Daniel Farke has been instrumental in transforming Norwich City’s fortunes after taking over the reins at the start of the last season. His first season at Carrow Road wasn’t a huge success, finishing 14th in the standings with 15 wins and 15 draws but the former coach of Borussia Dortmund’s reserves has really turned it around for the Canaries this season.
Norwich currently sit atop the Championship standings with 43 points from 21 games, just a point clear of Leeds United who are 2nd in the points table. As things stand, the Canaries have a realistic chance of securing automatic promotion to the Premier League this season if they can continue their impressive run of form.
Norwich’s free-flowing and attacking brand of football under Daniel Farke has been a treat to watch, with Aston Villa and West Brom being the only teams to have outscored them so far.
And much of the goalscoring burden has been shouldered by the talismanic Teemu Pukki who has led Norwich’s surge to the top of the table, scoring 12 goals from 18 appearances. Onel Hernandez, Jordan Rhodes, Marco Stiepermann and Mario Vrancic have chipped in with valuable goals and assists but the Finnish striker continues to be the go-to man for Daniel Farke.
Despite boasting of some quality attackers in their ranks, Norwich can do their chances of securing automatic promotion a world of good by adding a few fresh faces in January.
The Canaries boast of some high-profile German footballers like Marco Stiepermann, Moritz Leitner, Onel Hernandez, Tom Trybull and Christoph Zimmermann in their ranks. And hence, Farke should pursue an interest in Borussia Monchengladbach’s Patrick Hermann ahead of the mid-season trading period.
The 27-year-old Patrick Hermann has been a seasoned campaigner in the Bundesliga for Borussia Monchengladbach. An academy graduate of Monchengladbach, Hermann made his debut make in 2010 and has made a total of 280 appearances for the club across all competitions, amassing 44 goals and 47 assists.
A hugely successful 2014-15 season in the Bundesliga where he accumulated 11 goals and 4 assists, earned him a call-up to Germany’s national team. Hermann has represented Germany at all youth levels, earning a total of 50 caps from the U16 to the U21 level.
Essentially a right-winger by trade, Hermann is a tactically versatile attacker who can play down the left and also through the centre of a 4-2-3-1 formation. He is not an Olympic sprinter by any means but he has the pace and the trickery to torment defences and creates chances for his teammates from the wide areas.
The 27-year-old is known for his ability to set up goals with accurate pull-backs into the box from the sidelines and also has the tendency to drift to the central areas to make runs behind the backline, providing the team with an extra attacking option behind the centre-forward.
Furthermore, he is a good reader of the game and is also adept at putting away the chances that come his way.
Hence, Hermann has got all the experience in the world to make Norwich City all the more formidable an outfit in the Championship and a player of his class will definitely help the Canaries in their bid for automatic promotion.