Norwich City manager Daniel Farke feels the international break came at the right time for his team and hopes to bounce back against Bournemouth. The Canaries were thrashed 5-1 at home by Aston Villa prior to the two-week break – a third consecutive top-flight defeat.
The East Anglians sit 19th in the Premier League standings, having taken six points courtesy of wins over Newcastle United and, amazingly, champions Manchester City, but 20 goals conceded in eight games is a worrying statistic.
The Canaries were hammered in the media for their dismal showing against Dean Smith’s Villans, with many feeling they are relegation fodder – even at such an early stage of the campaign.
It remains to be seen if they can hit straight back at the Vitality Stadium, but the boss was glad that he and the players had time to take stock as the Euro 2020 qualifiers were going on. “If you lose a game you always want to get back on the pitch, but the break helped us because we had so many problems,” he said. “The break helped us to settle and recover, so it came at the right moment.”
Teemu Pukki has failed to score in the last three games after a blistering start to the season although it is at the other end of the pitch that things really need to improve.
Norwich had to score three times to beat City and have only one conceded less than two goals in one of their 2019-20 league games to date.
That is putting pressure on the front players to score, with Farke admitting: “I agree we have conceded too many goals, I’m not naive.”
The Cherries have won just one Premier League game on home soil this term although they secured a 2-2 draw with West Ham United the last time they played in front of their own fans.
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