Norwich City v Stoke City: Johannes Hoff Thorup preview

It might be a cliché to say that every game is tough in the Championship, but it’s one that Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup believes is true.

The Canaries face Stoke this afternoon looking for their first win in four games, and they go into it as favourites. The mid-table side retain a strong home record ahead of the Carrow Road fixture, with Mark Robins’ outfit down in 19th.

But the failure to claim a single victory from meetings with Derby, Preston and Hull has reminded City that nothing’s straightforward in the Championship, and it certainly won’t be when the Potters come to town.

games, and they go into it as favourites. The mid-table side retain a strong home record ahead of the Carrow Road fixture, with Mark Robins’ outfit down in 19th.

“It’s a big part of this league that there are no easy games, whether you are at home or away,” Thorup said at his pre-match press conference. “There’s always a different narrative for every team, whether they are fighting for promotion or the play-offs or avoiding relegation.

“There’s always something that will trigger a good performance or a hard fight. We know that, and we know again that, like in all the other games, we have to be as close to our maximum in everything we do to get a good result.”

Although bottom-half Stoke are often associated with a more rudimentary style of play, manager and ex-Norwich striker Robins has displayed an ability to mix things up throughout his career.

Thorup is wary of the various tactics Robins could deploy, and is asking his players to perfect their balancing act and extract three points in the push for play-off qualification.

“They are in a position in the league where they have to fight for every point that they can get, and I think that will be the game plan for them as well,” he continued of the visitors. “They can still do some good stuff on the ball and play out from the back, so if we are not good enough in our high pressing, they have the qualities to do that.

“Of course it’s a hard-working team out of possession. They can step up and put us under pressure in the early phases, but also when they defend low they are compact. They can be quite difficult to break down, so we need to be fluent, rotate well and have high technical quality.”

One of the players City will need to be at his best is centre-back Jose Cordoba, who is set to spring into action for his first league start in two months. Callum Doyle’s suspension has opened the door for him to do that, and his boss is confident that he’ll walk straight through it.

“He started well for us this season when he was fit and he was in the team,” added the 36-year-old of Cordoba. “Then he struggled probably from November to where we are now with some small injuries. Not anything too severe, but he picked up some knocks in games and was out for a game and then back again, out again and back again.

“Then we got him an alarm clock for the morning as well so that he can make sure he attends the meetings that he’s supposed to attend! That’s also a way to drop out of a squad, so I think there have been many things, and only one of the situations he could control.

“Of course when you then have two other centre-backs who are fit every week, it takes a lot to change that. So now it’s a good opportunity. But I’ve let him know that he should just take it as a game.

“He shouldn’t play it as an opportunity, he should play it as another game where he has to deliver a good performance. He shouldn’t think too much about what he has to do to keep playing. We trust him 100pc, because he’s a good player.”

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Norwich City v Stoke City: Johannes Hoff Thorup preview

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