Daniel Farke admitted Wolves were too hot for Norwich City in a sobering 2-0 Championship defeat at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.

Willy Boly and Leo Bonatini struck in each half to punish slack defending from the Canaries at set pieces to inflict a second home defeat in a matter of days.

“Normally I am very sad and annoyed and try to figure out the factors behind our defeat. This is very easy,” he said. “We have to accept we faced an opponent with a very high quality, with bigger quality than us.

“They were the better team, although it is annoying that we conceded two goals from set pieces.

“We could have won points from this game but the difference after 20 minutes was we had a set piece and hit the post with a header and they score.

“Yes, we could defend this situation better and for that they had the chance to sit back. They are so good on counters and with the quality of their offensive players it is impossible to control all the counter attacks.

“They have an unbelievable quality for this division and defended well in a 4-5-1 system. In the second half we changed our system, the guys were brave, ran a lot and tried to do everything but we were not awake enough for the second ball on a free kick.”

Wolves exposed City’s soft centre but Farke is adamant his preferred zonal system is not the issue.

“I don’t agree we have a problem. In 13 league games we concede from one free kick and one corner. It is not much,” he said. “That is two goals from set pieces.

“It is individual behaviour. In zonal marking you still rely on the players to do their jobs. Timm Klose was left with three men to mark (for the second goal) and when you clear the first free kick you must still defend the second ball.

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“That is not because of zonal marking, it is about tracking your man. We were poor in this aspect of the game.”

Yanic Wildschut was a notable absentee but Farke would only confirm the Dutch midfielder had not missed out through injury.

“It was a personal situation. No injury, but some things are bigger and more important than football,” he said. “The player was not able to play but it is a private matter. We had to do without him and we could have done with him really.

“We have some big problems in our forward areas. We played Marley Watkins and Josh Murphy together again, like at Brentford in the cup. If you look objectively, then you have to admit Wolves had the better quality.

“I am not concerned because I had a realistic view of this squad. I spoke before the game about teams who might have better quality, when you look at a player like Ruben Neves for £16m.

“We are trying to develop James Maddison and I really believe in my players.”