Jonny Howson defended Jacob Murphy when he spoke to the media after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Barnsley.
During the first half, prior to scoring the opening goal of the game, Murphy shifted the ball onto his left foot and attempted a shot at goal that sliced off his boot and went out of play by the corner flag in front of the Snake Pit.
That prompted a chant of ‘What the fu@king hell was that?’ from an area of the ground that sounded to me (from the River End) like it came from the Snake Pit.
Clearly there’s been some frustration, to say the least, of late but it was another example of some fans having a go at a young lad who is the second highest scorer this season (10) with only Cameron Jerome (14) ahead of him. Jacob is also the second highest assist provider (6) with Wes Hoolahan the leader on 8.
So, he’s young, he’s learning and he’s a Norwich player, something that some of our fans seemed to forget. Perhaps it was in jest but I’ve never heard a City fan get such a chant. To be fair, I wasn’t at Wigan a couple of seasons ago when Kyle Lafferty took THAT free kick.
This is what Jonny Howson had to say to the EDP
“He`s a young lad and sometimes he needs that experience of maybe making the odd mistake to learn,” said Howson.
“Obviously there was a little bit of a reaction with his shot in the first half and to me, people who do things like that to a young lad that`s come through and he`s one of your own if you like, they need to probably have a good look at themselves.
“But true credit to Jacob. He pops up with a goal and answers them, so it`s obviously another strength of his that whatever set-back or what people might comment, he carries on going. It`s a terrific trait to have as a player.
“Jacob has done terrifically well and I don`t think it`s just a case of the goals he`s scored.
“That is his ability we see day in day out, and obviously I`ve seen that for a few years – even when he started breaking through.
“But the other aspect is he`s played a lot of games this season for us and certainly at this level, I think that`s a credit to himself to keep going and keep that shirt.
“OK as a team we haven`t possibly performed to what we would`ve liked, but we`ve got some top players and for the amount he has played, to keep going every week, I think that`s credit to his ability he`s got anyway.
“I think for him personally, if he keeps going he is going to be some player.”
Here, here…
OTBC