Philippe Clement has stressed the importance of learning from Saturday’s defeat to Millwall, ahead of Norwich City’s Carabao Cup second round tie against Cardiff City on Tuesday evening.
The Canaries face the Bluebirds at the Cardiff City Stadium (7pm KO), with Clement also providing updates on squad rotation, injuries and the possibility of using players returning from long-term absences.
Clement believes City did not show their identity enough with the ball at The Den, allowing Millwall to dictate the game through their direct style.
The head coach explained that the team had reviewed the performance in detail, with the focus now on taking the necessary lessons forward.
“I think I said a lot already in the press conference after the game and made things clear,” Clement said.
“Of course, you go more in detail with the team, but it was in the same kind of way that I thought about things after the game. We missed our identity as a team, for sure with the ball.
“If you lose the ball so easily and so much and play so much with long balls, you come more under pressure because their game is really direct. If you don't have control of the ball, you don't have control of the game.
“That was the big difference for me between last season and this season. We showed images about that and I made things clear about what I want to see in the future.
“The team responded well. They know that. It's a really honest group of players, so now it's about moving on.”
Clement admitted that some of the issues came from players not occupying the right positions, which affected City's ability to play through Millwall's press.
“It was mostly that we were not, with some players, in the right positions,” he added.
“That was, for me, a surprise because it's things that we were good in the past. But you cannot work before every game on everything, that's impossible.
“You have some structural things that you expect. Maybe they made the wrong decisions, thinking too far forward when they needed to be lower on the pitch, where they needed to be in certain positions.
“That creates problems for them in the next line and the next line. Then these things fall apart and you don't find a solution and you start to play with long balls against two centre-halves who are eight foot tall.
“They win the ball, they put the ball quickly back into your box and you don't get control of the game. That was the big point of this game.”
Despite Saturday’s result, Clement says his plans for Cardiff were not changed by the defeat, with the club still working through a period of integrating new players, returning players and those who are yet to build up their match fitness.
“Totally not, to be honest,” he said when asked whether Millwall had influenced his team selection.
“You make a plan for this period, and we talked about that before. You are still in a situation where you have internationals who are still in pre-season. That's the reality, not only with us, it's all over the world.
“You have new players who are just in the building. We need to get game time and experience with the others to evolve, to become better.
“Then you have our injured players. We have several who were last season a long time out. We need to integrate them also back into the squad.
“All these things are still going on now. It's not about picking every game, 'what's going to be our best starting 11 now for this moment?' We're not there yet, but we knew we would not be there yet at this moment of the season.”
Darlin Yongwa is among those expected to receive minutes against Cardiff, with Bruno Alves and Ante Crnac also in contention as Clement looks to manage his squad over the coming weeks.
“They're going to take minutes in this game also,” he said. “Then it's about deciding, do you start with them, do you let them come on? Those are decisions that we need to make.
“But they need to get minutes also now, otherwise it's of no use to bring them in. The player who's been playing all the time in their position will get injured, so we need to integrate them in the squad.
“Tomorrow is maybe the first real moment that we can do it. For Darlin, maybe for Bruno, maybe for Ante after 10 months out, he can get some minutes there.
“With Anthony, it was already because of circumstances that it was necessary at the weekend, so we need to integrate them now. It's important.”
Crnac made his return from a long-term injury in pre-season and Clement stressed that his minutes would have to be carefully managed.
“Do we expect Ante to be at his best, how he should be? No, that's impossible after 10 months with no football,” he said.
“But I want to be clear: we go to Cardiff not for a friendly game to give minutes to players, it's to qualify in the cup. That stays the most important thing in everything.
“I need to balance everything out with this game, with the games to come, and also with the weeks to come, in moments, to give those chances.
“Otherwise, we're going to pay things cash in October, November and December if always the same players are playing. We need this and you need the kind of rotation in the squad.”
José Córdoba's suspension begins with Tuesday night's match, while Paris Maghoma has returned to the grass as he continues his recovery.
“That's what they told me,” Clement said when asked whether Córdoba's ban is effective from the Cardiff tie.”
The head coach also provided an update on Ali Ahmed following his recent operation.
“All is good,” he said. “He had a few tough days, the first three days after the operation with sleeping, but he feels much better now.
“And he's really, really hungry to come back stronger.
“We spoke with him, and he spoke with Ante and Mirko also about all these months that he's going to need to work hard and that it's never going to be only every week better and better and better.
“There will be some difficult moments, but he's ready for that in his head. That's also positive, I think.”
Clement is expecting a difficult test against a Cardiff side who he believes have the quality and structure to make a strong impact in the Championship.
“I like the way they play,” he said. “Real clear ideas, real clear structure, a lot of quality also, a lot of technical qualities, also in depth.
“A lot of qualities, so it's not only the starting 11. If you see the Wrexham game and the two brothers who come on, and then you see the free-kick, that's top quality and also on the ball.
“I think they have a really good squad. I like teams who are positive, who want to create something, and that's clearly the case with them.
“After what I've seen, I'm really sure that they're going to make a really good season in the Championship and that they're going to add value to the Championship.”
Clement expects Cardiff to present a different challenge to Millwall, with the hosts comfortable in possession and capable of building from the back through their goalkeepers.
“We need to be really good without the ball because otherwise you can get frustrated that you don't touch the ball enough because they are very good,” he said.
“Both goalkeepers, whoever plays, they're really good in the way they're playing. So we need to do the right things in our pressing, or no pressing. Those are choices to make.
“We need to do, of course, also the right things with the ball because they can press, they can have a compact block also to break open.
“We need a lot of good things in this game to qualify. That's clear.”