Alex Neil is sick of ‘valiant loser’ tag at Norwich City

Alex Neil is sick of the 'valiant loser' tag as he looks to boost Norwich City's Premier League survival bid on Saturday at Manchester City's expense.

The Canaries have picked up one point from the last 27 available to sink into the bottom three and equal an unwanted club record dating back to 1946.

Relegation rivals Newcastle United confirmed Rafa Benitez as Steve McClaren's successor at St James' Park on Friday, but Neil is focused on putting City's own house in order against the title-challenging Sky Blues.

'I know we have to turn performances into results and I know no-one wants to hear me keep saying that. I am sick of being the valiant loser, I don't want to be that,' he said. 'No-one is happy with the run we have been on and no-one wants to hear about playing well, they want to see three points on the board. I'll take that negative and turn it into a positive. If we only take one point from nine games and we are still one point away then that is a big positive because I would hope we can't have another run of nine games like that. I can assure you the people of Norwich want to win but no-one wants Norwich to win more than me so it is finding that solution to get us across the line.'

Neil knows the his side are massive underdogs to upset the Citizens.

'You want to try and frustrate them and the longer that goes they have to become more expansive and you can hit them on the counter-attack,' he said. 'If you concede, like we did after 30-odd seconds against Chelsea, you turn it into a hard day.

'There is a balance to be struck. It is all about results. I remember playing Swansea at our place where we won and I thought the game was horrendous, from our point of view, but we won the match and people think it was a great tactical masterplan. What we did was surrender the ball and hit them on the break.'