Norwich City

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said he was unhappy with the way his side played, particularly in the second half of their 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I am not satisfied with the second half. One thing is the goal, we conceded after a set piece, that can happen, but I'm not happy with the 20 minutes after that when we were not solid enough, not consistent enough, too hectic and take silly decisions."

The Norwich boss also criticised Jose Cordoba for getting sent off for a second yellow card in the 70th minute.

"Jose needs to be more clever in that moment," Thorup said.

"It's a big factor of the game because it's not bad for us to be 1-1 after 65 minutes, that's an ok result in a difficult place to go. We were threatening on the counter. That was not good enough and of course changed the game for us and for them.

"The red card changes a lot, we had to make changes and change the formation and system and everything becomes more open.

"You have to stay away from that challenge, you cannot give the ref the option (to send you off). We could all see he was just waiting for that moment.

"You have to be more experienced and professional than that so you don't give him the option. Unfortunately it changed the game too much for us."

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City have extended the contract of midfielder Gabriel Forsyth until 2028 with an option for an additional year.

The 18-year-old joined the Canaries under-21s from Scottish Championship side Hamilton Academical in 2023 and made his senior debut at the beginning of this Championship season against Oxford United.

Glasgow-born Forsyth made seven appearances for Norwich before suffering a knee injury during their game against Cardiff in November that has kept him on the sidelines.

"It's an amazing feeling," Forsyth told the Canaries website., external

"The direction the club is going and the opportunities that I've been given, it's something I want to be a part of."

Sunderland are aiming to maintain the pace in the race for promotion as they host Norwich on Saturday.

The Black Cats are seeking to make it 11 home games unbeaten this season while the Canaries are winless in seven league games since September.

• Sunderland have lost just two of their past seven league games against Norwich City (W4 D1), though one of those defeats came in their last such meeting against the Canaries back in March (1-0)

• Norwich City have lost just one of their past six away league games against Sunderland (W2 D3), despite only scoring more than one goal in just one of those matches

• Sunderland are the only side in the Championship so far this season yet to concede a goal from a corner

• Norwich's 21 games in the Championship this season have seen 3.24 goals scored on average – the highest tally in the competition

• This season in the Championship, Norwich hold the best shot conversion rate of any side in the competition (15.3%); a tally substantially ahead of second-ranked Watford (11.9%)

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup says the club's handling of goalkeeper Angus Gunn's FA charge for misconduct will depend on the evidence against the 28-year-old.

The FA claim Gunn "allegedly acted in an improper manner around the tunnel area at half-time" during the Canaries' Championship loss to QPR earlier this month.

"The most important for us is that we try to get an answer a couple of hours before kick-off," Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"They have the rights to dig into bad behaviour and if they feel it's bad behaviour, we have to look into it and see if we accept that or not. It comes down to the evidence."

Norwich have until Thursday, 19 December, to respond to the charge.

If found guilty, Gunn could face a ban which would make him the second player to receive a suspension from the same game, after Canaries captain Kenny McLean was handed a four-match ban for violent conduct.

Despite McLean's denial of the charges, the club did accept the decision to ban the midfielder, but Thorup feels that case was mishandled by the FA.

"We were not satisfied - especially with the treatment of us and Kenny in that particular situation - because we felt it was a decision being made too late," Thorup added.

"On the other hand, we have to accept that we are a football club playing in a league with rules we have to follow. If there's a case, there's a case."

Phil Daley
Radio Norfolk sports editor

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich City are back on the road this weekend when they make the long trip to Sunderland in the Championship on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup spoke to the media on Wednesday - here are some of the key points from his news conference.

• Goalkeeper Angus Gunn could face a suspension following a charge of misconduct during the QPR defeat earlier this month. The club are preparing a response to the charge.

• Jacob Sorensen likely to be back after a minor injury - he'll be tested fully before the weekend.

• "Fine margins" made the difference in the defeat to Burnley on Sunday.

• On the January transfer window, Thorup says any home-grown targets will need to be younger players, because that's where the value is.

• Sunderland are the "best transition team in the league", according to Thorup.

You can listen to commentary of Sunderland versus Norwich City with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Saturday from 14:00 GMT on Saturday.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich midfielder Emiliano Marcondes admits his late opportunity to salvage a point in their 2-1 defeat by Burnley at Carrow Road will play on his mind.

The 29-year-old fired wide in stoppage time after the Canaries had squandered an early lead and fallen behind to goals by Zian Flemming and Josh Brownhill.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep because of that one," Marcondes told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"I tried to hit it harder at goal and when I hit it, I thought it was going in. But it was centimetres not going our way at both ends.

"We're not machines so obviously I'll think about it and also a lot of situations in the game - that's how it is. I'll analyse it a lot but I know I'll get over it."

Norwich remain 12th in the table after their defeat by the Clarets, having taken just one point from their last three games.

"We are devastated because for long spells of the game we frustrated them," Marcondes added.

"We should have been 2-0 up. In the second half we had a big chance on a corner and then they come back into the game out of nothing – from a very good goal, of course."

Norwich City will be seeking to get back on track as they welcome Burnley to Carrow Road on Sunday afternoon.

The Canaries sit 10th and have won just two of their past 11 in the Championship to fall off the pace in the play-off race.

The third-placed Clarets are unbeaten in seven but three draws in that run has seem them lose ground on leading duo Sheffield United and Leeds.

