Damp squib!

[Yellow Rider 0]

Very little on the board tonight about the actual match, I can only presume that like the players (and manager it seemed to me) most of you just trudged down to see the trophy lifted and to hell with what went on for the 90 minutes ''football'' (I use the term loosely you understand).

Great to see the party atmosphere generated by the Barclay and all the flag waving all over the ground and the celebrations post match but lets face it the performance on the pitch was truly dire. A ''meaningless match'' I hear you say. Sorry - 25,000 fans paid damn good money to watch that and I,for one, felt distinctly shafted by the return I got for my money. Why was today so different from last week, surely that was ''meaningless'' as well then? Did''nt stop us putting in a performance and PL being at great pains to point out that we owed it to the fans not to take our foot off the gas.  

From minute 1 to minute 90 today I thought we were really poor. I can take a defeat, after all in 30 years of watching NCFC I ''ve had plenty of experience of that. What I do expect especially from a Championship winning side is a proper professional attitude with every player giving their damn best for the fans who pay to come and watch.

Most disturbing for me is that the malaise involved the manager and his assistant as well. I never once saw Culverhouse get up and get involved. As for PL he seemed worlds away from the fiery, kick every ball, ''up and at ''em'' behaviour he normally demonstrates on the touchline. So much so he spent a lot of the second half sitting down and you don''t see that very often!      

You might expect a rank bad first 45 after the early goals but I did anticipate PL would get out the red hot pokers at half time, make some changes and we would mount a second half charge. What did we get? Nothing.

Don''t get me wrong, the club have done fantastically well this season and we will remember it for a long, long time. Just a pity the whole 90 minutes today was so poor. Even the fans sat back and just seemed bored only coming to life in the last 10 minutes or so with sustained appeals for the boy Forster to sign on again.    

[When Saturday Comes 0]

• Lambert quite often looked frustrated and annoyed on the touchline
• He made subs to change the game
• Carlisle played well
• It wasn''t our day
• NO ONE CARED (we even chanted about this)

This game will be instantly forgetten, don''t worry about it.

[matt crowhurst 0]

have to say i agree with the op, i was thoroughly pissed off today with team and the whole attitude. as was said Lambert wasnt into the game at all today and should have made subs a lot earlier and i couldnt understand why he would take oli off and put on a winger when 2 nil down and with cody on the bench. perhaps the weather played a part but i thought the whole day today inc the crowd and trophy presentation was a total let down

[Lewie - Holt Our Saviour 0]

Maybe because we are champions and the game wasn''t important so they players played like it didn''t matter. :S

[matt crowhurst 0]

dont you think though Lewie that as paying customers we should expect more than what was offered and that the players would care about not letting 25000 supporters go home fed up?

[matt crowhurst 0]

actually Lewie after just reading the other thread about the accident and somebody dying nothing about today really matters [:(]

[Boyo 0]

Only Norwich would lose this game!

Like you say we were very poor today from start to finish.  The one time we have a good season the players can''t even give 100% in the last game to give the fans a party!  Askou, Forster, R.Martin, Drury and C.Martin all had stinkers today, they were probably thinking which beach they would be lying on in a few weeks time!  Hoolahan also really annoyed me.  Taking one touch to many everytime, getting 18 yards out with a clear shooting opurtunity but still wants to turn the defender one more time, having the ball in the middle with a player out wide and if he played it to them they would be clear through but no, he has to beat a defender first!  I am really not a fan of Hoolahan, he has no footballing brain and it''s just me, me, me with him.

However the season is over 46 games and we have been by far the best team so lets look forward to next season.

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Yes we were p*ss poor today!

 

The team had little interest in the game and it seemed a side issue to all the celebrations afterwards!

 

That said can''t be critical - we did win the league by 9 clear points!

[Yellow Rider 0]

[quote user="matt crowhurst"]have to say i agree with the op, i was thoroughly pissed off today with team and the whole attitude. as was said Lambert wasnt into the game at all today and should have made subs a lot earlier and i couldnt understand why he would take oli off and put on a winger when 2 nil down and with cody on the bench. perhaps the weather played a part but i thought the whole day today inc the crowd and trophy presentation was a total let down
[/quote]

Spot on Matt although I thought the actual trophy presentation was ok considering the drabness of the previous 90 minutes!

Quite why PL looked so disinterested today (compared to standard behaviour that is) did seem strange to me.  No wonder the second half was just as bad. Keeping Cody benched defied all logic. Never mind - the boy PL has sure worked miracles this season. Too many sherbets last night me thinks? 

You''re right also about the accident near St. Stephens. I was on the bus and saw him being attended to and it didn''t look good. 

[Arthur Whittle 0]

Carlisle were ripping us apart....but be honest, it was always going to be like this....the players knew soon as the game was over they were going to get the trophy and medals and i dont care what team you are its going to affect your performence.....saying that we had a lot shots...just bad ones...quite an end to end game....but i did fear Carlisle may have won by a bigger margin......

