Norwich vs Arsenal: Daniel Farke explains his desire to 'climb Everest' twice at Carrow Road
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Sunday 1 December 2019 14:19, UK
Taking a moment out of preparations to host Arsenal on Super Sunday, Norwich boss Daniel Farke sat down with Sky Sports to explain what inspired him to attempt "climbing Everest" at Carrow Road - twice.
"I had easier options than this job," says the manager, speaking candidly. "If I wanted to create and reach realistic targets, I could have worked for a tax company!"
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Farke has not given much regard to Norwich's situation since he joined in 2017. Under financial pressures he calls "unbelievable", with his best players sold, he led the Canaries to a club record-breaking promotion back to the Premier League in May, in only his second season.
The 43-year-old is hoping to make a career out of performing miracles to keep the club in the top flight on a shoestring budget, and moved back within four points of safety with a 2-0 win at Everton last weekend to end a run of seven games without a league win.
The Premier League does not let up though. Now Arsenal, perhaps rejuvenated with Freddie Ljungberg in the dugout, stand in his way at Carrow Road live on Sky Sports Premier League at 2pm.
Farke is too busy relishing the next fight to worry too much about the last one, although keeping his players' heads up in a young dressing room in a trying period of results is less straightforward.
"I'm a coach who wants to implement a special philosophy, a special style to a club," he tells Sky Sports. "I don't want to be like a flag in the wind one day like this and one day like the other, praying for a few points. Sometimes at this level we have to, sadly, work within this pressure in your day to day work, and that's quite normal.
"When you speak about teams who are experienced in the fight against relegation, the teams are used to handling this kind of situation. The teams who are not so experienced in this sort of thing have more difficulties to handle the pressure and the disappointments.
"Our players were praised so much over the previous season, winning the title with a record tally, nearly 100 goals, and to handle this situation in the best situation it's quite normal where in the best league in the world, it's quite normal to have a few losses in a row, but for a young side it's not easy.
"So it's important that we not only speak about this, but make sure that I don't lose my nerve too. It's important they feel my trust and support, but also a few demands too. We do have several key, experienced players in our group that I know we can trust. The whole club has to create the atmosphere, me as a head coach is quite important, but we have some experience of key players too.
"I never choose the easiest option. I was a competitor as a football player and I'm a competitor as a coach. I always look for a challenge. Maybe it's part of my mentality to create something special."
Whatever happens next, he's already done that. When Farke took over at Norwich barely two years ago they were going nowhere, haemorrhaging money. Within weeks of taking over, he had to sell two of his best players, Graham Dorrans and Jonny Howson, without kicking a ball. Making ends meet was the first priority, but that didn't put off the inexperienced German. He already had bigger ideas.
"Since the first day I've had pressure, at first to stabilise the club, to sell our best players, to develop and improve players too, but also to create this big sensation which we were able to do by winning the Championship," he said. "It would be quite normal if we go back to the Championship, but I want to create another sensation with this club, the people around the club deserve it.
"The most important thing is the next three points, at the end of the day. But I try to handle the balance between working methodically and finding that next win. To handle the situation here, under financial pressure, not being a native speaker, was the biggest task. But I was looking forward to being there and showing myself in this challenge. If you are capable of dealing with this, there is nothing to fear on this level of world football.
"It was the most interesting challenge I could have had. A club under unbelievable financial pressure, a club that wants to create a new philosophy, identity, I think I was the first head coach from outside of the UK, a pretty emotional club with a big history and of course, the fans were greedy and hopeful that the successful times would come back.
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"When I spoke to the owners, it felt like exactly the club where I wanted to be and I'm unbelievably thankful and blessed to work in this role.
"If I wanted to create and reach realistic targets, I wouldn't have become a manager, I would have worked for a tax company. With all respects to that job, it's a great job, sometimes you want to create something special in football, that's why you start to play and why you want to be a head coach."
Finding that next win has been difficult. Norwich's young side, who had racked up almost 100 points in their Championship-winning season, came unstuck on a run of seven winless games after stunning Manchester City in September.
Suddenly their ingrained philosophy of playing out from the back and playing an intricate passing game, which sporting director Stuart Webber had spoken so highly about early in the season, looked to be taking them on a one-way ticket back to the Championship. Injuries have more than played their part too, and keeping up the spirits of such an inexperienced team was yet another challenge for the man at the top.
But Farke has worked too hard to get his side where they are than to avoid being pragmatic. Against Everton last weekend, Norwich's first win since that Manchester City game, the Canaries played more than double the number of long passes than they have on average in their other games.
Their first goal was forged from one, and allowed them to grab a second in second-half injury time as Everton pressed forward, to move them back within four points of safety coming into tomorrow's game at Carrow Road. Emi Buendia was also dropped for the first time this season, in a big call to leave out one of Norwich's more influential players from the early weeks of the season.
"We didn't change our philosophy," Farke insists. "Football is always fluid, and it was a bit difficult to handle our first games where we had nearly no centre-back, had to play without our club captain Grant Hanley and our most experienced defender Timm Klose.
"The only available centre-back, Ben Godfrey, had to play for several weeks knowing he needed hernia surgery, and had to play on while hardly being able to train. Defensive stability is key, it was 30 years ago and it will be in 30 years, but it's difficult when your hands are tied.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself to create the next miracle. Our sporting director Stewart created this picture to climb Mount Everest last season, and now we will have to climb it again."
It's easy to forget where Norwich have come from in the last two years when you look at their league position inside the bottom three, but if anyone is well-placed to beat the odds, Farke's young side have plenty of experience in that. And just maybe Arsenal will find that out on Super Sunday.
