The joy of a fantastic debut goal may have been soured for Steven Naismith but the Norwich City new boy has quickly identified a weakness that the Canaries can improve upon.

Naismith fired City 2-1 ahead against Liverpool and also won a penalty to allow Wes Hoolahan to put the hosts 3-1 up – only to watch in horror as a chaotic game finished 5-4 to the Reds.

The Scotland international forward managed 82 minutes on his first start since October and was displaying plenty of leadership before his lack of match fitness started to show, something manager Alex Neil will hope to see much more of.

'I think if we'd had a bit more communication within the team we maybe hold that 3-1 lead longer, which makes it a bit more nervous for Liverpool and the game is totally different,' Naismith said. 'But that wasn't the case and that's probably the biggest thing we will be disappointed with.

'A lot of people will look at the defence but it's the whole way through the team. They passed the ball through us far too easy at times and that's something as a team that we need to improve on if we want to pick up good results.'

The Scot's goal was his first since a hat-trick for Everton against Chelsea in September and suggested the reported £8million spent by City to secure his services could well be excellent value.

The 29-year-old did also see reasons for encouragement in Saturday's dramatic defeat though, ahead of the visit of Spurs to Carrow Road a week tomorrow.

'I just think when you lose that many goals in a game that's (lack of communication) going to play its part and that's why it's happening,' Naismith continued.

'Obviously I've only been here for a few days but what I've seen in that time is there's a lot of quality that can go forward and I think we showed that with the goals we scored.'