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Again unseasonably warm here in Norwich so still no need for woolly hat and gloves for the ride down to CR. It was announced that Mark Attanasio was here with his family and they received generous applause when introduced to the crowd. Before kick off we were treated to a splendid Rememberance Day rendition of The Last Post from a member of the City staff and as the last strains died away I couldn't help but wonder if there might not be something of a prophetic message hidden here. Boro certainly began with a bang and a City player had barely touched the ball before a cross from the right was nodded narrowly over the bar. I was aware that Boro had come into a run of good form and from the off they looked neat and tidy and comfortable in possession. City finally got some decent play going after five minutes when Ramsey got the better of a tackle in centre field and made progress towards goal. Pukki was available to his left and a nice ball left him with a chance that on other days he would have netted with ease but he's lost a bit of sharpness this season and could only direct the ball at the keepers legs and away. A couple of minutes later the lively Sara combined with Max down the City right and a cut back slipped beyond Pukki only for Kenny to clip the ball across to Sargent who's powerful low strike found the far corner. City were buzzing now and the visitors needed all hands to the pump to prevent a second goal. More neat play down the right led to Ramsey dragging the ball past a couple of defenders before unleashing an on target effort that Steffen in the Boro goal could only parry and a defender had to nod away with Pukki lurking. A good opening twenty minutes ought to have brought more than one goal but Boro survived the onslaught and began to get the reward for some decent possession. Thankfully crosses in to the box were being well dealt with by the City central defence at this stage but the margin of comfort was rather slim. The home side still appeared to carry the greater threat in front of goal and Sara nearly sneaked a second when turning on Kenny's knockdown and scuffing the ball just over the top. You could feel thethe crowd beginning to get edgey as the balance of play continued to alter in Boro's favour and I for one was more than happy to herarthe halftime whistle and preserve the lead. I expect they got a bit of a rocket in the dressing room because they set off the second period at a faster clip and only a flying save by Steffen prevented Josh Sargent from nailing a second. Unfortunately the home side couldn't sustain it and Boro were soon back dominating proceedings as the City were forced to back pedal. A couple of times crosses went right across the City six yard line without anyone getting a touch and it was plain to see something had to give. Only a brilliant interception by Sara saved the day as Boro strikers were lining up on a cut back from the right. I don't try to second guess tactics but it seemed to me that we needed a better grip in midfield where Boro were now totally dominant, indeed at times it looked like a Premier team toying with a Championship side. A change had to come and on the hour Onel replaced Pukki. I doubt if I was the only one bemused by this decision for it did nothing to alter the direction of travel. Five minutes later the inevitable equaliser came and nobody present could deny that it was fullty deserved. A nothing ball into midfield was picked up by Howson and he quickly found McGree who volled a glorious strike into the top corner leaving Gunn with no chance. I could only see the game going one way after this although to their credit, with Cantwell and Gianoullis coming on for Ramsey and McCallum we did look a little more dangerous. Sara had a shot brilliantly turned away by Steffen and the Max Aarons effort from inside the box whizzed just the wrong side of the post. The Onel really should have done better when put in on the left but tried one too many swerves and lost the ball. With six minutes added there was still time but for a long while I had felt that it would be our net that bulged and it duly transpired as two Boro players came away down the right against one defender and when a hard low cross came in I wasn't surpised to see Crooks turn it past Gunn from close range. Boro players naturally milked the time added but even so Onel had another great opportunity but nobody was shocked when he blazed it wide. Hanley went up front for the final knockings but this is not a season where the ball falls kindly for late goals to be scored and on the balance of play today Boro were good value for their win. I repeat what I said a couple of weeks ago, this doesn't look to me like a team that is going to win automatic promotion although playoffs remain possible. Far too many points are being lost from winning positions and too many decent chances are being squandered. And I still don't understand the thinking in the first round of substitutions. Sara my MOM, Max was also good today. McCallum got caught out in the second half and Ramsey seems to fade out of things once we go on the back foot. What Attanasio thought I can't imagine but that Last bloody Post turned out to be prophetic after all.

