What Neil Thought - Norwich

Neil Lennon got a glimpse of the task at hand at Wanderers as he left Carrow Road knowing his side had been “second best.”

The desperately disappointed Whites boss saw Cameron Jerome score twice to ensure his side remained in the bottom three over the weekend.

Chung-Yong Lee scored a consolation four minutes from time but the Northern Irishman was under no illusion that his side had deserved nothing.

“We were second best. Norwich deserved to win the game,” he said.

“We had a spell about 10 minutes towards the end but it was nowhere near enough. The better team won.

“We didn’t do anything the way we planned things. Our set piece delivery was atrocious.

“We lacked a bit of legs in midfield, a bit of physicality, and our two centre halves struggled against their strikers.

“Going forward we looked okay, Max (Clayton) should have scored. But there wasn’t enough, we didn’t work their keeper anything like enough.

“That’s the benchmark and that’s where we strive to be, where Norwich are.”

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karlypants wrote:





“We lacked a bit of legs in midfield, a bit of physicality, 



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That's exactly was we're missing, someone in midfield ruffs teams up, strong that can shoulder barge them into row Z .

Just waiting for the first criticism that he's "too honest" 

/boltonlogic.

I think Freedman and to some extent Lennon thought that big Trotter is the midfielder with a "bit of physicality" but he comes across as too slow and lethargic to influence things.
We need new players all over the park IMO.

I actually forgot Trotter was on last night in the 2nd half - very unnoticeable.

Full post match interview here:

The Trotters fell two goals behind in front of the Sky cameras at Carrow Road following Cameron Jerome’s brace.

Lee Chung-Yong halved the deficit late on but Bolton ultimately left the game empty handed.

“We have to perform better,” Lennon said after the game. “I thought Norwich were deserved winners and that is the benchmark we have to try and reach.

“We have a lot to work on and it was probably the poorest we’ve played in my four games in charge.

“I’m disappointed with some aspects of our play, but we kept going and we had a great chance when Max Clayton went through.

“We got a goal late on, but there wasn’t enough quality in our play going forward which was disappointing.

“We can see that Norwich are a very strong outfit, but we didn’t help ourselves with the way we played.

“There were signs of that anxiety in our play, and we have to shake that off.

“The decision to take Jay Spearing off at half time was a tactical one. It’s my job to make decision to try and change things and that’s what we tried to do.

“I’m not overly concerned about our performances at this moment because we have played a very good side in Norwich.

“We have to play and express ourselves in a much better way. Our end product was poor and I was disappointed with our delivery from set pieces. We never really worked Norwich enough defensively.

“Norwich got the winner from a set play, which is again disappointing.

“We now head in to back-to-back home games against Cardiff and Wigan. It’s a big ask for us because those two sides are very capable.”

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