David Wagner will be hoping his Norwich City side can wrestle control of the narrative as Daniel Farke returns for his Carrow Road homecoming with Leeds.
Much of the pre-match debate and discourse has been dominated by Farke’s return to NR1, both in his press conferences and among supporters. That comes at a time when Norwich are struggling to put their best foot forward.
One win in six matches is an alarming statistic that is in desperate need of, firstly halting, and then correcting in the weeks ahead. Norwich have to make sure the day ends with the spotlight on them rather than Farke.
That was the message from Wagner at his pre-match press conference when asked about Farke’s return. Irrespective of his achievements at Carrow Road, he is now the manager of Leeds and Norwich have a mission of their own to shake off their disappointing form.
“Obviously, he had a good time here. I haven’t met him often,” Wagner told the Pink Un. “I have met him only once in a friendly when we played Schalke against Norwich – this was the only time.
“He followed me when I left Dortmund’s second team and I know more his assistant Chris Domogalla. He was in the backroom team as head of performance at Dortmund. I worked with him for one, maybe two, years. I know him better.
“I know how it feels to come back, I experienced twice with Huddersfield. At the end of the day, he is the Leeds United manager and we face Leeds United – our aim, especially at home, is to show and get back to our best.”
City’s boss knows what it is like to return to a former employer – Wagner has now been back to Huddersfield twice and remains unbeaten.
Similarly to Farke, he shared many successful moments and a special connection with the home support at the John Smith’s Stadium, but didn’t possess that desperation or need to cap off the day with a victory.
“Every individual is different. I can only speak about myself – for me it was more from you guys in the media that it was something special,” he said.
“For me, it was more about coming back to a place where I spent nearly four years and saw a lot of familiar faces and stepping back into the environment. This was more the emotional part of it. You go back into a stadium where you once a major part of it. That idea that ‘it is them and this is a team that I’m desperate to beat’, was more from the media.
“From my side, it was more the emotional and personal things which I was looking forward to and was nice because I was there for a while.
“When you come back after such a long time, it was less about the football.”
At present, Norwich and Leeds feel like two sides with very different feelings surrounding their fanbases and direction of travel.
After a chaotic opening at Elland Road, Farke has got Leeds upwardly mobile and charmed supporters with his rhetoric and intelligent messaging. Norwich, on the other hand, feel like they are losing their grip on the top six after a positive start.
In reality, the teams are just two points apart. That is another aspect of the narrative that Norwich are looking to seize control of in the 90 minutes at Carrow Road this afternoon – the one that is being used to measure their progress and feels increasingly pessimistic about their prospects.
“You have seen that they were quite active in the transfer window and then everything needs to click together and that takes time,” Wagner said.
"Offensively, they have a lot of individual quality and collectively as well. As so often for us, whoever the opponent is, we are aware of their strengths and idea of football but we have to look after ourselves to be at our best.”
After a fortnight pause for internationals, Norwich are thrust into a hectic period that will see them play three games in the next seven days.
Leeds is just the start. Norwich welcome Middlesbrough to Carrow Road on Tuesday before a trip to Sunderland.
These are all teams tipped to be in amongst the top-six conversation come the end of the season. It will perhaps define the mood around his Norwich side.
“They are super challenging games. Not only these three but Blackburn afterwards and Cardiff – they are great games that we have in front of us.
“They will be very challenging as the first games were, in the Championship there is no easy games. We know the phrase,” Wagner said. “What we are really looking forward to is playing at home. We haven’t had a lot of home games, especially with the cup draws.
“The home games that we’ve had have been good with a great atmosphere, togetherness and a lot of camaraderie in the stands and on the pitch. This energy is exactly what we want to create and want to have again.”
The phoney war is over. Norwich have a chance to alter the narrative that surrounds them on the pitch this afternoon – they know they must overcome a familiar foe to do so. Wagner is hoping the rest proves to be noise.
A minute of silence will be held before kick-off today to remember innocent victims of the ongoing events in Israel and Palestine. Players from both sides will also wear black armbands.
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