CITY boss Glenn Roeder has spoken of his team's goals as the Canaries get ready for this weekend's curtain-raiser at Coventry.

In a message to the Canary faithful, the Norwich manager said he and his team are ready to start the season and are determined to win those all-important points.

As City prepare to travel to Coventry, Roeder spoke of his squad's aims for the 2008-09 campaign. "I believe we should live our lives with two goals - a short-term and a long-term. The short-term goal for the next three or four games is to get off to a good start, picking up points as early as we can to get us into a position in the top-half of the competition.

"The long-term goal is making sure that throughout the season you're always in the top six or in touching distance. If we achieve that, which I believe we can, I think that will be an almighty leap forward for the team. There was an obvious reason why the team had eight points last year and 17 players had to leave here. I just hope that the number of players which we have brought in, which amounts to a full team, can gel quickly.

"I have no doubt that technically the squad is stronger than last year - we mustn't just talk about the players who have arrived, there's also the players here from last year that stayed and played a part in maintaining our Championship status, we mustn't forget them. I don't do favourites as a manager, I'm not worried which 11 start every week - I just want the 11 that start to try and win every game.

"I'm a massive believer in that it's too easy to say that the most important thing is winning. It's not, there's something that comes before that - in order to be able to win a game you have to try to win the game. With the emphasis being on 'try', it's the difference between winning and losing. If you can come off the pitch at the end and say that you gave everything to that game, players with that attitude will be fine. The new players aren't necessarily going to be the starters - the slate is wiped clean, everyone has an equal chance."

With 11 new faces to join the Norwich team in recent weeks, the competition for positions is hotting up, and Roeder was positive that it was a good thing for all the squad. "Pressure is building on everyone's place- Otsemobor now has serious competition for his place and Drury has too", said Roeder. "In the full-back areas I don't think there will be anyone better than us, I really don't. I have seen quotes from a coach at Fullham talking about Elliot and he is a highly rated Premiership player. He's going to play a lot of games here and Jon has to fight for his place as does Elliot.

"I feel as ready as you could possibly expect us to be after such an upheaval and with players coming in at different times. We need to get off to a good start over the next few weeks, and that should build everyone's confidence."