Farke backs Barden to handle pressure of City cup chance at Luton
Daniel Barden is in line for his senior competitive debut for Norwich City in the League Cup this weekend Picture: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
Academy keeper Daniel Barden will not ‘crack under pressure’ insists Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke as he prepares for his debut in Saturday’s League Cup trip to Luton Town.
The 19-year-old is set to be thrust into the spotlight at Kenilworth Road with both Tim Krul and Michael McGovern away on international duty.
The Welsh Under-19 international was on loan at non-league Bury Town last season, but has impressed Farke after stepping up to train with the first team pool, and kept a clean sheet in the final pre-season warm up, a 0-0 draw with SV Darmstadt.
“He is a top bloke, a good character and also I like his potential,” said Farke. “He has been training with us for a while and you can see him growing from month to month.
“He is going to be a bit in the spotlight at Luton but I have the feeling he is prepared, otherwise we would not look to play him. For that I am pretty happy that he played well (against Darmstadt). To have a clean sheet and make a good first half save is good for the self-confidence.
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“He is a confident lad and I am sure he won’t crack under pressure. There is a moment when you have to be thrown into the cold water and you have to swim. We can’t hide him or wrap him in cotton wool. A keeper, especially, has to be strong mentally.
“For me he has a good balance between being humble and wanting to improve and a little bit of that goalkeeper arrogance you need to improve. Yes, he has good chances (to play Luton).”
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Farke is missing a total of 16 first team options due to international call ups, but there will be no excuses from the Canaries against their Championship rivals.
“We have maybe 15 or 16 internationals away and not our worst players, to be honest. It is a strange situation,” he said.
“Everyone knows how much the cups mean to me and I treat them with the same priority as the league. That is my attitude. I am not sure how many players Luton are missing but not as many as us.
“It will be difficult to judge our team. We will get a team that will be a mix of first team and under-23 players but whoever represents Norwich City will go out and show pride and dignity.
“We still want to go into the next round.”
