David Wagner pleased with Norwich response at Coventry after ‘wild’ first half

Posted Sunday, January 22, 2023 by PA

Manager David Wagner admitted his anger at half-time despite Norwich earning a 4-2 win against Coventry at the CBS Arena.

The Canaries raced into a three-goal lead thanks to a Michael Rose own goal, Onel Hernandez and Josh Sargent before being pegged back by Jamie Allen and Kasey Palmer inside the first 26 minutes.

Kieran Dowell gave Norwich daylight once again to seal a second consecutive away win, making it eight goals in the process.

Wagner said: “I’m happy we won it and very pleased about the second half when we controlled the ball and game, created chances and defended very well.

“But the first half I wasn’t happy with even when we were 3-0 up. We didn’t control the ball or the game and were not calm enough, lost the ball too early.

“It was wild without a clear structure and not good enough. The players made it too complicated.

“But we addressed this at half-time and how they responded in the second half was good.

“Was I angry at half-time? Yes. I let them know about things but, to be fair, they were angry as well. They are not stupid.

“But from my point of view, it’s not about showing you are angry. It’s about giving them solutions to be better and we showed them some clips.

“I was angry and I can let them know, like I can let them know when I am happy.

“But more important is not to show you are angry, more important is to show them solutions, how they can do things better and this is what we have done.”

The former Huddersfield boss took over earlier this month and has now overseen consecutive away wins.

Wagner added: “This squad excites me. That is why I signed this contract.

“Two games, eight goals is a good start and I am happy with individual performances. At the moment the table is irrelevant. It is about us and how we perform.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins was left contemplating another disappointing first-half home display after his side shipped three goals inside 45 minutes again, just as they did against Wrexham in the FA Cup.

He said: “They’re a top-quality side and they’re even better when you give them a head start.

“This was a game where we had to be brave and we had to go after them where we could, if you get that wrong it shouldn’t mean they have a goal but if you aren’t committed mentally to it and you’re not brave and you don’t go after it collectively, then you’re dead.

“When we did it, we got it right. We were three goals down in the blink of an eye and looked like we could have gone under.

“The good thing is we didn’t, we started to do what we’d spoken about, about pressing and getting after them because they’re going to give up chances against you and not worry what’s behind you.

“We didn’t do that well enough until the first goal, which gave us a little bit of belief, and then we got the second goal pretty quickly afterwards so that gave us the foothold that you’re almost back in it but you’ve had to work really hard to get there.

“We’re not that team where we can play our joker and go there’s three goals, we’ll have to have a go now and see if we can turn it round, they nearly did it and credit to them.

“We’re in that moment where we’re just in a bit of a poor run in terms of picking points up but we’ll get back on it. This season has been tough but we are a good side. There’s no doubt about that.”