Have we just witnessed the best Norwich City performance of the season so far?
I think the answer to that is probably “Yes.” Credit where credit is due and I have to hand it to Daniel Farke here, he got his tactics spot on.
I don’t think that too many people gave the Canaries much of a chance ahead of the visit of Middlesbrough. We’ve been conceding goals and they had kept five clean sheets in a row, not a recipe for a home win but that’s what we got.
So, back to rating the players. Alex Tettey was given the sponsor’s man of the match award and I don’t think I could argue with that too much. He was at his strong, athletic, destructive best and had more shots on target than anybody else!
There were other candidates as well though. The recalled Christoph Zimmermann was terrific alongside the equally good Timm Klose.
Both our young full backs, Jamal Lewis and Max Aarons were superb and Ivo Pinto surely has a big scrap on his hands to get his starting position back from Max.
Moritz Leitner was the conductor, always wanting the ball and making some great passes, especially in the second half. He also had a running battle with Adam Clayton, a player I have a slightly irrational dislike of and finally, it was a winning goal from Teemu Pukki that secured the points. After a tough couple of games away with Finland, Pukki put in a real shift which was a major part of the plan to harass the ‘Boro giants at the back.
As ever, light up the stars as you see fit.
OTBC