Norwich manager Paul Lambert said "everybody is hurting" at the club after the midweek mauling at Sunderland as he focused on finding a response when Bolton come to Carrow Road on Saturday.
The Canaries headed to the Stadium of Light on the back of a six-match unbeaten run which had seen them consolidate a place in the top half of the Barclays Premier League and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
However, by his own admission, Lambert's usually well-drilled outfit "never got going" as they were 2-0 down inside 28 minutes.
The Norwich manager nevertheless has confidence his players will have no problem in rising to the challenge when they dust themselves off against Bolton on Saturday.
"I have never once had a problem trying to lift them again. I think they are hurt by it, everybody is hurting because we just never turned up on that night," Lambert told a news conference.
"We never gave Sunderland a game - which is so unlike us.
"Normally if we are going to get beaten, then we will be in the game, but we never got going and we got done.
"It won't be a major overhaul and I have no worries about the lads going again, I never have done.
"They know themselves they let everybody down and ourselves down, but to be fair to Sunderland they were much better than us on that night, so we pick ourselves up and go again."
Lambert was not about to dwell on a bad night at the office against his former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill.
"Honestly, I am not going to let one defeat really weigh me down. I never have done," said the Norwich boss.
"It is gone, I don't lose sleep over it.
"You mull over it when the game is finished and you are back down the road - but it's like a win, I let it go as quick as anything and the lads will come out as strong as anything tomorrow, when we will give it a go."
Lambert has noticed the improvement in Bolton since the turn of the year, which has seen Owen Coyle's side lose just once so far, away to Manchester United, and climb out of the bottom three.
Lambert said: "It seems like Owen has got them going now, and Bolton are a really tough side to play against and it will be another hard game."
Norwich completed an 11th-hour swoop for England Under-21 defender Ryan Bennett ahead of the transfer deadline, agreeing to loan the centre-half back to Peterborough until the end of February.
Bennett was on his way to Swansea to discuss a potential deal when he got the late call to head back across to Norfolk instead.
Lambert, who also brought in midfielder Jonny Howson from Leeds during January, believes Bennett is another promising accusation.
He said: "Ryan is an ambitious lad. I just told him to come here and enjoy it, relish what is in front of him, and I think he can have a big career."
Norwich turned down a bid from Rangers for club captain Grant Holt, who helped spearhead two successive promotion campaigns.
Lambert said: "The bid Rangers offered was absolutely nowhere near anything.
"Grant was fine when I told him about what was going on, and he never indicated to me one bit he had wanted to go talk to them.
"But I never expected that anyway because of the way he is held at this football club. What he has done here and for me has been huge."
Post Comment
