Philippe Clement described Norwich City's 3-1 victory over Sheffield United as an important result, as the Canaries claimed their first away league win of the season at Bramall Lane.
Norwich hadn't taken a point away from home from their previous two Championship matches despite Clement feeling they had deserved more, and the head coach was proud of the way his side controlled possession, created chances and scored three good goals against a strong Sheffield United side.
“Yeah, an important one also,” Clement said. “We were not lucky the last couple of weeks. We had the West Brom game and the Stoke game where, if you see all the stats of the game, we should have won both and we got zero points out of that.
“So again, it was important to keep our level or to raise our level. What the boys did today against a good opponent, I'm proud about how the team plays, how we could keep possession although they were pressing us, how we created chances in an away game.
“So many chances and good chances, and scoring three really good goals.”
Norwich led 2-1 at half-time but managed the second half impressively, limiting Sheffield United's opportunities while continuing to pose a threat going forward.
“We spoke about that at half-time, that it's crucial to keep control of the ball,” Clement said. “We know all the teams of Chris, they're full of passion and they're direct and they want to put balls in the box.
“But if they don't have the ball, they cannot put the balls in the box, so it was good.
“Not perfect yet, to keep the ball and still to create. So not only to keep the ball, but still to create chances, which we did in the second half, and then to score the third goal.
“It could have been a fourth or a fifth also.”
Clement was also pleased by the contribution of the substitutes, with five changes made during the second half.
“Really pleased also that you make five changes during the second half and everybody's doing the job there,” he added. “It's important for the team.
“Those are also really important signals that everybody's available for the squad.”
Mathias Kvistgaarden made an immediate impact after coming off the bench, scoring almost instantly, and Clement was delighted to see the forward rewarded for his hard work.
“Mathias has been working really hard all the past months, all pre-season,” he said. “Last year when I came, he was struggling with his knee. He was not really fit because of that and he worked really hard to come back.
“So I'm really pleased for him also that he could make that goal.”
Clement expected a difficult challenge from Sheffield United, who he believes will be competing near the top half of the Championship this season.
“It's a quality team. It's a good team,” he said. “They got also their deserved points the last couple of weeks, or they could have even taken more.
“It's a team that for sure will be in the top half of the league for me at the end of the season. So we knew it was a hard place to come to.
“I'm really pleased that the players delivered what we wanted and also to give our away fans the joy after the game and during the game with good football.”
The large travelling support has followed Norwich throughout the opening weeks of the campaign, and Clement wants them to continue feeling that connection with the team.
“They've been doing that the last couple of weeks, but with less result,” he said. “In Cardiff, we had the result, but in the other games not.
“So important also for our away fans that they feel this is a team to follow.”
Clement believes there is already significant belief in what his side are building following last season's progress, with the squad now becoming stronger and more available.
“That's the case already after last season,” he said. “It's not that you need to start from zero. There's some credit in the bank about what we're doing.
“You see also the team is much fitter. There are more players available, less players injured. All these things will help us the next couple of months.
“But we've been unlucky in those two games where in normal circumstances you always win. So it could have been 12 points for the moment. That could have been the case, but it's not the case.
“So we need to dig in and every week, or every three days, work hard to get these points again.”
Clement also confirmed that Rory McConville was withdrawn late on after suffering a knock to the head which affected his vision.
“He got a knock on his head and he had difficulty with his vision through his left eye, so because of that we had to make the change,” Clement said.
“That's contact. It's a contact sport, so those things can happen.”
Looking ahead to Sunday, Clement will make the start at the Norwich 10K, with thousands of runners expected to take part.
“I hope they trained well, that they don't come unprepared because, yeah, it's a hard run, of course,” he said.
“But I'm looking forward to seeing many people, also many people who are fans of the club. And it's always nicer after the victory, of course.
"Normally I would have run, but I need too much job to do afterwards at the club, so it would take me too much time,” Clement added. “So I will only do the start and then I will be back in the training room.”