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Norwich boss defends squad after Palace loss

London - Norwich City manager Alex Neil has backed his squad to prove their Premier League class after they failed to turn their dominance into goals in their Premier League opener.

The Canaries lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace on Saturday but even Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew had conceded that his side were lucky that the game had not been put to bed by the home side within the first 20 minutes on the game.

"My players are not stupid. If they play well within the game they will know themselves when they come off the pitch whether they have let themselves down or let the club down," Neil was quoted as saying in the Eastern Daily Press.

"I think what will happen with the smaller teams is that if you've just come up and you've lost the game, then it'll be, they don't know what it takes in the Premier League, they lack quality, they lack this, they lack that.

"That's what they'll say, but it's going to be over the course of time. If it continues to be the case, then they may be right, but if it doesn't continue to be the case and we can get goals and make sure we're more secure at the back and, to be honest, perform as we did for the majority of the game then we will be fine.

"The crucial part is to make sure we turn that dominance into goals.

"I think on the Crystal Palace showing we showed we've got enough. But we need to show a bit more guile once we go up a level," the 34-year-old manager added.

Norwich travel to the Stadium of Light for their next league match against Sunderland on Saturday.

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