Head to head 11 wins each 9 draws After the horrendous collapse against low flying Sheffield Wednesday we have put more pressure on ourselves with Preston right up our arse . This is a 6 pointer. Team news Sargent doubtful Gibbs went off injured so could miss the squad but Rowe could be back 4 games left win 3 & we will probably finish 6th . OTBCNMTD More content to follow
Wagner may be forced to play Van Hooijdonk it's a shame he hasn't had more first team minutes since signing. Hopefully it's just a minor knock . On the plus side Rowe could be back
https://www.not606.com/threads/norwich-city-deepdale-13-4-2024.412208/ Bring a coat not stopped raining for weeks
I think I’ve seen Sargent is a doubt and Rowe won’t be ready for this one but should hopefully be back for the Bristol City game. This is the problem with Sarge now being a doubt, because DW hasn’t given minutes to Aboh or SVH they now have to come into the team relatively cold and likely not match fit and basically unknown quantities
From the Pinkun: "Josh Sargent is a doubt for Norwich City’s crunch Championship clash against play-off chasing rivals at Preston North End. The American international was replaced on the hour mark of their midweek 2-2 draw against struggling Sheffield Wednesday due to quad tightness. David Wagner revealed at his pre-match press conference that City’s top scorer has been unable to train in the lead-up to this encounter, with the German adopting a policy of not selecting players who fail to complete a session 24 hours before matchday. Sargent now faces a race against the clock to prove his fitness ahead of this weekend, with Norwich knowing that a victory would create an eight-point gap with Preston ahead of their final three Championship matches. “Josh went off after 60 minutes with some quad tightness. He is a doubt because he was not able to train today".
Lose this one and we will struggle to get 6th spot unless other 6th place contenders stumble. Away form has been poor.
Your end of season schedule is really cruel but the saints and the baggies may not have much to play for by the time you play them.
Team news is not good: "The head coach also confirmed that Liam Gibbs had picked up a serious quad injury in City's midweek game against Sheffield Wednesday and that "he will be out for the rest of the season. He will see a specialist in London this week to see if he needs surgery." On Sargent's substitution during the game against Sheffield Wednesday, Wagner said: "Josh came off after 60 minutes with some quad tightness, so he is a doubt for Saturday as he was not able to train today. "Everyone else looks fine, Jonny Rowe we have to assess day to day. There is a big chance he is involved next week against Bristol at home. He made his first steps this week in team training. Batth has done great to support and back us, Duffy looks fresh again and is ready for Saturday. Lungi is not back in team training, so will not be available." https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/team-news-late-call-on-sargent-for-saturday
I said about Sargent and his fitness when everyone was (understandably) disappointed at the 2-2 draw. We have been managing him all the time since he has come back from his injury. It has been the same at other times when Wagner has been criticised through the season. Our players have been needing to come off, but because Wagner isn't liked by the fans these decisions are magnified. This is not me saying that he makes all the right decisions, he is human.
Yes you did Zog. Credit where it's due. If DW can get us to the playoffs with an almost fully fit team when we get there, he will have done a great job with this group.
My comments were not about Sargent coming off, I understand the need to keep him as fit as possible. The problem I had is that DW didn’t bring in one of the 2 strikers we had on the bench leaving Barnes in his own up front, which we have seen countless times this season is completely ineffective. We were left with no outball and no threat up top. The second problem with that is for the games following where, as has now happened, Sargent is a doubt and you want to bring in an SVH or Aboh but they are not match fit because they haven’t been given any minutes over the last month. He has been playing Sargent for 90mins each game despite him not being able to train fully, so he also responsible if he is injured.
Sargent's had to come off because his quad was tightening and could have gone completely. This was unrelated to the previous ankle injury and Sargent was back in full training. He was replaced by Gibbs when we were leading 2-0 and well on top. Gibbs then suffered a severe quad injury two minutes later and had to come off. That injury has put him out for the season. We still had Barnes up front with Sara behind him and Sainz and Fassnacht on the flanks all carrying a significant amount of threat up top. Which of those would you take off to bring on van Hooijdonk or Aboh? Either would have weakened our ability to defend the lead but could perhaps have contributed to the attack, but there was no guarantee of that. At 2-0, Wagner obviously thought our chances of staying in front or even increasing our lead were good. Wednesday were playing better in the second half but offering little threat. Two excellent corners taken by the substitute Vaulks changed all that after others had failed on their previous 8 corners, producing an improbable draw out of the blue. It says everything that Vaulks, a sub, ended as their MotM. Hindsight is very easy, but making key decisions under huge pressure is something very different.
I thought I’d been clear, Barnes is who I would have subbed off, he works well in a partnership with Sargent but he can’t play up top on his own, that has been proven over the course of this season. I don’t know if SVH or Aboh would have been any better or worse but I think it would have given us a different option and at the very least given some minutes to 2 players we may need over coming weeks
Fair point Suffolk. It is the defensive side of van Hooijdonk and Aboh that I was concerned about. Barnes has an excellent all round game.
