Smith: There is no desperation, Norwich have quality to stay up
Dean Smith says Norwich City have enough quality to avoid relegation after taking his first two training sessions at the club.
The former Aston Villa manager, who was installed as Daniel Farke’s replacement on Monday, said he was impressed with what he had seen so far.
Norwich are bottom of the Premier League, but are hoping for an immediate upturn in results starting with today’s visit of Southampton.
“From what we’ve seen early doors on the training ground, there is enough quality to get enough points,” Smith said. “Players just need to have that belief. I’m fortunate in that not many managers get to walk into a club on the back of a win, but this is what we’ve done.
“We beat Brentford in Daniel’s last game and need to build on that.”
Asked how many changes fans might see today, he said: “I think we can certainly make a difference.
“It’s not going to be information overload. Obviously there are some principles I like in my teams and
some non-negotiables, which we’ve gone through. There won’t be massive changes because we’ve only had two sessions.”
Asked what his non-negotiables included, Smith said: “They can be set-pieces, they can be throw-ins, what you’re doing defensively. There are principles in how you attack the opposition. We’ve spoken about a lot of small details that can change games.”
Smith is in the unusual position of facing the same side in his first game with a new club as he did in his last with the old one – Southampton, who beat Aston Villa 1-0 at St Mary’s two weeks ago.
“We analysed Southampton before we played them with Aston Villa and the analysis team here have been doing some work,” Smith said. “There are some crossovers in things, but it is a different set of players to what we had at Villa and there will be a different approach.”
The fight to avoid relegation is fierce, but Smith said there was no sense of panic at Carrow Road.
“It’s not desperation,” he said. “We’ve got 27 games left, but certainly there is a will to get better.”