Norwich City’s new boys will come up trumps

Christoph Zimmermann and Harrison Reed can handle a rollercoaster start to their Norwich City careers.

Zimmermann was plucked from the fourth tier in German football, when he followed Daniel Farke from Borussia Dortmund II, while highly-rated midfielder Reed is looking to impress on loan from Southampton.

Both were pivotal in City’s opening 2-0 Championship win over QPR but endured a torrid shift at Villa Park in a 4-2 weekend defeat.

“Harrison Reed, I am really content with him, he had a brilliant game against QPR and a brilliant goal,” said Farke. “After that game he was the new Paul Scholes or something and then at the weekend he made a poor mistake that led to the first goal and that means he is then just a young guy who can’t handle it. That is too fast. I trust him. He is so important for our squad.

“With Christoph you have to bear in mind that he is a young guy who has to adapt to this league and the intensity. Sometimes you will think he needs a rest but we can’t do without him. Look at Aston Villa. They have the former skipper of the national squad in John Terry and we do with a guy who played for the first time at this level, plays every minute, and comes from the fourth level in Germany. After QPR he was a hero and all the guys were praising him and he could be a big player for us and after Villa some are saying his quality is not good enough for this league. That is too quick for me.”

Farke is convinced both will flourish at Carrow Road this season, once City’s new philosophy beds in.

“In football all the topics are mixed together,” he said. “It is not just about the defence or the midfield. We have one big topic, our defensive behaviour, in the two games against Sunderland and Aston Villa. Another topic is when we are in possession. If the possession was lower then perhaps we have more problems in this defensive area. We had three or four big mistakes in our passing at Aston Villa and we gave away too many counter chances. Harrison made a mistake with an easy pass from three or four metres but this can happen. He is aggressive, good tactically and for a young guy he is a great character. You can see that will to do well. He always want to repair his mistakes and we can work with him.”