Norwich City’s 2021/22 season already has a sense of theatre about it, the feeling of an era-defining battle in the final of a series of blockbuster films.
The following ten months will define whether the Webber and Farke era is remembered as the greatest in the club’s history or a tale of what could’ve been. As the Canaries welcome Liverpool they begin the biggest Premier League season in their history.
Of course they go in as underdogs because they always do. It wouldn’t be the same loveable yellow and green family if there wasn’t a sense of us against the world. The club’s highest ever league position came in a season before which they were relegation favourites.
Any suggestion that the third-place finish of 1993 could be replicated this term is admittedly delusional, but as one of the division’s lowest spenders and having lost their best player, City currently occupy the same starting place that they did in that hazy summer of Chris Sutton, Jeremy Goss, and new Sky TV deals.
Then it was a strong Arsenal side, this time it’s Liverpool: champions of Europe two years ago, champions of England one year ago, and throwers of a painful ‘welcome to the Premier League’ punch the last time City opened a top-flight campaign.
This set of City players has the opportunity to stand alongside that lauded group of ‘93, to offer this latest regime the substance and tangible success it requires. Daniel Farke’s “beautiful football” has wowed fans, has got the Carrow Road crowd on its feet and the social media fandom purring about this team, but the real prize is Premier League safety.
Lap up the points records, the goals scored, the passing sequences and the flair. Drink in the memory of Championship domination while it still lasts, for promotion is nothing new to Norwich City and that memory won’t take long to fade in the heat of the Premier League battle.
Farke and Stuart Webber may have achieved their promotions in unprecedented style, but as far as on-pitch results, they haven’t even matched the Paul Lambert era yet.
Football is an unforgiving, fickle arena and Webber and Farke will know that their project remains unfinished until the top-flight drop is avoided. If they achieve it, they will have done so in greater style than any other and that sends them straight into the stratosphere of Carrow Road legends.
There’s no question it’ll be tough; even the idea of ceding possession dominance is a foreign one to this team. Ironically, that’s the absolute best strategy against a Liverpool side that loves to attack space in behind.
The return of Virgil van Dijk does offer them an added dimension on the ball, his pinpoint diagonals painfully conspicuous by their absence as the Reds limped into the Champions League group stage last season. Still, they’d prefer to counter and press, to harass City into mistakes in the same way that they did in 2019.
The good news for Farke is that he doesn’t have to play into their hands anymore. His new, quicker Canaries are more capable of counter-attacking than they ever have been under the German. Dimitris Giannoulis and Milot Rashica are useful, pacey out-balls that can hurt Liverpool when the Reds’ attacking full-backs expose them at the back.
Long gone is the technically strong yet ponderous three of Cantwell, Stiepermann and Buendia and replacing it is the more dynamic Rashica along with Kieran Dowell, who loves to operate in space, and will be keen to prove his worth as an ex-Evertonian.
Andy Robertson will be missing for the visitors after suffering a hefty blow in pre-season, while teammates van Dijk and Joe Gomez look set to return from long-term knee injuries.
“It looks like (they’re in contention to start),” Klopp said of the defensive pair, “but how it is with these kinds of things, we have nothing to rush in this department.
“We just have to make a decision on who will start, who will come on, things like this and if I think they are ready for 90 minutes then they are ready to start.”
Young midfielder Curtis Jones also misses out for the Reds, having suffered a concussion.
New signing Christos Tzolis will be available for the home side, as will Josh Sargent, who joined the club for around £8million this week.
Sargent could be joined by Rashica, who played with him at former club Werder Bremen and has exited isolation along with Grant Hanley, Bali Mumba, Jordan Hugill, Onel Hernandez and Michael McGovern.
Przemyslaw Placheta is still struggling with symptoms of Covid-19, however, and will miss the game, although the Pole is no longer returning positive tests. He’ll be joined on the sidelines by Sam Byram, who has struggled with long-term injuries since City’s last meeting with Liverpool in February 2020.
Andrew Omobamidele has suffered from tonsillitis this week and is a doubt, while fears over Cantwell’s fitness have been allayed after he missed the Canaries’ final warm-up game against Newcastle United.
“ City currently occupy the same starting place that they did in that hazy summer of Chris Sutton, Jeremy Goss, and new Sky TV deals”. What?
Sam, I’m not sure you were around then but the reality of that team was Mike Walker inheriting a Dave Stringer evolution that had been there or thereabouts for quite some time. For those that were there at the time, and I’m one, that summer was different to this one. Players like Gary Megson brought the leadership and experience to supplement Crook and Goss and Mark Robins came from Utd, not Athens or Missouri. We were an established team, not newly promoted.
