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Bolton performance was 'as good as I've seen us play', claims Norwich City manager Paul Lambert
The Canaries boss praises his players for a 'colossal' effort as they bounced back from their midweek disappointment at Sunderland, with Owen Coyle admitting his team must improve
4 Feb 2012 18:20:00
By Oliver Platt at Carrow Road
Getty
Norwich City manager Paul Lambert claimed his side's performance in their 2-0 win against Bolton Wanderers was up there with their best during his reign as manager.
Second half goals from Andrew Surman and Anthony Pilkington handed a dominant Canaries side a 2-0 victory, lifting them up to ninth place in the Premier League.
"That was as good as I've ever seen us play," Lambert told reporters. "The effort and the desire the players showed was absolutely brilliant.
"I thought we were dominant, we controlled possession. We were terrific and deserved to win and Bolton are a good side and have had terrific results of late."
Norwich grabbed victory despite losing both of their starting centre-backs to injury in the first half, keeping their second clean sheet of the season in the process.
"I thought the players were colossal," Lambert said. "We had two full-backs playing at centre-back, but I thought we deserved it.
"We were dominant from the off. Everyone was brilliant for me in the second half we were relentless.
"We lost in midweek and now we bounced back strongly and that is a great credit to the players. Nobody expected us to be where we are in the table."
Bolton manager Owen Coyle, meanwhile, could not hide his disappointment as his side slumped to only their second loss of 2012.
"We were a long way from where we want to be, and that's disappointing with how well we've been doing in the last couple of months," Coyle said.
"We never got to the standard we've set previously and we need to get back to the form we've showed in recent games.
"We need to pick ourselves up, we know that at our best, which we weren't today, we're capable of picking up points in this league."
Coyle felt his side improved after a poor first half, and credited Kevin Davies with making a strong impact off the bench.
"Twenty minutes into the second half it's still 0-0, Kevin Davies has come on and is looking dangerous and we started getting some crosses into the box.
"But I think the first goal was always going to be crucial. It's very disappointing - it's a great finish, but after the block it's fallen very kindly for him [Surman]."
"We've played a lot of games, and we played on Wednesday night, but having said that, so did Norwich.
"Norwich are a good side and had had the big advantage in our league of being at home, so credit to them, but we never got to the standards that we've set ourselves."
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Second half goals from Andrew Surman and Anthony Pilkington handed a dominant Canaries side a 2-0 victory, lifting them up to ninth place in the Premier League.
"That was as good as I've ever seen us play," Lambert told reporters. "The effort and the desire the players showed was absolutely brilliant.
"I thought we were dominant, we controlled possession. We were terrific and deserved to win and Bolton are a good side and have had terrific results of late."
Norwich grabbed victory despite losing both of their starting centre-backs to injury in the first half, keeping their second clean sheet of the season in the process.
"I thought the players were colossal," Lambert said. "We had two full-backs playing at centre-back, but I thought we deserved it.
"We were dominant from the off. Everyone was brilliant for me in the second half we were relentless.
"We lost in midweek and now we bounced back strongly and that is a great credit to the players. Nobody expected us to be where we are in the table."
Bolton manager Owen Coyle, meanwhile, could not hide his disappointment as his side slumped to only their second loss of 2012.
"We were a long way from where we want to be, and that's disappointing with how well we've been doing in the last couple of months," Coyle said.
"We never got to the standard we've set previously and we need to get back to the form we've showed in recent games.
"We need to pick ourselves up, we know that at our best, which we weren't today, we're capable of picking up points in this league."
Coyle felt his side improved after a poor first half, and credited Kevin Davies with making a strong impact off the bench.
"Twenty minutes into the second half it's still 0-0, Kevin Davies has come on and is looking dangerous and we started getting some crosses into the box.
"But I think the first goal was always going to be crucial. It's very disappointing - it's a great finish, but after the block it's fallen very kindly for him [Surman]."
"We've played a lot of games, and we played on Wednesday night, but having said that, so did Norwich.
"Norwich are a good side and had had the big advantage in our league of being at home, so credit to them, but we never got to the standards that we've set ourselves."
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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