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Darlin Yongwa is confident Norwich City will take valuable lessons from their 5-0 Carabao Cup schooling at the hands of Manchester City.
A heavily rotated Canaries side kept the holders at bay for 28 minutes, but damaging errors allowed Enzo Maresca’s side to take control of the tie and inflict a heavy defeat on Philippe Clement’s men.
Norwich failed to register a shot on target and were punished ruthlessly by Manchester City, who converted five of their six efforts on target with teenager Floyd Samba bagging a brace with Rayan Cherki and Ryan McAidoo also on the scoresheet.
Yongwa was one of Norwich’s standout performers and believes there are valuable lessons to take from the heavy defeat as the Canaries continue their bigger objective of returning to the Premier League.
"We played against a very strong team, one of the best teams in the world. The most important thing for us today is to stay together, and we tried," the City left back said.
"They are a very difficult team. One player comes out, another one comes on. Same quality or even more quality. It's a very good team.
"The game is one that we lost, but we have a good feeling from that game. We will take more experience for the next games. We are trying to play in the Premier League, so it's important we play for that.
"Now, when we go back, we play against a team in the Championship. We know we need to do more if we want to get promoted."
Norwich return to Championship action against Bolton Wanderers at Carrow Road on Sunday, and Yongwa believes the defeat at the Etihad Stadium had underlined the level the group must reach if they are to achieve their ultimate ambition of promotion this season.
Norwich City were punished for mistakes - but Yongwa hopes that can provide motivation for their push for the Premier League.
(Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)
"As I say, if you want to have promotion, if you want to have that good team, we need to play against that level of team," Yongwa told the Pink Un post-match.
"We made some mistakes, but it's like that. We gained more experience. Now, we know. I think if we play that game again, we won't concede five goals again because we have gained experience.
"We need to go ahead and focus on the next game."