Kenny McLean's three-game suspension adds to Norwich City's midfield conundrum - so where could Johannes Hoff Thorup turn to cover the Scot's absence?
City's captain was dismissed for a rash tackle on Hayden Hackney in the 87th minute of Sunday's 3-3 draw against Middlesbrough, with the Canaries electing not to appeal the ban upon reviewing the footage.
Ahead of a busy week that includes trips to Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday before Bristol City arrive at Carrow Road ahead of the international break, we've looked at four potential solutions to McLean's absence.
Closest like-for-like switch
Norwich's issue has been that, beyond McLean, there are few options to occupy that deeper position that offer the same skillset as the Scottish international.
McLean has helped City establish a control of matches from the centre and will be a significant presence to replace due to his passing from deep and his physicality.
City are boosted by the return of Jacob Sorensen, who featured for the closing stages against Middlesbrough, having been sidelined since the opening day defeat at Oxford owing to a foot injury.
The Dane would offer City a degree of positional continuity given his desire to play at the base of midfield, but Sorensen's playing style isn't as metronomic or commanding as McLean's.
Equally, having just returned to the matchday squad, throwing Sorensen straight into the deep end is a major risk, especially considering his recent fitness history that has involved a lack of consistency in the Championship.
Of Sorensen's 85 appearances for Norwich, only 25 have come in midfield. He has played 28 times as a makeshift left-back and 14 as a central defender. That underpins the struggle to nail down a spot in his favoured position.
The fitness challenges will be difficult to overcome, but it would enable City to keep Anis Ben Slimane and Emiliano Marcondes in more advanced positions, though it would place a lot of responsibility on the Dane at an early stage of his comeback.
Formation change
Thorup has utilised a back three at different stages throughout his spell as City boss, namely to either see out or chase a result within matches.
In the opening 12 games of the Championship campaign, Thorup has favoured a 4-3-3 as he seeks to build his playing style and embed his game model into the group of players. That has involved City building with a three-two or two-three structure depending on the opponents, situation and players.
With Marcelino Nunez and McLean absent, Thorup may decide that a three-at-the-back system with wing-backs offers City sufficient defensive protection amid a lack of natural replacements for their captain.
Jack Stacey and Ben Chrisene offer natural wing-back options, while Callum Doyle is capable of pushing centrally to support Shane Duffy and Jose Cordoba. Slimane and another would then form a midfield duo, with Borja Sainz, Ante Crnac, and Josh Sargent retaining their attacking structure.
However, altering base formation requires work and would shatter the momentum established in Thorup's implementation of his philosophy within his preferred formation.
City do have a clean week to potentially work on a change of system, which would allow Norwich to retain some of their build-up structures. However, Thorup may consider that switch too big of a risk ahead of Saturday's trip to Cardiff.
Personnel changes
With McLean missing, perhaps the most likely solution to City's midfield mix is to utilise the options waiting in reserve.
Oscar Schwartau impressed during a bright cameo in Sunday's draw, whilst Gabe Forsyth is rated highly by Thorup and his coaching team. They handed the Scot his full senior debut against Blackburn earlier in the season.
Amankwah Forson is another who could come into contention, but the concern about any of those options would be the overall balance of City's midfield engine room. There would be an imbalance in terms of physicality and would raise further changes about who would occupy McLean's deeper position.
Slimane would be the natural contender to drop into that deeper position, but even he has expressed his preference for playing in a more advanced role. Marcondes is more of a technician who favours playing higher up the pitch.
Forson has been deployed as a wider option in recent substitute appearances and hasn't started since their last Championship defeat against Swansea. Schwartau, who is only 18, has yet to convert positive flashes into a consistent 90-minute performance.
Core to any of those personnel changes will need to be a wider balancing of qualities. In McLean's and Nunez's absence, City are without two major cogs of their midfield.
The outside bet
Kellen Fisher's emergence at Norwich City this season has been a welcome sub-plot in the opening 12 games of this Championship campaign.
With his tough-tackling and tactical understanding as an inverted full-back, Fisher has earned rave reviews and impressed Thorup, the coaching team and supporters who have serenaded him with the chant formerly given to Max Aarons.
Given that ability to invert, coupled with Thorup trialling the youngster as a midfielder during pre-season to prepare him for the new role, could the right-back form part of the short-term solution and move into a central position?
Fisher has been forced to occupy naturally central positions and is comfortable taking the ball into those areas, but the question would surround the off-ball components of that position.
His tough-tackling nature could be useful, but he would be exposed to fewer conventional one-versus-one situations. That risk may be considered too great, especially with other natural options in reserve.
Equally, if City decide to retain a back four, Fisher's inverted nature is a key part of their phases of deep build-up and is something that Jack Stacey doesn't offer as a more vertical runner.
It seems like the most unlikely solution, but Thorup is a coach who will consider all options available to him and his coaching team.
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