Norwich spent the whole of the summer transfer window trying to sign a central defender but somehow managed to sign none. Andre Wisdom was the only defensive signing that was made, which was surprising. Coming into the January window it was blatantly clear that Norwich had made a huge mistake in the summer, if it wasn’t already clear as soon as the window closed.
Alex Neil was not prepared to let this happen again in the January window. He made his intentions clear as he set his sights on a central defender. Andrea Ranocchia was the first target as Norwich were able to agree a fee with Inter but were unable to agree terms with the player.
This meant that Norwich needed another target. Timm Klose was that man. The move seemed to move pretty quickly as Norwich seemed to sign him before the papers had much time to even link him to the club.
Klose joined from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for, what some reported, as a club record £9.1m fee. Fans were delighted to see a proven central defender brought in, well at least I was.
Neil made Klose sit on the bench as he played Russell Martin at the back ahead of him against Liverpool. Martin put on an attacking masterclass as he was influential in helping Liverpool score four goals, however, he wasn’t able to claim for their fifth goal which I’m sure he will be disappointed with. His through ball for James Milner was one of the best passes I’ve seen at Carrow Road.
So, that brings us to Tuesday night. Norwich hosted Spurs at Carrow Road and Timm Klose was making his debut alongside Sebastien Bassong, someone Klose won’t want to play alongside anytime soon.
It was a poor start for Norwich as they conceded after just over a minute. Klose actually made a good block in the build-up to the goal. Yet, Norwich’s failure to clear their lines made his good work go wasted. Declan Rudd made a good save from Eriksen but Bassong failed to switch on and gave Dele Alli a fantastic chance to score, which he did.
Tottenham’s second goal was when Bassong felled Alli in the area and the third came when Martin Olsson dawdled on the ball, which allowed Eriksen to win it back and send Harry Kane through to score.
So, we have already established that Klose was in no way at fault for any of the goals, but what else did he do in the match?
Before we get into the cold hard stats, there is one thing I noticed myself; he actually talks. I could see straight from the off that he was ordering around the other players and leading from the back. Not only that but he was spurring his teammates on and trying to encourage them to up their game. I have seen Russell Martin and Sebastien Bassong enough times to know that neither of them do anything like this at all. In fact, one thing that I found interesting was that Klose screamed at Bassong four times to mark a player and Bassong still left him. That player then picked the ball up in a dangerous position. Klose then had a go at Bassong for not listening. Things like this are fantastic to see in a defender.You can also use that as back-up to the opinion Bassong isn’t good enough at the back.
Now to some of the stats. Klose won 5 out of the six tackles that he attempted. Straight away you could tell he was a strong tackler and he had a very good technique in his tackle. By this I mean that he is no Alex Tettey who throws his foot in and hopes the ball is there. Klose also pinned Kane when he had the ball and gave him no time to run with it when he was near him, something Bassong and Pinto failed to do.
Klose also won every single one of his aerial duels against Harry Kane, who is no mug in the air. He looked confident and strong when going for the ball and actually got distance and direction on his headers, which can’t be said for Martin and Bassong this season.
Another couple of things that I noticed in his play was that he read the game well and was composed on the ball. He made some good interceptions and blocks and swept up behind Bassong on a number of occasions when Bassong missed the ball. Klose then played some good passes and didn’t just hoof the ball forward. He was trying to play from the back, which is something Norwich have failed to do this season.
I think he will be pivotal if Norwich are to stay up this season and in my opinion, will go on to be a fantastic signing for the club.
What did you make of his performance?
