No Tim Krul, no Teemu Pukki, no Emi Buendia – but no excuses for Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke against Coventry City.
Farke admitted himself on Friday he must plan for the latest Championship assignment without a recognised striker, left back and now the best keeper and attacking midfielder in the league.
Krul & Pukki out. | Daniel Farke press conference ahead of C (1)
Krul is ruled out for three weeks with the thigh injury suffered in the midweek 3-2 win at Stoke, a game that also saw Buendia sent off.
Pukki is also expect to miss these next two league games with a hamstring strain, joining Jordan Hugill and Adam Idah in a well populated medical room.
“If I start to cry that doesn’t help,” said Farke. “If this job was easy everyone would do it. You can’t feel too sorry for yourself. But it is tricky.
"We don’t have the best keeper in the league, no proven striker, the best creative player, no left back and on the wings a guy playing his first season in England and another who only made his full debut in midweek.
"It is fair to say the expectations cannot be too high this weekend.
“We have to try and grind our results at the moment. That is the topic. If we get to May no-one will ask how difficult was this situation in November.
"It will be how many points we took?
"We know some players will not be playing in their favoured position and we have to find some creative solutions. But even one poor result would mean we are still in a good position. We don’t accept this, of course, but it is true.”
Krul and Pukki are huge losses at either end of the pitch.
“It is bad news for us to be without the best keeper in the league for these games,” said the City boss. “However, you could argue the way he went off we were concerned it could be a longer term injury.
"Our physios and doctors feel Tim can return to team training at that point, maybe plus or minus a few days.
“Teemu will probably also miss the midweek game at Luton. Maybe a little chance. It is a minor muscle strain. We tried to rest him for Middlesbrough and then he played 70 minutes at Stoke.
"He is the best in the division. For our game he is unbelievable. It was no coincidence he was the player of the season and won the golden boot at his level before.
"There are different types of player and maybe he would not have this effect for some other teams but for me the best.”
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