Norwich head coach David Wagner was critical of a section of the club’s support after watching his side recover from losing a two-goal lead to beat Watford 4-2.
Late goals from Gabriel Sara and Christian Fassnacht saw the Canaries move into the play-off places on goals scored, after enduring an uncomfortable opening to the second half.
Wagner’s decision to substitute Onel Hernandez and Josh Sargent drew chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” from some fans – and the edgy atmosphere seemed to play a part in Watford battling their way back into the game.
“We are talking about a small group but I think they should stay at home if they are going to be like that, because it clearly affected the players on the pitch. It was just unacceptable in my view,” said Wagner.
“Both Onel and Josh were struggling with injuries and that is why I took them off – I think the players who came on deserved more respect, they shouldn’t have heard booing when they came on. And I think I deserve more respect too.
“We know the target in front of us, we know the chance we have got and we need all the supporters to be behind us. Hopefully the bigger group can be louder and we don’t hear what the small group are saying.
“I thought it was a big result tonight – in the first half I thought we were outstanding.
“And after it went to 2-2 we kept playing our football and scored two more goals. I am very proud off all the players.”
Norwich opened the scoring after 20 minutes when goal-line technology ruled that Ashley Barnes’ far-post header had crossed the line before Ben Hamer clawed the ball away.
Eight minutes later the Watford keeper made another save that counted for nothing as he kept out Sargent’s penalty, awarded for a foul by Wesley Hoedt on Kenny McLean, only for the American striker to nod home the rebound.
Watford got themselves back in it just before the break when Mileta Rakovic tapped home Ken Sema’s cross from close range, and equalised in sensational fashion after 71 minutes as substitute Yaser Asprilla beat Angus Gunn with a screamer from 30 yards.
But it was Norwich who went on to take all three points. Six minutes later Barnes fed the overlapping Sara to make it 3-2 with an unerring low finish into the far corner and substitute Fassnacht quickly made the points safe with a close-range effort which took a big deflection off Ryan Porteous.
Watford boss Valerien Ismael felt his side had wasted a good opportunity to get back to winning ways.
“It is very frustrating – we are scoring goals at the moment but we are conceding too many as well and that makes it very difficult,” he said.
“After finding ourselves 2-0 down we then got ourselves back in it. From that moment I thought the momentum changed and we had a great chance to equalise just before half-time through Matheus (Martins).
“In the second half I thought we got on top and Yaser (Asprilla) equalises with an incredible shot.
“But from then on it was very disappointing – all the players on the pitch need to be 100 percent committed to helping their colleagues.
“You need to win your duels in football, that is one of the basics of the game, and we lost the control that we had.
“The players have had their say in the dressing room and all we can focus on now is going out and trying to win our next match.”
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