestimate that.
“But we need to look at ourselves. If we hit the targets like we have in the last three games, I think we’re going to be fine.”
Head coach Dean Smith recently spoke about making Carrow Road a difficult place to come in terms of the atmosphere, and Krul enjoyed playing in front of the City supporters in wet and windy conditions on Saturday.
“Especially in these conditions, you can imagine that it could be a bit quiet, but they got behind us and I think we showed them enough to do that," he said.
“It’s a partnership. We have to give them something to shout about and I think we did that today. We’re on a good run and these couple of months are going to be huge because they will shape this table.”