Norwich City’s footballers have played their part on the pitch. Now Daniel Farke wants a raucous Carrow Road to lift his men against another in-form Championship rival.
City emerged victorious in front of a partisan and passionate home crowd at Sheffield United last weekend, and Farke is confident the Canaries’ support will not be out-done against the Robins.
“We want this atmosphere. Our home must be our living room and our fortress,” he said. “It has improved from game to game and also away it has been brilliant; to have that many fans at Brentford for a midweek game in the cup was excellent. We feel Carrow Road is our living room. We want lots of noise and passion and we want to stand together with our fans. I have mentioned this many times before. Football is about the fans, it is for the fans.
“We always have to have this in our minds. We play for our fans and with our fans. That is not a pressure. We should enjoy to play in front of them. We want to make them happy. We want to be successful.
“You can only be successful when that spirit is there. You can feel it on the pitch now. It helps to win games. It is good for the self-confidence. You have to focus all the guys on one target and although there is competition between different players for minutes sometimes as a head coach you concentrate a little bit too much on the tactical details, but it is so important to work on that atmosphere and togetherness within the group.”
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Farke aims to exploit every little advantage going to overcome a Bristol City who continue to defy expectations.
“They are really on fire but so are we. With two teams full of confidence and good momentum it will be a hard task and a great challenge,” he said. “In these moments, normally it is easier for the away team because perhaps there is not so much pressure. They can sit deeper and react. It can be more difficult or complicated for the home team.
“It will be important to have our support on our side to help us in this game. It is a great chance for us to make a big step in the table. That is what we are planning to do.
“Normally, they are really brave and attacking. They try to press high and bring the ball pretty soon to the target zone. They play a lot vertical passes. They score plenty of goals but they also concede some. We have topics we can work on but we know they are good in their attacking transition. We have to be quick in our heads if we lose the ball. When they have it, it is important to give them no space in the centre. We are prepared and the lads can bring it on to the pitch.”
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