Dean Smith has admitted that Norwich City deserved ‘no points’ against Liverpool yesterday but insisted that his side’s performance against Jurgen Klopp’s outfit was better than their display against Manchester City last weekend when they were defeated 4-0.
The Reds did have to come from behind to earn all three points against the Canaries and Smith also highlighted the impact of the impressive atmosphere at Anfield.
“I have to be honest and realistically we got what we deserved which was no points, but we can take an awful lot of confidence and belief from the performance,” the ex-Villa boss said (via the Liverpool Echo).
“It was better than it was against Man City. We asked some serious questions of a really good team and it took a front three of Salah, Mane and Diaz to ultimately take the points away from us.
“Our fate won’t be determined by games against City or Liverpool but we can take belief from it.”
Smith added: “Liverpool had to really dig deep to get the result. I wasn’t happy with our first 20 minutes, but when we got up to the ball a lot quicker we were more of a threat.
“We started the second half really well and at that time deserved the goal. But we needed to see out a 10-15 minute spell when they put us under pressure and the decibels went up at Anfield and the subs made a difference for them as well.”
At times during the game, Norwich did knock it round well and appear to have the talent amongst their squad to survive relegation.
Other results yesterday went against Smith’s side, however.
Burnley and Watford won and Newcastle earned a point against West Ham meaning the Canaries now find themselves rock-bottom of the Premier League, five points from safety having played more games than those around them.
The atmosphere inside Anfield was back to its best against Norwich at times yesterday and Smith was right to highlight that – let’s hope for the same again against Leeds United on Wednesday.
The result for us was massive, though, and we can now mount serious pressure on Manchester City if we manage to defeat Marcelo Bielsa’s side.