Club News

Clarke keen to turn tables on Norwich

And boss still mulling over personnel and system changes

STEVE Clarke admits Albion’s 4-0 drubbing at Norwich at the end of last season remains fresh in his mind as the two sides prepare to meet again at The Hawthorns tomorrow (ko 3pm).

The Baggies boss is also still mulling over his options in terms of his starting XI and formation, with key defender Jonas Olsson suspended.

But he insists it is his players’ responsibility to take the game to a 16th-placed Canaries team, who have conceded 21 goals in seven games on the road this term – more than any other Barclays Premier League side.

“You don’t have much time between the two games,” said Clarke, following Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat by Manchester City.

“The day after is just recovery.

“Today is the second day of recovery because a lot of the boys are tired.

“We’ve had a look at one or two different options we can use – change of personnel, change of system.

“Overnight I’ll have a little sleep, a little think about it, and hopefully I’ll come up with the right solution.

“I’ll give the team out at the meeting tomorrow.

“Jonas is a character and has been a key player for the club over a number of years.

“But defenders get suspended and injured and you have to have a good squad to cope with that – and we think we have.”

He added: “Norwich are a good footballing team.

“They are always 100 per cent committed, always play for their manager.

“We expect a difficult game.

“We had a difficult home game against them last year when we managed to turn around a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory, which was good for us at the time.

“We went down there at the end of the season, when Norwich were still fighting for their Premier League life, and they turned us over 4-0, so that’s still fresh in the mind.

“Sometimes on the back of conceding a lot of goals teams tighten up a lot defensively so we have to be sure they won’t be thinking about conceding too many goals.

“We have to be creative and force the game.

“We’re the home team and the onus is on us to force the game a little bit and that’s what we have to do to create the chances to score the goals.”