Videos: LEST WE FORGET Our players will be wearing strips featuring poppies owing to it being the closest match to Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday - this year, being sandwiched between the two. More on this in a bit. Articles:The Pink'Un has it's usual presser coverage article here.Canaries.co.uk have the clubs official build up piece here. Middlesbrough have their own pre match piece here.Ins, out's, shake em all abouts:Norwich: Nunez is set to return. All others that were out for our last game due to injuries continue to be, however there is light at the end of the tunnel. Rowe is already back "on the grass", and Idah, Sorensen, Byram and Omobamidele will all be traveling and be fit to take part in the warm weather training during the world cup period that is to take place in Tampa. Middlesbrough: unable to find any info about injuries at this time.A little bit of kntowledge: I thought I would go with something a little different this week and focus on something a bit closer to home and a bit more poignant. I came across this website called football and the first world war. It had intrigued me because I wondered how many of our boys in green and yellow had also served their country. Of course, at the time, football wasn't nearly as lucrative as it is now and every fit and able man was called up. I knew this, but I didn't know the names of those players. These are those that are listed as having both served and played for Norwich City in two categories "players that served in 1st world war" And former players that served (which is a tad unknown to me as it would appear that former includes those who last played for Norwich, but who also, sadly, never returned). The home page of the site also holds a quote from a general, Of course, we remember those who also served during the 2nd World War too. Though at this time finding a good source of information on that is difficult. I will certainly be thinking of those I knew well in my family and close friends but also those who I have met over my travels and adventures, all of whom are now no longer with us. I'm not sure we will ever know generations quite as great as them. Rays Funds for the Community Sports Foundation:Nutty has his PUPs thread up and running as usual. Please do go and take a look and take part in all of the fun.

A very strange game, but basically shows all our strengths and weaknesses at once. We were all over them, carved them open at will and could have put the game to bed inside 20 minutes. Middlesbrough figured out what we were doing and adapted to completely nullify us. No problem because they were absolutely no threat. We let them have the ball and play it around in front of us. Then Smith takes Pukki off. No problem adding an extra midfielder, but he should be bringing on someone central rather than dropping Kenny in there. Onel simply didn't do the defensive part of his role, and Sara also stayed far too high. It's basic stuff but we handed them control the midfield. Then we go totally gung ho and leave huge spaces for them to exploit as we chase a winner. Mental. Hayden doesn't have the speed to play as a single pivot against an athletic midfield. It was obvious we needed another midfielder. But sacrificing Pukki was bonkers. And Onel doesn't have enough attacking threat to justify his lack of defensive work. Middlesbrough didn't look like they were going to unlock us, for all that possession. So Smith unlocked us for them with his strange substitution. In the end we were pretty shambolic. Which is ridiculous when you consider how well organised we were while we were winning. Playoffs at best now. Are we happy with that? 2 wins in 10. Surely that's not good enough? Can we afford to keep Dean Smith?

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

The draw is done! Nutty, Til1010 and myself went up to the Nest this morning and got the DS team to do the honours for us. I am always bowled over by the enthusiasm with which the girls and boys approach everything they do even pulling a small piece of paper out of a tupperware box! You can see what I mean for yourselves shortly as Nutty is going post a video of the proceedings on this thread. You can also see there was no funny business lol! Anyway, this is how it all panned out. Don't forget, even if you ended up with a 'less than fancied' team, you might still win something as there are some bonus prizes. Here is a reminder: Good luck everybody! Winner: £150 Runner up: £50 Third place: £20 Quickest goal to replace first penalty. Eddie won it and donated his prize back : Stadium tour. First red: CSF Prize First penalty: CSF Prize First VAR: Stadium Tour Sunday 26th February 2023 at 11.00am to 12pm. First team out on pens: CSF Prize Highest shirt number to score a goal: Bottle of wine. Good luck everybody!

Smith is really starting to bring us Norwich fans back together. We're healing.

Yup. Thanks for pointing that out Chicken. Up until today I had no idea who Michael Carrick was . I thought he was a plumber .

Gary O’Neill. Not a big enough name for Bournemouth so his great interim work will go un-noticed. I think he’d do a good job with this bunch of players.

