Norwich City- The best worst team I’ve ever seen play in the Premier League

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Norwich City are 20th in the league, 6 points behind Aston Villa who are in 19th position and have a game in hand. Norwich have conceded 63 goals this year. These are not numbers I’d expect Daniel Farke to boast as Norwich manager, actually quite the opposite. The defence looks to be lacking at best for premier league standards and 26 goals scored all season is the worst in the league; 4 goals less than Crystal Palace, who are the second worst scoring team this season at the time the article is being written.

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However, when I watch Norwich play, I don’t see a side that’s a disaster, unlike other bottom placed Premier League teams of previous years. Actually instead I see optimism. I see a squad sticking to its guns and playing the football they know, attacking football. For Norwich this season can be considered a treat to have been able to play in the biggest league in England, and they will go back down with pride. So, this article could so easily be called what went wrong for Norwich? But instead I’m going to ask a different question - why I think Norwich should be proud of their premier league survival attempt this season and why they should be excited for the future.

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Ok so no I’m not in any way going to suggest they will stay up. But they shouldn’t worry. First reason why… they didn’t overspend. Look at other clubs when they're in this position. They could have panicked and brought in big signings in a desperate attempt for survival. Look at Fulham last season who spent close to £100 million, the third biggest spenders that year, to then come 19th and get relegated. Instead Norwich didn’t spend big. They made loan signings like Fährmann and Amadou. These didn’t work out, but they were loans, so not much is lost in the process. And the signings they did make were not big lump sums. Drmic was free, and signings like Sam McCallum and Sam Byram were not exactly requiring ground-breaking fees with an estimate of £3.5 million and £750,000 spent on those two players. In reality their signings were that of a Championship side. So, Norwich are not losing in this department. Admittedly this side will lose some key players, most likely come the end of this year - Todd Cantwell is rumoured to be leaving for around £10 million and Ben Godfrey has been linked with a £50 million move away, with the likes of Borussia Dortmund touting him potentially. But Norwich will be used to this by now. They coped well when the likes of James Maddison left for Leicester or when Jacob Murphy left for Newcastle and his brother Josh Murphy left a year after. The point is Norwich will be used to their big players leaving. And will be able to deal with the departures of some their biggest stars.

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The second reason why I feel Norwich should not be worried, even with them at the bottom of the Premier League, links back to my first point. Which is for the squad they have, they are not in the league they would have expected to be in. Norwich didn’t take risks this season with signings, merely adding to what they already have. And the team haven’t been too affected by what I see on the pitch even with their position in the table. Their heads don’t go down, they keep playing. Just looking at their last game against Watford they kept pressing. Adam Idah could have been a hero at the end. And to be honest to Norwich I’d say they were unlucky. No one is stopping Danny Welbeck's scorpion kick goal. After the game Daniel Farke gave a calm and collected interview, admitting that the quality of other premier league teams is “a bit higher”, and Norwich “deserved more” from what they put in. That really sums up the season for them. Norwich do deserve credit for how they have represented themselves this season. Hopefully the players won't be overly critical and doubting of themselves over not being able to stay up this season, and that has to become Farke’s job now until the season ends, to keep pushing the players to continue playing enjoyable attacking football and keep their morale up.

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Lastly, the manager himself has to be applauded for giving the premier league this season a good fight. It’s strange to say I know because looking at the table Norwich City have been the worst team, and yes, they have been at the bottom of the table since matchweek 20 out of 38 and have been in the relegation zone since week 8! These statistics don’t look good, in fact they look dreadful. But everything should be in the context of the team Farke has to play with - his denial to play ugly football even with the squad he has should be celebrated instead of mocked, for not being able to change the way his team plays. How easy it could have been to turn into another low table team scraping ugly result after ugly result. But they play attacking football and live by these rules. And these days that’s how great teams are made, look at Pep Guardiola or Jürgen Klopp, they play their way of football, and their way of football only. My second point to why I like Daniel Farke is his calm demeanour. This is a debatable point, I don’t know what he is like behind the scenes, he could be a moody downer, who knows. Maybe he also steels candy from children. These are maybes but in reality, highly unlikely. We can often get signs when players are fed up with the manager and Norwich are not making any of those signs. From what I can see from Farke in his press conferences and post-match interviews, he comes across as optimistic but also realistic, and not a 'character' unlike other managers. He doesn’t come out bullish like Mourinho, but also doesn’t make me sleep like when Puel was at Leicester City. His interviews could have been used as a form of ASMR. I’m glad to see Norwich stick by Farke as their manager, he is building a team in his image, and a team that’s exciting to watch.

Photo provided through Norwich City's official website

To wrap up, Norwich - all things considered are in a good position. Their team, give or take a few players, will probably be sticking together when they’re relegated. And the team spirit seems to still be on a high level despite the position they occupy. The manager is also having them play exciting football which I’m sure the team can get behind. Much like when Burnley went down in the 14/15 season, Norwich are in a safe position to come back up again, even if their play style is different the style of football has been clearly imposed on the team. Again to link back to Burnley, when they spent their one season back in the Championship it was very much a team with Sean Dyche’s fingerprints all over it; this Norwich team will be a Daniel Farke team through and through and will be ready to fight again and maybe come back to the Premier League a better team. I’d recommend some new attacking players to help make them more clinical, I can't deny they need better end product, and they should consider adding reinforcements in defence. Norwich will be a team to reckoned with in the Championship next year. I feel we will be seeing them back in the Premier League sooner rather than later.