Norwich City

After that 3-0 win at Stoke on Saturday, Joe Dean and Chris Reeve reflect on the chances of Norwich making the Championship's play-offs.

"Smashing Stoke is a good sign - that was a proper banana-skin fixture. They are down the bottom end of the table and our away form hasn't been great," said Reeve.

"We absolutely pummeled the Potters, an absolutely top display," he added.

There was also praise for David Wagner!

You can listen to the latest episode here.

Image source, Getty Images

International Canaries: And then there were three

With confirmation that Grant Hanley is out of the Scotland squad, it means Kenny McLean, Angus Gunn and Marcelino Núñez are the only current first team Norwich players away on International duty this month.

McLean and Gunn are with Scotland who continue their preparations for Euro 2024 with friendlies against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Núñez will join Chile who take on Albania and France in international friendlies.

The Scrimmage Podcast

The latest episode of the Norwich City fanzine show the Scrimmage is available now.

Joe Dean and Chris Reeve discuss the Canaries' 3-0 win at Stoke and how the away from has picked up.

To be honest, they're getting a little giddy about the prospect of a trip to Wembley in the play-offs.

You can download the latest episode here.

Image source, Rex Features

On this day - 18th March 2023 - Stoke 0-0 Norwich

While Norwich fans are still celebrating a 3-0 win at Stoke on Saturday, the story was rather different a year ago.

Almost exactly a year ago to the day, the Canaries held on for a nil-nil draw at the Potteries.

Angus Gunn was the star man that day keeping Norwich in the game.

After 37 games, the Canaries are four points better off this season than they were at this stage in 2023.

'Reevo Reacts' as Norwich 'pummel the Potters'

Scrimmage co-host Chris Reeve gives his first thoughts on the Canaries impressive win at Stoke.

Reevo will join Joe Dean for The Scrimmage on BBC Radio Norfolk from 18.00 GMT on Monday.

You can listen to the show live by clicking here. The podcast will be available shortly after.

Image source, Getty Images

Opinion: Why Norwich City are the Championship’s sharpest shooters

Steve Sanders, NCFC Numbers

With advance apologies to Eminem for any unintended plagiarism, so much of football is about seizing your opportunity and making moments count.

This Norwich City team has been particularly successful at losing themselves in the moment (in a good way…) this season and there are, of course, numbers to back that up. Unfortunately for the data haters, that’s going to mean talking about xG.

By way of quick explanation, xG is used to measure how likely each individual chance is of being scored, and given a number between 0 and 1 to rate its difficulty.

A tap-in might be 0.95. An Alex Tettey volley from 35 yards? You’re looking at 0.01.

Those numbers can then be added together to give a total for each game, and then a total for each season, to measure how good a team is at creating chances.

Still with me? So if you then take the season’s xG total off the number of goals that team has actually scored, you get a figure to show how clinical (or wasteful) they have been over the course of a season, or ‘G-xG’.

All of this is a roundabout way of leading to the point that Norwich City have been the best side in the Championship at taking their chances, with a ‘G-xG’ number of +14.1.

Effectively they have scored 14 more goals than the chances they’ve been presented, due to their clinical finishing.

As for their opponents on Saturday, Stoke City – they are dead last, having scored 10.3 goals less than the chances they’ve been offered.

Even the most strident Stoke fan would struggle to argue they should have got anything from the weekend’s game, but things could have turned out very differently had Ki-Jana Hoever not squandered his early chance by hitting the post.

Contrast that with the Canaries ruthlessly converting their two-on-one opening and Gabriel Sara sweeping home four minutes later.

Last season was a frustratingly different story, with Norwich City 15th in chance conversion (-3.1). Even when they swept to the title in 2020/21 they were wasteful, dominating games but scoring three goals fewer than their xG.

Three potent finishers in the City squad have been the key to this season’s composed display in front of goal – and you’ll get no prizes for guessing them: Josh Sargent, Jonny Rowe and Gabriel Sara. From open play, they are three of the best five finishers in the Championship against the chances they’ve been presented (Rowe 2nd, Sara 4th, Sargent 5th).