[TheGoogler 324]

I thought the game was disappointing, yes, but not the disaster intimated in the original post. Far from it.

I thought we knocked the ball around well, but unfortunately had nothing up front. Very often the ball was crossed to absolutely nothing. The midfield offered nothing by way of helping this, and the defence had 25 minutes of utter madness before settling in a little and looking better.

Carlisle were a good side, well drilled and well organised. You''ve got to remember, the club have announced they are trimming the player squad - each player is playing for their place at Carlisle for next season. And let''s not forget they seem to up their game against the best sides in the League. I don''t think I''m wrong in saying they''ve taken some impressive scalps.

So, yes. Not a great day at the office. But that''s what happens in football. Let''s just be glad that we weren''t playing for anything and that it will hopefully show Lambert exactly what he needs to do in the summer.

[GJP 79]

It wasn''t a great performance but we had no Grant Holt and we had 3 players returning from injuries. And then you have to combine that with the fact we basically had nothing to play for of consequence to the league table.

It has to be said that Michael Nelson was a big loss. Could anyone here see us being 2-0 down with less than 7 minutes played if he had been in the team?

I can understand the manager giving Jens a run though and he very much looked like a player who hadn''t played properly for a long time. Even though someone near me described him as "our best defender today by a mile". Go figure.

I also thought Fraser was pretty nervy and I think he''d be disappointed the way the 2nd goal went in.

The other defenders did alright.

As for midfield I thought Rusty was deserving of his MOTM award. Hoolahan kept trying all game and for someone who has been out for a few games I thought he did pretty well.

Korey missed a good chance to score, a bit of inexperience after he rounded the keeper to try and finish on his weaker foot going away from goal when he had a bit of time. Other than that he did ok. Same for Lappin.

Upfront I''m pretty sure we could have played another 90mins without Martin and Johnson scoring. Not a good day for either player.

Thought McNamee gave us a bit more life going forward when he came on.

Good presentation at the end, shame about the game beforehand.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

None of this matters really does it?  It was the last game, everything done and dusted, we''re just waiting for the trophy to be presented.  Yeah it was a bit of an anti-climax and yes, it was inescapably a crap performance.  But let''s not forget - 15 points behind Leeds in September, and 13 points off Charlton in second... what a magnificent turn around and I think they''ve earned a "mentally on the beach" performance.  Credit to Carlisle also who were excellent.You can guarantee that Lambert would not have been happy to see that display - but equally that wouldn''t have happened had something been riding on the outcome.  It has no consequence for this season, or in terms of what needs to be done in time for next season.  Doesn''t matter one bit.  The presentation and celebrations after the game were great and will live long in the memory - the match that preceded it will be lost in the mists of time very quickly indeed.

[Woman in the Stands (WITS) 0]

I felt we had no leadership on the pitch with Holt missing. No-one to drive the game, give it impetus. What few chances we had, Carlisle defended well. And I''m wondering if the OP sits near me as I referred to the game as a damp squib several times today! A disappointment yes, but not the end of the world. More disappointed Leeds won actually than us losing.Thought the Carlisle fans were brilliant and loved their double-sided banner!

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

[quote user="Yellow Rider"]

Very little on the board tonight about the actual match, I can only presume that like the players (and manager it seemed to me) most of you just trudged down to see the trophy lifted and to hell with what went on for the 90 minutes ''football'' (I use the term loosely you understand).

Great to see the party atmosphere generated by the Barclay and all the flag waving all over the ground and the celebrations post match but lets face it the performance on the pitch was truly dire. A ''meaningless match'' I hear you say. Sorry - 25,000 fans paid damn good money to watch that and I,for one, felt distinctly shafted by the return I got for my money. Why was today so different from last week, surely that was ''meaningless'' as well then? Did''nt stop us putting in a performance and PL being at great pains to point out that we owed it to the fans not to take our foot off the gas.  

From minute 1 to minute 90 today I thought we were really poor. I can take a defeat, after all in 30 years of watching NCFC I ''ve had plenty of experience of that. What I do expect especially from a Championship winning side is a proper professional attitude with every player giving their damn best for the fans who pay to come and watch.

Most disturbing for me is that the malaise involved the manager and his assistant as well. I never once saw Culverhouse get up and get involved. As for PL he seemed worlds away from the fiery, kick every ball, ''up and at ''em'' behaviour he normally demonstrates on the touchline. So much so he spent a lot of the second half sitting down and you don''t see that very often!      

You might expect a rank bad first 45 after the early goals but I did anticipate PL would get out the red hot pokers at half time, make some changes and we would mount a second half charge. What did we get? Nothing.

Don''t get me wrong, the club have done fantastically well this season and we will remember it for a long, long time. Just a pity the whole 90 minutes today was so poor. Even the fans sat back and just seemed bored only coming to life in the last 10 minutes or so with sustained appeals for the boy Forster to sign on again.    

[/quote]

Glad you''ve written this; I agree with everything you''ve said! Thought it was just me being a bit miffed? Why should we accept low standards just because...

