Buendia belter gives Farke a lift
NORWICH boss Daniel Farke said he was delighted to come through a “complicated game” as his side saw off Swansea at Carrow Road.
The Swans had looked the better side in the first half, but failed to make it count and Norwich showed them how to do it with a beautifully-taken winner nine minutes after the restart.
Winger Onel Hernandez picked the ball up on the left and, after biding his time, picked out Emi Buendia on the edge of the box and the little Argentine then showed his quality by beating Matt Grimes before unleashing a superb shot into the roof of the net.
The Swans never looked like coming back from that setback and, in the end, the victory could have been more emphatic, with top scorer Teemu Pukki hitting a post.
“This was a very different game to the ones we have had recently,” said Farke. “We were up against the best side we have faced for a long time and full credit to Graham Potter and his team.
“They made it very difficult for us with the way they passed the ball and pressed us, especially in the first half.
“But we managed to improve our performance levels in the second half and managed to find a solution to the problem to win a very complicated game. We scored an excellent goal and protected our lead very well.
“It was a great goal by Emi, a good first touch and then an outstanding strike. That just goes to show the sort of quality he has.”
From the moment the lively Daniel James closed down keeper Tim Krul in the third minute and almost deflected the ball in, the Swans looked comfortable, and it wasn’t long before Krul needed to make a smart stop to foil the same player.
Nothing of any note was seen of Norwich until just past the half-hour mark when Pukki fired Buendia’s pass wide.
Krul again needed to be alert to tip over a long-range effort from Bersant Celina that took a nasty deflection.
Norwich took the lead with their first decent effort of the match after 54 minutes through Buendia, which was rough justice on Swansea.
The goal gave the Canaries a lift and it took a good block from Cameron Carter-Vickers to keep out Marco Stiepermann’s shot. There was a late scare for Norwich when Mike van der Hoorn got his head on a corner, but the defender failed to get his effort on target.
Visiting boss Graham Potter was pleased with his side’s efforts.
“It was a performance the players can be proud of,” he said. “We were up against a good side, but we restricted them to very few opportunities and had a few chances ourselves.
“We were always in the game, although we didn’t really do enough in the final third to get a result.
“Norwich are a top side, with a lot of good players and have got a good chance.”