Robert Snodgrass calls for defensive focus at Norwich City

Robert Snodgrass says Norwich City must build from a base of clean sheets to arrest a slide that has left them 21st in the Championship after a fifth straight defeat.

Robert Snodgrass has urged Norwich City manager Phillipe Clement to make defensive solidity his absolute priority after a dismal run of results. The former Canaries winger believes the team's habit of conceding goals is the fundamental issue behind their current league position of 21st, with just 8 points from their opening 11 matches.

Snodgrass, who spent two seasons at Carrow Road, pointed to the alarming 4-3 defeats to Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers as a sign of deeper problems. "Norwich City losing 4-3 in back-to-back games is the opposite of what being successful in the Championship looks like for me," he said. He stressed that while scoring goals is positive, a successful foundation is built on clean sheets.

A concerning trend

The statistics support his argument. The club has now gone 20 consecutive competitive matches without keeping a clean sheet, a run that stretches back into last season. This season alone, they have conceded 21 goals in 11 league games, a rate of nearly two per game. Their recent form shows they have lost four of their last five matches by a single goal margin, with the team conceding key goals in the 67th minute against Southampton and the 71st minute against Portsmouth. That defensive fragility was evident again this week in a 1-0 home loss to Southampton, which followed a 2-1 defeat at Swansea. It forms part of a five-game losing streak that has seen the team plummet down the standings.

Snodgrass acknowledged Clement's quality, referencing the manager's successful previous campaign. However, he was clear on the required focus. "If you want to be successful, you want to try and get back to building from a base of keeping clean sheets," he stated. He expressed confidence that the coaching staff would be working tirelessly on the training ground to find a solution.

The immediate challenge

Norwich's next opportunity to stop the rot comes away at Charlton Athletic on Saturday. The Addicks sit 17th, four points ahead of Clement's side. With top scorer M. Touré having netted five times this term, the attacking threat exists, but the team must become harder to beat. The sequence of narrow losses, including the most recent 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth, shows games are being lost by fine margins. Snodgrass's message is that tightening up at the back is the key to turning those margins in their favour. The club faces Charlton at The Valley on 24 October.