" yeah we lost today, Ipswich are very good side but if we'd have taken our chances and defended theirs better and if the ref was better and if I didn't have a player from the under 18s injured, we'd have won that today - we never like losing to rivals in football but hey.... At least my Villa haven't lost to Birmingham in a while, that means alot "

Yeah, but did you see how Henderson scored the crucial goal?

I firmly believe the team are not as fit under DS as we were under DF and I feel this is part of our problems at the moment. When DF first arrived, there were a number of training ground injuries, and the general consensus was that it was due to trying to get players fitter and stronger. It looks like we fade in games and I'm not convinced DS is as strict on this. That and our inability to control games when ahead and on top. Frustrating as hell 😡

Then when? have we got to lose to Ipswich and Deano shrug his shoulders before you see? because he will. He’ll lose to Ipswich. Will you be happy then?

Not unless we manage to dominate a game for more than 20 mins.

Thanks @Kathy and @TIL 1010 we had a great morning with the DS team. Definitely the best part of the day 🙃👍 I have 6 mins of the video. If I can remember out how to get that onto YouTube I'll post it later🙃

A person who’s doesn’t attend games, yet mocks fellow supporters (who are currently viewing dross) for missing a manger who gave us some of the best games at CR in recent years, is either a child or a binner.

She and her husband are full of vacuous management babble, aren't they? How did our community club become infested with people who take this kind of drivel seriously? How about building bridges with the fans and the local media, Zoe? How about dumping in-house Pravda-type propaganda and having genuine discussions with the people who you doubtless refer to as 'stakeholders'? How about creating a genuine community, not some fake manufactured puffery cooked up by the PR department? How about not creating meaningless codes of conduct encouraging fans to snitch on other fans who say naughty words in the ground? How about creating a working environment where staff want to stay rather than a place from where there seems to be a stampede to escape?

No, you may consider yourself “right” but I’m not wrong and I’ll continue to support my team. The day I learn anything from you is the day I give up on life.

With one of the best squads, and perhaps even the best squad, in this league, we end up chasing a game with Hugill and Hanley upfront. Just think about that for a moment, and then say that we shouldn't sack Dean Smith immediately.

difficult to disagree with this

Personally I'm not going to start calling for his head straight after an absolute dross game like that, too much emotion. However if we are serious that the club believe's we are an Automatic promotion team...it can't be dismissed as an option. You're right you'll never get a better chance for a new manager to make an impact.

Maybe Mark Antanassio is the problem, 2 games attended - two defeats 🤣

Suddenly the comments start flying in.

Footage of De Bruyne when he feels a slight gust of wind in the box

People have the hump over Buendia leaving but root for Maddison? Not sure what the difference is. They both went to bigger/better clubs for lots more money. And you'd have to say that Buendia "did his bit" for Norwich more so than Maddison. For me it's just nice to see these quality players in a Norwich shirt for as long as it lasts.

It’s not always sunshine and rainbows when you leave for money.

He wouldn't even be the sharpest spoon.

We’re already there, the club are behaving like a closed shop mere months after shrieking loudly about family values and community ownership. It was crap then, just easily digested because we were winning games and things were cosy with the local media. Now the facade has clearly dropped, the club is just like every other modern football club and should be judged as such by the supporters, on results.

