Chris Lakey Glenn Roeder has been playing teacher this week as he attempts to get an A+ performance from his players at Burnley today. The Canaries were the dunces at Derby on Tuesday, when all their good home work unravelled with a sloppy 3-1 defeat, prompting Roeder to hammer home a few lessons in the classroom at the Colney training centre.

Chris Lakey

Glenn Roeder has been playing teacher this week as he attempts to get an A+ performance from his players at Burnley today.

The Canaries were the dunces at Derby on Tuesday, when all their good home work unravelled with a sloppy 3-1 defeat, prompting Roeder to hammer home a few lessons in the classroom at the Colney training centre.

t Lesson one: how to mark players at throw-ins

t Lesson two: how to avoid handing out early Christmas presents to opponents

t Lesson three: how to resurrect their away form

“We have got to get it back on track,” said Roeder. “There is no doubt about it, that has been a real talking point since Tuesday. We need to find a winning formula away from home.

“It was very disappointing to have conceded so many chances to Derby. We often start games quite well and I thought we opened the first 10, 12 minutes well and I didn't see any problems. Then we didn't defend well against the throw-in in their attacking third - and we didn't do that all evening.

“We had them in here yesterday in the classroom and we went through every throw that Derby had in that game and I think we only got one right as in marking up correctly - in the 77th minute - and there had been eight or nine previous to that where the marking was wrong.

“And yet again we have practised that at Colney, we have spoken about it and that is where players have to listen and be football intelligent and take the responsibility of doing the right thing at the right time.

“The first goal from our point of view is really poor defending, no one front-shields the ball that is thrown in to (Nathan) Ellington. And as soon as I put it up on the screen the person who should have been front-screening puts his hand in the air and says, 'oh, that was me who should have been there isn't it?' Yes it is you.

“They never get the questions wrong when we come in here, but they have to get the questions right out on the pitch. What is it, five or 10 seconds when someone sets up a long throw? It's long enough. They know their jobs, but they are not carrying out those responsibilities at the right time and it is costing us.

“All these things might seem minor, but they're not - when you get all the little things right then the whole thing becomes right. We have to be much, much tougher to break down, we mustn't gift opportunities, we are not making the opposition have to play well to create an opportunity like the second goal - we can't really have many complaints about the second goal, it was just a very, very good run and cross by Kris Commons and a deft header by (Ron) Hulse.”