Video and photo gallery: No mental scars from Norwich City’s relegation for Elliott Bennett
Norwich City midfielder Elliott Bennett knows what is required. Picture by Stefano Gnech/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Stefano Gnech/Focus Images Ltd
Norwich City midfielder Elliott Bennett is confident there will be no mental scars from relegation as the Canaries bid to bounce back from the Championship at the first attempt.
Bennett was sidelined for the majority of last season after suffering knee ligament damage in the Premier League opener against Everton but the 25-year-old is convinced Neil Adams' squad will show their mettle ahead of the opening day trip to his former club Wolves.
'Everyone is really looking forward to the new season,' said Bennett, speaking from the club's training base in northern Italy. 'Last year was hugely disappointing and we are not looking for a repeat of that, we expect as players that we can win plenty of games and get promoted.
'It is a really, really happy camp and the gaffer has brought in a couple of new faces who have fitted in straight away. We are in a beautiful location and that just makes the training a lot more enjoyable when you are in such a superb setting, but we are down here to work and work hard and we all realise that.'
Bennett was part of an open session on Wednesday night at the club's Chatillon Saint Vincent location, which replaced a scheduled friendly against Serie B side Livorno. City's opening tour match against Novara was also shelved, with Norwich hammering a regional select team 13-0, but Bennett is looking at the bigger picture.
'If the second game wasn't going to be right after the first one when the opposition was not as strong as it needed to be then I feel the right decision is to train, get the miles in our legs and then on Friday we have a sterner test in SC Bastia,' he said. 'You can't really place any store by games in pre-season.
'You could win every game 10-0 and still lose the first couple in the league. We're under no illusions what pre-season is really about and that is the manager drilling into us the way he wants to play, getting our fitness right and making sure in that first game we are ready to go.'
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