‘I’d have loved…’: Norwich City boss blasts referee and explains what went wrong in Sunderland defeat.
Sunderland battled back to beat Norwich City 2-1 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon
Johannes Hoff Thorup said he had no complaints with the decision to show Jose Cordoba a second yellow card in Norwich City’s defeat to Sunderland, but insists that the referee got a number of other key decisions wrong.
Cordoba’s dismissal was a key moment in the game, with Jobe Bellingham scoring Sunderland’s winner from the following set play. Thorup said he had spoken to the officials after the game having been exasperated with some of their decisions across the 90 minutes in a 2-1 defeat for this side.
“The first half was good for us, we did well in some moments,” Thorup said.
“We defended well and barely conceded any chances, I’d have loved us to be a bit better on the ball and create more. Still, we managed to defend to the wide spaces where they really want to attack. So first half was OK, the second half really changes with the early goal they score and I’m not satisfied with the 20 minutes after that because it gets too open, too wild, too many duels, too many fouls and random situations.
“The red card, he can give it of course and he decided to do it. I’d have loved some different calls in different situations but that’s probably not to discuss here because there were definitely some big ones that he missed. He can give it, I spoke to Jose because he needs to be more clever in a situation like that. Unfortunately for us, there are many things that we can’t control. It’s big calls not in our favour. We spent some time with the guys officiating after the game because we need some answers about what’s going on, but we did it in a respectful way and I wish them a Merry Christmas.”
Thorup said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the first half in particular but said the second half became too open, something which he felt worked against his side.
“I think we have a team that can match them, without being disrespectful,” he said.
“Praise to them because they have been good, especially at home where they have a great record and bring intensity. We knew it would not be easy but I believe in my team and in a game where we can control it a little bit more, have more passes and stretch it a little bit more, which we did in the first half – we can compete. The second half was too open, too wide, too much about duels – this is not our favourite game. I think this is where the game changed today.”
Sunderland’s win extended their advantage over Norwich in the Championship table to seventeen points, with the Black Cats fourth placed at Christma
