Norwich City manager Dean Smith has revealed he and his players have agreed that today's performance against Wigan Athletic was a step in the right direction, speaking to the club's media team after the match.

They didn't exactly get off to the best start in this early kick-off when James McClean had acres of space to slot the ball past Tim Krul after being played through by Will Keane.

And they were unable to get themselves level before the interval, a real disappointment for a side that fell short against Cardiff City last weekend despite having chances in the Welsh capital to get themselves on the scoresheet.

 

 

However, they did manage to score their first league goal of the season through Max Aarons, though they will perhaps be disappointed not to have won it with Teemu Pukki hitting the crossbar.

With this, the newly-promoted Latics remain above the Canaries at this stage, even with the latter beginning their season with two very winnable games.

Despite Smith and his players not exactly getting the result they want with further improvements to be made, there was a general agreement that they put in a much-improved performance with the hosts dominating the game.

Speaking after the game, he said: "We got them rallied at half-time and Milot has gone and chased the kick-off down and had a chance after 15 seconds. We had loads of possession but didn’t create big enough chances.

"The one time we worked the ball from one side to the other quickly, Max scored a great goal. I don’t understand how we’re not walking away with a penalty as well, because I’ve seen the tackle back on Max’s shin and it’s a dreadful one.

"We spoke in the dressing room after and the players agreed that it’s a step in the right direction performance wise, but we can certainly get better."

The Verdict:

We're still in the very early stages of the season so if they are to drop points and make mistakes, now is the time to do so because every point could end up being crucial towards the latter part of the campaign.

They came close to winning and dominated the game so there shouldn't be too many reasons for pessimism despite their underwhelming points return - and it could be argued they deserved something from the game against Cardiff.

The Canaries will want to get some points on the board sooner rather than later though to build their confidence - and there are no reasons why they can't considering the fact they haven't undergone a rebuild this summer.

With this, they should have a decent amount of squad cohesion despite the fact they have through in a few arrivals and haven't really lost any of their star players.

This is in stark contrast to Burnley - and the one real disappointment for Smith's side is the fact they have picked up fewer points than the Clarets during these opening two games despite the considerable squad turnover at Turf Moor.