Barnsley v Norwich Preview
Posted on | September 26, 2008 | No Comments
With Barnsley rooted to the foot of the table, this will be a game that Norwich will feel they should take something from. Barnsley’s home form was terrific last season yet after two defeats already at Oakwell, Glenn Roeder’s Canaries must feel as though this is a fixture that they can get three points out of.
A lot of people thought that should Barnsley have lost last Saturday, Simon Davey could have faced the axe. Some bookmakers placed him as favorite to be the next manager sacked yet after a point at St Mary’s, he’s lived to fight another week. Consider The Tykes’ dismal away form last season many will feel as though it’s a good point and just maybe, they can move on from the mess they find themselves in. Davey took huge risks in that game by throwing in Heinz Muller and Anderson de Silva – two players who have missed the last six months or so with cruciate knee ligament injuries. However, both are massive players for The Reds and as statistics from last season showed, their form went alarmingly downhill when these two were unavailable. With Davey having near on a fully fit squad to choose form, maybe the tide will turn for The Tykes and they can move away from the relegation zone through the next few weeks.
As for Norwich, their form has improved over the last couple of weeks and they now find themselves sat in 11th position. A draw against Birmingham at the end of August seemed to give The Canaries something of a boost and since then they’ve managed wins over Plymouth and Sheffield United. With manager Glenn Roeder bringing in no less than thirteen players through the summer it was always going to be a difficult start but after notching a few results together, the Carrow Road faithful will be hoping that the initial teething problems are now over and Roeder’s team have finally gelled.
In terms of team news, Simon Davey’s squad looks a lot healthier than it was a few weeks ago. Anderson de Silva and Heinz Muller are both expected to keep their places after featuring for the first time in months last weekend, while there are no other fresh concerns. Strikers Maceo Rigters and Michael Coulson are the only two who are unavailable, although Rigters should be fit for next week. As for Norwich, Glenn Roeder should have Arturo Lupoli, Matty Pattison and Dejan Stefanovic available after injury concerns at the start of the week, while David Bell might be named as a substitute after recovering from an ankle injury. However, midfielder Sammy Clingan definitely won’t play, with the summer buy out injured for at least a month.
Having recorded a last minute win over Sheffield United last weekend, Norwich will be coming into this game full of confidence and should probably be classed as favorites. Barnsley on the other hand haven’t been playing well and even though the draw at Southampton will have given slight encouragement to supporters, they don’t seem to score many goals so you can’t imagine them winning this one. We’ll go for a 1-1 draw, which wouldn’t really do either side any favors.
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