Norwich manager, Philippe Clement has called for a “reset” after his Canaries lost 4-3 to Bolton in a thriller at Carrow Road.
Mohamed Toure and Ruairi McConville twice put Norwich in front against Bolton in the first half but their goals were cancelled out by Thierry Gale and Gaizka Larrazabal, before Sam Dalby put the Trotters in front only for Jack Stacey to pull Clement’s Canaries level.
Atsuki Ito however netted a 72nd-minute winner for Bolton which left Clement deflated at the defeat which left his Canaries sat 17th in the Championship table.
“Clearly, what you say, you concede four,” rued Clement who felt that Norwich could of easily won the match if had been more clinical even despite losing Toure to injury in the first half. “And we could have scored more than three also.
“A frantic game today, really, really frantic game in every sense. Going in front with a good goal, dominating the game, then in the first attack of them, you concede, where we don’t defend good enough clearly.
“Then you lose Mo in the first half, so you need to make a sub before half-time, which is never good. All these things disrupt you for sure.”
Clement however took heart from Norwich’s attacking play but felt that their duel quality was their downfall defensively.
“We had several good attacks. We scored the goals we should have scored also, or could have scored more, but four goals against.
“Not that they do something very special or really classy. It was more because we were not good in those duels in those moments.”
Clement also felt that the defensive errors were down to “individual” mistakes but admitted that Bolton’s second goal was more down to his attacking players having failed to track back to the expected standard.
“We have so many players behind the ball in these moments. It’s about winning the duels, being aggressive on that ball, all the things we talked about in these last weeks.
“We concede the second goal and that’s more tactical, in that moment our attacking players are not running back anywhere near what they should do.
“The team fell too much apart with four attacking players and then six behind that, with the gap in between. So that we spoke about at half-time.
“The second half, you get good chances, much better control, you’re the better team, but you concede two goals like this which are far too easy.”
Clement however admitted that himself alongside players and staff are responsible for the result and has called for the squad to rediscover their confidence and vision.
“It’s everybody and it’s me,” he said. “It’s not the players and the staff are something separate. We win together, we lose together.
“I had a feeling that players lost their heads after conceding the first goal and then starting to doubt, what cannot happen, because they did a lot of good things in the past.
“They need to stay emotional, in control and keep their confidence. I felt too many players who lowered their level after conceding the first goal.”
With just nine points in their opening eight league matches and sat four points above the relegation zone but adrift of the last play-off spot by the same margin, Clement believes that his Canaries “deserved some more points,” but felt that the defeat was fair.
“Maybe not today, although I don’t think that Bolton created so much, but in the moments we defended badly, they punished us.
“It should have been more points, but we now have the international break to reset everybody, and to see with the internationals when they come back, because that’s going to be really short before the Swansea game.
“So to work with the rest and to be in touch with the internationals.”
Although various players will be away on international duty, Clement has made it clear that those staying at the club will be expected to produce “the maximum,” to address defensive issues and not treat it like a fun activities club.
“But it’s not only about mood. It’s not about the next three weeks to have a holiday camp and to have nice barbecues and to have nice moments together. We had that in the past.
“It’s about refreshing some players who gave a lot the last couple of weeks, others who need to step up to come to their best level.
“And to work on some collective things and to refresh them again, because this way of defending I didn’t see before too much.
“It’s clearly that the minds fell apart and they became individual instead of collective, and we’re only strong when we play collective.
“What the team did already many times, but not enough in the last couple of weeks.”
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