Norwich City can target a cup run, says Alex Neil

Alex Neil does not subscribe to the theory Norwich City must sacrifice cup progress for Premier League success.

The Canaries' chief believes he has the depth of talent at his disposal to build on an encouraging start to life back in the top flight.

'I think you can balance the two,' he said, ahead of his first-ever cup match as Norwich manager at Rotherham on Tuesday. 'I have well in excess of 20 players who can compete and do well. Since I have been here I have used pretty much all the players. It boils down to a couple of things for me. If you are making changes you don't want to make enough to the detriment of the team because a lot of them may not have been playing regular football.

'The other thing is attitude; attitude is a big thing in cups and treating it like any other game and making sure the focus is right. Winning games is always positive so we will look to make sure we come away with a victory.'

Neil's squad have been impressive in taking four points from their opening three league games.

'I think the performances we have produced merited more points on the board,' he said. 'We should have won against Stoke, no question. I have watched it back and we did more than enough, but the pleasing thing for me is it shows how far we have come.

'People are disappointed we have not beaten Stoke. That is how far we have come in a short space of time.

'Looking at the first game (against Crystal Palace) that wee bit of knowledge and know how at the top level caught us out a bit. We fixed that against Sunderland and we probably played even better against a good side at this level in Stoke. If we continue to play like that we will pick up a lot of points so I am not overly concerned we missed some chances.

'We'll go and play our style of play and, at times, we might not play well enough and they do it better and then we'll have to take it on the chin, but with my group if they apply themselves they will be more than a match.'