What Johannes Hoff Thorup said when he was appointed at Norwich City after Carrow Road axe confirmed

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·23. April 2025

What Johannes Hoff Thorup said when he was appointed at Norwich City after Carrow Road axe confirmed

Johannes Hoff Thorup had big ambitions when he took over at Norwich City, but it didn't go to plan for the Danish head coach.

Norwich City have confirmed that Johannes Hoff Thorup has left the club after a disappointing 44 games in charge at Carrow Road.

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The Dane inherited a Canaries squad that had just finished in the play-off places, and whilst the influential Gabriel Sara was among the high-profile exits, along with Adam Idah and Abu Kamara, the squad was packed with quality.

So, there was an expectation that Norwich would be in the mix for promotion, but that hasn’t transpired, with the 3-1 loss to Millwall last time out leaving the club in 14th place, which prompted Thorup’s sacking.

Johannes Hoff Thorup had high hopes upon Norwich City arrival

When Norwich appointed Thorup, it looked like a bold move. The 36-year-old worked at Nordsjaelland, initially starting in the academy before taking the managerial role in 2023.

Clearly, Thorup impressed a lot of people in Denmark, but he only had 67 games in charge before moving to Carrow Road, so he lacked experience.

Nevertheless, Thorup had big ambitions when he arrived, and he spoke about how his vision aligned with sporting director Ben Knapper.

Speaking to the club’s media, Thorup explained how they wanted a more front-foot attacking approach to deliver the success the club craved.

“We are going to play more possession-based play and clear positional structure. We want to control, we want to dominate the games that we play. Mostly with the ball, but feel we can dominate without the ball. We have some very clear ideas on how we're going to build the structure and how we're going to build the team. “That we always play with an offensive mind-set. It's always about the next action, the next thing that we can do but with the ambition to score a goal. I see that the game starts with the ball, that's how football is. We have to take care of the ball, we have to be dominant on the ball. We have to have players who like to be on the ball and can control the matches as well. It's about the ambition to score that next goal. That's how I see football.”

Norwich City's defensive issues cost them

In fairness, Thorup delivered on the promise of more attacking football.

Only Leeds have scored more than the Yellows, and that attacking play is reflected in the stats, with Norwich fourth when it comes to xG.

Leeds and Coventry are the only clubs to create more big chances, and Daniel Farke’s side are the only team to have more than Norwich’s average of 58.2% possession this season.

So, Norwich did control possession, create chances and score goals. Sadly, they lacked the overall structure that Thorup spoke about, as their defensive issues have cost the side this season.

The 66 goals they have conceded is the fifth worst in the league, and it has ultimately prevented them from seriously pushing for the play-offs.

Thorup may argue that Norwich’s x G says they should have conceded 14 fewer goals, so a combination of bad luck and poor goalkeeping hasn’t helped their situation.

Yet, when it happens week in, week out, there is an expectation of the manager to try and change things. Instead, Norwich’s problems have continued, and, if anything, they have gotten worse in recent weeks, with the 5-3 defeat to Portsmouth a real low point.

So, you can understand why the decision was made, and whoever does succeed Thorup will know where Norwich must improve if they are to be in the hunt to go up in 12 months' time.