Press news in...

Afternoon Wrathers from Colney. We are currently awaiting Norwich City head coach Liam Manning for his preview of Saturday's trip to Swansea.
--------------------------------------------------------------

NCFC boss Liam Manning has confirmed that Ante Crnac's season is over. He has ruptured his ACL and will be out for the rest of 2025/26. That requires surgery. Big blow for Norwich.

LM: 'He's had a tough opening. But he has had to play through. We're disappointed ultimately.'

Mathias Kvistgaarden has trained and looks ready to come back into contention - although Manning makes the point that they need to be careful with him.

LM asked about City's second half drop offs - speaking on Tuesday night, he believes that is partially down to other coaches correcting things. But also thinks Tuesday was a poor five minute spell - points out that Crnac hit the post and Josh Sargent nearly got behind on a couple of occasions. That lack of ruthlessness isn't easing that pressure.

LM: 'If you want to win in this league, especially after so much change, you have to produce performances. We have to learn how to win games. Part of that involves killing teams off. We're not showing that ruthlessness at the moment. The West Brom game is the one that drives me crazy. I can't understand how we've lost that game. If we win, I think we will go on a run. I truly believe that.'

Too early for Ben Chrisene and Lucien Mahovo this weekend. Amankwah Forson is also set for a return to training next week.

LM asked about footballing aspects - but he believes there has been improvement. Repeats again that it's about 'releasing the valve' of pressure that has built up with poor results.

LM believes Swansea represents a tough test, despite their struggles with form. Describes the Championship as a 'crazy' league. Makes the point that Norwich cannot keep letting opportunities pass and that players should be desperate to make up for it.

LM asked about whether he thinks Norwich are in a relegation scrap - he doesn't. He thinks he has seen enough in the players and performances to suggest this will turn.

Manning asked Shane Duffy's social media activites after the game on Tuesday night:
'You cannot do that in today's world. We have spoken to him in the office about it today. You cannot respond. It does more harm than good, stay away from it and keep your opinions to yourself.'

Manning confirms there has been an internal meeting. Doesn't rule him out of Saturday's game - but makes a point that there is a lot of stuff taken into consideration.

Manning doesn't really feel the need for anyone else to come out and speak. Makes the point that Ben Knapper is in constant dialogue with the ownership and the messaging has only to be 'keep going'.

Follow up Q: 'Has the message come from above that you're their man and to keep going with this?'

A: 'Yes. You don't stop believing because you have a blip at the start. You have to keep going. It's frustrating, it's disappointing and I have the emotions that everyone else has - but we need to ignore the noise and keep going ahead of Saturday.'

Manning believes he saw players stepping up and responding to his post-Bristol City comments, calling them into question, despite the result.

Lots of praise from Liam Manning for Kenny McLean. He says he has really stepped up in the dressing room and that they chat most days. Praises the dressing room generally, they have stayed together and there hasn't been a split. That response has pleased Manning.

---------------------------------------------------------

That's it from LM for today. You can catch the whole press conference later today

Posted By: DrDublin on October 23rd 2025 at 14:27:41

Message Thread

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.

Log in