Norwich City manager Dean Smith has bemoaned his latest injury crisis after Tuesday's loss to Aston Villa.

With a number of players missing, the Canaries remain bottom of the table after going down 2-0 at home.

"It's tough, we weren't very good in the first half," Smith said. "We've been missing eight that could've been in the first team but I'm not making excuses, we never played with any tempo and were too passive.

"We got what we deserved in the first half. We improved the tempo in the second half but we have to improve the moments in the final third. It's hard when you've eight of your first team not available.

"We've a lad in Sam Byram who came in for his first appearance in two years. We're down to the bare bones and have got some Covid issues too. We've had to speak to the Premier League on

advice on where to go, not that they've done a lot.

"Our consistency needs to be better. We can't be as good as we were against Manchester United and then be so low in the first half. If this was an impossible job I wouldn't have taken it. We've had some performances here but that was the first time we were below the standard."