IT’S TWEET
Chirpy Canaries floor Benitez as
RAFA BENITEZ felt the heat like never before in his reign as Everton manager after an embarrassing defeat at Norwich.
The Canaries started the day bottom of the Premier League – a position they have occupied for most of the season.
But they ended it a lofty 18th, their highest league placing this season, after a Michael Keane own goal and Adam Idah’s first top-flight strike gave them a lead that Everton could not haul in.
The visitors gave it a better go after the break, with substitute Richarlison halving the deficit with a cracking overhead kick soon after coming on.
But that was as far as the comeback would go, even with seven minutes of time added on for injuries.
This defeat means the Merseysiders have won just one of their last 13 Premier League games.
And Benitez knows that, with emotions running so high for some time, the malaise cannot go on for ever.
He said: “I am a professional and I have enough experience.
“I came here to fix issues that were coming from the last five years.
“What I have to do now is analyse the mistakes we are making and make sure we avoid them for the future.
“The rest is not in my hands.”
The final whistle was greeted with chants of ‘sack the board’ from those Evertonians who had made the journey to Norfolk.
Those same tongues having made clear their feelings towards the manager when they joined in with Norwich supporters’ playful goading that he was getting ‘sacked in the morning’.
There were more personal jibes, too, those of a ‘Spanish waiter’ nature.
And when one fan made it on to the pitch during the first-half, he left the manager in no doubt what – or who – was invoking his anger, even if he only made it halfway across the playing surface.
It really is hard to see this relationship, if that’s what you can call it, lasting much longer and quite why Benitez would want it to is anyone’s guess. Money aside, of course.
He added: “We didn’t start the game well in terms of control. After we made a couple of mistakes we had another mountain to climb.
“We changed in the second-half with two new players and the team was much better and more dominant, and the players who are coming back will make the team stronger.
“I am really disappointed as we came here thinkin g about the win and disappointed for the fans travelling to support – it’s not an ideal situation.”
For Norwich, this had the feel of a must-win game if they were to give themselves any hope of escaping relegation and Dean Smith said as much to his men beforehand.
So you can imagine their delight that they were given a helping hand early on when Josh Sargent’s low cross was turned past Jordan Pickford at his near post by team-mate Keane.
It was a massive boost for the
Canaries and the home fans were still celebrating – well, taunting Benitez – when they doubled their lead less than 70 seconds later.
Seamus Coleman’s pass was intended for Anthony Gordon but Brandon Williams anticipated it, nipped in and then burst forward to release Idah, who held off Vitalii Mykolenko to prod home beyond Pickford.
Richarlison’s cracker halved the deficit and Dimitris Giannoulis made the block of the game
I came here to fix issues that were from the last five years. I have to analyse the mistakes and make sure we avoid them for the future
soon after coming on to deny Gordon’s sweetly-struck effort before Milot Rashica, with the last kick of the game, hit the outside of one of Pickford’s posts.
This was only Norwich’s third Premier League win of the season.
And boss Smith, who saw Williams and Max Aarons limp off, and also Tim Krul finish the game with a shoulder injury, said: “I’m certainly proud of the players.
“I said before the game it’s not the be-all and end-all but we’re getting that way and we wanted to get our fans behind us with energy.
“We really did that.”