Johannes Hoff Thorup says Norwich heading in ‘right direction’ after Blades draw

Posted Sunday, August 25, 2024 by PA

Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup is pleased with side’s progress despite being left waiting for his first league win after a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United at Carrow Road.

It was a second successive home draw for the Dane, who took over from David Wagner in the summer, and Thorup was impressed with the way his side went about their business against the Blades.

Norwich went ahead after 22 minutes when a slick move ended with Amankwah Forson slipping the ball through for Josh Sargent to finish emphatically.

But the Blades quickly regrouped and were level just past the half-hour mark as Ollie Arblaster calmly fired home after an Andre Brooks cross had only been half cleared.

“There is a lot of belief in this squad – you should see the way they train – and they showed that against a strong team with a lot of Premier League experience,” he said.

“We took some more steps in the right direction today. It was a good performance – and there is potential for us to be even better in the future.

“I thought we started well and then scored a fantastic goal, with the ball coming all the way from the back.

“That is exactly what I like to see but then we then conceded a poor goal when we had the ball and then gave it away, which has happened before this season. That was disappointing and is something we have to work on.

“But after that we did well and there were a lot of times when he looked like having a good chance and the final pass, or the final touch, wasn’t quite good enough.”

Thorup, who gave Croatian frontman Ante Crnac a full debut a couple of days after his arrival, is still looking to add more strength to a frontline that lost Jonathan Rowe to Marseille this week.

“We are looking to add at the top end of the pitch, either wide or more central, but we won’t be doing any hectic stuff,” he said.

Sheffield United remain unbeaten this term but Chris Wilder felt they might have taken all three points.

“I thought it was a good game between two clubs with a lot of similarities,” said Wilder. “Both have been in the Premier League, both have strong squads and are well coached.

“Being greedy I think we could have taken all three points had we shown just a little more quality in and around the box when we were in good positions.

“But when my head hits the pillow tonight I’ll probably be happy with a hard-earned point against a good side. This is a very difficult place to come to and if you are not going to win a game it’s important you don’t get beat and come away with something.

“This is a good group and their attitude to going behind was first class.”