Set-piece defending has been City's 'Achilles heel'

BBC News

22-04-2025

Former Norwich City striker Iwan Roberts believes failure to resolve defensive frailties is a big reason for Johannes Hoff Thorup's downfall as head coach."I watched the first half of the Norwich-Portsmouth game (on Friday) and made a tongue-in-cheek comment to my son after the game, I said 'that's a sackable offence', conceding five goals against a team that had scored seven in their previous 12 games," he told BBC Radio Norfolk's Canary Call."I wasn't serious in what I said but I was worried about him after that horrendous defeat. "Then going down to Millwall yesterday and losing that one in the manner that they did, set-pieces have been an Achilles heel all season, and they conceded another two yesterday."What is it now? One point from their last five, four points from their last eight games, two wins in the last 14. I am surprised the decision has been made with two games to go but any manager with those kind of numbers going against him will be looking over his shoulder."Wales international Roberts, who played almost 280 league games for Norwich between 1997 and 2004, said he understood why the club had made a change of head coach when they parted company with David Wagner following last season's play-offs defeat by Leeds."They wanted to go in a certain direction and I can understand that, they wanted to give younger players an opportunity," he added. "The job of a head coach and his staff is to improve these youngsters and there's not many that have improved that much over the last six or seven months."