Norwich boss on Middlesbrough and Liverpool’s Ben Doak

The mindset of his players to fight back and salvage an improbable draw was even more impressive to Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup than the team’s performance against Middlesbrough at Carrow Road.

Thorup believed there was “definitely” a switch in momentum following Tommy Conway’s missed penalty at 3-1, but Michael Carrick disputed that the penalty was a turning point.

The Norwich manager also described the tactical changes he made at halftime and the aspects of the game that disappointed him, saying the Canaries needed “heart and passion” to rally for a point.

Borja Sainz’s incredible goal gave Norwich the lead early on, but Boro gained control when Conway scored twice and Finn Azaz added a third goal.

George Long saved Conway’s penalty, which led to a comeback. Boro had the lead in the first half of the second period and had the opportunity to seal the victory when Riley McGree fell down in the box.

Seny Dieng mishandled a cross from Kellen Fisher that caught Boro’s keeper out at the front post after Sainz scored a spectacular second.

“It was two very good teams playing against each other, I would say,” Thorup stated.

“Middlesbrough accomplished a lot of excellent things. An extremely high level. We were aware that there might be times throughout the games when we would have to defend and endure hardship. However, we also understood that if we could generate some moments, we could be on

“Overall, that was the game; the momentum changed a lot. George’s penalty save is undoubtedly one of the game’s numerous minor nuances for us to pay attention to. The group’s mindset has really pleased me.

“To handle halftime while maintaining a high level of drive and communication.” “How can we attack the second half to get a result out of this?” was the mindset. rather than placing blame on one another. We can talk about tactics all day, but if you don’t bring heart and passion to games then you have no chance.”

Boro’s best player was Ben Doak, who caused Norwich and Callum Doyle no end of problems, but Thorup defended his left-back.

He said: “He’s not the only one this season to have some difficult moments against him. That’s just how it is.

“We knew today we had to try and support him as much as possible and have as many situations two-v-one as possible.”

Doak was withdrawn after Conway’s missed penalty and the Liverpool loanee was sorely missed in the final stages as Norwich battled back.

“We started well and got ourselves into some very good situations and moments,” Thorup remarked, looking back on the entire game.We brought them in after we scored a stunning goal.

It’s unfortunate that we let up the first goal and then stop playing in far too many circumstances in the final 20 minutes of the first half. We let that transition after our corner become a goal because we are too passive.

“In a circumstance like that, we should never permit ourselves to be overly transparent, regardless of the team. We need to improve in a lot of areas over the first half.

We could score a second goal right after theirs when Borja hits the post, though, because the margins are so thin. I could only hope that we would continue to push and keep moving forward.

“We don’t need to score in the first five minutes, I told them [at halftime].” It was crucial that we entered the game, discovered the rhythm, and discovered the flow. We were, in my opinion, too straightforward in the first half, which created transitional times.

“The boys’ motto at halftime was patience. We also requested that they be a bit more aggressive during the duels.

Read more news on https://sportupdates.co.uk/