Norwich City may have been labelled disrespectful in recent days but Daniel Farke insists there will be no trace of arrogance ahead of their League Cup assignment at Brentford.
Farke is well aware the Bees’ Championship struggles contrast sharply with his squad’s upturn, and City head to Griffin Park on Tuesday looking to frank that form.
“When you are not there 100pc you can lose,” he said. “We try to bring that into the heads of the players and concentrate on the small details and don’t be too arrogant if we are playing a team who perhaps do not have players as highly-rated as ours.
“If you look at Brentford they have had two cup games and two wins and in their last eight games, they only lost twice. That tells me they are difficult to beat. They had a good performance against Reading (on Saturday). We know we need to be 100pc to win this game.
“It is always difficult, especially in the Championship, to win away. To win at Sheffield against a team in unbelievable shape was even tougher. They were full of confidence and you could feel this in the first half, but in our defending behaviour we were nearly brilliant.”
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City have kept three consecutive clean sheets, and look far more solid defending set pieces.
“The most important point in the last days was to work on the defensive behaviour because it gives us a base,” said Farke. “A lot of this is down to attitude. There are advantages and disadvantages when you discuss zonal or man-to-man. Whatever you choose the most important thing is to be aggressive, especially in zonal.
“It is not just about your zone but to block headers and defend your goal. That was a problem for us if you look back to the fourth Millwall goal. To be honest we have not conceded too many goals from set pieces but there had to be a general improvement.”
Alex Tettey and Tom Trybull add an extra layer of insurance but both may get a night off at Brentford.
“Tettey and Trybull were brilliant in the last three games and so important to the clean sheets, and they run a lot,” said Farke. “Especially Alex because of his age and having some problems with his knees. I said to him after the game on Saturday if I have to carry him to the coach it is no problem, I will do that. It’s important we think about resting him but he is a fighter and he likes to compete. Also we must think about our wingers, like Yanic (Wildschut) and Marco Stiepermann, who have had to run a lot.”
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