Clement: This is a Player Trying to Cheat
Saturday, 11th Apr 2026 17:01
Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement accused Town midfielder Jack Taylor of “trying to cheat” in the incident which led to the Blues’ 11th-minute penalty in their 2-0 victory over the Canaries at Carrow Road.
Taylor stabbed a waist-high ball away from Norwich’s Anis Ben Slimane in the aftermath of a Town corner with the Tunisian international then catching the Irish international with his boot.
After initially allowing play to continue, referee Anthony Backhouse awarded the spot-kick, presumably on the advice of his assistant.
Jaden Philogene rolled his 11th goal of the season – his first away from home – into the net from the spot with George Hirst sealing the Blues’ first win at Carrow Road in 20 years and first derby double since 1992/93 with a second goal in first-half injury time.
“We started the game well, dominant on the ball, pushing Ipswich back and I have a lot of respect for their team and the quality they have, and about all the transfers that they made, and about he work of [Town manager] Kieran [McKenna], also,” Clement said.
“So that was good stuff in that first 10 minutes, but then you get a penalty against us that is totally not a penalty, for me.
“Anis wants to clear the ball, the other player [Jack Taylor] sees that moment to be a little bit faster than him, a split second, and then he dives into Anis and Anis doesn’t touch his leg like he’s pretending has been done.
“We make a transition in that moment and four or five seconds later, there’s a decision made to give a penalty against us.
“That’s a game-decisive moment in this game and we’ve talked about it, in these games it’s small margins with two good teams who want to play. OK, that goes against you and it’s a hard one.
“I’m proud of my players, how they reacted to that. We dominated more in the first half, not enough chances and I think that’s the main thing from our side, that we lacked that today.
“We came much more in the opponent’s box than Ipswich did today but they were more ruthless, like with the one set piece [a Darnell Furlong long throw] and the ball drops and they score [the second goal].
“We had enough of those moments, also. We had more times in their box but we didn’t create enough danger and the moments when we had really clear-cut chances like with Mo [Toure] at the end, we were not cool enough to finish that off.
“So they are working points for us for the next couple of weeks and also for next season, to raise the levels with the players available in the building and also with new players who can add quality.”
Asked whether it was confirmed that the penalty was awarded by the assistant, Clement added: “I don’t know, to be honest. In the end, we can talk for 10 minutes about it but it will not change anything because decisions are made.
“Because of that, as I’ve said all these weeks, I’m a fan of VAR to avoid these moments because this was never a penalty with VAR, never.
“This is a player trying to cheat, [acting] like he’s been caught by a tackle, has gone down, which was not the case and he wins in this situation.
“More players will try to do those things if you don’t have an objective view on things. I know the referee can’t be in the right position all the time to see everything, it’s impossible.
“That’s why they need objective help in these situations because in football, too many games are decided by one or two moments, one or two goals, so these decisions need to be right.”
Clement also felt Nunez, making his first return to Norwich since his controversial summer transfer, should have been shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jose Cordoba, shortly before the Blues withdrew the Chilean, who had only been on the field for 23 minutes.
“Yes, for sure, because he had a caution already before when he could have taken a second yellow card and the referee talked with him to stay cool,” he insisted.
“And I think the Ipswich bench understood really well because they took him off directly. They realised it should have been a red card but it wasn’t the case.
“And in the moment, I get the yellow card when I was not saying anything, so that’s also frustrating.”
He added: “I will be suspended next week, so I will be prevented from doing my job next week in a situation where the fourth official said that too many of my assistants stood up at that moment in that situation and I’m responsible for them.
“That’s really difficult to be guiding a team and being responsible for everything happening behind me.
“It’s the first time that I’ve seen a manager get booked for that. In the past in more than 30 years in football, I’ve always seen an assistant get booked but not the manager in that situation because it’s a hard decision. I cannot do my job next week in the normal way, so it’s frustrating.”
Photo: TWTD
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