AS Jimmy Greaves is wont to say, football is a funny old game. Norwich City has done well since Paul Lambert took over as manager. He tells the players what he wants, they deliver; that pleases the supporters and they cheer for 100 minutes until the lat player disappears down the tunnel.
One game, one defeat, at home to Crystal Palace, changed it. True, the booing was audible but not deafening, but the players cannot have failed to hear it. It wasn't the defeat that inspired it, it was the apparent lack of desire to create things after going 2-1 down to defensive errors from set pieces.
After the first goal Crystal Palace players had their tails up and easily exploited the diamond formation, and Paul Lambert's first tactical substitution saw Simeon Jackson replaced by Chris Martin. Jacko was being bullied at times, but mostly when he was trying to compete from stupidly passed high balls and much taller defenders hardly had to grunt to shoulder Jackson out of the way.
When Hoolahan was replaced by Anthony MacNamee nobody wanted to give him the ball. Instead passes were made through the middle where it was usually one yellow shirt against two or three red and blue ones. The late formation change to 4-4-2 reulted in players totally devoid of ideas.
A lifeline of four minutes added time, mostly to punish the toime wasting by Palace players, resulted in City showing off individual ball skills with displays that would have managed to irritate Nigel Worthington. Instead of getting the ball into the six yard box City players were even passing backward.
A remark from the person next to me summed it all up. That is the sort of play you expect to see when we are goals up. The frustration was felt all around Carrow Road, and the boos did sound out at the final whistle. Will this shake the players up? Soething needs to. It is they that are letting our lofty position get to them, not the supporters.