Ben Gibson’s belief that Norwich City will succeed this season has been strengthened despite defeat to Liverpool and the defender hopes fans can see the promising signs as well.
The centre-back finally got to play in front of a full house at Carrow Road as a City player during Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to the Reds – experiencing an unforgettable atmosphere.
“It was unbelievable, well worth the wait for myself, to be honest,” Gibson said of the memorable occasion, as 27,000 supporters returned.
“We just want to thank them, it’s great to have them back, I hope we can give them a team they can be proud of this season.
“We did that last season without them, we’ll need them this season, but I hope they’ve gone away and they’ve seen enough to believe that we’re going to give this a real fight this season - and that it’s not going to be like two years ago.
“We’re going make sure it’s different and I wholeheartedly believe that it will be. The result might not read like that but the performance encourages me even further.
“So I believe in that more than ever and I hope that they feel the same.”
The newly-promoted Canaries face another daunting task this Saturday when they travel to Manchester City and Gibson has pinpointed where City must improve swiftly against the champions.
“We had a really good chunk of the possession and when we did surrender possession, we were actually quite comfortable,” he continued.
“It was more the transition moments when we got punished, so there is stuff to improve but we’re a new team bedding together.
“There has been a lot of changes, injuries, Covid and they’re not excuses, they’re just facts. But we’ll get better and we’ll grow.”
After returning from ankle surgery during pre-season, Gibson made his 30th appearance for Norwich, after his loan from Burnley was made permanent for around £8million after promotion.
He is yet to score his first City goal but thought he’d finally opened his account in the latter stages against Liverpool, only to be denied from close range by Brazil keeper Alisson.
“I’m not sure, I don’t know if it’s poor from me, when you’re in that position you’ve got to score,” he said of that big chance.
“I said to him at the end ‘I don’t know how you’ve saved that’ because I thought it was in.
“I’m gutted, to be honest, that I’m not off the mark for Norwich yet, but hopefully it will come when we really need it.”
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