Head coach Philippe Clement reflects on Norwich's 5-0 win in Bristol.
Philippe Clement praised his team for their performance not only today, but for this week also.
“This is a really hard team to break open so like it was on Wednesday against Derby.
“They have a really good squad with a lot of Premier League or ex-Premier League players.
“We did well in the first half, although we didn't create super big chances, but we scored an important goal and we tired them down.
“That was also important, and because of that, we could create more space in the second half.”
Clement compared the two halves saying "we reacted well to come out on the front foot again in the second half, like we started the game.
“They got more tired and less compact because we were moving the ball well, and because of that we could have several good attacks and good transition moments with good goals.”
City have scored nine goals away from home with two clean sheets this week. The team were pushing right until the very end with Harry Darling racing back to clear a ball off the line when you're 5-0 up.
"Everybody, everybody was putting their bodies in between the goal and the ball and there were several shots really well blocked.
“That's what we want to see.
“We want to see more and more clean sheets and more good football, attacking football and attractive football.
“Those are the things that people want to see.
“I'm really happy for the fans, there were a lot of people here.
“I think there are almost 2,000 fans on this long trip and it's a very long trip to come here.
“It shows again how much they support the players and the club.
“Then you want to give them a good game and a good result and I think they will drive home now with really big smiles and a lot of fun in the car.
The Belgian shared how pleased is that Harry Darling is City’s 14th different goal scorer in the league this season.
“Yeah, I said from the beginning, I want to create a team where everybody can score except for the goalkeeper.
“Because if you have only your attacking players, you have the burden of being the only ones who can score goals then it's easier to stop you and it puts pressure on them also.
“We attack with the whole team, we defend with the whole team, and our full-backs come in positions to score, our centre-house comes in positions to score, our midfielders and our attacking players.
“That's the football I want to see, like total football with the whole team attacking and feeling today.”
Philippe is confident that the team can build on recent results and grow as a team.
“Yeah we speak a lot and have collective meetings, and I see people grow not only as football players but also as persons growing up from being boys to become men and that's what they need to do to become more consistent.
“If they want to reach the ambitions that the club has, we need consistency. Otherwise you cannot go to the Premier League in the future.
“We're building that step by step; Rome is not built in a day.
“There are a lot of good things going on behind the scenes that people don't know with the players, but I'm also happy with this week that people start to see that more and more.
Norwich turned around a disappointing run of results to win four on the bounce, but Clement shared lessons have been learnt to carry forward.
“Yeah 100% they’re good lessons and you see players acting different now in those situations.
“Also in that run, there were also games that we were unlucky, and we could have taken more points.
“What they do with and without ball and sometimes it was a good part with the ball but then six out of ten without ball and you need to be eight, nine of ten all the time without ball.
“They're starting to learn these lessons and then you see that you can get really collective performance.”
Norwich have scored 21 points from 15 games a much more positive run compared to November last season.
“Yeah, it's a big difference. I was totally not happy with last November; I think it was really good for us that the international break was a little bit longer so we could do a lot of things with the team to make it better.
“In the first result, it was not maybe clear, but in the way of playing yes, better structure, also more competitive against good teams like Swansea and Southampton and it was close games there.
“So, the team is growing and getting better, and I will keep on pushing them to go to the next level again. That's my job.”
The head coach shared a slight insight into what the upcoming international break looks like for the players.
“The guys can have a day off tomorrow, but they can come into the building for recovery.
“We will have an internal game also during the week, and they will have a few days off around the weekend, and then we build again towards the next game.”