Norwich’s Josh Sargent doubles down on a dark night for Ranieri Watford | Premier League

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Did the lights go out on Watford and Claudio Ranieri? American Josh Sargent scored two wonderful goals, the first of which was to improvise a ball, and the second with a header before Yuri Koka’s late goal in his own net, to take Norwich out of the last three. Watford have fallen into the relegation zone for the first time this season and will stay there if their offer here is anything to go by.

A match that embraced farce, including some very poor play, sending off Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis with the match already lost and a long-running failure in the limelight between Sargent’s goals, provided compelling evidence of why both teams are in place.

Both clubs have changed managers mid-season, but Dean Smith, with his recent experience saving Aston Villa from relegation and celebrating his 200th win as manager, looks better prepared for a rescue job. Norwich has been knocked out of the Premier League’s relegation zone for the first time in 53 games. Ranieri was sacked in the middle of the 2018-2019 season for Fulham, and a similar fate may await him at a club that rarely shy away from making managerial changes.

The Italian sidestepped questions about his immediate future by saying: “I speak every day with the board and we are all together” and by directly apologizing to Watford fans. “We wanted to set fire to our fans and we didn’t. Psychologically I hope we react. When we feel desperate we respond well. Now is the time to respond. We can’t continue like this, we have to change the mentality. I don’t go away, I’m a fighter and I don’t give up.”

With a pre-match tribute to Watford’s best coach Graham Taylor, on the fifth anniversary of his death, there was an unexpected festive atmosphere for a six-pointer touchdown featuring two teams with four points between them since the start of December. Then Watford needed until the 16th minute to collect two passes.

Sargent celebrated his first goal and quickly scored his second in the Premier League, describing Norwich’s win as “a huge confidence booster for us, hopefully we can move on”, while a happy Smith initially thought the American had “cut” his shot, one of his goals season. “Timo Pukki did a good job continuing the play, he was a little behind me but reacted to putting my feet up,” Sargent said. “The second goal was massive and the third goal was even more.”

“Winning was the main thing,” said a beaming Smith. “The players were calm after the goals.” No such calm from Denis, having been booked for a foul on Pierre Les Millau, he was lucky to escape a second yellow to simulate when he hit the deck with the same player in his vicinity. He finally saw red as Max Aarons rumbled in the moments after the second goal, leaving Watford lacking to threaten their main goal with an unnecessary suspension, perhaps due to six other indicators, the re-arranged match with Burnley.

The first-half inefficiency from both teams continued with the start of the second half but Watford quickly paid for it as Norwich finally raised their game. Sargent’s goal saw Moussa Sissoko losing the ball before arresting Samir and stealing Pukki. The ball hit the crossbar behind the line and went outside.

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Ranieri soon made his first change, displacing ineffectual Tom Cleverly in favor of Cucho Hernandez. It came a few moments before a floodlight failure forced referee Mike Dean to stop proceedings in the 61st minute. “We’re Norwich City, we’re playing in the dark,” laughed faraway fans when both teams had already played much of the match as if they were blindfolded.

After players complained to Dean that the lights, which flickered on and off to derisive cheers, weren’t enough to play down, there was a wow with both managers and it ended up resuming the match after 10 minutes and still at half-light. . “I don’t think it will ever be scrapped,” Smith said. “I wanted to keep going,” Ranieri agreed.

Within two minutes of the start of the second half, Norwich and Sargent got the second goal, Milot Rashika ran away from the left, and a cross-headed pass by a confidently mysterious youngster. And local fans, who were staring down the crater of Ranieri’s 10th league defeat in 13 games, began to get queasy.

Grumpy on both counts, Watford tried to get back into the game, with Ben Gibson forced to ditch the goal line, Joao Pedro digging in from distance, and Kuka’s shot at the far post denied for offside. A full 15 minutes were added to the 90 minutes for them to find a way back, but Kucka’s fault, from Adam Idah’s cross, sped up at the end and possibly for Ranieri as well.

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