BBC Sports: Norwich City: Thorup on Schwartau striker call at Leeds.

Oscar Schwartau is Norwich City’s future, but Johannes Hoff Thorup needs the teenager right now to replenish his depleted squad.

The 18-year-old shockingly led the line in a 2-0 Championship defeat at Leeds, with Josh Sargent and Ante Crnac coming off the bench. Schwartau will not turn 19 until May, but he is emerging as the leader of the pack, along with fellow teenagers Lucien Mahovo and Elliot Myles, as well as 20-year-old Brad Hills, who were all on the pitch by the conclusion of the Elland Road defeat. “We still have to be careful with those young players, because we probably play some a little bit too much, and we have to be careful not putting pressure on their shoulders, because they’re not ready for it,” stated the Danish captain. “But at the moment, we have to play who’s available, and Oscar is available, and he’s working hard, and I fully trust him to be able to do the job in there.

“But it’s also fair to argue that it’s not because of his age, but because of his experience in this league, and that he and some of the others need the remaining 10 or 15 percent to compete with a top team like Leeds. “We knew Josh couldn’t start, Ante couldn’t start, and there would definitely be some space around their fullbacks. So we asked Onel (Hernandez) to see if he could make something out of it. We came close to doing that. “The full back received an early booking, which could have resulted in better situations for us.” And then there’s the defensive strategy, where Oscar is a hard working player and he covered a lot of ground. He’s not a selfish player in that matter.

“He just keeps running and is willing to do anything for the squad. So it was about getting us compact as a squad and not giving them too much room because we know they’re capable.” Sargent replaced Schwartau just before the hour mark, his second appearance in the league after groin surgery sidelined him for months. “it’s not ideal for us that we have to give him this load in games, because we cannot control it,” explained Thorup. “The exact quantity of running, sprints, and other activities, so we still need to use caution.”We would have loved to give him more load and intensity in training so that we could 100% manage how much he was doing. That’s why we don’t start him or put him on in the second half because we can’t afford to lose him, and Ante isn’t a starter since he ran out of energy. “We knew we had to find other options up front, and Josh will hopefully soon be a part of that as a starter.”

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