Norwich City chief Daniel Farke has enough on his plate without worrying about Derby rival Phillip Cocu’s job prospects.
The Canaries’ head coach is dealing with incessant transfer noise that in the past fortnight alone has seen Max Aarons in Barcelona’s sights, Ben Godfrey tee up a club record move to Everton, and Todd Cantwell and Emi Buendia left out at Bournemouth.
Hence why any worries the ex-Dutch international midfielder Cocu may have at winless Derby do not concern Farke.
“During your career more or less each head coach is sacked. Maybe with a few exceptions, (Jurgen) Klopp, (Pep) Guardiola and also to me,” he joked. “After three games I don’t think a coach on this level should fear the sack.
“After a pandemic and no real pre-season and a short summer break to be in the spotlight and speaking about sacking a coach would be pretty strange.
“With his CV and career he won’t crack under pressure.
“If you want to be in this business then pressure comes with the job. We have lost one Championship game in the last 17, and that was a game at Bournemouth where we dominated, and a lot of people think the world went down.
“You have to handle that.
“Phillip Cocu has experienced everything in his career. He was an outstanding, top class player and he knows what he needs to do to stay calm and concentrate on the work. He doesn’t need any support from me.”
Derby crashed to a 4-0 home defeat against Blackburn last weekend, but that makes the wounded Rams dangerous.
“I would prefer to play Derby when they are not under pressure, because they will be fully switched on and desperate to show a reaction,” said Farke. “I expect them to be fighting with the knife between their teeth.
“They will be fired up. We want to win the points.
“I am not judging them by results only. I have analysed all three league games and they were not miles behind any opponent. They were able to dominate possession but they have conceded too many.
“They haven’t had the best start so I don’t expect they are full of self-confidence but in terms of performance they are not far away
“It has been difficult for us as well because all these rumours and speculation can distract the whole group. Of course when Ben (Godfrey) is not in team training it has an effect on the others. It is difficult just to focus on Derby.
“But that is our job and that is what I demand. We cannot afford to have one player with 5 per cent less focus.”
Przemyslaw Placheta misses out with a hamstring strain suffered in the closing stages of a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth that Farke still hailed as a step forward.
“I was much more pleased with our build up at Bournemouth than against Preston, when we were able to bypass their pressing,” he said. “We need control of the game. We had that at Bournemouth. Across midfield we controlled their counters and put a power play on them in the second half.
“Of course it was difficult to create big chances when they are defending with a five-man formation.
“I want us to be a bit more tidy, a bit more precise in the final third, to have this cutting edge; to play the final pass with the perfect speed and perfect timing.
“That is what we need to add and then it is easier to score goals, because of the weight of chances.
“You are not relying on a referee’s decision to award a penalty. We can’t just rely on creating one or two chances.”
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