You are right on a number of these points @sonyc ‘ Zoe was surprisingly honest - perhaps a little put on the spot by Tom? (Which seems strange with pre-submitted questions) - when asked about whether the introduction and involvement of Mark Attanasio was an acceptance that the ceiling of the current self-sustaining model had been reached. She stated really quite clearly that there was now a more than tacit acceptance that Premier clubs had basically all moved away from us. Not just those at the top end, but the vast body of the Premier. That our finances simply could not compete.’ Checking further in our notes, there were further direct quotes from Zoe as follows : There was ‘no denying’ the sporting ceiling had been reached under the current sustainable model. The Premier League was ‘was beyond’ our capacity and that it was ‘too challenging’. In normal Board meetings we would naturally be a little more forensic at that point and ask whether and how that admission synchs with the presentation of the Annual Report 2022 which has Premier central to everything. If that is not achievable are the resources, parameters and capabilities of the company commensurate with its stated aims and mission statement? If you want my clear opinion on this - particularly those who think it is ‘just business talk’ - it is precisely this lack of self-awareness and false self image that leads to sales of Buendias and over belief in Billy Gilmours ‘popping it around like Pirlo’. Webber acknowledged this and took responsibility. Though of course he is in a job at Norwich and Farke isn’t. Webber described the sporting outcome of last season as a ‘disaster’….’not good enough’ ..and that they now have to face the ‘truth’ He didn’t want acknowledge any such ‘truth’ pre-season when almost 100% of football people I knew said proctor hoc that the approach was disastrous (yes including selling Buendia which he was a driver of, so other signings could be made, that he desperately wanted. A clear commercial choice. A case against Buendia was then built into a temple), that it would be destructive for momentum, team spirit and would negate the better players we had (Pukki and Cantwell were the two that pros said would suffer most). We couldn’t help noting that that noise had been defiantly ignored, though the noise about ‘mushrooms’ could now somehow not be ignored. That is not good enough at Board level in my view. I believe I noted in Tom Smith’s mannerisms and responses that he wasn’t necessarily terribly impressed by it all either. Do something then my Prince. Stuart defensively said about his signings that …‘not every player was bad’…that they were ‘not too far off’ …before relenting. He sacked Daniel because of 6 wins out of 50 (I thought first one was a write off?) and that ‘the swing to Brentford was too far’…why aren’t we Brentford eh @nutty nigel ?… He said next time we would be ‘more pragmatic…not so pretty…do things differently..’ . Then - I suppose it was intended as proof- he said how we had now only conceded 2 set piece goals against (2nd tier) and had to be ‘harder to beat’ for the top level. That we would need to sign ‘different types of players’ The problem with that is obvious. If you cannot sign players good enough upon promotion, why and how will you be able to build with them in the championship? If you are just an ersatz Premier team in the second tier, aren’t you then just like everyone else? Why would that get you 97 points? It certainly won’t see Guardiola in the stands (which might get you tomorrow’s Man City reserves who would finish mid-table premier league though). Do different then? I would argue that was Farke, not pragmatism Premier parodies. Stuart referenced the £400m invested by Brighton (and also said that Forest might come good). I doubt that was intended for the quiet Delia’s ears. Truthfully we expected others to follow up the ‘Attanasio investment..acknowledgement self-sustaining model ceiling reached’ with a direct question on his intention-ambition-desire-option to effect a takeover of the club. It was the obvious sequitur. Though such obvious business-like questions appear not be ‘the flavour’ of Norwich City AGMs which we would suggest actually does the club-Company-Board no favours. There is some merit in leaving out managers from proceedings if - and only if - shareholders can ask the questions that hold decision-making, errors and future plans to more professional account. If people want 5 minutes of fame to talk about string and ceiling wax, that will set the tone and culture of these meetings. Whilst Zoe squirmed at being given some meaningful questions (why the surprise when they were pre-submitted? Nothing wrong with a board prepping individual members to sing a prepared hymn sheet, provided questions are forensic and poignant), much of the proceedings would be better suited to a different context. Perhaps this is what the club is trying to achieve by leaving out the managers (though I remember Farke speaking fantastically well - and commercially - at the only other one I attended). Mark Attanasio flew over to be here. He sat patiently, politely and was engaged. He spoke well, fluently and - we sensed - would have loved to have been asked more, though he wasn’t about to scene-steal unless the door opened freely. A chance missed. He is very different to what we have. I would suspect that his appointment is more to do with the horrible last 2 premier campaigns that any real long-term planning, as I cannot believe there are not other Attanasios. In fact I know some. I can certainly believe that there weren’t any other Delia’s over the years. Mark Attanasio talked of ‘smart’ investments, of his £10m being ‘help’. That is a lovely corporate finance term for ‘sweetener’ that I hadn’t heard before. Nice and gentle. He talked of it as ‘a runway’ and any further plans were airy, we can ‘work it out’ he said. Any thought he might sit on his ‘loan’ and take the interest was rebuffed ‘I wouldn’t do anything to drain the club’ he said. Not worth the paper its written on, though a very clear public statement nevertheless. I believed him. He is doing his ‘internal due diligence’ now and I very much doubt it is for a fairly passive minority shareholding. His words - as stated before - were very much at odds with the rather tired, defensive tone of others. ‘Winning’…’consistent winner’…’win’ is what it’s about he said. Now that is consistent with the Annual Report 2022. Change is coming. I think it’s probably time. We were only one Attanasio away from keeping Buendia, sweet-talking Skipp and - who knows? - even engaging an Eriksen. I think Attanasio understands Weapons and ‘special teams’ pretty well. He might be what we need. I don’t for one second think he was Mr Right succession planning, though he might be Mr Right Now anyway. Our bed is cold, we are on the rebound, our selection standards have dropped, he smells nice, he has good manners, he has money and is keen. It is solving yesterday’s problems again, though I think of what my father says ‘it’s not love, it’s the commitment to love’ Parma

