Norwich went down 4-2 to Aston Villa on Saturday in what was yet another disappointing defeat away from Carrow Road. The Canaries’ away record certainly makes for dismal reading and will be of some concern to fans – their last 19 Championship away games have seen them win only twice, losing 11 times and conceding 40 goals in the process. Norwich boss Daniel Farke labelled his team’s first half surrender as ‘horrible’ and conceded that, whilst the squad is suffering badly from a long injury list, it wouldn’t be prudent to hide behind this as an excuse and the team needs to improve drastically if they are to have any hopes of pushing for promotion in the upcoming campaign. Farke has lost keys players such as Alex Pritchard, Jamal Lewis, and Louis Thompson for indeterminate periods of time whilst the imposing German defender Timm Klose has yet to feature this season.
On the face of it, scoring two away from home against a rejuvenated Aston Villa doesn’t seem to indicate that the Canaries have a problem in front of goal but strikes from Josh Murphy and Nelson Oliveira only serve to mask the failings of the team going forward. Norwich failed to test the Villa goal up until Murphy rolled the ball into the net on the hour mark and one could argue that even this goal was massively against the run of play and came at a time when Steve Bruce’s team were in the ascendancy. The team didn’t fair much better defensively either, allowing Conor Hourihane and impressive Villa youngster Keinan Davis to run riot and cut through the team like a hot knife through butter on numerous occasions. Whilst it’s too early to write anyone off at this stage, new signing James Husband seems to be leaving the Canaries’ left side exposed far too often without offering very much going forward and veteran defender Russell Martin’s shortcomings on the pitch have become increasingly apparent over the last couple of seasons.
It’s fair to say that the performance against Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa was a far cry from what fans saw last Wednesday at Carrow Road against Queens Park Rangers. Norwich ran out comfortable 2-0 winners vs Ian Holloway’s side as successfully tipped by Oddschecker, with goals from Nelson Oliveira and on loan Southampton defender Harrison Reed scoring his first goal in senior football with an impressive strike from 20 yards. Norwich were good value for their first victory of the season and Daniel Farke’s first following his summer appointment after leaving Borussia Dortmund’s reserve team. With fellow German coaches Jurgen Klopp and now David Wagner successfully making the transition from the Bundesliga to English football, Norwich fans are still hopeful that Farke can be the man to guide them back into the Premier League following a two year absence from the top flight. The high pressing and high possession based football that Farke is trying to bring to the club is definitely a welcome change from some of the more bland football that fans saw under managers such as Paul Lambert but, at the same time, this brand of football is only acceptable if it yields the right results.
With the squad down to its bare bones, the midweek EFL cup game against Charlton was a good opportunity try some of the newer players out in order to give them game time and allow them to properly bed into the squad. In addition to this, a decent performance and a good cup win provided the team with a much needed shot in the arm ready for what will be a tricky trip to Millwall at the weekend. The fact of the matter is that, after four games into the Championship season, Farke has yet to name the same starting eleven once and, whilst this is partly down to the length of the injury list at the club, the German has also shown that he’s not afraid to make changes after a defeat and it could also be argued that the manager simply doesn’t know what his best team is yet. Whilst this season will most certainly be a learning curve for the manager and some of the newer players, the managerial turnover in English football is arguably higher than ever and Farke needs to learn quickly or risk the wrath of a fanbase which is already on the verge of frustration after Saturday’s performance.