• Norwich have won just one of their past 10 league games against Burnley (D3 L6), failing to score in five of their past six matches against the Clarets.

• Burnley have won two of their past three away league games against Norwich (L1), as many as in their previous 16 visits (D3 L11).

• Norwich have already won 12 league games at Carrow Road in 2024, last winning more in a year in 2018 (13). They've scored at least three goals in five of their past seven league matches on home soil.

• Burnley are unbeaten in their past three away league games (W2 D1) and could equal a club record of four successive clean sheets in the league on the road, previously doing so in October 1980.

• Burnley have only conceded four goals in 10 away league games this season, becoming only the second side in Championship history (since 2004-05) to concede fewer than five goals in their first 10 away games of a season; the other was Reading in 2005-06 (three conceded).

Rob Butler
BBC Radio Norfolk

Norwich City will look to bounce back from a disappointing defeat at Queens Park Rangers when they visit Portsmouth in the Championship on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup spoke to the media on Monday before the game, and here are some of the key points from his news conference:

• On the loss at QPR: "I asked for thoughts from players rather than just me talking. I think the feeling is that we are a good football team. We need to earn our right to play the way we want to."

• Thorup continued: "We are still a team and a squad in the making, we do not expect to be perfect. I believe so much in the strategy we have and we keep on building."

• The head coach said Kellen Fisher playing at left-back at QPR "didn't work" but went on to mention the game at West Brom in which, in his opinion, Fisher had a good game in that position.

You can listen to commentary of Portsmouth versus Norwich City with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Tuesday from 19:00 GMT on Tuesday.

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Portsmouth's 3-0 win over Bristol City on Saturday was their biggest victory of the season and has them unbeaten in their past three Championship matches.

Even a point at Fratton Park on Tuesday night could be enough to lift Pompey out of the relegation zone.

Norwich's 3-0 reverse at QPR on Saturday ended a two-game winning streak and they are now six points short of the play-off places.

The Canaries have also failed to win any of their past six away games in the Championship.

• Portsmouth have lost just one of their past five league games against Norwich City (W2 D2), though did lose their last such match against the Canaries in May 2011 (1-0).

• After their 1-0 win in May 2011, Norwich are looking for successive league away wins at Portsmouth for the first time since October 1970.

• Norwich have only lost one of their past seven league meetings with newly promoted sides (W4 D2), although that was this season away at Oxford United (0-2).

• Portsmouth have lost all three of their midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games this season; not since February 2013 have they lost more in a row (7). However, Pompey are unbeaten in 17 such matches at home (W12 D5) since a 4-0 defeat by Ipswich in October 2021.

• Norwich are winless in 12 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) away league outings (D5 L7) since a 2-1 win at Birmingham City in August 2022.

Image source, Getty Images

Boss Johannes Hoff Thorup told his Norwich players that every one of them was a candidate for substitution when they trailed 2-0 at half-time during their game at Queens Park Rangers.

Midfielder Kenny McLean revealed the head coach's scathing indictment and gave his own damning assessment of their performance as the Canaries lost 3-0 and have now gone six away games without a win.

"It's up there with the worst we've had this season," the Scotland international told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"It's so disappointing because we can play all the nice football we want at Carrow Road but when we come away and are under a bit of pressure we don't handle it well enough.

"He said at half-time that anybody could have come off and he was spot on - he could have made as many subs as he wanted and nobody could have said a word, and that's a poor situation to be in, when no-one is doing their job well enough."

Image source, PressBox Graphics

The Championship's lowest scorers - QPR, with 15 goals from 18 matches - take on the highest in the shape of Norwich City, who have found the net almost twice per game on average so far.

Rangers are yet to win at home this season, but could climb out of the bottom three if they end that sequence.

They go into the game unbeaten in three matches after following up their 2-0 victory at Cardiff with a creditable scoreless draw away to Watford last weekend.

The ninth-placed Canaries, who walloped Plymouth 6-1 before hitting another four goals in their home win against Luton last weekend, are looking to narrow the gap to the top six which currently stands at five points.

● QPR have failed to win any of their last eight league games against Norwich City (D4 L4), scoring more than one goal in just one of those matches.

● Norwich City are unbeaten across their last four away league games against QPR (W2 D2), while losing on just two of their last 10 such trips (W4 D4).

● QPR are unbeaten in their last three league games (W1 D2) and could keep three successive clean sheets for the first time since December 2023.

● Norwich are looking to win three successive league games for the first time since March last season, while the Canaries have scored 3+ goals in six of their last 13 league games, including each of their last two.

● Since the start of November, only Ben Doak (5) has more Championship assists than Norwich's Jack Stacey (4), assisting in each of his last three league games. Indeed, since the start of last season, he's one of only four defenders with more than 10 assists in the competition (11).

Image source, BBC Sport

Phil Daley
BBC Radio Norfolk

Image source, Getty Images

Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup has been speaking to the media before the Canaries' Championship game against QPR on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Here are some of the key points from Thursday's news conference:

• Defender Jose Cordoba is back in contention after missing the past three games with a knee injury. He missed wins against Luton and Plymouth.

• Several players and staff have had to isolate during the week because of a virus causing disruption to the team's preparations.

• Liam Gibbs will be out for 8-10 weeks after surgery this week.

• Talks are going on behind the scenes with those senior players who are out of contract in the summer.

You can listen to full live commentary on QPR v Norwich on BBC Radio Norfolk via FM and DAB. Coverage begins at 14:00 on Saturday.