Norwich City boss Philippe Clement says his side were taught lessons in their FA Cup exit at Leeds United but believes they hurt the hosts at times.

The Canaries’ season has been transformed by Clement since he took charge at Carrow Road, but there was to be no cup upset at Elland Road. Leeds took charge in the first half with goals from Sean Longstaff and Gabriel Gudmundsson and though Norwich City had a little spell of pressure in the second half, Joel Piroe’s first-time finish killed the tie.

Clement saw the occasion and the level of the home side as problematic for Norwich, despite starting well enough at Elland Road.

“We started the first 15 minutes good and it was a balanced game but the last 30 minutes of the first half we became too nervous on the ball,” he said. “It's the first time for a lot of our boys to play at this level. You saw that. We became sloppy on the ball, too many turnovers, problems with the intensity of Leeds. We conceded two goals we could have avoided at our normal level, on our toes. You pay for that at this level. Harsh lessons, but good lessons. Everyone has to take them. The positive is a good reaction second half when we created more chances. It's a pity we didn't make it 2-1, maybe you can make Leeds nervous at the end and take something out of it to get to extra-time. But we made that one mistake and they cash in. That's the quality of the Premier League. That's where our players want to go to, it's good to not only see it but feel it on the pitch. Then everyone can take the right lessons.”

At half-time Clement sought to inspire his players to be braver on the ball and he was pleased they responded, coming close to a goal when Anis Ben Slimane hit the outside of the post.

“I missed braveness, personality in the first half,” he said. “That's what I said at half-time. They reacted well to that. If you score first it's another dynamic, if you make it 2-1 it's another dynamic. It's not a 3-0 where we didn't touch the ball, Leeds were struggling with us at times. The lessons were the intensity, the efficiency, the tightness on the ball to show quality. We missed 13 starting XI players and several of them I've never seen on the pitch this season. We know we have a lot to work on in the club. I don't want to compare with Leeds today, with all the experience this squad had. Even with the result these games will make our squad better for the future.”

The Belgian concluded that 3-0 was ‘too harsh’ a lesson but his players felt at Elland Road what was necessary to get to a higher level.