Daniel Farke hails Norwich’s emphatic response to poor form against Stoke
Posted Sunday, February 14, 2021 by PA
Norwich manager Daniel Farke felt his side produced the perfect response to a poor run with a 4-1 home win over Stoke that took them back to the top of the Sky Bet Championship.
The Canaries were without a win or a goal in four matches going into the game and were beaten 2-0 at promotion rivals Swansea last time out, but they were in top form as they moved back above Brentford, who are at home to Barnsley on Sunday.
“I think that was our best offensive performances of the season – it was certainly the most goals we have scored,” he said.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a side create more chances against Stoke, who are an experienced, well-organised side.
“It has been tough recently but we had a good training week and there was a big determination among the lads to produce the right response – and we certainly did that. It was a really good performance and I can only pay my compliments to the players.
“We moved the ball much quicker in the final third, found our offensive players in better positions and found a cutting edge in the final third that had been missing in recent games.
“Strangely we also made a lot more mistakes than usual as well, giving the ball away too often, but overall I was very happy with the way we played.
“I was especially pleased for Teemu Pukki, who has had a dry spell recently, but worked really hard in training and got his reward with two goals.”
Norwich were soon into their stride against a struggling Stoke side.
Todd Cantwell fired them in front after just 15 minutes following a neat one-two with Mario Vrancic and it was 2-0 just before the break as Emi Buendia charged down an attempted clearance from Morgan Fox and squared for Pukki to apply a simple finishing touch.
Stoke pulled one back just after the hour mark when a poor square pass by Dimitris Giannoulis was intercepted by Nick Powell and coolly dispatched.
But Buendia’s first-time finish from a Giannoulis cross restored Norwich’s two-goal advantage three minutes later and the win was wrapped up after 78 minutes as Pukki converted from the penalty spot after Joe Allen had brought down Buendia.
Stoke manager Michael O’Neill had no complaints about the result – but felt his side had contributed to their own downfall.
“Norwich are a good side and they showed that again today, but we didn’t half give them a helping hand,” he said.
“We have been saying too often recently that we have been playing well without getting what we deserved but that wasn’t the case today – we got what we deserved.
“We knew this would be a tough test but I certainly wasn’t expecting a result like 4-1 – we came here expecting to give them a good game.
“We should really have gone ahead early on but then we are weak defensively and Norwich go ahead. Their second goal just before half-time was also poor from our point of view – Morgan Fox should certainly have done better with his clearance.
“We then had a good spell and got a goal back but then we failed to pick up their runners and a few minutes later it’s 3-1.
“We are on a bad run at the moment and it’s something we need to address – we need to start winning games again.”
Nathan Collins was carried off on a stretcher in the closing stages after appearing to fall awkwardly.
O’Neill said: “He was obviously in a lot of pain and it looks like a metatarsal injury, something like that but hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”
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