When Norwich made the decision to bring in the unknown quantity that was Daniel Farke to become the new Head Coach in the summer, many fans were expecting to see the Canaries contending for promotion.
Fans of teams marooned in the Championship were forced to sit idly by as Huddersfield, relegation favourites at the start of last season, defied the odds under former Borussia Dortmund reserves manager David Wagner to secure a historic promotion to the Premier League.
Perhaps the Norwich hierarchy had bought in slightly too much to his success as they went out and immediately fired Wagner’s successor with the Dortmund reserves in Farke, and they’ve yet to reap the same rewards.
As we approach the mid-point of the Championship season, Norwich sit 16th in the table with just eight wins in 24 games, 11 points adrift of the play-off places.
While Wagner’s Huddersfield side were notoriously hard to beat and defensive stout, they were able to carve out enough goalscoring opportunities every week to maintain their momentum and Farke’s side just don’t have the same cutting edge.
With just 23 goals in 24 games so far this season, only Birmingham and Burton Albion, two of the three sides in the relegation zone, have found the net less often than Norwich, and therein lies the problem. Visit these betting sites for the best odds on the weekend’s football.
A lack of investment cannot be used as an excuse either. Norwich recouped close to £20m in the summer through the sales of Jacob Murphy, Jonny Howson and Graham Dorrans, in addition to freeing up significant room in the wage budget with Steven Whittaker, Kyle Lafferty and Ryan Bennett released, to name just a few.
Their response to this? A lackluster investment of just £10m into the playing staff, with no senior attacker brought into the squad leaving a heavy load on the shoulders of Nelson Oliveira, last season’s top scorer with 15 goals in all competitions.
Farke had the entire summer to assess his squad and figure out where he needed to improve and his failure to adequately do so has left the Canaries short-handed in attack and it’s left them with their hands tied.
Barring a remarkable turnaround in the second half of the season, Norwich will not be close to the promotion mix and will have to endure yet another season in England’s second tier which will ultimately pile the pressure back on Farke as fans are already beginning to question whether he’s the right man for the job.
Norwich travel to face Burton Albion on Saturday before hosting Millwall at Carrow Road on New Year’s day. Six points are needed.
Failure to take advantage of these favourable fixtures as we enter the New Year could be the end of the 41-year-old’s tenure. It really is make or break.
