Johannes Hoff Thorup will stay on the case of his Norwich City players until they meet his demands.
A first Championship win of the Dane’s tenure was a day to savour at Coventry City, but the intervening period of international action has been spent fine tuning ahead of a Swansea trip.
“If you go back to the Coventry game, I think what I said to players in half-time was that I was not satisfied with our pressing game,” he said. “I think we allowed them too many passes in their half, but also it was too easy for them to actually enter our half of the pitch, and that was why in too many occasions in that game we had to sit back in our 4-5-1, lower block structure and defend, even though we didn't concede too many big chances.
"But still, way too many moments in the game where we had to do this. That's not our ambition.
“What we have to be really well prepared for going to Swansea is that our high pressing needs to be very good, starting directly from goal kicks.
"But of course, also open play situations, so that we are more front-footed, that we are more aggressive, that we play with more intensity in these moments. That's been a big factor going into the game.”
Thorup spoke liberally about his wish to see the back of the summer transfer window to work with a settled squad for the run to Christmas, interspersed by two more international breaks.
“There's a lot of difficult games, and most likely there will be games where we don't perform to our standards, but we have to make sure that we are up there as much as possible,” he said.
“Results can sometimes be a win. It can be the opposite as well, but we look at the performance and see how we can actually improve and become better.
“Even though we won in Coventry, it's not been like just one big party in here for the days after. No, we just look at the performance, and there was a lot of things where we can do better, and we can make sure that next time we play, we can have even higher standards. That's how we look at it.
"Of course, important for us that we can keep building after a first league win. And I think what we see at the moment is also that we are getting closer to what looks like a starting XI for us.
"There will be a couple of changes, especially when we go into some weeks with two or three games. But what we have now is a foundation and a base in the team, which is important.”
Thorup delivered a welcome fitness bulletin at Colney on Thursday, following injury scares for two of his international contingent in Kenny McLean and Josh Sargent. Both are expected to start in Wales.
“The most important for us is, of course, that they come back fully fit and can participate in games and training,” said the Dane. “But then, also, to pay respects to the national teams it's big games for the countries and fans and also the players.
"I tried to watch as much as possible, I watched the Scotland game against Portugal, and also some of the younger guys playing for the youth national teams as well, which is as important and also for them to get game minutes.
“I respect the national teams. It's a big thing to represent your country, and we should also have respect for that. For someone like Grant (Hanley) it is important for him, important for the Scottish national team, and for us, very good. He comes back, and he is even more ready to push for a position in the starting XI.”
Swansea’s solitary league win this season came at home against Preston.
“Difficult. Like all the others in this league,” said Thorup. “What we can do is prepare in the best way possible and make sure that everyone is fully committed and understands the gameplan so they can execute it, and they can do it with that freedom. Especially in the second half at Coventry we saw that’s important for us.
"And then all the small details in the game we have to be on top. We have to make sure that we are strong in the duels, that we are strong in tracking back when we have to that, we are fighting for these situations with second balls and stuff like this.
"We have to be strong in that facet of the game as well, because it's going to be these small things that will decide the game.”
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