Daniel Farke knows Norwich City look vulnerable when they cough up cheap possession. But the Canaries’ chief also has the antidote.
Aston Villa heavily punished an exposed defence at Villa Park, but League One Charlton were able to probe the same weak spots in midweek cup action, before being overpowered.
The answer for Farke hinges less on personnel or tactical tweaks than a greater intensity when the opposition threaten.
“A very important part of our game is I want us to run and fight and almost exhaust ourselves when we don’t have the ball,” he said. “When we win the ball we can then counter or we can stay relaxed and recover in possession. In the last games I had a little bit this feeling we were too hungry to score, we were too hurried in transition and we were not so concentrated and maybe tried to cheat a little bit, in regard to the work we have to do when we don’t have the ball. Maybe we are trying to save energy to be there for when we get the ball again. That is not the rhythm we want. We need to be 100pc when we don’t have the ball and 100pc when we are in possession to control the game.
“Although we had a good game (against Charlton) that was a point I criticised afterwards and we spoke about. We have to tweak our balance in this respect. You have to be solid and strong in defence every game. We need more intensity in defensive situations.”
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Alex Tettey’s shift against the Addicks was a case in point for Farke.
“Cheating is perhaps a little bit hard but maybe just waiting to win the ball again,” he said. “We were not 100pc in our pressing. We have to be prepared for the worst case when we lose it. That was the reason I praised Alex Tettey so much because he always had in mind what is the worst case scenario for us in any given situation and looks to save us from this. In the second half we were much better. Charlton maybe had only 20pc possession but when they did we were more awake.”
Goalscoring debutant Tom Trybull was another to press his claims for greater involvement.
“For Tom the most important thing was to work on his fitness level,” said Farke. “He has improved from day to day. We don’t need to speak about his potential or his quality. I got this feeling he is not far away now from the starting XI. He can’t be at the same level because he has not had as many minutes as the other guys. You need time on the pitch to come into your rhythm.”
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