Norwich City boss left confused by referee performance in Sheff...

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 were not even close to being dangerous enough and we definitely did not create the moments we wanted to,” he

told me. “In the second half, we became overly enthusiastic and attempted too many individual plays, dribbling in

tight spaces rather than moving the ball faster… It was a slow game with a lot of free kicks, stoppages, and situations

we had little control over, which was exactly what we didn’t want.”

When asked about the performance of referee Stephen Martin and his assistants, the Norwich manager stated he

found it difficult to determine where ‘the line’ is in terms of the leniency of decisions, but made it plain he felt his

side were unable to break from a tough.

“My thoughts about the referee will stay the same and they will stay the same every time you guys ask me,” according

to him. “It’s not important. It’s what it is. I believe that when we play games, we all bear a great deal of responsibility,

and the same is true for the referees; I believe we must deal with this more effectively.

“You attempt to read the line in the game, and if I had to say anything, I’d say it was a little difficult to read, but that’s

how it goes. If we were quicker in our passing and movement, we wouldn’t have encouraged so many duels, thus we

gave the ref the choice.

Norwich City boss left confused by referee performance in Sheffield Wednesday defeat