Daniel Farke is backing Norwich City striker Josh Sargent after the USMNT forward missed two terrific chances, one in infamous fashion, as the Canaries drew Brighton 0-0 on Saturday.
Sargent was, in fact, industrious and got himself in numerous promising positions including the big miss, which saw him harry Robert Sanchez into an error before hitting a way-too-slow shot toward the empty net.
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It might’ve not made it in the goal even if a defender didn’t get there.
“To be honest he is probably the most disappointed guy in the whole dressing room because he knows he should score,” said Farke, via Pink Un. “Then Brighton have to open up more so it was a key moment. So we have to accept the draw.
“I have to say he had an outstanding performance. His workload against the ball was good, he was able to keep the ball against a really, physical back three for Brighton. He was able to initiate a lot of good situations for us.
“He brought himself into really good positions alongside Teemu. But he knows better than anyone else he should score that scene in the first half. An empty goal and he underestimated the situation. He had a chance to take another touch to put the ball easily into the empty net.
“He also had a one-against-one in the second half with the keeper from Teemu’s touch and perhaps he was not concentrated on a tidy first touch. He should have scored them. Teemu had good situations.”
That’s why it’s so difficult to truly adjudge Sargent’s day. Of course, it’s an unsuccessful one when you’re a striker and you fail to score a pair of goals for a winless team.
But like he was at Werder Bremen, Sargent is a younger striker still growing into his game in arguably now the top two leagues in the world.
Sargent hit three key passes in the win, usually setting up fellow wasteful striker Teemu Pukki, and a goal from either of the two would make the misses less glaring on the video recap.
They did, in fact, miss, though, and Norwich remains winless.