Farke urges City to wise up after Rooney’s Derby sucker punch

City bossed possession and territory but were toothless in the final third and when they did cut through found no way past former City keeper David Marshall, who foiled Max Aarons and Jordan Hugill.

Norwich were then punished when Rooney curled home a 20-yard free kick in the 87th minute to slip to a second consecutive league defeat after a similar story on the south coast at Bournemouth.

City’s tale of woe was summed up when Teemu Pukki lost his footing at the crucial moment as he stepped up to take a second half penalty that clipped the top of the bar.

“I am frustrated. That is football. Sometimes it works like this,” said Farke. “When you are on the sunny side and top of the table you can sometimes come in to the dressing room and you can’t explain how you have won a game.

“It feels totally underserved to lose this game. We dominated at Bournemouth, especially in the second half, and we suffer a sucker punch. So you think the luck will be with you in the next game and you end up with an even bigger sucker punch.

“But if you don’t score, you don’t win football games. That is the story of this game.

“I find it tough to criticise my players too much. There was one team trying to win this game and one who parked the bus to survive. We created enough to score but the in the key moments we were not brutal enough, not switched on.

“You have to be fully committed and fully switched on and convinced you are going to score the goal.

“Around the box, in the box, instead of a proper strike we try to play another pass. The keeper makes two unbelievable saves. He was man of the match and that says a lot.

“They had one chance in 87 minutes and we had three strikers on the pitch to force a result but we were not mentally strong enough. Then we don’t make the tactical foul quickly enough and Wayne Rooney is still top class on the free kicks. If Teemu scores the penalty, they have to open up and its 3-0, 4-0.”