I have walked away from Carrow Road many times in disappointment. Today I walked away in disgust. That a Norwich side could show so little effort against a bang average opposition, so little desire to win, so much contempt for the supporters. I didn’t feel let down, I felt that I had been mugged.

Going to be honest, I've got literally zero interest in listening to anything he says.

Glad to see my 'contribution' was welcomed. Very happy with Belgium!

Probably local media

Don’t forget that teams around us will continue to improve as well and we’ll probably be joined in this league by Ipswich. Who we’ll lose to if these clowns are still in charge.

Important to point out that Carrick, whilst not hugely experienced as a manager, has taken his time in becoming one. He hasn't rushed into it, he's been an assistant coach, working under Mourinho, Solskjær since 2018. The transition can be a risk. Grant was a relatively successful coach before being given his break with us, it didn't work out. To some degree, the same could be said of Neil Adams. However, he has learnt from great managers, and has played under great managers. He's not a work experience kid, he'll have a good understanding of the game, he certainly played with a great understanding of the game.

Least we might get to play them next season.. Just not in the top flight

I'll get off it, remove a plank and use it to **** Webber in the head.

It’s TIRING being RIGHT ABOUT LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Finishing the game needing 2 goals and we've got Hanley and Hugil up front. #masterclass

We've got the perfect opportunity to sack Smith now - a mid-season break, a chance to get someone new in and get them on the training pitch, I'm sick of this sh*t

Maybe some of us have been busy and aren't glued to phones/computers? Some will be at the game. 🤷🤷

He has to go.

Playing well for 20 minutes a game just isn’t good enough

SMITH OUT NOW

Sounds like we're playing very well and Sara is flourishing

Toney to Southgate when England are dumped out of the world cup

By definition, it does. This isn't like choosing to not eating your greens. Do we really need to spell it out? Vaccinations greatly reduce the chances of you contracting COVID, and therefore greatly reduce the chances of you spreading it to others. If you do catch COVID, the vaccine reduces your chances of developing serious symptoms, such as those which could be life threatening, requiring hospitalisation. We know the young, and fit & healthy, can contract the disease and be asymptomatic. But still pass it on to others. Don't you feel even remotely guilty that you could be doing this? Putting the elderly, the vulnerable, people with underlying conditions at risk of hospitalisation or even death? I don't care what your 'beliefs' are. Your actions are selfish, irresponsible and dangerous.

I admire the fact that they’ve not just gone there to defend. I don’t mind it if we lose in the Prem when we go to places like the Etihad, as long as we give it a go, what I can’t stand is if we effectively admit defeat at the start.

I really don't get this criticism. Even when you take the money out of the equation, he was too good to stay here forever and Villa, even as a mid-table Premier League club, is a step up from us. Lots of our fans complain about the lack of ambition from our club, yet expect our players to have no ambition by staying here when bigger clubs come calling. It just makes no sense.

He’ll be crying all the way to the bank.

Certainly not kept in the dark with those new fangled floodlights.