Todd Cantwell will miss Tuesday evening’s crunch match at Watford, with Alex Tettey and Kenny McLean being doubts, Daniel Farke told the media at his pre-match press conference.
Speaking on Monday lunchtime, Farke expressed the hope that Cantwell will be fit to face West Ham at the weekend after picking up a slight hamstring strain against Brighton.
The boss will address the media shortly ahead of #WATNOR. Updates here ⬇️https://t.co/P9Xm4PQlMf
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) July 6, 2020
Predictably, Alex Tettey’s knees are causing him some discomfort after so much football in quick succession and McLean has an ankle issue but City’s Head Coach is hopeful that both players will be available. They have become his go-to pairing in the centre of the field, although I think most of us would like to see Mario Vrancic given a chance alongside Tettey.
Farke is now repeatedly beating the same drum that I have been of late, that the team need to start putting in some performances. What we have seen since the resumption of football just simply hasn’t been good enough at this level. There have been several instances over the season when City have put in good performances but since the re-start, other than the Man United Cup game, they just haven’t been anywhere near the right levels.
I imagine that the squad must’ve thought that most of their opponents in these re-start games wouldn’t have much to gain or lose, so they might not be up for it quite so much. Our lads just haven’t seemed up for it at all.
I know that our players need to provide 9/10 individual performances every game to compete at this level but you’ve seen Sheffield United’s lads doing that more often than not.
Farke also spoke about the progress of the club and developing step by step because the club cannot afford to throw money around, risking the club’s solvency, as it did during the previous top flight foray under Alex Neil.
“We’re still realistic. We’ve had five wins in 33 games and need five from the last five. As long as it’s possible we will keep going. It seems like none of the teams at the bottom are capable of getting points. We’ve lost our last five, so it’s not up to us to say we’ll win our next five. It’s important to show our pride with good performances and win as many points as possible.“
As I wrote after the Brighton game, I am fed up with what I’m seeing. It doesn’t look like the players are doing enough and especially in the second half, players just didn’t gamble on those balls that were crossed From the left and ran right across the six-yard box.
A marked improvement is what I’m after and I imagine Farke is too. He cannot be blamed entirely for what has happened this season as he has had to work without much in the way of finance and the reinforcements he has received have not been good enough.
Unless things change in the next five games we might not gain another point and that would be even more embarrassing than it has been already.
OTBC