This is what Wagner actually said: “We have to clarify, this is a very small group here in the stadium. To be fair, I think the players who come on the pitch deserve respect. It's not okay to boo if the players come on. And maybe I deserve a little bit of respect as well if I take players off. Josh and Onel said at half-time they were struggling but wanted to give it a try. They gave us the sign they couldn’t continue and this is why they came off. They are not supporters, because supporters, and we have a large group here in the stadium, support the team when they need help when it doesn't go in their favour. It's easy to support if everything goes well. And this small group, from my point of view, should stay at home because this doesn't help. It affects players on the pitch. I think you've seen this how one or other got affected by this atmosphere, because they had no clue what was going on. Obviously, it's a theme in the dressing room as well with the players who feel consistently they have performed and got results, and they get this reward from a small group. But it is how it is. I'm not sure if I will change them." Obviously, those in the seats didn't know about the problems with Sargent and Hernandez, but to boo the substitutions and our players coming on is not supporting the team. It's happened before like when Gibson came on as a sub and it must be counterproductive. Imagine being Núñez or Fassnacht coming on to the pitch in a difficult game and trying to figure out why they are being booed when we were leading 2-1. The substitutions didn't affect Asprilla's brilliant long range goal to level the scores, but, arguably, they did affect our winning goals. Sara was pushed forward into the CAM/SS role behind Barnes and they then combined to produce the winning goal. Fassnacht, the other sub, then scored the fourth goal to secure the win. The substitutions didn't work at QPR, but they did last night. I was also puzzled by the substitutions, but would we have won if van Hooijdonk had come on and Sara remained in midfield? We'll never know, but we do know what happened without his coming on.
I don't think they were annoyed Onel & Sargent came off , at QPR Sargent went off & we drew from a winning position. I believe they were complaining that taking off our striker & not replacing like for like cost us the game . Guaranteed if Van Hooijdonk replaced Sargent the entire stadium would have cheered . That's my take on it anyway & perhaps Wagner got it right last night but replacing our main striker with a central midfielder looked like a negative change . We don't have the players or tactics to go a goal or 2 up & play out a win , quite the opposite we have gone 2 up & blown leads countless times which makes the crowd nervous especially as Watford did exactly that last game .
I agree with much of what you say, Dunc, but should a manager do what will please the crowd or do what he, as a professional, thinks will provide the best chance of a win. Wagner said before the game that van Hooijdonk was still adjusting to the team, the club and a new country. Would the crowd still cheer at the end if he was brought on in the 56th minute and the match finished 2-2?
I don't think the criticism comes from just the last 2 games, Hernandez played well last night but only 1 assist & no goals at home for 4 years or something mad always gets a game . Rowe when fully fit often gets replaced early. McLean has played well at CB but Sorensen another midfield player starts there despite Batth & youth Centre backs available. Starting Fisher then replacing him at half time twice which must knock his confidence. Lots of weird decisions but we don't know if the players are carrying knocks or low on fitness but most supporters think taking off our best striker & not replacing him with another forward is a negative move , especially against QPR who are a bottom 3 team there for the taking. For me it's results & if Wagner can take his weird team selection, subs & disjointed tactics to the play offs I'm behind him , but the teams that tend to go up either score for fun or grind out a few 1-0 wins he just doesn't seem to have figured out what kind of team we are. Counter attacking football looks to be suiting our fast technical players but all too often we lose possession high up the pitch & gift 1 on ones . Gibson saved us 2 or 3 times but is usually guilty of that himself. Rowe out for months is a huge blow but hopefully Handley can return to the side & make us harder to score against after missing most of the season.
WhoScored's final ratings: Stacey as MotM surprised me, but he did play well and provided an assist. Hernandez's 7.3 rating was high for only 56 minutes on the pitch. Fassnacht's 7.4 for only 35 minutes was also impressive, but that was boosted by his goal.
Also looking back at the highlights with my neutral hat on , Barnes's header was saved but only just went over the line , Watford's first was lucky I don't think that was a pass for the tap in , Sargent's penalty was poor & he just tucked in the header Asprilla's shot should have been blocked Sara scored a magnificent goal from great work from Barnes our 4th looked like an OG so we got lucky on chances created .
Stacey covers lots of ground he must have run miles but as far as assists go he hasn't actually created many goals the crosses are too often over hit but I would say he's an improvement on Aarons .
Can't agree more with Wagner's comments, he certainly didn't attack all fans. A vocal section of our fans were sh*t last night. Quiet happy to singing when we're 2 nil up and dominating, but go quiet when we hit a bad patch and the players need support, only to suddenly find their voice again when we go ahead and then have the cheek to chant to the Watford fans that they are no longer singing. On top of that anyone who boos their own teams subs are not supporters in my view, just windbags. How does that in any way help the team ? I used to think Norwich supporters were a cut above the supporters of many other teams and maybe they were, but not now. It's very clear to me that the manager, the coaching team, the players and the club are all working together, unlike some supporters, who are still sulking because they didn't get their way when they wanted Wagner sacked. I just hope our owners new and old carry on making their decision on the teams longer term prospects, rather than dancing to the tune of those supporters who think the only way to demonstrate your support for the club is to buy a season ticket
He and Giannoulis both have 4 assists and Stacey has one goal as well, which is not bad considering the way our FBs play.
only caught the final 25 minutes of the match last night, but was good to see that despite conceding 2 goals to level the scores, we didn't go back in to our shells and kept going to score another 2. I suspect had this match been a couple of months ago the final results would have been different. Other than players returning from injury, I wonder if something has changed behind the scenes with mentality expert or coaching improvements?
It was a very strange game to watch. It was like a sandwich, first half an hour Norwich were excellent, some really good moves. As soon as we got 2-0 up we decided forward passing wasn't for us and then we kept passing back until we could make a mistake to concede. Half time came and went and we carried on in the same way, Sainz did a bonkers pass back from 40-50 yards and Gunn was helpless to try and stop it going out for a corner. Watford then score a wonder goal and Norwich see and go, oh yeah we need to go forward and do so and played well the last 20 mins. A couple of times we were saved by Gibson's positioning from bonkers back passes, now I hand out criticism to him when he makes a mistake or plays badly, but I thought he was very good. Often his positioning lets him down, but not this game he did very well with it, in the right place at the right time.
