Philippe Clement frustrated by handball incident in Norwich defeat

Philippe Clement maintained his composure with the officials but expressed his anger over the handball incident that overshadowed Norwich City’s 2-1 defeat to West Brom on the opening day of the Championship.

The Belgian manager disclosed that coaches have been instructed not to confront referees this season after witnessing Aune Heggebo handle Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s cross into the net.

"I didn't want to do that straight after the game on the pitch," he stated. "It's also we discussed with the referee department not to do those things.

"We can always go in their office to speak about things, and I think it's also better for the game that there are no discussions on a pitch with all the cameras on.

"But I expect also that referees see things like what happened with this first goal, because it's incredible that we can see that from the bench, or from 50 yards away that players tell the referee, but still the goal is allowed.

"So that's for me, that's very disappointing. it's clearly with the arm that the player scores.

"The linesman had the best angle in the stadium to see that action."

Clement had previously confronted match officials at the end of last season after a controversial penalty was awarded in his first East Anglian derby defeat at Carrow Road, a match that resulted in a touchline ban for receiving a third yellow card of the campaign.

He has been vocal about his support for the implementation of video assistant technology in the Championship.

"We talked about that a lot last season. It's a game decisive moment so VAR can help in this situation. But for me, this is a situation you don't need VAR," he remarked.

"You need to see that with the four people managing the game. I can understand that the referee maybe is not in the perfect angle, but the linesman needs to see that.

"It's so clear, the height of the ball and where it touches him. You lose at least two points with that action, and maybe three.

"But we cannot go back in time, so we need to focus on the next game, and that's all we can do."

Source: The Pink Un