City must attack, says Butterworth

Assistant manager Ian Butterworth says Norwich City must go on the attack to have any hope in the critical Coca-Cola Championship clash with high-flying Cardiff City tonight.

Former central defender Butterworth was a coach with the Bluebirds' sides that secured promotion in 2001 and 2003 from Division Three and Two respectively when the club was under the stewardship of Sam Hamman.

Now, the Welsh outfit are sitting in fourth place and pushing for promotion to the Premier League and Butterworth expects a difficult task for the Canaries under the floodlights at a packed Carrow Road.

But he says City need to put the frustration of the 2-0 defeat to Blackpool on Saturday to one side and have a good go at Dave Jones' team from the off.

“The lads won't need any motivation, I'm sure, because they'll want to get Saturday out of their system and they'll know they've got to be up for it but they are beatable,” Butterworth said.

“They're difficult to beat on the road so we've got to make sure we get at them and cause them a few problems. That's the main thing, which we didn't do against Blackpool on Saturday.

“They've done very well for the last few weeks and we hope that continues. They'll have a test but we hope we assert ourselves on their team and make sure they know they're in a game.

“It's a winnable game, of course it is. We're going to be very positive. Obviously, we've got to keep the back door shut but we've got to get at Cardiff a little bit and test them out.

“We didn't ask enough questions of the Blackpool back four. That's what we've got to do (against Cardiff). We've got to put them on the back foot a little bit and get at them but having the caution to keep the back door shut as well. At the end of the day we don't want to go gung ho and leave the back door open.

“There's got to be a sensible approach, but one thing is we've got to be positive in that last third and attack their back four.

“Hopefully, they might have one or two players out, I don't know, but we've got to capitalise on that as there might be a bit of uncertainty.

“It'll be a difficult game. They're a good side and we've got to make sure we keep their strikers quiet.”

Butterworth had some excellent times at Ninian Park which were the most successful of his coaching career to date, but is fixed on Norwich City gaining a vital three points in their bid to climb out of their relegation mess.

“I left in 2004/05 and they've done very, very well,” he said. “They're a good side and I'm sure they will get in the play-offs and with the games in hand they've got an outside chance of being in the top two and that's why I think the game might ebb and flow a little bit.

“David Jones has done a good job there with his coaching staff. They haven't spent as much as other sides so they've done very well and I think their two strikers are probably the best in the league.

“When I was there with Sam Hamman they were drumming up that support and it's a big city. They're not getting as big crowds as we do though so that'll be a test for them as well. But they've done very, very well. There a good side, we're know we'll have our work cut out but what a game to come back and try to get that response from the players.

“They're right up there, they've won 3-0 on Saturday and we've got make sure it's a bloody difficult game for them. We'll make sure we're right and we'll have a go at them.”