Dean Smith admitted lacklustre Norwich City got what they deserved in Friday night’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton.

The Canaries remain rooted to the bottom of the table, and Smith pulled no punches after a below par offering on the south-coast.

Che Adams and Oriol Romeu struck in either half for the upwardly mobile Saints - prompting Smith to deliver a withering verdict.

“We had too many six out of 10 performances. Against a team in the form Southampton are that is never going to be enough for us,” he said. “It is our third game on the spin that has ended in a defeat. The two previous were against very high class opposition in Manchester City and Liverpool.

"But you cannot forget we have come up against a high quality team here in Southampton, who in recent weeks who have drawn here against Manchester City and I believe had only lost once here all season in the league.

"We have to put it into the context but the players know they have to be better than they were in this game.”

Smith tried to find a spark in the second half with Milot Rashica withdrawn as part of a tactical tweak to the Canaries’ shape.

Rashica had been a key attacking option in recent games, but for Smith was off the pace.

“I just thought Milot looked a little bit tired. He wasn’t the threat he had been of late,” said the City chief. “We wanted to go with the two up top, and probably him playing as a 10 didn’t suit the type of game he has. So we made that change.

“First half was very like the Carrow Road game, where they played at a really high level and we were not aggressive enough without the ball. We certainly were not good enough without the ball. Teemu (Pukki) was isolated, but he is going to be when you cannot string four or five passes together.

“Against a high pressing team, once we have two or three passes you have to then play the other side of the press, and we never did that enough. We didn’t play with enough quality. We tried to change the shape in the second half to try and get some grip of the game.

"I didn’t think it was until we made some substitutions that we really got the impact we wanted.”