Right, well, we’ll be concentrating on the league from now on then.
Losing away at Barnsley in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday is hardly a disaster for Norwich City, is it?
The fifth round was likely to offer a match up with Chelsea and whilst “I would love it if we beat them” the reality is that at this stage of the season, extra games and potentially extra injuries are not what we need. The goal is and always has been automatic promotion.
Barnsley deserved the win and in the first half especially were the main protagonists of this contest. Decent shots from Cauley Woodrow and Romal Palmer, followed by Michal Helik’s header, made Tim Krul leap into action to keep the scores level at half time, with only a dipping effort from Max Aarons providing any real sight of goal for the visitors in that first period.
Barnsley carried on where they’d left off after the break and they took a deserved 55th-minute lead when Callum Styles pounced on a loose ball in the area and made sure of a low finish in the bottom corner, giving Krul little chance. It was a defensive error and one that City never recovered from.
Daniel Farke made early substitutes with Oliver Skipp and Emi Buendia replacing Alex Tettey and Onel Hernandez on the hour mark. The biggest blow of the afternoon came just moments later though when Jordan Hugill was taken off with a suspected hamstring injury. It didn’t look good and will probably see him miss several weeks, unless there’s a miracle.
That meant thirty odd minutes of game time for young Tyrese Omotoye but the game couldn’t be turned. City made their final two subs on 77 minutes when Mario Vrancic and Josh Martin entered the fray but the visitors just couldn’t find a goal, despite dominating the last 20 minutes.
Even with five Canary subs on though, Barnsley were still dangerous on the counter and after Placheta hit the bar when he really should’ve scored, Krul had to make a brilliant save from Conor Chaplin to keep City in the match.
With Teemu Pukki out injured and Adam Idah only set to return to training this week after three months out, Norwich could have to take on Middlesbrough next weekend without a recognised striker, although Farke hopes that Pukki will be fit to face ‘Boro. Losing Jordan Hugill will be a big blow and such an injury to a key player underlines how fragile this season can be for any club, even the league leaders and their supposed embarrassment of riches.
Well done, Barnsley and good luck in the next round, we’ll be, ahem, concentrating on the league from now on…
OTBC