The Norwich City head coach offered his verdict after Middlesbrough’s 1-0 win
Philippe Clement, manager of Norwich City(Image: Richard Lee/Shutterstock)
Philippe Clement took heart from Norwich City’s narrow loss to Middlesbrough, feeling his side were worthy of a draw, while repeating his high pre-match praise of Boro.
Boro moved joint top of the Championship as they ended the Canaries’ three-match winning run, while winning a fifth straight game themselves. Hayden Hackney fired a wonderful early goal to separate the sides.
But it was a tight game in which Boro were made to work hard for their valuable three points. Clement felt his side were worthy of a point, with their striker Jovon Makama missing one particularly good chance late in the game.
Clement said: “If I see where the team was a while ago and now, it’s very important to be competitive against a team like Middlesbrough. As I said before the game, in the physical data, they are the best team in the league.
“They are are the team that, over the last few months, have taken more points than anyone else. But we were close with them, so that’s a positive.
“I saw a lot of interesting things and I also saw some things we can do better. They are a good team with a good manager who has a lot of good ideas. This was, for me, a game that deserved a draw.
“You need to take the small moments, like they did. It was not a game with an immense amount of occasions for either side because both sides were defending really well and really intense.
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“In the end, we had three shots from Jovs (Makama) and those shots need to be at least on target. Those are things to work on with the young group of players that we have.
“The goal they score comes from our mistake and is not something that we plan for. But quality finish also for Boro, we must say that. And that happens.
“I respect a lot what Boro are doing right now. They’re playing good, with a good quality squad. They can make changes also to keep the same level, or to raise their level. They can bring in very good players like Sarmiento and just put him on in the last few minutes.
“There’s a lot of quality here, with a good manager. So it’s good to compete with them today like we did – with braveness and not in a low block and waiting for something. This was a really good fight between two good quality teams.”
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