"My biggest concern" - Norwich City issue raised involving Josh Sargent | OneFootball

FLW's Norwich fan pundit feels that the reliance on Josh Sargent isn't sustainable over the course of a long season

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's Josh Sargent is, to many, the best striker in the Championship.

However, so far this season, the Sargent show has yet to have any real supporting characters.

The American has scored in each of his opening five games in all competitions this season, which has included five in four Championship outings. Those five goals represent 83% of the Canaries' scoring output in the first month of the campaign.

The only other person to score this season in the Championship for Norwich has been centre-back Harry Darling, and the other goalscorer in their 2-1 win over Watford in the EFL Cup was Marcelino Nunez, who has since made the controversial switch to bitter rivals Ipswich Town.

Whilst Sargent has been immense so far this term, there are slight concerns that there isn't enough creativity across the entire squad during the infancy of the season.

Zeke Downes, FLW's Norwich fan pundit, expressed those worries, but he does believe that those who need to step up throughout the course of this season will eventually do so.

Norwich City fan pundit assesses lack of creativity in the current squad amid Josh Sargent concern

Speaking to Football League World, Downes highlighted the lack of goals and assists outside their star striker through the first month of the campaign, and admits that there has been a big reliance on Sargent to provide for the team so far.

"At the moment, my biggest concern is not having enough creativity, enough goals and assists in the squad and having to rely on Sargent at the moment," he said.

"We have a lot of new players who need to bed in, and a lot of them are quite young too, the likes of Mathias Kvistgaarden, Amankwah Forson, who is currently injured, and Ante Crnac, who needs to step up this season.

"There's also Papa Diallo, Oscar Schwartau and Emiliano Marcondes, so there are plenty of players there who are capable of having more of an impact, scoring goals and creating assists."

Downes feels that it's only a matter of time before those players begin to click under new boss Liam Manning, and Norwich will benefit from it massively.

He does stress that it is incredibly important that they do. Whilst Sargent's impressive start is great to see, he can't be relied on to score 83% of the team's goals for a long period of time.

Downed addedL "I think it will [click], but it will be a matter of time, and we might have to rely on Sargent a little more, but I think long-term, we need more people to contribute in terms of goals and assists."

Josh Sargent's recent injury history demands that players be able to step up if needed at Norwich City

Sargent has been a real force in front of goal during the opening stages of the campaign, and if he can stay fit and play 40+ Championship games, there's no doubt that he'll be that 20-goal striker that every team yearns for.

However, there's no hiding from his recent injury history. An ankle issue took him out of 20 league games during the 2023/24 campaign, and he missed 14 games last season due to a groin injury.

If the American's bad luck with injuries continues into this season, and Sargent misses out on close to 15 games once more, then Norwich desperately needs someone to step up and take on the scoring load.

Ideally, someone would be able to do just that even if the 25-year-old stays fit for a whole season, as having multiple attacking weapons in the arsenal will make for an even more dangerous outfit, and one which could challenge for a play-off spot under Liam Manning.