Bournemouth remain the gold standard for Daniel Farke if Norwich City aim to seal Championship promotion.
The fellow relegated Cherries may have seen Callum Wilson, Nathan Ake and Ryan Fraser all depart, along with long serving head coach Eddie Howe, but Farke still tips them to be firmly in the mix.
“They have lost some proper and top players. But I am full of compliments for what they have done,” said Farke, with Howe’s former assistant Jason Tindall now in charge. “They also had a good cup run, a proper performance at Manchester City.
“It is no coincidence though when I look at the players who are still involved in their line-ups. You have to say definitely one of the big favourites to win this league.
“We are confident and brave but Bournemouth as a club is a bit ahead of us because they were an established Premier League club, with several years on this level.
“Last season was difficult for them but they will have so much motivation to repair this. Our situation is different. We had one year at that level. So they are bigger favourites compared to us.
“Bournemouth away is one of the toughest tests in this league but we are respectful, not scared.”
Farke does accept the internal appointment of Tindall brings an element of risk, given Howe’s dominant imprint on the south-coast club.
“It is a sign of consistency with the club how they want to handle the situation, and they don’t want to change their whole approach but stick to their principles,” he said. “That gives them a great chance to bounce back because they seem settled.
“Nevertheless, it is a big difference with all respect between assistant coach and head coach. When such a big personality and top class coach like Eddie Howe leaves it is always difficult for the guy who follows.
“Even if he is there with top quality and top personality himself it won’t be easy. But I like how Jason has the team playing. If they go further on like this they have a great chance to finish in the top positions.”
City were hustled out of their stride by the ferocious pressing of Alex Neil’s Preston at Carrow Road last weekend. Farke admitted yesterday they got dragged into a game his side can ill afford to play in the Championship.
“We have tools and different plans to bypass aggressive pressing.
“Preston is definitely one of the best in this league at that and I would have preferred to bypass that better than we did in the first half,” said the City chief. “If we are on our top level we can be more fluid in this area and we spoke quite critically about this topic.
“We were better second half.
“Bournemouth can press intensely, albeit in different tactical terms to Preston, but we will tell try to prepare the players to control that aspect of the game. The individual quality of Bournemouth is a bit better than Preston.
“The task is to find ways to control this game.”
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