City midfielder Owain Tudur Jones admitted last night that while it's been a topsy-turvy start to his Canary career, all thoughts were now on the Paul Lambert era.
The recently appointed Norwich chief witnessed his new charges go down 2-1 at Brentford and despite some positives, the Scot will be well aware that he faces a big challenge to get City motoring again.
But Tudur Jones revealed that despite a 'crazy' start to life in Norfolk, all eyes were now on that vital Wycombe clash this weekend.
“It's been a little bit crazy, from what I hear it's been a little bit like this over the last couple of years,” said the summer signing from Swansea.
“It's a club that needs little bit of stability and hopefully now we can get that. The sooner we pick up our first win in the league the better, if we can do that on Saturday against Wycombe, the confidence will be there to kick on.”
City are, of course, yet to earn a three-point haul in League One. But the former Swansea man insists that the mood in the camp is still good.
“The spirit is ok,” he continued. “I know there was a lot of talk in pre-season about how well we were doing and it was a little bit of a worry � you don't want to do too well in pre-season and leave it there which seems to have happened a little bit.
“But we've got to look at it and think that there are a lot of new players at the club, we're good players and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we will gel as a team and only a matter of time before we start winning games.”
Part of Tudur Jones' 'crazy' start to Canary life was the sacking of Bryan Gunn. And like most of Norfolk, he was surprised when news filtered through of the City legend's departure.
“It came as a shock. Of course the timing was a bit of a shock but there are so many games to take our minds off it, we can't think about that situation for too long because there's nothing we can do about it.
“The club have picked the man they wanted for the job and it's a case of working hard for that manager now.
“I'm sure he knows what needs working on and we'll get cracking on that on Thursday.”
As for that Bees defeat, Tudur Jones admitted that having their new gaffer in the stands gave them extra motivation. It's just a shame they couldn't bring home the bacon…
“I think it did [give them extra motivation],” said the Welshman. “You've got to try and impress people but it was no different to any other game � whether a manager is in place or what have you, it's another game and you're looking to kick on and bounce back from the opening three games and be more difficult to beat.
“We've got to have that little bit of edge in front of goal and then you're strong and teams can't break you down; that's the recipe for success in this league.
“We are all kicking ourselves that we have lost the game but I would not say it was anything to do with the past week. As people always say when managers leave football clubs, players get on with it.
“The lads know that we have to roll our sleeves up which I think we did. It was the ideal game to match them up for half an hour, be big and strong and then let our quality show. But it didn't really get going for us, we got sucked in a little bit to their way of playing.”
And as everyone looks ahead to that crucial Chairboys showdown on Saturday, Tudur Jones admitted that they were already playing catch up.
Colchester, Charlton and Leeds currently sit eight points ahead of City. And without being alarmist so early on in the season, this weekend's match with Peter Taylor's men really is 'must win'.
“It's not ideal; it's not where we want to be. But there are loads of games to go and it's a case of rolling our sleeves up, digging in deep for this football club and trying to do well.
“We've got an opportunity to do that on Saturday but we've certainly got to raise our standards in terms of being resolute and difficult to beat.”
Tom Haylett
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