First the bad news – Ivo Pinto isn`t fit to face Brentford on Saturday.
We`ve all known for a while, that should the Captain pick up a knock (or worse) then we`re in a spot of bother regarding a lack of cover at right back.
In this case, Pinto has apparently injured himself getting out of his car(!) causing his knee to swell up. He should only miss one game, is the positive spin on that one. Talking to the assembled media at his usual Friday presser at Colney, Daniel Farke suggested that he had options with players who have experience of playing at full back.
Apparently, Alex Tettey, Harrison Reed, Tom Trybull and Marley Watkins have all played there before but none look ideal to me. Perhaps Watkins can play his way back into some form as the wing backs will need to be capable of getting up and down the field. It`ll be interesting to see what Farke decides to do.
Wes Hoolahan will miss the game with back trouble and so might Mario Vrancic, who suffered a cut to his leg after a training challenge from Josh Murphy.
Now the good news, Tom Trybull`s back condition has improved and he`s back in the squad. In terms of Thursday`s three new signings, Onel Hernandez and Moritz Leitner have both received international clearance and are both fit and available. Dennis Srbeny`s registration was dragging it`s heels somewhere between the German and English FA on Friday lunchtime but Farke is optimistic he can be registered in time.
The loss of Wes Hoolahan is lessened by the arrival of Moritz Leitner and I cannot over state how excited I am by the arrival of this guy.
His pedigree is excellent and at one of Germany`s biggest clubs too. He seems to have lost his way a little of late but Farke said he was confident that he knew how to get the best out of his fellow countryman. If our Head Coach can get him firing on anything like his past form at Dortmund, then we`ve got a very good player on our hands.
In terms of Marcus Edwards, it seems that he`s not in the squad for Brentford, with Farke explaining that the lad needs to improve his attitude and ability when he doesn`t have the ball, which seems to have been behind his lack of game time at Spurs. He`s done okay in training this week but this game is too soon for him.
You can follow the detail of the press conference on Twitter @NorwichCityFC
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