Norwich City boss delivers Sheffield United verdict after 3-1 win as Andre Brooks shrugs off boos on Lane return
Andre Brooks returned to Bramall Lane with Norwich City this afternoon, with manager Philippe Clement praising the Sheffield United academy product for handling an emotional occasion with maturity.
Philippe Clement, the Norwich City manager, hailed the performance and maturity of Andre Brooks as he made an emotional return to his boyhood club Sheffield United this afternoon. The 23-year-old left the Lane earlier this summer in a decent-money move to Carrow Road.
And he didn’t have to wait long for a return to familiar territory, albeit wearing the colours of the opposition as they came away with the points in a 3-1 win.
Brooks was booed by a section of Unitedites every time he touched the ball, and he almost had the last laugh in the second half when his effort was cleared off the line by Hamza Choudhury.
The relief was short-lived however as sub Mathias Kvistgaarden tapped home the rebound to seal the points for City. Brooks had a better reception from Unitedites when he was taken off, and he reciprocated the applause from the south stand as he made his way to the dugout.
“Also, for me, praise to Andre today,” Clement said afterwards. “He came back to the club that he loves, it's like his family here, so that's a difficult one as a as a young player for the first time.
“I know from the past, so we talked about that this week, and he played a really good game. That's sometimes difficult because your emotions are sometimes bigger, but he did that really well.
“He played good. He was respectful towards their fans, their fans were also respectful towards him after the game when he came off. So I think those things we want to see in football.”
Clement was less complimentary about the decision from ref Josh Smith, to book Mohamed Toure after he put City ahead on the stroke of half-time. He celebrated in front of the Kop, and was shown a yellow card for his efforts.
But he fully expects United, who suffered a first defeat in seven this season, to be challenging this season. “It's a quality team. It's a good team,” he said of the Blades.
“They got also their deserved points the last couple of weeks, or they could have even taken more.
“It's a team that for sure will be in the top half of the league for me at the end of the season. So we knew it was a hard place to come to.
“I'm really pleased that the players delivered what we wanted and also to give our away fans the joy after the game and during the game with good football.”