Daniel Farke fears Norwich City keeper Tim Krul is likely to be out ‘for weeks’ after his thigh injury in Tuesday night’s dramatic 3-2 Championship win at Stoke City.
'Punishing Schedule' | Daniel Farke Reaction | Stoke City 2- (5)
Krul pulled up sharply after a clearance and was replaced by Michael McGovern in an epic contest that also saw Emi Buendia dismissed.
Teemu Pukki’s brace after Buendia opened the scoring put the leaders in total command but Stoke hit back through Tyrese Campbell and Nathan Collins.
Krul the stadium with his left thigh heavily strapped and Farke is already planning without him for Coventry City’s weekend visit.
“It seems like a muscle injury. I don’t expect him to be ready to go again in three days,” said Farke.
“I expect him to be out for a few weeks. That is the punishing schedule we have with many games. It is not good news. We have to assess him. We already had many injuries before this game.
"Now we also have Tim and Marco Stiepermann had to leave the field with possible concussion. He couldn’t play further on. Teemu was also moaning about some hamstring problems so we had to get him off. Emi Buendia is suspended for this weekend as well. You can see how we finished this game. We had Przemyslaw Placheta as a striker and Mario Vrancic and Jacob Sorensen in the wide areas. So tricky but we found a way again to win against a side who could have over-taken us in the table. The fighting spirit and mentality was great.”
Farke revealed Buendia swiftly apologised for his two yellow cards in five second half minutes that put his side under extreme pressure.
“We have to accept his emotions got the better of him. He is sometimes a bit naive. I thought he was the player of the match until that point,” said Farke.
“To score and then the assist for Teemu but also his workload and his counter-pressing. For me by far the best player on the pitch. Then he was involved in a 50/50 tackle, and the referee decided to give a foul against him and a yellow card.
"He should accept this and then calm down a little bit and be more careful in the next duels. He was greedy to win the ball back and he had his foot too high and didn’t realise the opponent was coming. Of course you give the referee a decision to make then. It was naive.
“He has already apologised to the group in the dressing room that he made our lives difficult. It is part of his development. He is a young player. There was no bad intention. He was punished by not finishing this game and missing the next one. That is enough. Unlucky for him and us because he was in red hot form.”
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