Norwich have returned to the top of the Sky Bet Championship for the first time since May 2019 after an impressive away win at Middlesbrough last Saturday. Now though, the Canaries face a second tough away trip in three days – can Norwich do it again on a cold, wet night in Stoke?
As usual, Daniel Farke spoke to the media this Monday in his usual pre-match press conference and as usual, Vital Norwich Forum stalwart, FC Bears was watching, to give his take on what was said…
🗣 The boss is about to speak to the media ahead of tomorrow's game against Stoke City. Updates here ⬇️https://t.co/yAAFgbrnS6
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) November 23, 2020
Daniel Farke says that the ‘injury news is getting worse and worse.’
Todd Cantwell out for four weeks.
Jordan Hugill out for three weeks.
Kenny McLean will also be out. He is getting worse and not better from his injury. Out longer term.
On Xavi Quintilla, he could be out for a long time now and DF has no return date but it will be a while.
He said:
‘He is also out, yes. It is so difficult to judge at the moment, because the scans are all fine but he is still symptomatic. We have not found the solution to his injury. I can’t give you any good news on him, because all the scans are fine but we are struggling to find the right solution to this. It is a big blow for him and a big blow for us.’
🗣 DF: Xavi Quintilla is still out. His muscle is fine but he is still symptomatic. We may need to speak with Villarreal about how we can sort this injury.#NCFC pic.twitter.com/OqAF4yiRpU
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) November 23, 2020
So, the following are all currently out injured:
Byram
Hugill
Cantwell
Mumba
Xavi
McLean
Idah
Dowell
Hernandez
Oxborough
Rupp 50/50
DF was pushed on Kenny and says that Mayor McLean will at the moment be out for at least six weeks.
Lots of muscle injuries – hard training? Or just the frequency of games?
DF says that he has not had a full team training session this season and that isn’t acceptable. He says that we can deal with it short-term but long term it isn’t good for us.
‘We have young players and they have to develop but I can’t remember the last time we had a full team training session. In the long term picture for football this is not a healthy picture. We can handle it over a few weeks, this situation, but now it has been for seven or eight weeks. It is tricky to say that we are heading in the right direction (within football) for this and we have to find solutions for this and take one step back in terms of the load. I understand that it is money and it is a business, but you can’t forget that you are working with human beings. ‘
So with all these players out and Rupp looking likely to miss out, I would go:
Krul
Aarons
Hanley
Gibson
Sorensen
Tettey
Skipp
Placheta
Vrancic
Emi
Pukki
Subs
McGovern – Zimmermann – Stiepermann – Martin – (After this we are out of 1st teamers which is scary) – Omobamidele – McAlear – Giurgi – Dennis – Nizet.
Nine subs allowed but I have a feeling DF will not use them and we will only have five on the bench with two being GKs – DF sending a message to Webber, perhaps?
If he does this it is silly as we have some good youngsters who would love to get on the bench.
So we are down to one fit forward, no fit left backs, one right back, three central defenders, three central midfielders, two wingers and two attacking midfielders.
If Teemu Pukki gets injured we will be playing Marco Stiepermann upfront!
DF isn’t entertaining the idea of Josip Drmic or Mo Leitner though.
He said Drmic hasn’t even met any of the new players and has not been around the club for months (easy money). He added that if Pukki gets a knock and is out for say, 10 weeks then maybe Drmic will be a thought but he would need a month to get fit, as he hasn’t trained in months and Hugill would be back by then…..So basically, if Pukki is out for longer than a month we will just look to get by until Hugill gets back in a month.
So if the worst happens, we could go eight games with zero fit forwards. Please stay fit Pukki…
I don’t get it man. Farke thinks Drmic is good enough for the prem (he isn’t) and now that they’re in the championship he doesn’t even want him on the bench. What do we have to lose? Would Farke really rather play without a striker upfront? Imo just let him get back in training, he will meet the lads then, but he won’t play unless Pukki gets injured. In 3 weeks he leaves the squad when Hugill is back and the transfer window is open.
I wouldn’t argue with any of that, Jonas…