Daniel Farke: Promotion Not Realistic

[Dave]

Championship leaders Norwich are "overachieving", according to manager Daniel Farke, and promotion is still unrealistic despite a growing list of admirers that includes Jurgen Klopp.

James Maddison's departure for the Premier League followed an uninspiring 14th-place finish in Farke's first season in charge, with sporting director Stuart Webber admitting it would not have been a "surprise" if the club had sacked their German manager.

But eight wins out of their last nine games has put the Canaries top after 21 games and ahead of early-season favourites Leeds United heading into Saturday's match against Bristol City, live on Sky Sports.

Farke, though, remains unconvinced.

"It [promotion] is not realistic because there are bigger clubs with bigger names," he told Sky Sports News.

The former Borussia Dortmund reserve team manager says "so many things have to come together" to get out of the Championship and into the promise land of the Premier League, but that they could be having a "special year".

"The sky is the limit in football," he says. "Everything is possible."

Relegation from the top flight in May 2016 was followed by "wasted" parachute payments, according to Webber.

But Farke has combined savvy recruitment with a faith in young players.

"There was a lot of financial pressure and we had to sell some of our best players," he said. "We had to go our way with many academy products, of course money helps to add some quality."

Midfield recruit Mario Vrancic was Klopp's very own "Mario Gotze" at Mainz, the now Liverpool boss recently revealed, adding that he is always looking out for Norwich's results to see how his ex-players are doing - which also includes Moritz Leitner, Marco Stiepermann and Felix Passlack.

Jurgen Klopp's admission he keeps a close eye on his former players at Norwich is added motivation for them, says manager Daniel Farke.

Farke said Klopp's "nice words" would provide added "confidence and motivation" for his players.

"It's good they know Jurgen doesn't forget his old players," the Norwich boss said.

And Farke is keen his Canaries do not begin to flap.

"We are always greedy and want to improve," he said. "We're overachieving in terms of our expectations from the beginning of the season because we all know this club had three difficult years with relegation and mid-finish table in the Championship.

"We know there are bigger names, bigger clubs in this league with more opportunities and we know we were not favourites.

"It doesn't mean we have less ambition and less greedy so we want to go further on and enjoy the moment."

[AMG]

Let's get to the playoffs, and we'll see from there. 

But saying that you are not even aspiring to be in the top 6, well fuck off, then. 

 

Also, reading between the lines, this means we're going to sell a few quality players, and not buy anything good in particular.

 

Really dislike both the current owner as well as the manager, both of whom Marc happens to be a fan of. 

[Stan]

12 hours ago, AMG said:

Let's get to the playoffs, and we'll see from there. 

But saying that you are not even aspiring to be in the top 6, well fuck off, then. 

 

Also, reading between the lines, this means we're going to sell a few quality players, and not buy anything good in particular.

 

Really dislike both the current owner as well as the manager, both of whom Marc happens to be a fan of. 

I think it's keeping the team grounded, and not letting them get too excited. With a collective spirit, keeping their feet on the ground means they shouldn't get complacent and continue to win as a team or lose as a team. 

Using our own experience a few seasons ago, Ranieri constantly said 40 points is the target even when we were consistently near the top of the league. It's making sure the players don't get too excited about the position they're in, otherwise that can lead to collapses of epic proportions and then embarrassingly finishing the seaosn off with a whimper.

[Smiley Culture]

Playing it down, clever. They seem quite intent on being the “underdogs” and are seemingly quite happy with that tag so now changing their approach and considering themselves as contenders would be silly, IMO. 

[AMG]

17 hours ago, Cannabis said:

They'd only come back down again.

 

You cheeky cunt

[AMG]

And again!

This is how you keep the pressure off you. This is class. Not like Bielsa, who claims he "deserves promotion"

 

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/daniel-farke-issues-somewhat-surprising-norwich-city-promotion-claim/