Overreliance on individuals has been cited as an issue with Norwich City’s tactics this season, but when you’ve got three players enjoying a season-long purple patch in front of goal, it suddenly starts to make a lot more sense.

Putting all uncertainties about their long-term futures to one side, let’s just keep enjoying these three while we can as the play-off push gathers pace.

Image source, PA Media

Norwich City striker Ashley Barnes was on the scoresheet as the Canaries beat Stoke City 3-0 on Saturday to maintain their push for the Championship play-offs.

Barnes' goal came in the second half and sealed the victory after City had raced into a two-goal first half lead with strikes from Josh Sargent and Gabriel Sara:

"We have to smell blood," Barnes told BBC Radio Norfolk, "When we are on top we create so many good opportunities that we need to kill and be ruthless in front of goal.

"Luckily enough, we're doing that and we even had more chances to get that third or fouth goal, but it's one of them things."

He continued: "Look, we came here to do a job and get the three points and that was the main thing. We started off fantastic, we will obviously go back and look at it when we are in next week. The way we finished the first half and started the second half was very, very slow. It was just dropping off the pace that we started with, the intensity.

"It's one of those things we have to have a look back on and work on because that can't happen in games, but it's always nice to have something to work on when you're winning."

You can hear a full interview with Ashley Barnes here.

Image source, PA Media

David Wagner was absent from Norwich City's build-up to Saturday's win against Stoke City. He had to travel back to Germany for a personal family matter.

Wagner explained the situation on BBC Radio Norfolk:

"Credit to them (coaching staff), and the players. Obviously, I wasn't in for the last couple of days but I set everything up, every single session, every single meeting as well."

Wagner continued: "My wife got a surgery and will be in hospital for another couple of days, but she is fine. Everything went well and obviously I wanted to be with her and support her in this moment."

You can hear David Wagner speaking to Chris Goreham in full here.

Image source, Getty Images

Norwich City striker Josh Sargent has withdrawn from the United States’ international squad.

USA have a CONCACAF Nations League semi-final against Jamiaca on 21 March in Arlington, Texas.

24-year-old Sargent was substituted off during the Canaries' 3-0 win at Stoke on Saturday. After the game, head coach David Wagner hinted that he would like to keep his joint-top scorer in Norfolk to continue his measured return from a long-term ankle injury.

Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk that the striker had suffered a “knock and twist” to his ankle.

Norwich will hope Sargent is fit to play in the team’s next fixture, which is against Plymouth Argyle at Carrow Road in the Championship on Friday 29 March.

Image source, PA Media

Norwich City strengthened their position in the Championship play-off places with a 3-0 win at Stoke City on Saturday.

The Canaries are sixth in the table and three points clear of Hull, but the Tigers do have a game in hand.

What did you think of the win in the Potteries?

Who was your stand-out player?

Does this victory ease worries about City's indifferent away form this season?

Get in touch with your views here. All opinions welcome.

Here's the answer to our regular pre-match quiz.

We wanted to know the three missing players from this picture who played in a previous game against Stoke City.

The answers:

Jacob Sorensen

Josh Martin

Alex Tettey

Well done if you got it right.

Darel Russell's thoughts on Stoke City 0-3 Norwich City

Former Norwich and Stoke midfielder Darel Russell was BBC Radio Norfolk's guest summariser for the Canaries' win at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.

Here are some of his full-time thoughts:

"With their league positions, it's a game you'd expect Norwich to go and get the result from and also they needed it - in terms of their journey to promotion to the Premier League.

"It's exactly how it should have gone on paper, but they've done it in a good fashion, especially in the first half. Some of the moments they've created to open up Stoke were fantastic."

Russell continued: "They (Norwich) created great opportunities, a true scoreline at half-time probably would have been 4-1. (Norwich) probably looked a bit more sporadic in the second half but Stoke adjusted their formation to cause a few more challenges.

