City on track for demanding Clement

Philippe Clement is convinced Norwich City will be ready to rumble for the Championship kick-off after another gruelling pre-season test at AFC Wimbledon.

Clement put his squad through a rigorous morning training session at their Teddington training base, prior to a goalless midweek friendly draw at the League One club.

City’s fringe performers and young talent got a chance to impress but Clement is confident that sharpness in the final third will come when the real business gets underway.

“It was what we expected to see after three busy days, hard-working days for the lads,” he said.

“We had a double session on Tuesday and a session on the morning of the game, so you know there's a lack of freshness.

"We mixed up also the teams, like you saw with the 60 minutes, 30 minutes, with a lot of inexperienced guys, also with the young guys out of the academy who for the first time are playing at this level.

"In general I think we showed good things. We had control fully of the game. We created really good chances.

"The thing we missed is to finish off the job and to score one, two or three goals at least, and then you have a really good result. You could see that freshness was not there in terms of the movement.”

Clement also had to contend with a twisted ankle injury for Kellen Fisher that limited right-back rival Jack Stacey to a 45-minute shift.

Fisher is expected to miss this weekend’s behind-closed-doors friendly at Fulham’s training ground, and City are already without Lucien Mahovo for three months after ankle ligament damage.

Jovon Makama was also sat in the stands at Plough Lane with a protective boot after a kick in his seasonal comeback against Colchester, while Ante Crnac and Papa Amadou have yet to feature in pre-season after months on the sidelines.

“Normally, it was the idea to have 60 and 30 minutes with Jack and Kellen,” said Clement.

“So Jack would have played 60 and Kellen 30, and then the opposite for the game on Saturday.

"But we had to change plans. That's part of it because it is a contact sport.

"Although you make so many changes and getting young players on the pitch everybody is picking up good things and you see the team doing good things.

"St Gallen, first half, was better than what we show at Wimbledon, but it was also with more experienced guys playing together. It's normal that these movements are better, and that there's more quality.

"With all respect for Wimbledon, they lost with one goal difference against Brentford, who is a Premier League team, and they won against Coventry, so it's a good team and it's a difficult team to win against.

"With young boys who are training two to three weeks it’s not so easy but I have to say they clearly show that they are picking up things and that they're really hungry to become better and to be in the future a part of the story.

"We missed a lot of players now, so it's a really big opportunity for them also to get these games in.”