Daniel Farke aims to spoil Alex Neil’s Carrow Road reunion.
The Scot brings Preston to Norfolk on Saturday in the Championship with his old club looking for a first league win at home in seven and fresh from a midweek 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Farke is challenging his squad to match the performance level at the City Ground and the result will take care of itself.
“We need to have that same level of performance and if so we will win, 100pc,” he said. “I am more worried when we have a performance like Barnsley. If we play like we did at Nottingham we will get our rewards.
“It was hard to accept. Preston is now a different game. We have to bring this performance again on the pitch. We can’t go on with 5pc less.
“When I think about Marley Watkins, who has been criticised, he was really good in the first half. For Mario Vrancic it was his best performance of the whole season in the shirt.
“Nelson Oliveira, was another who was criticised after Barnsley, and he was brilliant.”
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“In the last action of the first half he felt some pain in his hips,” said Farke. “We tried everything to bring him back on the pitch because he had shown how important he was against Murphy who is a really strong striker.
“Sadly we had to substitute him and we now wait for what the doctor has to say. It doesn’t look too good but we can hope for Saturday.”
Birthday boy James Maddison is one man Farke admits he cannot do without. The influential midfielder, who turned 21 on Thursday, is long overdue a break from the relentless grind.
“At the moment there is no chance to give him a break,” said Farke. “He is so professional in his attitude around the games with his nutrition and rest. At the moment we can’t do without him.
“To be honest, I did plan to give him a break because he is still a young player having his first spell of consecutive appearances at this level.
“We are really happy with him. Sometimes you the get feeling he can create special moments, and that is more difficult than playing solidly or defending. “I would prefer to maybe call on him for 20 minutes in the second half of a game and then the next game he is ready from the start.”
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