Head Coach Daniel Farke has implemented an exciting, vibrant and continental approach to Norwich City. His arrival, along with an influx of players from his native Germany, has seen Norwich adopt an altogether “hackneyed” style and approach to games.
Farke’s tactics have been greeted with optimism but also some scepticism as he strives to find a winning formula in NR1. This has led to the implementation of the 3-5-2 formation which has so far had varying success during its infancy.
A draw at Craven Cottage, a win in the Carabao Cup vs Swindon and most recently a defeat to Sunderland has seen Farke’s reign get off to a somewhat perplexing start. The formation has seen Norwich register five goals, with six goals conceded.
The possession game which Farke is looking to instil at Carrow Road has been prominent, and the ethos of the club begins with Angus Gunn in goal. Gunn is a modern day “sweeper keeper”, constantly offering angles and being an active option when City are in possession of the ball. He always looks to distribute the ball to a member of the back three or a wing back, even in tight situations. Going long is only used as a necessity, but even these more direct kicks can be accurate and purposeful.
In terms of the back three, Norwich have brought defenders in to the team that are comfortable in possession . Ball-playing defenders have for a long while been the preserve of European sides but they enrich a side looking to be predominately possession based. The playmaking almost begins from Marcel Franke, Christoph Zimmermann and Russell Martin.
They have however, been prone to overplaying the ball at times and Zimmermann’s defensive error led to conceding a goal against Sunderland. In Franke, Norwich have discovered a good technical player, but someone who needs to improve in regards to his defensive play. This is still firmly a work in progress.
The wing backs, James Husband and Yanic Wildschut, have often been left isolated and opponents, particularly Fulham, have looked to overload these areas for advantage. If Norwich continue to operate in this system, then they will need to press higher to reduce the likelihood of this overloading happening.
In midfield, Norwich are deploying Harrison Reed in a deep lying playmaker role. Reed is the connection between defence and the more technical players located in the middle phase of the pitch. His role is to transition the ball, and whilst Reed won’t be registering endless assists and goals, his job is to simply receive the ball and move it on.
Reed is instrumental to how Norwich want to play. He is the primary link between the first and second third of the pitch. His distribution of the ball needs to be strong and Reed’s implementation of this deep lying role will need elements of grit and guile and will be key to the transition from defence to attack.
Off the ball, Reed will be the man who sits patiently in front of a compact bank of four and occupies the gap the central defenders vacant between them. It stops the oppositions use of a killer ball through the heart of City’s defence and will leave teams opting to play down the flanks and over the top of a, hopefully, finely tuned and cohesive back four.
This continental approach of allowing a defensive midfielder freedom in movement and use him almost as a deep lying playmaker will help drill in Farke’s philosophy.
James Maddison is starting to impose himself onto games. His low centre of gravity and agility aides him to escape opponents and look to play forwards. Whilst Reed does well in moving the ball, Norwich need to do better in winning it back. A robust operator who is primarily in there to win the ball back in a tackle and present the ball to the technicians is needed.
The team seem to have made progress in the defensive and midfield thirds. However, Norwich have failed so far to connect the midfield with the attack which has left the strikers feeding on scraps. Cameron Jerome in particular has struggled to create clear cut chances off what is being provided to him.
The two strikers have thus far been used to drop deeper to involve themselves with possession and be a general nuisance. Jerome in particular has been dropped deepest with Watkins running in behind the defence, that said, however, we haven’t seen enough of this combination working cohesively.
This is still a football club who are very much in the transitional stage of Farke’s reign. With a lot to learn and fans demanding a response ahead of QPR it will need to transition quickly.
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