Norwich City boss Dean Smith says there's no excuses after their 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Three first-half goals from Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp helped Palace climb into the top half of the Premier League at Selhurst Park, condemning the Canaries to the foot of the table at the end of 2021.
Smith said, “I'm disappointed today with the manner of the goals we conceded. We could have made a fight of it today, but the goals we conceded in the 38th and 42nd minute took the game away from us.
"Will [Hughes] has won himself a penalty rather than earned it – I have no complaints about it, that's what happens in a game. I just felt we were too passive in our own penalty box, which caused their goals today.
"We have a young squad. We lacked game management. They've got the more senior players in their squad and you could see that. Physically they probably won 60 per cent of their duels. You have to do that sometimes just to earn the right to play.
"I didn't have a lot of choice with the team and the subs today. If that's what the Premier League want, so be it. We should never be asked in the current climate to put players through that [two games in three days]. Players will keep topping up the injury list.
"We had three who dropped out yesterday. Max Aarons, Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell all pulled out. It's a really hard time, not just for ourselves but for everyone at the moment.
"I just told the players the half-term report - it's not good enough and it needs to be better. If they want to maintain any kind of semblance of a Premier League team, we have to turn it around very quickly. It doesn't help we only have ten senior players."
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