It’s disaster for Benitez as Idah lifts up Norwich
Norwich 2 Everton 1
RAFA BENITEZ admitted his future was ‘not in my hands’ after a defeat at Norwich piled more pressure on the beleaguered Everton boss.
Michael Keane’s own-goal put Norwich ahead and Adam
Idah doubled their lead in the first half before Richarlison’s spectacular overheadkick reduced the deficit.
But Everton were unable to fight back any further and Benitez faced calls for his head from the fans who had made the journey, with one of them leaving him in no doubt whatsoever that he wanted him out after racing past stewards on to the pitch.
Benitez said: “We are disappointed like the fans.
“We have to improve things on the pitch and with players coming back then we have to make the right decisions.
“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.”
This defeat means the Merseysiders have won just one of their last 13 Premier League games.
You can imagine the travelling fans’ mood when Norwich were given a helping hand early on as 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 Vitaliy Mykolenko to prod home beyond Pickford.
Richarlison’s cracker halved the deficit and Dimitris Giannoulis made the block of the game soon after coming on to deny Gordon’s sweetlystruck effort.
For Norwich, this had the feel of a must-win game if they were to give themselves any hope of escaping relegation.
It was only
Norwich’s third
Premier League victory of the season.
Boss Dean Smith said: “I’m 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 did that.”