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.
“We certainly did not create the moments we wanted to, and we were not even close to being dangerous enough,” he remarked. We tried too many individual moves and became a little too emotional in the second half, dribbling in confined spaces rather than moving the ball more quickly. It was a slow game with several stoppages, free kicks, and uncontrollable situations—exactly what we wanted.
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.
“Every time you guys ask me, my opinions about the referee will remain the same,” he made clear to The Star. “It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. I believe that we all have a great degree of responsibility when we play games, and the referees need to handle it better as well.
“You attempt to read the line in the game, and if I had to say so, I would say that it was perhaps a little challenging to read, but that’s the way it is. We might have avoided inviting so many duels if we had been more efficient with our passing and movement, so we offered the referee the chance to award
