Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement is looking to restore the balance between performance and result as his side head to Sheffield United this weekend.
The Canaries haven't had the start to the Championship campaign they hoped for, losing three of their first four matches, even though their defeats to West Brom and Stoke arguably warranted a better return.
Clement’s side have shown enough in patches to suggest their early-season position does not fully reflect the standard of their performances, but they have too often been left to rue missed chances and costly moments at the other end.
The Belgian accepts there is no shortcut to changing that pattern. But, while he acknowledges football does not always reward the team which creates the better opportunities, he is confident consistent performances will eventually bring a more fitting points return.
"That's been the frustrating part of the start of the season. Performance and results are clearly not in balance," City's boss argued.
"Somebody sent me this week, somebody who likes stats and all the details behind football games, his different parameters on how you win games of football. With his list, we should be in third position in the league at the moment. That's totally not the case.
"I've been more than 30 years in football. I know that is football. That's also why a lot of people love football. The charm is there. It's not a mathematics game about who's having the most possession or who's having the most chances or the best chances will win every time, because then all the teams with the most money always win, normally.
"That's the charm of football. If you're on the other side, like we've been the last couple of weeks, that's frustrating at times.
"Then you need to look forward and we need to look to the next game again. What I know from more than 30 years is that if performance after performance is good and you create more than your opponents, you have a much better chance of getting a point. This will not last forever."
The Stoke defeat has also brought renewed scrutiny of City’s work in the final third. Norwich had more than 70pc possession at the bet365 Stadium but struggled to generate a consistent flow of clear opportunities as the hosts protected their lead.
That has fuelled a growing perception that Clement’s side may struggle to break down deep-lying opponents. The City head coach, however, rejected the suggestion that Stoke had simply sat in a low block and allowed Norwich possession.
"I totally don't agree. If you speak about a low block, then you need to look back at the game because it was not Stoke's plan to play a low block. They tried to press, and they tried to press in the way that Millwall did, but they didn't succeed because we did much better things on the ball.
"That was my frustration after Millwall also, that we didn't show our identity on the ball, and because of that we didn't get control of the game," Clement added. "So, it's totally not the case that they just gave us the ball and they didn't press us. Maybe there will be a moment when teams do that and play in a low block, but that's again a perception story fans can say, 'Ah, and the team struggles against a low block.'
"There's not one team in the world against a low block that creates 20 chances alone in front of the goalkeeper. We did that at least twice in that game (versus Stoke). That one, and we had other chances also, but you don't get 20 chances against an opponent to win games. That's not this league. For sure not when they are with so many people there.
"I can promise the fans that in the weeks to come, we will get better and better at that because we will face it more, and we will get better because we're tweaking and training on those things to get the right timings together and when to run where. That will only get better with the more games that we play with this team."
Having defended his side’s work with the ball and insisted they will become sharper against more compact opponents, Clement’s attention now turns to the different test awaiting them at Bramall Lane.
Sheffield United, under Chris Wilder, are likely to offer a more direct and aggressive threat than Stoke, with Clement expecting another physically demanding contest against a side he knows well from last season.
"I like Chris. He's a really good manager, and I like him always after the game also. He's a good person," Clement said.
"He has a clear style of play. They're direct and they're aggressive. They have two good strikers. They have good wingers also. They focus on that for their attacks. They have a strong midfield.
"A robust defensive team also. He is always somebody who makes his team work hard. So we know it's going to be a tough fight, like we had in the two games that we played against them last season."
Clement is also determined to reward the travelling support after another sizeable away following made the midweek trip to Stoke, only to see City leave empty-handed.
"They give everything. The team gave everything also in Stoke because it was not that the team didn't show a good mentality," he said.
"We didn't put the ball over the line and the goalkeeper saved also a few really good balls. That's the honest assessment of that game. But until the last second, the team kept on fighting to get this goal.
"Of course we want to give the fans what they travel for and the joy. We had a lot of joy on these away games last season, so we want to get this feeling back for sure."
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