NORWICH, ENGLAND - APRIL 01: Norwich City Manager David Wagner during the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Sheffield United at Carrow Road on April 01, 2023 in Norwich, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
After Norwich’s defeat, David Wagner said he was “ready to work hard to put things right.”
Head coach David Wagner of Norwich pledged to persevere after his team’s dismal performance continued with a 3-1 loss to Blackburn at home.
After a strong start to the season, the Canaries have now dropped eight of their last ten games across all competitions, dropping them to 17th place in the Championship.
He said, “I am not the right person to ask (about my future), but if I get the chance, I will work to turn this around.”
“I accept responsibility, without a doubt, as this team’s manager. I know that today wasn’t good enough, and the longer this run lasts, the harder it gets. At Carrow Road, a slick Blackburn team scored twice in the first fifteen minutes, punishing Norwich for a slow start.
“I thought we actually started quite well, winning the ball in dangerous positions,” Wagner continued, adding that he would not be resigning. “But after that, our press wasn’t right and they punished us.”
We had a mountain to climb at 3-0. I applaud the boys’ effort, but we weren’t clinical enough and didn’t seize the opportunities we created.
At Carrow Road, a slick Blackburn team scored twice in the first fifteen minutes, punishing Norwich for a slow start.
Tyrhys Dolan was able to break through and smash the ball high into the net after Joe Rankin-Costello made a simple pass inside. Andrew Moran then slid Sammie Szmodics in to make it two.
When Scott Wharton saw red for a professional foul on zOnel Hernande, the visitors were soon down to 10 men. However, Norwich had to wait until the second minute of injury time to equalize thanks to Gabriel Sara, who was in the perfect position to seize a loose ball in the vicinity.
The home crowd was clearly unhappy, and Blackburn found it all too easy. Four minutes into the second half, Szmodics scored his second goal of the match, making things even worse for the hosts.
Dolan did a good job of finding an unmarked Moran on the right, and the top scorer for Rovers, who was fortunate to have an offside call go against him, tapped in his low cross at the back post.
When Scott Wharton saw red for a professional foul on Onel Hernandez, the visitors were soon down to 10 men. However, Norwich had to wait until the second minute of injury time to equalize thanks to Gabriel Sara, who was in the perfect position to seize a loose ball in the vicinity.
It makes sense that Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was happy with his team’s easy victory.
“We played at a very high level for long periods of time, and I thought it was an excellent win and performance,” he remarked.
“While Norwich is currently going through a challenging period, they are still a strong team with talented players, so it was critical that we started strong right away. We had several excellent opportunities and scored two goals, so at halftime, the score could have easily been 4-0.
We played a lot of one- and two-touch football while adhering to our core values, and occasionally I thought we played some really excellent football.
After we scored another well-executed goal in the second half, we were shown a red card, which clearly had an impact on the game.
“After that, I felt like we played defense like lions to keep them out, which was another excellent play from our young team.
“We performed well at Chelsea, and it is very satisfying that we followed that up with another strong showing today. Now that this is over, we can relax and get ready for Friday’s derby against Preston.
