Norwich City: What Liam Manning said about Shane Duffy incident v Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

Shane Duffy and Kenny McLean got into a touchline argument during Norwich's 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday

Liam Manning has played down the significance of a touchline spat between Kenny McLean and Shane Duffy during Norwich City’s draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

The Canaries put an end to their losing run on Wednesday night with a 1-1 draw against the Owls.

The hosts took the lead in just the fourth minute through a long-range effort from Barry Bannan, before Mathias Kvistgaarden brought Manning’s side back into the game in the 81st minute.

The pressure is mounting on the 40-year-old, who was only appointed as manager in the summer in place of Johannes Hoff Thorup.

Tempers flared in the first half of Wednesday night’s clash at Hillsborough during a brief stoppage in play when Duffy and McLean were seen getting involved in a heated argument, with the defender coming off at half-time.

Liam Manning responds to Norwich City touchline spat

Manning has downplayed the incident involving McLean and Duffy, suggesting that the defender’s substitution at half-time was purely tactical.

He’s admitted that he’s told his players that he’d like to see more passion from them amid their poor run of form, albeit the Norwich coach is keen to make sure the squad remains respectful of each other too.

“Heat of the moment. I was chatting with Kenny and these things can happen,” said Manning, via Pink Un.

“Naturally, it will get blown up, I'm sure.

“But it was just a discussion. I want emotions. I want fight. But there's obviously levels to it as well, in terms of how you operate.

“I have been on at the lads about how we show more fight, more passion, I want to see some emotion.

“But for me respect is very important.

“I see the lads behind-the-scenes every day and everyone is all in.

“The lads, the staff, we are all pulling in the right direction. There is no issue.

“For me, the substitution was tactical in that moment.

“We felt keeping wingers wide would hurt them.

“We’d spoken about going to a four in terms of if you look at the difference keeping Jovon (Makama) and Oscar (Schwartau) wide, it was designed to be a change to do that.

“That was why we changed from a back three to a back four at half-time.”

Norwich have endured a difficult start to the Championship season, and currently occupy a relegation spot.

The Canaries are 22nd after their 1-1 draw with the Owls, moving ahead of Sheffield United by virtue of a superior goal difference.

However, the Norfolk outfit still only have two wins to their name this season, and are four points adrift of Oxford United in 21st.

Next up for Manning’s side is a home clash against Leicester City on 8th November in a 3pm kick-off, with this being their last fixture before the upcoming international break.

Tension is clearly building within Norwich City squad

Results this season have been really underwhelming for Norwich, and the atmosphere surrounding the club is beginning to boil over now.

Fans are frustrated, and players are now clearly disagreeing about how the team should be playing, which is a bad sign for Manning.

The 40-year-old desperately needs a win this weekend against Leicester, and even then that might not be enough to save his job at this rate.

While there’s no doubt that he wants to see some passion from his squad, Manning will want to avoid further incidents like this during the middle of a game for everyone to see.