Norwich City boss left confused by referee performance in Sheffield Wednesday defeat.
Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup held his hands up on the performance of his side in defeat at Sheffield Wednesday – and broke from a ‘no comment’ policy to express a confusion at the performance of the officials.
The Dane described a stop-start game in which his side were only able to register four shots on goal despite a determined Wednesday allowing them a mammoth 71.3% possession. Two first half goals allowed the Owls to sit in and absorb pressure, with the Canaries conceding 16 fouls across the course of the game. Thorup was a picture of frustration for moments of the second half in particular and admitted the Owls were worthy winners on a night his side did not offer enough in either direction.
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“We were not even close to being dangerous enough and we definitely did not create the moments we wanted to,” he said. “In the second half we got a bit too emotional and tried too many individual things, dribbling in tight areas instead of moving the ball quicker… It was a slow game with a lot of free-kicks, a lot of stoppages, a lot of situations we could not control and that is exactly what we did not want.”
Asked on the performance of referee Stephen Martin and his assistants, the Norwich boss admitted he found it difficult to see where ‘the line’ is with regard to the leniency of decisions but made clear he felt his side were unable to break from a gritty second half through their own efforts in possession.
“My thoughts about the referee will stay the same and they will stay the same every time you guys ask me,” he told The Star. “It is not important. It is what it is. I think all of us have a big responsibility when we play games and it is the same with the refs, I think we have to deal with it better.
“You try to read the line in the game and if I must say something then I would say it was maybe a little bit difficult to read, but that’s how it is. If we were quick enough in our passing and our movement then we wouldn’t have invited so many duels, so we gave the ref the option to give all these free-kicks. It will come down to us again, because we cannot control the other part.”
