Norwich City: View from the opposition
Ahead of Liverpool's Anfield clash with Norwich City this afternoon, we spoke to former Canaries striker Dean Ashton about what Liverpool can expect from the league newcomers.
Tell us about Norwich - they’ve had a couple of Premier League victories so far, including the win over Bournemouth last week which will have put them in a fairly confident place heading to Anfield…
Definitely, it’s given everybody a massive boost. I went to the Bournemouth game and they were superb. I was expecting Bournemouth to get the ball down and play but Norwich didn’t allow them to with the system they had, especially in midfield. I thought they were excellent and it will give them a massive boost because it had been a sort of stuttering start. I fully expect them to go to Anfield full of confidence, although I’m sure they will know it’s a massive task still.
Wes Hoolahan and Cameron Jerome are always the players that grab a lot of attention for Norwich. Which players could cause Liverpool problems besides them?
I like the way Norwich set up away from home, with two more defensive-minded players. Alexander Tettey has been brilliant but ahead of that they have got pace on the counter-attack. There’s Nathan Redmond on one side and now Matt Jarvis, who has come in from West Ham United, on the other. Jerome has plenty of pace but it’s all about Hoolahan, for me. He is the main player for Norwich City and the man that links everything together and everything goes through him. If they can get him on the ball and in the right areas then he can cause some problems.
Will Norwich go to Anfield thinking a draw would be a good result or will they feel they can get more than that?
A draw would be a fantastic result, but I think teams believe they can go to Anfield and get a victory. If you look at the way Bournemouth played, I watched that game and they were excellent and probably should have got a point. As a player you go there, even though you are an opposition player, you want to touch the sign [‘This Is Anfield’] as you go down the stairs because there’s something magical about Anfield. There’s no Luis Suarez for Norwich to fear anymore, because he scored so many goals against them, and they will go there full of confidence.