Sunderland fully deserved their victory at Carrow Road, admitted disappointed Norwich City boss David Wagner. The Black Cats beat play-off rivals Norwich 1-0 at the weekend, with Abdoullah Ba scoring the only goal of the game in the first half.
It was a much-needed victory for Sunderland, who had picked up just one point from their previous four games and had arrived in Norfolk on the back of three straight defeats, while it also halted Norwich's recent run which had seen them pick up 13 points from a possible 15. Sunderland had to dig in defensively in the second half to see out the win, but they were the better side in the first period and could have scored more goals.
"The performance, especially in the first half, was as disappointing as the result," said Wagner of his side's display. We didn't start on our level, we were not quick enough in passing, in moving, we were not sharp enough in counter-press situations and we were never able to get the intensity and energy of the press.
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"We were deservedly 1-0 down [at half-time]. The second half was better but we were still not good enough in possession and we did not occupy the right spaces and did not create enough clear chances and at the end of the day we deserved this defeat."
Asked directly whether he felt Norwich deserved to lose, he added: "Yes, because of the first half - for sure, we can't complain. The effort that the players put in in the second half was how it should be, [albeit] without creating enough opportunities.
"Because of the first half, I can say that we deserved to lose this game. If you leave too many spaces open, if you don't put enough pressure on the player with the ball, then it can cause you problems and that was exactly what happened.
"We didn't do well enough and that means a good team, which Sunderland are, a team with young, energetic players, who played their football with total freedom, they were able to cause us problems."
Sunderland's win lifted them to tenth place in the table and keeps them in the play-off race, with the Black Cats five points outside the top six. Norwich's recent run had lifted the Canaries into the play-off places although results over the weekend saw them drop to seventh, and they are now two points behind sixth-placed Millwall.
Wagner said: "I have said that we should not get carried away by results, positives or now the negatives, it's exactly the same - we have to make sure that we focus on performances. In recent weeks the performances have been on a good level and that is why we have got results, but yesterday it wasn't.
"We have to speak honestly with each other and let everybody know what went wrong yesterday and take this setback as a man, then in three days [when Norwich visit Huddersfield on Wednesday night] show how you react in this situation."
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