Norwich City manager David Wagner has taken responsibility for this afternoon’s defeat against Blackburn Rovers as pressure continues to mount.
The Canaries have endured a nightmare opening few months of the season and knew today was a must-win tie following a winless run of games throughout October. Last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light against promotion hopefuls Sunderland was their third reverse on the bounce and rumours began to circulate throughout the week that Wagner could be on the verge of an exit from Carrow Road.
Today’s opponents arrived in East Anglia having won three of their last four league fixtures and it didn’t take them long to find their rhythm this afternoon when they raced into a two-goal lead in the opening 15 minutes thanks to Tyrhys Dolan and top goalscorer Sammie Szmodics.
It was three shortly after half time when Szmodics added his second of the game, but Norwich were handed a lifeline shortly after when defender Scott Wharton was shown a straight red card for bringing down Onel Hernandez when through on goal. The damage had already been done though and it was a long way back, and even Gabriel Sara’s consolation in added time seemed academic as Wagner’s side crashed to their fourth successive defeat.
The supporters were quick to make their feelings known at the full time whistle and the manager claimed afterwards that the early goal killed their momentum. Speaking to official club media, the former Huddersfield Town boss said;
“In the first minutes, we came into the game quite well. We had some good turnovers high up and didn’t execute the opportunities.
“Afterwards, when we didn’t get our press right, we got punished and were 2-0 down. They’ve done it better, we had high turnovers without clear-cut chances out of those situations.
“The second half started very poorly with the goal we conceded, another from a transition after a set-piece which we had. We have to solve this issue much better, take responsibility and be switched on which we were not.”
Wagner went on to take full responsibility for the defeat, although bemoaned his side’s lack of cutting edge following Wharton’s dismissal;
“I can’t complain about the effort, again the players tried until the final seconds. They really wanted to change things but obviously it was not good enough because it’s a defeat. I’m the manager and I have to take responsibility for it.
“The players tried. We were not clinical today, we created enough opportunities to score more than only one goal. It’s a horrible run that we are on, it hurts for everyone.
“After the red card and the substitutions, we attacked quite well, we made opportunities. Apart from the last 10 minutes, we played an overload well without being clinical in those situations, we had to score earlier to get more belief, more energy. The longer it took, the more difficult.”
Norwich currently sit 17th in the Championship and will travel to Cardiff City next weekend in their final fixture before the next international break. It remains to be seen whether Wagner will be in the dugout come Saturday afternoon.
Writer’s View
David Wagner looked like a man accepting his fate following this latest defeat and it would be a surprise to see him still in charge next weekend. Norwich may well give him the benefit of the doubt for the week and make the decision during the international break, although they would just be delaying the inevitable.
The Championship remains an exceptionally tight division and they are just eight points behind sixth-placed Preston North End. With over 30 games left of the season, there is still plenty of time to make up the ground and challenge for a play-off place, but that looks a long way off at the moment.