"Three nil, massive, great clean sheet and the fans there in the corner are enjoying every moment on a cold, windy Stoke day."

You can listen to more of Darel Russell's views on BBC Radio Norfolk's Canary Call with Rob Butler here.

Here's some interesting stats ahead of Norwich's trip to the bet365 Stadium on Saturday (15.00 GMT).

All provided by OPTA, as usual:

• After winning five straight home league games against Norwich City between August 2005 and April 2013, Stoke City have since won just one of five such meetings with the Canaries (D2 L2).

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their last six league matches against Stoke City (W4 D2) and could record a league double over the Potters for the second time in the last three attempts having also done so in the 2020-21 campaign.

• Stoke City have won two of their last three home league games (L1), as many as their previous 13 matches at the bet365 Stadium (D4 L7).

• Norwich City have conceded in each of their last 16 away games in the league, last going longer without a clean sheet on the road between August 2011 and October 2012 in the Premier League (24 in a row).

• Gabriel Sara has been directly involved in 20 league goals for Norwich City this season (9 goals, 11 assists) and needs one more goal to become the first Canaries player to reach double figures for both goals and assists in a league campaign since Emi Buendia in 2020-21 (15 goals, 16 assists).

Here is this week's pre-match quiz.

The BBC's Norwich City commentator Chris Goreham has come up with a question based on a previous game for the Canaries against Stoke City:

The picture below shows the starting eleven for Norwich's last win at Stoke in November 2020. Which three players are missing?

Send us your answers here.

Norwich City assistant coach Christoph Buhler has his say on Norwich CIty's next Championsip opponents - Stoke City.

Buhler was speaking to the local media instead of head coach David Wagner who was away dealing with a 'personal family matter.' Wagner is expected to be in the dugout at the bet365 Stadium.

You can listen to full live coverage of Stoke v Norwich with BBC Radio Norfolk on FM, DAB and Freeview from 14:00 GMT on Saturday.

Norwich City assistant coach Christoph Buhler has been speaking to the media ahead of the Canaries' trip to Stoke in the Championship on Saturday.

Here are some of the key points:

• On head coach David Wagner's absence due to a 'personal family issue': "David is doing OK. We've followed our routines in the week, and our preparations have been the same. He will be back with us tomorrow [Saturday] for the game"

• Buhler confirmed that left-back Dimitris Giannoulis will be out until the end of April with a hamstring injury

• Defender Shane Duffy should be back following the upcoming international break

• On the Stoke game: "It'll be a lot tighter. They've found a way to be hard to break down. They're energetic and have quick runners, we will face a team who have to collect points because of their situation"

• Josh Sargent and Grant Hanley have been eased back into action recently following long term injuries, Buhler had this to say about their international calls: "The best case scenario - they both come back with no injuries. Both sides are aware of their conditions"

Opinion: 'A giant game of - Would You Rather?'

Matthew Soakell, North East Canary

I know for a fact that I’m not the only Norwich fan who’s been plotting a potential route to the play-off final. Whether or not that happens doesn’t stop us keeping an eye out for which team is third in the league after every round of fixtures, meaning that - should we finish in sixth place - we’d have two legs against whoever misses out on the automatic places.

Prior to the Canaries’ trip to Stoke, Norwich currently occupy the final play-off spot on goal difference. In third place are that lot down the road, which got me thinking of all sorts of (potentially-never-going-to-happen) hypothetical scenarios. The one I’ve decided to indulge you in is the current state of play…

The table finishes as it is right now; Norwich face Ipswich over two legs in a play-off semi-final. Could your heart take that, given how well they’ve done this season? Love them or loathe them, you can’t deny the fact they’ve had an incredible season thus far. How would we cope over two legs? Whilst our home form is fantastic, our away form leaves a little to be desired. I guess we’ll see what the outcome of 6 April is and then decide how optimistic we are!

But this got me thinking: would you prefer to face Ipswich over two legs - knowing there’s a possibility we lose that unbeaten streak and they get to Wembley instead of us? Or would you rather avoid another East Anglian derby and all of the possible outcomes and us finish 7th and miss out on the excitement and fun of the play-offs, leaving it up to another team to see off Ipswich — should they finish third?