What Mike Walker did so brilliantly was to ensure that we scored more than we’d concede, marginally…. And that certainly isn’t DF’s philosophy. It was a fabulous time. It was a different era, a different atmosphere, a different style of play…. And it sure as heck didn’t involve a £50m spending spree, so really, very different…..
“Long gone is the technically strong yet ponderous three of Cantwell, Stiepermann and Buendia and replacing it is the more dynamic Rashica along with Kieran Dowell,”. In the last promotion season, that midfield, including Vrancic and Hernandez more accurately than Cantwell, ponderously scored 35 goals and assisted 34 goals….. and when Cantwell came into the early Premier League games, he ponderously scored six goals and assisted 2. At Premier League level. Which is more than your lauded Dowell did in the Championship.
Quite how you can think Stieperman was ponderous compared to Dowell, who doesn’t lift a finger defensively, is baffling.
“ Dimitris Giannoulis and Milot Rashica are useful, pacey out-balls that can hurt Liverpool “. Compared to Quintilla, how many crosses did you witness from Gianoullis in his 16 games? And how secure do you think he is a 1v1 defender?
This is a bit harsh. You may also remember that Norwich were nailed on relegation favourites each year back in the Stringer/Walker years, established or not. Some years we did well, others we got relegated.
As for your comment on ‘Long gone is the technically strong yet ponderous three of Cantwell, Stiepermann and Buendia’ – Sam has this absolutely spot on. There was nothing direct about the three of them in the premier league (and that’s Sam’s point, they didn’t play as a three in the Champ) – we too often fannied about with the ball and didn’t make enough direct passes early enough to get Pukki in off someone’s shoulder. We played across the park until the opposition defence were well ensconced in their own area. This year will be different.
Completely agree City Fan.
After great years under Ken Brown and Dave Stringer I’m afraid Mike Walker inherited a team I thought was a certainty for relegation.
Dave Stringer’s last season by his own admission wasn’t good add that to a chairman wanting to sell more than Arthur Daley and it looked desperate.
Fantastic credit to Mike Walker for what he did.
He should have never have been sacked whe he was a few years later.
Hi Samuel
With news that Klopp rates Cantwell and some media says Loserpool could target him before the window closes this could be a good time to put on a good show and score a couple of goals.
I think it would be a good move for city but a bad move for Cantwell as he would get much game time with the options Loserpool already have.
Emi is long gone and yes over his period with city became indispensable as we had a terrible record when he wasn’t in the team and hopefully one of the new recruits can fill the void or maybe Cantwell will move into that area.
Being underdogs isn’t anything new with city its how DF and the team handle the pressure that the media will constantly dump on them after a loss, draw or a win.
Hi Sam,
How do you rate Paul Lambert and how he was able to stay in the Premier League? It didn’t involve spending barely a penny, and it involved pragmatic tactical changes such as limiting the use of Hoolahan when perhaps Morrison and Holt with Pilkington and Bennett was the more viable option. And that squad started in league 1 from the lowest ebbs of City’s history.
Staying up should be achievable and a minimum benchmark for success.
Once SW has added the CDM and others to the squad, DF will have few excuses in my opinion.
I don’t personally agree that an exclusive CDM is necessary, as much as a defensively capable all rounder, but it very much depends on the base formation.
DF has, quite frankly, a better forward line and better defenders than Marcelo Bielsa had at first dibs, for me it will all come down to the coaching because the mentality and most raw attitudes are there.
As I’ve said in the past and I’ll repeat it here – Emi has gone in the same way that Hoolahan went (replaced by Maddison), Maddison was sold (replaced by Maddison) and now Buendia has left with no direct replacement!!
I see via Twitter and on here that many fans are questioning where will the creativity come from in the new look NCFC??
Firstly, let’s give the new players a chance to – prove themselves whilst they adapt to ‘Farkeball’ and the PL My own opinion is that whereas Buendia many assists, we will see the likes of Gilmour, Tzolis and Giannoulis making opposing defences work hard to keep them all quiet (disclaimer – it’s quite possible that all 3 will not be on the pitch together!!).
Let’s see how well Buendia fares at Villa – he was involved in a minor fracas in one of their friendlies!!
AS we are acutely aware, we have an INCREDIBLY tough opening 4 games, when ANY points gleaned will be a MASSIVE bonus, but I’m sure there will be several ‘keyboard warriors’ (or whatever the modern equivalent is), suggesting that SW has completely messed up his recruitment again.
Enjoy the season everyone and I’ll ‘stick my head above the parapet’ and forecast that we” be 15th or better on May 22nd 2022!! 😀