Fixtures not fit for purpose says Smith
NORWICH manager Dean Smith has hit out at the fixture list which could cause major problems to his team’s chances of staying up.
Injury-hit Norwich face new Carabao Cup winners Liverpool at Anfield tonight in their FA Cup fifth-round tie kicking off at 8.15pm – and then meet Brentford on Saturday.
Smith’s team will only get back to East Anglia tomorrow, leaving them precious little time to prepare for a relegation encounter. Even worse, if the Canaries win, and more likely if Chelsea win at Luton tonight, Norwich’s league game against the Champions League holders will be brought forward to next Thursday night March 10 – just 48 hours before another relegation clash against Leeds at Elland Road.
Smith said: “It’s not ideal at all, and heaven knows what time the game finishes if it goes to extra-time and penalties. It’s a late one.We won’t be travelling back until Thursday, so obviously there will not be a lot of time to work on the Brentford game.
“It’s two big games against teams who are around us, Brentford and Leeds.Why the Chelsea game can’t be on the Tuesday or Wednesday, heaven knows. It gives us very little time to prepare for Leeds.
“The Premier League fixture makers are the only ones who know why. I know they are Champions League nights, but there has been a precedent when there was a Champions League night and Premier League game played. We just have to get on with it. It’s not ideal.
“Fans certainly have not been put at the centre of these decisions and the football team have neither.We want to win, but we have to balance our team.”
Norwich will be without suspended skipper Grant Hanley, and Max Aarons and Brandon Williams are also out.