Robin Sainty on how Norwich cope with injury problems

There’s been a growing sense of horror amongst City fans as injury piled upon injury, and I think we all feel for Johannes Hoff Thorup, who has seen his squad ripped apart before his eyes.

Although for the majority of the game at Cardiff, City looked capable of rising to the challenge, to lose in such a manner was devastating. Without doubt the substitutions and the change of shape were the turning point, but it’s difficult to see what the alternative was.

The plan was to nurse back Jacob Sorensen slowly after such a long absence, but events forced Thorup into starting him, and his tank was clearly empty before he came off, and it was hardly a surprise that he looked leggy from the start at Hillsborough.

It could be argued that taking Kellen Fisher off so early was an error, but he was on a yellow and almost certainly one mistimed tackle away from a second, and with Gabriel Forsyth struggling with the after-effects of a dreadful challenge in the first half and another game looming on Tuesday evening it’s understandable that Thorup felt the need to use his bench to the full.

However, the reality is that the result was that Cardiff, having struggled to match City, were suddenly emboldened, and crucially, Callum O’Dowda, who Fisher had largely neutralised, suddenly found freedom as he brushed past some ineffectual challenges from Amankwah Forson, who is clearly finding the physicality of Championship football hard to adapt to.

My big concern was the psychological effect of losing in such a fashion, and so it proved on Tuesday night as City were depressingly pedestrian against a Sheffield Wednesday side who had been hammered at home by Watford at the weekend.

City looked like a team whose heart had been ripped out, and it’s difficult to imagine any other Championship team being able to cope without a single one of their first-choice central midfield trio available, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of intensity from the players who were given a chance to stake a claim as regular starters.

Given that the back four is the only area not to have been impacted by the injury crisis, what should be a major concern for Thorup is that Wednesday’s first goal was almost a carbon copy of Preston’s second a couple of weeks ago as a ball from the halfway line took out three City players.

Playing a high line is all well and good, but if players are not covering each other it’s a recipe for disaster, and when the hapless George Long allowed a powderpuff header to squirm under his body the game had pretty much gone, given City’s lack of attacking ammunition.

The drop-off in Callum Doyle’s performance level may be down to fatigue, with the international break unlikely to offer him any respite, but of more concern is Jose Cordoba’s poor decision-making.

Jose Cordoba in action at Hillsborough (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Both at Cardiff and again on Tuesday the Panamanian’s desire to use his body strength to outwrestle an opponent rather than take a simpler option led to goals.

At Cardiff, he ignored two chances to clear the ball upfield before ending up conceding the throw-in which led to O’Dowda’s winner, while at Hillsborough he eschewed a simple pass back to Long and then conceded the free-kick that led to Wednesday’s decisive second.

It feels harsh to be too critical of players who are clearly exhausted but there are lessons that must be learnt by a squad which is still very much in its development phase.

It’s pretty hard to be positive at the moment. However, the injuries will eventually clear and all we can do is to keep the faith during these desperate times.