The maturity and rapid development of James Maddison is continuing to impress Norwich City boss Daniel Farke.
Maddison’s second superb free-kick of the campaign during Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Preston took the playmaker’s goal tally for the season to five.
Having celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday the England Under-21 international continues to be one of the shining lights during a difficult period for the Canaries.
“He’s one of the guys who is still young but really grown up in a lot of situations,” Farke said. “In general it was a really good performance from him and when you are so solid in your behaviour you are able to do some determining things.
“Again he scored a good goal, it was a good sign of his quality and also for his really grown-up behaviour.”
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Maddison also demonstrated his free-kick prowess during the 2-1 win at Reading in September.
“I’m always a deep believer that you always earn what you invest,” City’s German coach added.
“I want him to work a lot on this, and the other guys as well, because for sure it is talent and natural ability but you can work on your talent and the more you train on these situations the better you get – and he trains a lot.”
Farke wants to see maturity from the rest of his squad after defender Christoph Zimmermann’s misjudgment in trying to let the ball run out of play, only to be robbed by Preston striker Jordan Hugill, led to the corner from which the visitors equalised in the second half.
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“Obviously Christoph had the ball and he was too naïve in this behaviour before the corner but I don’t want to blame him,” Farke continued.
“In the first half we gave some corners and free-kicks away without being necessary but then at least when you concede such a corner you have to be there with the attitude that you will repair this and we will all together defend this with an aggressive attitude.
“That’s what a really experienced and grown up team would do in such a situation but the corner came in and we were too soft in this situation and for that they scored.
“We have to improve and grow up in this situation because if not it is difficult to win games at this level.”
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