Johannes Hoff Thorup, the manager of Norwich City, broke with his “no comment” policy to show his confusion at the officials’ conduct and held his hands up in response to his team’s performance in the loss to Sheffield Wednesday.
Although a resolute Wednesday gave his team a massive 71.3% possession, the Dane recounted a stop-start game in which his team managed only four shots on goal. The Canaries let up 16 fouls during the encounter as the Owls were able to sit in and absorb pressure thanks to two goals in the first half. Thorup acknowledged that the Owls were deserving victors on a night when his team did not provide enough in either direction and was a picture of displeasure throughout certain parts of the second half.
“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.
The Norwich manager was asked about the performance of referee Stephen Martin and his assistants. He acknowledged that he had trouble determining where “the line” is in terms of the leniency of decisions, but he made it clear that he felt his team was unable to overcome a grueling second half with 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 offered the referee the opportunity to award all of these free kicks because we wouldn’t have encouraged as many duels if we had been more rapid in our passing and movement. Since we have no influence over the other aspect, it will come down to us once more.
