Norwich won't back off from hard work

With Paul Lambert having moved on to Aston Villa, it was all change at Carrow Road this summer as Hughton was recruited from Birmingham City and charged with sustaining the Norfolk club's top flight status.

While it is unlikely Norwich can better last season's 12th place finish at the end of three years of success under Lambert, midfielder Johnson insists the team's approach will remain the same as the Canaries aim to ruffle a few feathers once again.

"The manager has brought his new staff in and it is the same as before - they want us to work hard and get in people's faces," Johnson said on the club's official website, www.canaries.co.uk.

"The way we play is not going to change - we are a bunch of hungry lads and we all want to do the best we possibly can.

"It has been a long and tough pre-season, but we have been working hard to stay in this league once again.

"We have got our heads down, had a break, and we will try to continue what we did last year.

"We had a good season last year, finished in 12th, and we want to kick on again, but the main thing is staying in the league."

Hughton has been quick to tie up new deals for goalkeeper John Ruddy, who could make his England debut against Italy in Berne this week, and striker Grant Holt, who handed in a transfer request at the end of last season.

Norwich has also brought in former Rangers defender Steven Whittaker, Jacob Butterfield, Michael Turner and Robert Snodgrass to bolster the squad for what is expected to be a testing Barclays Premier League campaign.

The Canaries will head into the season opener at Fulham Athletic this weekend on the back of some indifferent friendly results, which culminated in a 2-0 home defeat by Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday - drawing a black for the third successive match.

Hughton intends to put that right for the big kick-off.

"It is always a concern when you are not scoring goals and it is something that we have to address because it is the only way you win football matches, but that is what this pre-season period is all about," he said.

"It is probably just a little bit of confidence in front of goal, the two good chances we created in this game we could put away next week."

Whittaker picked up an ankle injury in the pre-season win at Celtic on July 24, and faces a race against time to be fit for the Fulham game.