Norwich give cheeky response to Southampton saying Canaries’ winner was “clear handball”

Norwich give a cheeky response on social media to Southampton and their boss Tonda Eckert saying the Canaries’ winner was a “clear handball”.

A second-half brace from Jovon Makama sealed the Canaries an importantly three points, back-to-back home wins, lifted them to within two points of safety (still in the relegation zone), and ended Southampton’s strong run (their second defeat in eight games).

But the winning goal was controversial, with the decision not to rule it out for handball leaving Southampton fuming.

Southampton had their chances though, Adam Armstrong missing a first-half penalty, then Ryan Manning got an equaliser.

@southamptonfc😑♬ original sound – I Green Screen Things

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— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) December 13, 2025

Makama said, per the Pink Un: “A goal is a goal. It went in and I ran away and celebrated. So I can’t quite remember how it went in. I think it (VAR) can stay away for now.

“From the first day I came here, I think that was something that I wanted to work on. I never used to normally get many of those goals, but I’ve come here, and I want to be scoring goals. I want to be in and around the box with my presence. That’s something that I should be good at.

“So I’ve been trying to be in and around the box, alert and ready to pounce when the ball drops, and I think the second goal was a big example of that.

“It’s a good feeling that it’s all paying off and to go out there and get the three points for the boys is such a good feeling.”

Never seen a player get kicked so much.

What’s the commentator on about? “Never affected his shot” 🤯#SaintsFC pic.twitter.com/gyXzJ3tCUt

— Martin Sanders (@FootballMartin_) December 14, 2025

Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert said Norwich’s winning goal was “quite a clear handball”, that if VAR was, the goal would have been ruled out, but also he didn’t want the additional officiating in the league.

He said, per Daily Echo: “I watched it on a very small screen on the phone, but for me on that replay it seems like quite a clear handball.

“It’s a big discussion always, the VAR. If I start on this topic, it would be a bit longer of an answer. I’m not a fan of those decisions taking a very long time.

“I think there are some decisions, especially when we’re talking about offside, if that is a quick decision, I think it might help the game actually.

“But I’m also a big fan of the referees taking decisions, and unfortunately today that decision didn’t go in our favour. Maybe another game it does.”

Eckert praised Norwich on their management of the game, with Southampton go without a shot on target after Makama’s second goal.

“I agree that we didn’t manage to create a lot towards the end of the game. I also think that Norwich has done that very well today,” he said.

“To swap every single situation with a foul or then just put the ball into the corner. There is nothing to blame them for, that’s part of the game.

“In those moments, we definitely need to be better in the future, we should be chasing a game more to create more towards the end.”

Philippe Clement said, per Eastern Daily Press: “Those are crucial moments. And funnily enough, we spoke in the morning with the staff about Vlad and that it was one of his qualities to save penalties. He is really explosive. I’m not going to jinx things in the future anymore to speak about that maybe. Vlad has a lot of quality, and he showed it again.

On Leo Scienza’s free kick coming back off the and the response to Ryan Manning’s equaliser: “That is a massive moment in the game because if you go behind Southampton are really good on the ball, with a lot of composure and Premier League experience. But it was really a team performance. I think for every player that was on the pitch, you can take one or two moments or more out of this game that were crucial to the win.

“This resilience, it’s been a major point I talked almost every day about that for the last three weeks. I said it to them before this game,” said Clement. “Also, I want to stop talking about that the moment I get a feeling it’s in the group now so I don’t need to be pushing that button. I can push other buttons for the team.

“It’s great also to see the reaction of the fans when the team does that, instead of starting to tremble and to go down now the team can kick on.

“We know it’s never a linear progression with the team. But this was the best game until now for me, against a really good opponent who’s really strong on the ball, but we kept them away from our goal.

“Tactically, for me, a really good game, very disciplined, doing the right things together, making it difficult for Southampton.

“Defensively, tactically good, and also offensively, creating several really good opportunities, and there’s still a lot of progression to be made, I think, to get more composure in and around the box of the opponents, but with two really good goals, and it could have been more.”