An autumnal injury crisis has become an annual tradition at Norwich City.
Leaves aren’t the only thing that fall down in great numbers at this time of the year.
Regular first team players are once again being swept up off the floor by the Canaries’ overworked medical department. Even Johannes Hoff Thorup’s new broom hasn’t cured the woes.
Sadly for the Dane a vaccine to guard against the seasonal selection headache that blights Norwich City managers has yet to be discovered. It was his turn to watch open mouthed as his team conspired to lose a match they were winning after 89 minutes at Cardiff. Thorup’s squad was so depleted that he had to entrust the substitutes for the substitutes to hold on for what would have been a morale boosting win. Even a point would have been something of a triumph given the circumstances.
Norwich’s new head coach is now qualified to join a support group that could meet once a week in a church hall. Members get together to share their experiences of how promising seasons were dismantled by the injury crisis that seems to turn Canaries into pumpkins during October. Daniel Farke’s in that club. He gets the meeting going with the harrowing tale of starting Premier League matches with Alex Tettey as a centre back in 2019. Dean Smith then gets to his feet to talk about having to get a game against West Ham postponed two years later because of an outbreak of Covid in his squad. Then it’s David Wagner’s turn. This time last year Norwich were 17th in The Championship with Angus Gunn, Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes among those out injured. Johannes Hoff Thorup may have more in common with his predecessors than anyone realised.
As with all good support groups this one offers hope of a light at the end of the tunnel. At least it does if you stick with David Wagner’s story. The Championship is so ‘competitive’ or ‘poor’ depending on your viewpoint that being 17th in November is no reason to give up on a tilt at the play-offs.
Norwich came within a whisker of beating Cardiff anyway.
It’s a fact that made Saturday galling but inspiring in equal measure. The Welsh side might have ended up with the points, and congratulations to them for that, but for long spells they were second best to a team missing not just its spine but a few important internal organs.
If just a couple of Gunn, Sargent, Nunez, McLean or Slimane had been available, form this season suggests Norwich would have won comfortably. Even if Barnes, Onel Hernandez or Liam Gibbs had been around to come on for the final 15 minutes the outcome might well have been different.
Thorup’s demeanour after the game suggested the next couple of matches will be equally demanding.
Norwich City just have to find a way of hanging in there until some of those mentioned above are fit enough to rejoin the starting XI. There has been sufficient promise during the opening couple of months of the campaign to suggest that things will get better if the Canaries can negotiate the gloominess of autumn.
This particular iteration of the Championship doesn’t seem to offer a huge amount that should frighten a less ravaged Norwich squad. It must be the only division in which, after 13 games, it’s still possible to be in the top six having not won any of your last seven.
West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Luton on Friday night means they are winless since Sepember 21 and have scored just two goals in their last six games. Yet, there they are, safely occupying the final play-off place as things stand.
So, even if this is the start of a rocky spell for Norwich City, at least there is a clear explanation for it and the panic button should be left untouched.
Any frustrations might be better channelled into creating a Halloween costume for next year. I’m thinking of building a character that is yellow and green in colour but consists of nothing but the bare bones. Norwich City’s squad in autumn tends to be a frightening prospect.
Money saving expert...
Here’s a money saving tip that even Martin Lewis hasn’t thought of.
Always try and go if Norwich City have a long away trip the weekend before Bonfire Night. What you spend on tickets and travel you will more than make back on what you save from not having to attend a fireworks display.
Driving back from Cardiff on Saturday evening we were treated to the best of the shows from every major city, town and village across east Wales, the west of England, the Midlands and East Anglia.
The five-hour drive was punctuated by regular bursts of light in the skies from all around. There was no need to get cold, compete for the best viewpoint or queue to park on a muddy field. We saw them all.
There were very few ‘Ooohs’ or ‘Aaahs’ from inside the BBC Radio Norfolk car though. Not because we were sulking about covering a Norwich City defeat, if that sort of thing bothered us we would have given up a long time ago.
It’s just that Guido Fawkes is not the only person with Spanish links with a bit of imagination. No public display can possibly live up to the one-man pyrotechnic extravaganza that is Borja Sainz at the moment. Goal of the Month for November is probably already in the bag and it’s only just the 5th.
It’s such an incredible purple patch that it might not be sustainable for an entire season but let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.
Forget the fireworks this year and just watch a compilation of Borja Sainz’s Championship goals. For clarity that tip has not been endorsed by any Money Saving Experts you might have heard of.
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