Norwich City head coach Liam Manning insists he wants his team to look more attacking after criticisms of his playing style.

Canaries fans have been frustrated with a perceived lack of identity since Manning replaced Danish ideologue Johannes Hoff Thorup at the Carrow Road helm, with calls for him to take the handbrake off and unleash a glut of expensive attacking talent.

But the 39-year-old was pleased with what he saw from his charges on that front in a 1-0 loss to West Brom, with the attacking performance failing to match a disappointing result.

“I think it’s probably two-fold,” he said. “There’s an element definitely with the behaviours we spoke about. The whole framing of the week was around showing more identity.

“We don’t want to be a team that goes and sits off and has 40pc of the ball and gets pinned back in there. We don’t want to be that. We want to be a team that has the ball and plays on the front foot.

“I definitely think the mindset was there and the bravery to go and do it. Then some of the tweaks and some of the changes definitely helped.”

Included in those changes were Jose Cordoba and Emiliano Marcondes, who controversially replaced Jakov Medic and Liam Gibbs but were praised by their boss post-match.

Lucien Mahovo also appeared for the first time since February and reminded Manning what he had to offer.

“It’s a partnership we’ve not seen, with a left-footer, right-footer either side,” explained the City boss. “Just in terms of how we wanted to press as well, Jose’s pace stepping in was also another thing.

“I thought he did okay. I thought we showed a bit more energy and intensity out of possession, I thought we pressed a bit higher. Some of the duels we needed to be better on, but the intent was good.

“Emi is one who we’ve had to manage quite a lot, just because he’s had a slight niggle in his hip that he’s had for quite a while. He had a good impact again – he’s an intelligent footballer, a bright player, he takes up good positions. He’s hard to mark and just brings a bit of composure, which I think we’ve been crying out for.

“Lucien has trained well, he’s in a good spot. Having someone like him back is a massive addition just for balance, in terms of having a left footer defending at left back. He’s a huge help in that side of it but also then the quality that you get going forward. I’m delighted to have him back.”