Wolverhampton Wanderers followed up their excellent win over West Ham United with a hard fought goalless draw at revitalised Norwich City on Saturday. The Canaries, who have now collected four points from a possible six under the management of Dean Smith, were the better side but Wanderers’ back three turned in an excellent display to ensure they left Norfolk with a share of the spoils.
Bruno Lage said: “I said that in the dressing room in front of the players. The most important thing…the wingers we have, the strikers, the full backs, they have the freedom to create chances – we’re very solid at the back with three centre backs and two midfielders. I was pleased how we built up from the goalkeeper, through to the defenders and midfielders, but in the final third we need to be more aggressive. They have the freedom to do that, to go inside, to shoot and create their own chances. It’s the point – in an intensive way we were there, but we must be more aggressive, when one v one, and of course not to concede chances for the opponent. In the first 30 minutes, we managed it. We played as though we were at home. We could be more aggressive, to create our own chances. In the second half the game was more balanced, we moved the ball to the sides, we concede some positions, and Norwich create good chances. It’s a point, but we can do better in the final third.”
Dean Smith said: “Definitely [it should have been more that a point]. I thought we looked a good team today. I thought we restricted a very good team to few chances. I can’t remember Tim [Krul] making too many saves in the game at all and we’ve created the big chances. The goalkeeper’s made a big save in the first half from Max [Aarons], Ruppy’s [Lukas Rupp] had a good chance, Teemu’s [Pukki] had a couple as well. So we’ve created the big chances and restricted them to very little so that’s all you can ask for. We just want to be a little bit more clinical in the final third.”
