It may have been a chastening welcome back to the Premier League against Liverpool but there were still parts of Norwich City’s display that left Ben Gibson feeling proud.

The Canaries were trailing 1-0 at half-time as 27,000 spectators returned to Carrow Road to create an unforgettable atmosphere and were warmly applauded off at the break for their efforts, trailing to a Diogo Jota goal which benefitted from a big slice of luck.

However, just as during the 3-0 friendly defeat at Newcastle the previous weekend, Daniel Farke’s team looked tired in the second half after their heavily disrupted pre-season.

Further goals from Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah finished the newly-promoted hosts’ hopes, with their intense pressing disrupting City’s encouraging play.

“I think that was a huge step forward from last week, to be honest, the score is the same but I thought we were in the game for large parts,” said centre-back Gibson after the defeat.

“The first goal there’s an element of luck to it. I think we applied ourselves well, we showed what we’re about, the way we want to play, a vast improvement from last week.

“I’m not making excuses, I’m not that kind of guy, but this team and squad haven’t played together a lot and we’re still working on things, still bedding new players and new things in.

“I’m not one of those who comes out after a defeat and is happy to take it on the chin, by any means, that’s not the person I am and that’s not the team we are, otherwise we wouldn’t have finished as champions last season.

“We have to take the positives. They’re a world class team, they were better than us in the fine margins in both boxes but there’s a lot to take from it.

“We don’t go away from our principles, we just do them better.”

Gibson saw Salah’s touch at close quarters ahead of the first goal, fortunately controlling a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross into the path of Jota for a simple finish for 1-0.

Salah also benefitted from a kind deflection off Grant Hanley to set up Firmino for the second, before blasting the third into the top corner himself in typically classy style.

“He hasn’t meant it, there’s an element of luck to that,” Gibson said of the first. “But we can react quicker and better, we’ve still got to deal with that better when it happens.

“But I’ll be honest, I’m quite proud tonight. A lot of teams fresh out of the Championship, 3-0 down like that, would crumble but we stuck to our game, to our beliefs and that’s why we’ve got to this position, let’s not forget that.

“We’ve got to keep doing those things but do them better. There’s a lot of positives, I know it doesn’t seem it, 3-0, but there really is.”

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