Norwich City vs Middlesbrough Championship Play Off Final.

[The Great Mass Debater]

Comiserations to Boro. I feel sorry for all the teams that missed out this year, it really was 3 from 7/8 this season. Premier League quality just shone through in this game. Dont really know what happened during the 4-0 but that I remember was during our troubled phase. 1-0 loss was a great tactical performance from them, got the early goal then defended very effectively. We played superbly from start to finish today and to be honest apart from the Vossen shot that hit the bar seconds after BJ's they never looked like scoring.

Really do wonder how important something like them arriving late at the stadium impacts on a game like this. They had a slow start, which we took advantage of, the sort of thing that can result from an interruption to warm up proceedings.

Nevertheless - well done boys!!!

 

[It's Character Forming]

Well, that was easier than I expected....

 

[It's Character Forming]

And I'm on cloud 9 !

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Early goal was key. Its stuffed us before, nice to see it working for us for a change!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Snoop will be stoked!

(Even more than Liverpool were yesterday...)

 

[It's Character Forming]

I didn't realise they arrived late. Somehow I can't see AN letting that happen.

I think we started full on today and having both Wes and Redmond was key. It stopped them pushing on too much which got Wes time on the ball.

The minute when both sides hit the bar was pretty key tho!

Once we got the second, they didn't have any way back.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Yeah, if that Vossen shot had gone in it could have been Carrow Road all over again. When Bassong went down and somebody else was on the floor for a little while as well I thought we were going to get some sweet revenge for all their time-wasting at Carrow Road, but in the end we just got on with it

 

[Yellow Fever]

Yeah, if that Vossen shot had gone in it could have been Carrow Road all over again. When Bassong went down and somebody else was on the floor for a little while as well I thought we were going to get some sweet revenge for all their time-wasting at Carrow Road, but in the end we just got on with it

In fairness, BJ had hit the bar at their end just before that, so luck works both ways.

 

[Moosheep]

Just back home (or at least my London home!) without a voice. What a great day. Fantastic atmosphere before, during and after the game and from what I saw our fans were a credit to the club. Definitely the best way to get promoted. Commiserations to Boro but the better team won.

On an aside, whilst travelling back on the Tube I was approached by a Chelsea fan who said "You still owe us money for that Robert Fleck bloke"! Haha...suckers!

 

[Wiz]

A massive, massive, well done to all,  I'm so proud of everyone tonight.

 

[splutcho]

Just home. Ridiculously proud of the boys and all our amazing fans. Commiserations to Boro, but then I didn't have good experiences with their fans all day and in the run up, so I won't shed any tears for them.

We really did put on a masterclass today. It was never in doubt. Magic.

 

[Trevmuttley]

I'm still on cloud 9, I recorded it the whole lot and I will sit down in the morning and watch it all again, I'm so proud tonight.OTBC

 

[morty]

Just home.

Best. Day. Ever.

 

[GJP]

Nothing more than a formality. Just a nice day out to cross the "i's" and dot the "t's" on our return to the Prem.

Called it.

 

[morty]

 

[Din]

Far too tired and drunk to go into details about the game, but what an incredible f*cking day. Just absolutely loved every second of it, and easily my favourite ever day as a Norwich supporter, and one that I will never forget. The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable, just never heard anything like it. It was deafening at times and to see half of Wembley stadium covered in yellow was simply wonderful. So incredibly proud of my club today. The players, the coaching staff, the board, and of course the 40'000 fantastic fans, just brilliant. 

I'm pretty sure it was the alcohol that had this effect, but when Alex Neil was holding the trophy in front of wear I was sitting, I genuinly felt a little bit emotional. What a f*cking man he is. I don't remember even under Lambert feeling this much love for a manager. To get us from 8th place and looking like we'd never break into the play-off's, to only just missing out on automatic promotion, but then going again, beating our arch-rivals over 2 legs, and then going to Wembley and completely outplaying a team who have beaten us twice already this season. He simply got his tactics absolutely spot-on today, and outclassed Karanka tactically.

Pretty sure there's still some alcohol in my system which might be why I'm saying this. But I absolutely love this football club. Just everything about it. Enjoyed today so much, and to be honest I'll be more than happy to wait another 30 years for a day like that, because it is well worth waiting for. 

 

[morty]

Great stuff Din, and I defy anyone there today to not feel exactly the same.

 

[splutcho]

I can sometimes be a little critical of Wes. Today, he completed 100% of his passes. Now even if you're against the use of stats, that is impressive.

 

[Gaffer]

I don't think the late coach had much to do with it. They were late against Brentford too. It was all about Norwich - great manager with great preparation and tactics, executed to perfection by great players, backed by great fans.

 

[It's Character Forming]

Trying to work this morning - not easy !

I think the truth is that Boro are quite a limited team, Karanka had them very well organized, defensively they looked good and they had a couple of good strikers.  But they lacked a plan B.  I was talking to a Wednesday fan a few days before the game and he felt it was all about getting in front (Wednesday, rather bizarrely, did the double over Boro he said).  When they fell behind, they didn't really have the quality going forward to trouble us, and we were able to dictate most of the play.  There only real scoring chance was when they hit the bar, just after we'd hit the bar (has anyone ever seen that happen in such quick succession ?).

In the second half, they were starting to get a head of steam up and trouble us a little, but AN made the sensible change to bring on Dorrans/Grabban for Wes/Jerome about 70 minutes.  Having Grabban up front instead of Jerome who was clearly tiring and feeling his hamstring gave the Boro defence something new to worry about, similarly Dorrans is better defensively while still able to create going forward.  That took the sting out of their resurgence and from then until the end it was pretty comfortable.  I do love a manager who's willing to make sensible changes like this - over the years, too many City managers have left changes until very late in the day.