Dean Smith wants Norwich City to shed any ‘glorious loser’ tag on his watch but admits it will take eight out of ten displays to eclipse Manchester United.
Smith is relishing the prospect of a Carrow Road Premier League tussle on Saturday against Ralf Rangnick, Cristiano Ronaldo and one of the game’s most iconic football clubs.
“We won't be fearful of Manchester United for sure. We'll give them plenty of respect, which they deserve. But our players don't need to be fearful,” said the City chief. “They need to be ready to go and play the quality of football that we can go and play. We will probably need plenty of eight out of 10s to go and win this game. But I have a belief in the players that they can do that.
"We believe we're quite capable in that dressing room. We'd like a few of them to be under performing, and certainly our players hitting those levels.
“They are a big hitter but we are in the same league and this league is a very competitive one, and we want to be as competitive as we can, especially at home. Carrow Road is going to be an important place for us to gather points and Manchester United is going to be no different.”
Smith faces yet another new manager in highly-regarded German coach Rangnick, who the Reds turned to following the departure of club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“It can be difficult, in terms of the planning. What's been fortunate for me is that I've actually played against Wolves, against Tottenham, Newcastle and now Manchester United already this season,” he said. “They are the same players. I look at the possible Man United team and there might be two or three changes from when I played them before.
“I'm looking forward to it. We took a lot of positives from the Tottenham game, despite the scoreline. But I don't want to be a glorious loser. That's not the way I work.
"For a Tottenham side to cover more total distance than they had done since 2019 showed me how hard they worked to actually win the ball back.
“A lot of neutrals said Tottenham sat back. We created just as many good chances as they did. We had a big chance at 0-0 and another at 1-0 down, and they change the game. I was pleased with the performance, pleased with the control.”
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