Woefully short all round today. Shame - I wanted to see a Championship winning display before we split for the season. Not an unreasonable expectation surely?

[UEA Canary 0]

oddly enough i think we would have won with the fringe players, with something to prove to the manager and the fans. whereas the star players had worked hard throughout the season and had clearly been busy this week bookig their holidays instead of focusing on the match. the day was all about the trophy celebrations. fair play to carlisle though, they were top class, one of best footballing sides ive seen this season, so credit to them.

[Lambert is King 0]

My season ticket has given me fantastic value this year and I would say every game has given me 100% value other than the first and the last home game and Orient away. If I get that value next year I will be well happy. Put them all on the transfer list for not trying for 1 game I say. 

[Pyro Pete 1,889]

Agreed. We have been spoiled at Carrow Rd this season. Though we did appear keen to end the season as we began it.

Someone suggested there were suspiciously few bottles of champagne left for the full time presentation. May explain a few player performances...

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

No way am I complaining about the season - it''s been fantastic and given the way we started it''s incredible what''s been achieved.

Personal pride should have seen the players making an effort to finish on a high yesterday but they didn''t bother.

That''s a shame; if I were hoping for a great reception whilst travelling around on an open-top bus I''d at least put a decent shift in beforehand.

You''re only as good as your last game and all that...

PS: Doesn''t PL rate Cody McD? Really thought he''d get a run out yesterday.

[rock bus 850]

Must admit I agree with OP

I know we were already champions but the game meant a lot to me.

Was the first time I took my son to a game and involved a 6 hour round trip.

Given my son is 4 and had been looking forward to seeing his first football it would have been nice to at least see the players make an effort.

Never mind guess it will just prepare my son for the joys of being a norwich fan

[Beauseant 0]

We were awful yesterday, without doubt, but we had earned the right to be awful. All season the players and management have been under huge pressure, because I think we all realise that had we stayed the down the club could have been in BIG trouble. I''m sure that they would have wanted to finish in style, but at the end of a tiring season I don''t think there was enough adrenaline left, particularly after the two early goals. Footballers are humans too, and they knew that the hard work was done a while ago. Yesterday wasn''t proof of a poor attitude, or confirmation that we will struggle in the Championship, or that Lambert has lost his drive. It was a bad day at the office, pure and simple. We have won this League by 9 clear points, and whilst I know that moaning is hardwired into the average City fan, how about that, just this once, we give everyone involved with our promotion a break?

[morty 0]

[quote user="Beauseant"]We were awful yesterday, without doubt, but we had earned the right to be awful. All season the players and management have been under huge pressure, because I think we all realise that had we stayed the down the club could have been in BIG trouble. I''m sure that they would have wanted to finish in style, but at the end of a tiring season I don''t think there was enough adrenaline left, particularly after the two early goals. Footballers are humans too, and they knew that the hard work was done a while ago. Yesterday wasn''t proof of a poor attitude, or confirmation that we will struggle in the Championship, or that Lambert has lost his drive. It was a bad day at the office, pure and simple. We have won this League by 9 clear points, and whilst I know that moaning is hardwired into the average City fan, how about that, just this once, we give everyone involved with our promotion a break?[/quote]Good luck with that last bit lol.[Y]

[Lambo 0]

[quote user="Beauseant"]We were awful yesterday, without doubt, but we had earned the right to be awful. All season the players and management have been under huge pressure, because I think we all realise that had we stayed the down the club could have been in BIG trouble. I''m sure that they would have wanted to finish in style, but at the end of a tiring season I don''t think there was enough adrenaline left, particularly after the two early goals. Footballers are humans too, and they knew that the hard work was done a while ago. Yesterday wasn''t proof of a poor attitude, or confirmation that we will struggle in the Championship, or that Lambert has lost his drive. It was a bad day at the office, pure and simple. We have won this League by 9 clear points, and whilst I know that moaning is hardwired into the average City fan, how about that, just this once, we give everyone involved with our promotion a break?[/quote]

Amen to that.

[Lambert is King 0]

[quote user="rock bus"]Must admit I agree with OP I know we were already champions but the game meant a lot to me. Was the first time I took my son to a game and involved a 6 hour round trip. Given my son is 4 and had been looking forward to seeing his first football it would have been nice to at least see the players make an effort. Never mind guess it will just prepare my son for the joys of being a norwich fan[/quote]

When my lad was 4 and 5 until we moved here a year ago he used to travel 332 miles every home game. His first game was Brighton at home far worse than yesterday and 0 - 0. Up until this season he has watched the most dia football you have ever seen. Sorry but 3 bad games in a year ??. Let me guess you picked this game to see us winning a trophy. You were just unlucky, thats what football is about. Even at 4 its in your blood or it aint, never put him off. He was ringing Man Utd fans today telling them we are Champions and they arent, starngely enough in his view yesterday was one of the best matches he has ever been to, not because he thought the game was any good but we lifted a trophy.