Norwich City Defender Ruairi McConville Calls Defeat Embarrassing

Ruairi McConville did not try to dress it up. Norwich City had just shipped four at home again, this time in a chaotic 4-3 defeat to Bolton Wanderers, and the defender called it what it was.

“Very disappointed. It's not good enough,” he told BBC Radio Norfolk. “It's embarrassing really.”

McConville had experienced both sides of the afternoon. The Northern Ireland international found the net in the first half to put the Canaries in front, feeding into an attacking pattern that has made them one of the division’s more entertaining sides to watch. But when Bolton’s winner flew in late on, he was at the heart of the defensive collapse, and he knew it.

“The fourth goal, I run out of the way of it,” he admitted. “It's just terrible defending all over to be honest.”

Goals flowing at both ends

Norwich are not struggling to score. Far from it. Sixteen goals in eight Championship matches underlines their attacking intent and their willingness to commit bodies forward.

The problem is what happens the other way.

They have conceded 13 goals in their last three outings and are still waiting for their first clean sheet of the season. No team in the division has let in more than their 17, a grim tally they share with bottom side Burnley.

“We concede four goals at home off the back of conceding four goals last week so it clearly shows we haven't learned our lesson,” McConville said. “If we want to achieve the things we want to achieve then it's so far from good enough.”

The table backs him up. Despite that healthy goal return, Norwich sit 17th, six points adrift of the automatic promotion places as the league pauses for the international break. The football is adventurous. The outcomes are undermining it.

A brutal reset point

There was no attempt from McConville to deflect blame onto systems, tactics or luck. His focus stayed on responsibility.

“We lose as a team so we have to work on the training ground to improve on things,” he said. “We have to look in the mirror and look at ourselves.”

For a squad with promotion ambitions, the break arrives as both a warning and an opportunity.

“Maybe it's come at the right time,” McConville reflected. “I'll be thinking about what's happened and try and fix what I've done wrong on the pitch. I, more than anyone, want to change things quick.”

Norwich know they can hurt teams. The question now is whether they can stop hurting themselves.