After Norwich City's dramatic 3-2 victory over Derby County, Connor Southwell looks at six things you might have missed from Pride Park.
1 – Hat-trick hero
After a day of controversy and chaos, it is Borja Sainz’s hat-trick that will come to dominate headlines.
The Spaniard became the first Norwich City player to score a hat-trick since Teemu Pukki’s three goals against Huddersfield Town in a 7-0 demolition back in April 2021.
The history books have to be flicked back to March 2018 for the last time a Norwich player completed a hat-trick away from home, with James Maddison achieving that feat in a 4-3 defeat to Hull.
Maddison’s hat-trick included two penalties, meaning Efan Ekoku’s famous four-goal haul at Everton in September 1993 is the last time it was done consisting of purely open play goals.
Sainz is the first to complete an open-play hat-trick away from home in the second tier since Mel Machin in a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in October 1974. It was a day to cherish for the 23-year-old, who confirmed post-match it was the first of his career.
It comes after some conversations surrounding his output and two weeks after a profligate display away at Swansea.
Sainz is an agent of chaos for City. His brilliance in front of goal at Pride Park came alongside the lowest pass completion rate of any Norwich starter and miscontrolled the ball more than any of his colleagues.
That feeds into the work that Johannes Hoff Throup will still want to do with him, but Sainz has already matched his goal return from last season.
2 – Showing the way, Jose
It is little coincidence that Norwich City’s uplift in attacking output has coincided with Jose Cordoba’s introduction to their backline.
That statement within itself is an illustration of how influential those in City’s defence have become to the creation of their attacking situations from deep. Callum Doyle has earned similar praise for his progressive passing ability.
Cordoba has been pivotal to City’s progression of the ball up the pitch. No player has done it more through passes or carries per 90 than the Panamanian in the Championship so far – albeit his data sample is small.
His inclusion in City’s side has enabled Norwich to be more aggressive with the high positioning of their back line due to Cordoba’s ability to defend in large spaces and sweeper-like qualities.
No City player had more touches than Cordoba (97) during this encounter. Only Kenny McLean had more of the ball in the middle third than the defender. He has become an intrinsic part to the execution of Johannes Hoff Thorup’s game model.
Cordoba and Norwich also have Shane Duffy’s improvement to thank for their progress.
After a shaky start to the campaign against Oxford and Blackburn, Duffy has grown into the campaign effectively and has gone under the radar in terms of his work in possession.
That is a partnership beginning to blossom.
3 – Fortress breached
Norwich have become the first team to taste victory at Pride Park since Charlton Athletic recorded a 2-1 win over Paul Warne’s side in February.
The Rams have built something of a fortress at home. Their last seven matches at Pride Park have been won by an aggregate score of 12-0. That spans the run-in of their League One automatic promotion-winning campaign.
So far this season, Warne’s side have beaten Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Cardiff in their opening three matches, for City to breach the fortress and depart with maximum points is a testament to their performance level.
Derby are the strongest side in the Championship on set-pieces and amassed the bulk of their expected goals via that source.
With swirling feelings of injustice engulfing Pride Park throughout half-time, an early reaction was to be expected. Unlike periods of passivity that left Thorup frustrated against Watford, Norwich rode the storm with more confidence.
With over 28,000 inside the stadium, including 2,800 City supporters, it was evidence that Norwich can find different ways to win rather than the domination displayed against Watford.
Given that context, it is a statement win on the way to further improvement.
Norwich City have scored 11 goals in the Championship so far this season, only three have come without either Borja Sainz or Josh Sargent as the goal scorer or assist maker.
Only West Brom’s Josh Maja (seven) has netted on more occasions than Sainz in the Championship season, whilst only Tom Fellows (five) has more assists than Sargent. The American international has five goal contributions despite only netting twice.
In his post-match reflections whilst holding the match ball, Sainz was quick to thank Sargent for the part he played in his first-career hat-trick.
Given the exit of both Gabriel Sara and Jonathan Rowe with the goals that followed the duo out of the door, the growth of Sainz in particular has been welcomed, even if Thorup feels there is another level for him to reach.
Sargent has already recorded more assists than he did for the entirety of last season. His work rate, physicality and athleticism is proving pivotal to City’s attacking phases of play.
The challenge for Thorup is to unlock goals from other areas to relieve some of the reliance already building on Sainz and Sargent.
It might not be of the standard that Shearer and Sutton famously produced for Blackburn Rovers in their Premier League title-winning campaign, but City’s SAS is proving to be just as important.
Since his arrival at Norwich City, Johannes Hoff Thorup has spoken consistently about the importance of gradual improvement.
Amid challenges, public sagas and setbacks, Thorup has committed to implementing his game model while introducing different structures, such as inverting full-backs, build-up structures, and attacking rotations.
After last weekend, there was a want to prove they could put results together but dig deeper into the underlying performance data and it documents Norwich’s improvement over the last few weeks.
In five of their seven Championship matches, City have boasted a higher expected goals for rate than against, showing that they consistently create better chances than the opposition.
In the last six games in all competitions, they’ve enjoyed more possession than their opponents. They rank among the very best for spells with the ball in the entire Championship.
Thorup promised that City’s performance and growth would be notable by October during those testing early weeks of the campaign and so it has proven. Now they’ve taken nine points from a possible 12 – results are beginning to follow.
The reaction of the Canaries supporters during the process has shown they are willing to buy into the Dane’s ideas, even if they aren’t fully formed at this embryonic stage of the season and his reign.
But slowly, improvement is being noticed. The mission now is to keep the wheel turning in the right direction.
Daniel Farke will return to Carrow Road with Leeds United for the third time on Tuesday, and the first since their play-off semi-final triumph over Norwich City in May.
The German is under pressure to deliver promotion at Elland Road this season after their Wembley heartbreak and Leeds are the firm favourites with most to win the Championship title.
Farke achieved that feat twice during his successful spell at Carrow Road. It is why he remains a popular figure in Norfolk even in spite of plotting their downfall in May.
That 4-0 defeat at Elland Road came just 137 days ago. Norwich will be desperate to prove the gap between the teams has closed significantly since that night which ultimately ended David Wagner’s reign as Canaries' boss.
Johannes Hoff Thorup, like Farke did in 2017, has hit reset and is attempting to tell a new story at Carrow Road. One consisting of possession-based football and young talent to achieve success.
Some City supporters have identified similarities between the pair, but Thorup will be out to prove his current offering is capable of competing against the best in the Championship.
Another result and performance would continue to fuel the belief that something special could be forming under the Dane, but Farke’s side will be out to show their own strength.
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