Dean Smith insists his reputation is not on the line after signing up to lead Norwich City’s Premier League survival mission.

Smith has never been relegated as a coach, but knew the scale of the task when he replaced Daniel Farke at Carrow Road.

The former Aston Villa boss got off to a winning start against Southampton, following a build up where he had to bat away questions whether it was too soon after his bruising Villa exit.

“I’ll leave others to judge if I am putting my reputation on the line. For me, it was a good decision to make,” he said. “I was offered the opportunity and I'm looking forward to it. People will call it a risk. I call it a challenge.

"I looked at the squad of players, first and foremost, I looked at the people and I knew I was going to work with Stuart (Webber) and Neil (Adams) and I liked what I saw. Someone like Neil, who has played for the club and managed it, you can pick the brains of what he has seen. They've seen the players a lot more than I have.

“I’m not hurting at all (about the Villa situation). If someone had said to me before I took the Villa job I’d achieve what I did, I would have snapped their hands off. But I have also said I can disconnect quite quickly.”

NCFC Extra: Dean Smith on the Norwich City Carrow Road experience

Smith's Norwich face a resurgent Wolves at Carrow Road this weekend, but City will fancy the job in hand after the manner of a stirring Saints’ fightback.

“I have never been one to get too high when you win, or too low when you lose. I have been in this game too long to know you can get mud in your face very quickly,” said Smith. “The players have now seen from that second half (on Saturday) they can get to the standard required.

"We will keep setting standards, and the challenge is for them to reach those. But we have a building block.

“Winning two on the spin in this league is hard to do. Coming from behind is hard to do.

“I spoke to the players before the game. I told them football is a simple game. They are trying to score goals. We are trying to score goals. You can’t go under when you concede a goal. You can’t be too high when you score. We definitely didn’t go under and it was a great reaction.”