Football League World
·12 November 2024
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·12 November 2024
According to FLW's Norwich City fan pundit, the Canaries face a big issue in terms of squad depth.
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
Norwich City have been rather inconsistent so far this season.
The Canaries entered a new era over the summer, as promising Danish manager, Johannes Hoff Thorup took charge of the club, following the sacking of former boss, David Wagner.
Thorup is still in the early stages of his managerial career, and has never managed in England before this year, so it may not be too much of a surprise to see Norwich struggling for consistent results.
The Canaries currently sit 14th in the Championship, having won just four of their first 15 league games, while drawing six and losing five.
Throup's side have found themselves in a rough period, as they are now six league games without a win, and have lost their last three.
Things need to change pretty quickly if Norwich are to achieve their pre-season goal of the play-offs. Winger, Borja Sainz, has been exceptional so far this campaign, as he has scored 11 goals and assisted 2 in 15 Championship games, but the Canaries can not solely rely on him for success.
Despite losing some key individuals in the summer, they certainly have the players to compete in the second tier, but they are currently in a bit of a crisis in terms of injuries. However, their squad depth is evidently not up to scratch.
This week, Football League World asked their Norwich City fan pundit, Zeke Downes, to outline the club's biggest issue at present, and this is what was said.
"Other than the obvious injury crisis, I would say the biggest issue is probably the squad depth and the squad not being ready right now. The players that we've brought in are all very young and don't have the experience yet, and they probably weren't expecting to start the games that they are at the moment."
"Due to the injuries, they've had to be forced in, like Schwartau, Forson and even Crnac, but he cost a lot of money, so that might be a different situation."
"I would say depth is an issue, because we've lost our whole midfield and it's a massive drop-off to the next lot of midfielders that we have, so we definitely need to get our midfielders back ASAP."
Although it is only November, the January transfer window will come around quicker than expected, and this may be seen as a positive from a Norwich perspective.
Their current squad clearly needs to be strengthened, especially if they continue to suffer with injuries. Marcelino Nunez, Onel Hernandez, Liam Gibbs, Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent are just some of the players on the long injury list at Carrow Road, so Thorup will be praying that this list decreases pretty quickly.
Two positions that the club must focus on in January are the striker and the central midfield positions, if these injuries persist. Oscar Schwartau, Ante Crnac and Emiliano Marcondes have all played up front in the last three games, despite not being traditional strikers, so this is something that must be addressed.
In terms of the central midfield position, Norwich have been linked with Hungarian midfielder, Tamas Nikitscher, recently, but although he may be a decent signing, the Canaries need some Championship experience in their squad.
As Zeke mentions, young and inexperienced players have to play due to their injury crisis and poor squad depth, so the club must use January wisely.