Norwich boss Alex Neil: We need to get back to basics
Norwich manager Alex Neil is ready to go "back to basics" in an attempt to arrest his side's alarming slump down the Barclays Premier League table.
The Canaries host West Ham on Saturday after losing 2-0 at bottom club Aston Villa following an abject display which was a sixth straight defeat in all competitions.
After looking to have steadied form with only one defeat in five, and three wins, around the Christmas schedule, Neil's squad are now in severe danger of plummeting straight back into the Sky Bet Championship.
Norwich have shipped 16 goals in the five successive league defeats after being dumped out of the FA Cup 3-0 at home by Manchester City, while also failing to score for two matches.
It is an alarming trend which Neil accepts must end if Norwich are to fight their way out of the relegation zone between now and May 15.
"When you are searching for a solution, you cannot just continue to do the same things," said Neil, whose side are 18th.
"What we are hoping to do is come up with a blueprint of this is how we would like to go about it and try to fix things.
"At the start of the season I was doing things the way I have always done, and which brought me success, but for the good of the players I was trying to help them as much as I could.
"At the moment, we are going through a difficult spell and when that type of thing happens, you get back to basics, back to what you do well and then hopefully you get the rewards from that."
Alex Tettey serves out his two-match suspension while full-back Andre Wisdom, on loan from Liverpool, continues to recover from a knee problem.
Graham Dorrans missed the defeat at Aston Villa through illness but could return to the squad to face the Hammers and on-loan Chelsea forward striker Patrick Bamford is pressing for his first Canaries start.
Neil added: "They (West Ham) have some good players, but so have we, so we just need to approach the game and influence our style on them."
One of those players in the West Ham ranks is Mark Noble and Slaven Bilic cannot believe the midfielder is still being overlooked by England.
The Hammers captain has led his side to sixth in the Premier League, and into the fifth round of the FA Cup, while playing some of the best football of his career this season.
Yet the 28-year-old midfielder has never received a call-up to the national side and was not involved when Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson invited around 40 Euro 2016 hopefuls to a get-together at St George's Park on Thursday.
Former Croatia manager Bilic is convinced Noble warrants international recognition and also feels Hodgson should take a look at Hammers left-back Aaron Cresswell.
"I was manager of a national team for six years," said West Ham boss Bilic. "People would say this and that from the other clubs, and I didn't mind it, but I don't like to interfere like that.
"But what I can say is that I haven't seen many midfielders who are having a better season than Mark Noble is having.
"And it's not only Mark Noble. I haven't seen a better left-back than Aaron Cresswell. So they should at least be mentioned."
Noble will lead West Ham out against Norwich at Carrow Road for his 24th Premier League start of the campaign.
The Hammers, who won a thrilling FA Cup replay against Liverpool after extra time on Tuesday night, will be looking to get their European push back on track following last week's defeat at Southampton.
West Ham lost three key players - Winston Reid, Joey O'Brien and Cheikhou Kouyate - to injuries against the Reds and are still without James Tomkins, Manuel Lanzini and Diafra Sakho.
Bilic said: "It's a big blow but I think we are going to put a strong team out. We have enough players.
"We lost our last league game at Southampton and we have a good game to bounce back."
Source: PAR
