Johannes Hoff Thorup's mantra to shake City out of slump

Three straight Championship defeats prior to the current international break were wired in mitigation with a swollen injury list that saw key players like Angus Gunn, Marcelino Nunez and Josh Sargent all sidelined, whilst Kenny McLean continues to serve a suspension. 

That pushed City's young and inexperienced squad to the limit, with the break providing an opportunity to nurse players closer to a return. 

Thorup is hoping his mantra and lack of blame game will help Norwich find their feet as they plot a path back towards progress. 

"The end goal is the same. I don't think anyone, especially not us, working with this group every day, expected that it would just be easy from day one, and there have been tough moments, and this is also one of them," City's boss admitted. 

"I think the only thing we can actually do is just to deal with it and face it and don't hide from it and have some open and honest conversations with the players, but also staff and whatever we need to do.

"We need to make sure that we can be better again. We don't do it to blame, but to make sure we can get off to a better start after the national break, and if it's with the same group of players, then we trust them to do it.

"If it's with a couple of more players back in the squad again, that'll be good for everyone."

City have used the first week of the international pause to provide some rest and recovery for the players ahead of the Championship campaign hurtling towards an intense period when it returns. 

Angus Gunn is in line for a return for Norwich City's game at West Brom. (Image: Martyn Haworth/Focus Images Ltd) "We didn’t expect this period. We started well after the last national break. We played a really good game at Stoke. We didn’t perform our best at Preston, but still showed some courage and a good mentality. And then the performance against Middlesbrough in a crazy game.

"So we still thought that there was something going on here, and we were about to develop and be even better," Thorup said. 

"But then, of course, the last three games have been really, really difficult, and we've been struggling and actually the week coming up now, with not so much activity at the training ground, is okay for us."