Norwich City vs Southampton - Alex Neil says Norwich have room to improve
Posted Friday, January 01, 2016 by PA
Norwich manager Alex Neil believes his side still have room for improvement when they face Southampton on Saturday after their home victory over Aston Villa earlier this week.
The Canaries enhanced their survival chances with a 2-0 win over Remi Garde's men on Monday but Neil does not believe his team demonstrated their full capabilities in that game and wants to see more from his side against the Saints.
Neil said: "I didn't think it was a great game against Aston Villa, I think it was fine margins but I thought once we got our noses in front we are good at holding on to that lead and seeing games out and hitting teams on the break and that proved to be the case.
"You could probably argue that we played better against Tottenham (in a 3-0 Boxing Day defeat) than we did against Villa, certainly for the first half an hour or so."
Goalkeeper Declan Rudd recorded his first clean sheet for the Canaries in the win over Villa and Neil believes it has given the back four a boost of confidence.
He said: "The fact that it was Declan's first clean sheet was really pleasing.
"To be honest the most important thing for us is to win games but it will certainly give confidence to the back four and the goalkeeper, the fact that we managed to keep a clean sheet."
Norwich defender Andre Wisdom could be back in the Canaries squad against Southampton.
The 22-year-old, currently on loan from Liverpool, had been out with a hamstring injury but Neil says he is available for selection. Midfielder Matt Jarvis (knee) has not fully recovered.
Meanwhile, Southampton boss Ronald Koeman expects to face a Norwich side brimming with confidence at Carrow Road.
The Canaries go into the new year buoyed by recent wins over Manchester United and Aston Villa, results which lifted them three places and three points above the relegation zone.
"I'm expecting a difficult game," said Koeman at his pre-match press conference.
"I was watching the game they played last, against Aston Villa at home, and they are strong.
"They have a confidence now that they can beat teams. They won away against Manchester United, and that gives teams like Norwich a big belief and a big confidence to battle to stay in the Premier League. That's one of the reasons why it's a difficult game.
"They are fighting to keep their position in the Premier League. They are strong at home and they're an aggressive team so it's a difficult one. But we need to win."
Southampton pulled off a shock 4-0 win over Arsenal on Boxing Day, but their failings in front of goal resurfaced as they went down 2-1 at West Ham last Monday.
They led through an early Carl Jenkinson own-goal and had numerous chances to add to their advantage before half-time.
But, much to Koeman's frustration, they could not turn their dominance into goals and eventually crashed to second-half strikes from Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll.
"If we are so dominant like in the first 45 minutes you have to score more," he added.
"If you create five or six good chances you have to score at least two goals, and if you don't and you score one the opponent is still in the game.
"We need to kill and that's the difference sometimes between the big clubs. If they play 45 minutes on the level we did then they score more than one goal and win the game."
Koeman will be without midfielder Oriol Romeu through suspension after he was booked for the fifth time this season at Upton Park.
Defender Cedric Soares and striker Graziano Pelle are also set to miss out again through injury.
"I don't expect a lot of changes in the squad that we had last time," said Koeman.
"I don't think Pelle and Cedric can play, they're still out for the weekend. It's part of football that you have to deal with injuries."
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