SMILE HIGH CLUB
Sky’s the limit for Canaries now Wagner has lifted the mood
BY IAN BAKER
DAVID WAGNER is bringing the fun back to Norwich and his players are loving it.
The Canaries have scored eight goals in his first two league games in charge, more than they managed in the previous eight games as Dean Smith’s reign ended in despair.
Ex-huddersfield boss
Wagner (above) is known as a perfectionist and his ways are rubbing off on Norwich stars.
Onel Hernandez, who scored the Canaries’ second in this spectacular win in the Midlands, said: “Is his team fun to play for? 100 percent.
“His methods are very intense, he wants to play forward, not back – that’s what we want and what he wants.
“He’s very direct, he knows what he wants and told us from the first day what he wants. The players really understood that.
“You saw in the last couple of years, we have always been on the front foot – but the last halfyear it wasn’t there. Now we feel we are somewhat back.
“I enjoy working with him. He’s a different character with different philosophies to Dean.
“His perfectionist attitude is rubbing off. He knows why he’s here.” This was a crazy game with Norwich 3-0 up after 18 minutes, courtesy of a bizarre own goal from Michael Rose, Hernandez’s finish from Kieran Dowell’s pass, and then Josh Sargent finishing well after good play by Teemu Pukki.
Eight minutes later it was 3-2 as Jamie Allen and Kasey Palmer struck before Dowell’s clever 65th-minute finish (left) sealed a Canaries win that could have been even bigger.
Hernandez is out of contract in the summer, but wants to stay at the club he joined in 2018. The Cuban is enjoying a new lease of life under Wagner, after being shipped out on loan spells at Middlesbrough and Birmingham.
He added: “At the training ground we have a wall with all the players’ names who have been there the longest.
“I always say I want to be there and see myself there one day.”
Coventry have now conceded eight goals in their last two home games and boss Mark Robins said: “We’ve got human beings not robots.
“Young players don’t really know the game yet which is where we’re at. They are trying to find themselves in the game.”