It could all work out pleasantly for Norwich, of course; we beat Ipswich over two legs and get to a second play-off final at the home of English football. We then beat whoever wins the other play-off semi-final and have another glorious day out in north west London. However, before any big day out on the 26th May, I’m intrigued to know what the general consensus amongst us fans is regarding the risk and reward of two further games against Kieran McKenna’s side in May.

Get in touch with your thoughts here.

Image source, Walsall Football Club

Norwich City defender Emmanuel Adegboyega has been named EFL Young Player of the Month for February 2024.

Adegboyega is on loan at League Two Walsall. He scored three goals in February and was part of the side who managed two clean sheets.

He told the EFL website: “I’m absolutely delighted, I was also nominated for Player of the Month and I didn’t get it, but to hear that I got the Young Player of the Month award across the whole of the EFL, I was buzzing.

“It feels a bit scripted, but everything went how I wanted it to go. As a centre-back, scoring three goals – two of which were winners – and keeping clean sheets, it was perfect in a sense."

He continued: "To score on my debut, after coming on at half time, it was a sensational feeling. After the game, I was like, ‘this is not real’.”

Walsall are currently 8th in the table and one place outside the play-off places.

The 20-year-old Irishman joined the Canaries from Drogheda United in August 2023, he was sent out on loan to The Saddlers in January 2023.

Norwich City have announced that head coach David Wagner will not be attending Friday's press conference ahead of the game against Stoke City on Saturday.

The club say he is away dealing with a 'personal family matter'.

It's expected that Wagner will be with the team for Saturday's game at the bet365 Stadium.

Assistant coach Christoph Buhler will speak to the media at 14.45 GMT.

Image source, Getty Images

'McCallum needs a good run of games to give him some confidence'

Norwich are set to be without left-back Dimitris Giannoulis for the next few weeks.

The club haven't confirmed how long he will be out for with a hamstring problem, but he will definitely miss Saturday's trip to Stoke.

He could be replaced by Sam McCallum.

Here are some of your thoughts on the Canaries latest injury issue:

Tulsa - Aside from his initial loan period here this has been, by far, Dimi's best spell at Norwich. He will be a miss but the international break is coming up, so that should hopefully give Dimi ample time to recover. Plus, Sam McCallum is a very useful squad player who has been quite effective when called upon this season and there's always Lungi too!

Shaun - Sam (McCallum) is better going forward. He will score more often and will assist more but will get caught out putting in silly challenges. I don't think Giannoulis has scored in over 100 games!

Stephen - I’m very happy with Sam. Super in the air, puts in great crosses and good defensively.

Simon - Sam McCallum needs a good run of games to give him some confidence.

Mark - Giannoulis won't be missed. Totally overrated.

Nick Mashiter
Senior football news reporter

Stoke have held talks with former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber as they look to replace Ricky Martin.

The Potters are looking for a new technical director after Martin was sacked in February, just 15 months into the role.

Joint-Chairman John Coates has been speaking to a number of candidates, with Webber a contender to take the job at the bet365 Stadium.

Webber is available after leaving Norwich in November, although he has served a 12-month notice period which expires this month.

Stoke are looking for a replacement for Martin despite him helping oversee a recruitment drive last summer with 18 players arriving at the club, including Ki-Jana Hoever on loan from Wolves and Enda Stevens from Sheffield United.

But the Potters have struggled this season with Alex Neil sacked in December and replaced by Steven Schumacher.

The ex-Plymouth boss has won five of his 16 games and Stoke sit 19th in the Championship – three points above the relegation zone - ahead of Saturday’s visit of Norwich.

Webber, Huddersfield’s former head of football operations, oversaw two Championship title-winning campaigns at Carrow Road but two awful seasons in the Premier League saw the Canaries finish bottom.

After handing his notice in last March he was eventually replaced by Ben Knapper, Arsenal’s loan manager, in November.