FARKE GOES MAD FOR KID JAMES...
NORWICH City boss Daniel Farke believes the Championship should be “thankful” for boasting a rising star of James Maddison’s quality.
The impressive 21-year-old won one penalty and scored another as the Canaries came from a goal down to earn a share of the spoils against promotion-chasing Derby.
Matej Vydra emphatically fired the Rams into an early lead before Maddison took the game by the scruff of the neck and netted a second-half spot-kick.
The midfielder had also won a penalty before the break, only to see team-mate Nelson Oliveira’s effort saved by former England man Scott Carson.
“James Maddison is an outstanding player and he is playing so well,” said Farke. “We should be thankful he is playing in the Championship.
“He has signed a contract and I learned at school that you fulfil that contract. But I’m not naïve, I know about business and if he grows quicker than the club we will see what happens in the summer.
“But I always say life is too short, so my focus is working with James for the next few months.”
The German reckons his side, who are now unbeaten in four league games, should have claimed all three points.
“The result is a scandal,” he added. “Normally this would be a good result for us but we had so many chances and they had nothing after their goal.”
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors following a mistake at the back by Marcus Olsson on eight minutes. Oliveira stole possession off the left-back, before forcing a fine, low save from Carson.
But the first goal came at the other end on 12 minutes – and courtesy of the Championship’s top goalscorer. Matej Vydra turned on a neat pass from Ikechi Anya and the Czech forward brilliantly shrugged off his marker before curling the ball home from the edge of the box.
The Canaries were controversially awarded a penalty in the 39th minute when Maddison appeared to be caught late by Carson after the midfielder had drifted into the area. Initially, referee Jeremy Simpson pointed for a Norwich corner but after consulting with his assistant, he pointed to the spot and booked the Rams goalkeeper. It mattered little though as Oliveira’s weak penalty was easily saved.
Derby came within inches of extending their advantage on the hour-mark. Tom Lawrence whipped in a cross and centre-back Curtis Davies’s thumping header dropped on to the top of the net.
Norwich continuously posed a threat in attack and both Oliveira and Josh Murphy went close with fizzing efforts. And the visitors were rewarded for their endeavor when they were given a second bite of the cherry from 12 yards. Oliveira was tripped in the area and this time Maddison stepped up to send Carson the wrong way.
The stalemate sees the Rams extend their unbeaten run to 12 league matches, but boss Gary Rowett was left disappointed.
“We are fortunate to have kept our unbeaten run going because we lacked spark and energy. Norwich were better than us and they have moved the ball better than we have too,” he said.
“That is the poorest we have been for a while. We started well, went a goal up but then our play seemed to lack any intensity. We seemed to play a bit negatively. Overall we were very, very poor.”