The Belgian takes charge of his first Championship game at Birmingham City on Saturday, after a whirlwind week when he was headhunted to replace Liam Manning.
Clement was officially unveiled at Colney on Friday, and echoed sporting director Ben Knapper’s midweek revelation his playing staff are on a massive fitness catch-up exercise to arm them for a relegation battle ahead.
“The players are not fit enough for what I want. Or need,” he said. “It would be much nicer for me if we had six weeks preparation and I could implement everything, the way of playing, the way I use words on the pitch, certain things technically, about formations, physically, mentally, because there’s also a lot of work to be done, but it’s not the case.
“We had already a lot of meetings. I’m now four days in the building, but it feels already like two months. And I mean it in a very good way. That’s also a good signal that everybody is engaged. I feel everybody from every department is engaged to make things better.
“And it’s about me, challenging people, putting the questions, giving ideas and making the story better, and not only picking out the first 11 for the game, or who to change during half-time or during the game. There’s a lot of more things to be done here, but I’m up for that.
Philippe Clement knows his coaching reputation is on the line after joining Norwich City (Image: PA)
“It’s a very difficult challenge, and it’s about communication, working together a lot, looking individually at players, about their fitness programmes, what to do, what not to do. And we can have a long talk about that, as we did in those meetings. It’s something that happened in the past at my clubs, so we also have the data around that.”
Clement is without nine injured players for a St Andrew’s debut, with another left back juggle required in the absence of Jeffrey Schlupp, Lucien Mahovo and Ben Chrisene.
“I don’t like to be the guy who looks to the half-empty glass. I want to be the guy who looks to the half-full glass, and to see the player who plays in that position plays a good game,” he said. “So I believe in the players who will go on the pitch they will do everything for the team. And like I said before, if you sometimes have injured players, you can have really nice surprises.
“I had one moment in my Brugge time my captain was injured, and I put a young boy there in the midfield. That moment was Charles De Ketelaere.
“He was only 17 or 18, first in a cup game, and then his second game was a Champions League game against Paris St Germain. He did really well, and he kicked on from that. So let’s hope we have a few guys in the building who can do that.”
Kenny McLean is fit and available after his stunning World Cup qualifying goal in midweek confirmed Scotland’s place at the finals.
Clement tried to sign the midfielder at previous club Rangers, and his new captain is key to a strong showing in the West Midlands.
“I think it’s a clear one in this club,” said the City boss. “Now, in this situation he’s the captain if I see how he behaves in the group, all the things that I hear from staff there’s no reason to change that.
“Birmingham is a difficult challenge. But what do I want to see? The defensive principles we worked on, the offensive principles, we worked on, the attitude, the never give up mentality. I think it’s a major thing, not only in this situation, but in every club in the world.
“If you want to be successful you cannot do anything about the things that happened before. So if you make a mistake what is the reaction after the mistake? I’ve seen too many players needing two, three, five seconds, 10 seconds in these last weeks when I watched the games. That was a very important thing for this week.
“Also, I want fast reactions so that the team stays solid. I want to see also a lot of communication between each other to move, to help each other, to make each other better. Not one or two players talking, but all the team engaged, and a few other things. But I cannot say everything, because my colleague in Birmingham likes to listen also to press probably.”
Clement has won league titles and managed in Europe’s premier club competitions but knows he has put his coaching reputation on the line with the struggling Canaries.
“It gives even more proof how much I believe in the plans, short but also long term of the people in the club and the owners,” he said. “That’s why it was also very important for me to have a good talk with the owners about what the plans are with the club and how they see things, and how they want to manage a club.
“They’ve been managing a club in another sport, I know, but they have had three managers in 21 years. That proves they believe in the process and making things better, and checking things with data to look at progress. Not only the short-term results.”