Norwich City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Chipsticks]

Who was it who played the ball through for Bent in that one on one with the keeper that SSN are showing?

Was it KEA? It was a magnificent ball, whoever it was.

Holman, if it was the one very early in the game.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Tonight is why i love Aston Villa. If Lambert had any niggling doubts about how he was progressing with our team. Tonight will give him an extra lift. "young and hungry" is the way forward and add some more quality from our scouting system in January and we are on the way to being a great force again ....... UTV !!!!!!!!!!

[Irish villain]

Agree that I would rather face Chelsea over two legs.

[Ger Regan]

I'd rather not face them at all!

(I know what you meant though)

[Louzie0]

SSN are also showing a rather terrific save by Given. The goals look terrific and Bent was unlucky. It seems that Villa had 17 shots (11 on target) compared to 9 (4?) by Norwich so well done all round.  The 'edge' that was missing appears to have been found!

[PeterWithesShin]

Paul Lambert hailed super sub Andreas Weimann after his match-winning contribution in the stunning Capital One Cup quarter-final win at Norwich.

Lambert opted to rest Weimann for Villa's previous two matches but the decision to bring him on for the injured Darren Bent paid dividends at Carrow Road.

Two second-half strikes from the Austrian pushed Villa towards the semi-finals and Lambert was quick to praise his incredible hunger for the game.

"He was brilliant," said the Villa boss. "One thing about Andi is he is a natural finisher and his work ethic for the game of football is absolutely brilliant.

"If Andi was getting X amount of money, you'd get the same out of him in every game.

"That is a testament to him. I left him out just to give him a rest in the last couple of weeks but Weimann is a natural goalscorer.

"He ran himself into the ground, especially in the two Manchester games and the Arsenal game, but he came back tonight and he certainly knows where the goal is."

Lambert felt the 4-1 victory was a fitting reward for some encouraging performances over the past six weeks.

He was also thrilled for the "ferocious" claret and blue faithful who descended on East Anglia in their droves to help roar Villa into the last four.

"I thought in the whole game we were excellent," he added.

"Their goalkeeper made some terrific saves. Norwich had chances as well.

"But I thought the lads were excellent. We've been playing like that since the Sunderland game.

"We've been playing really, really well and not had the results we might have had. I'm delighted for the team, I really am.

"A massive thanks to the Villa fans too. I thought tonight they were unbelievable - they did ferociously well in their support.

"It was a three-hour journey to come down and I thought they were absolutely fantastic for us."

The only disappointing note for Villa was the first-half injury to Darren Bent, who left the field with a hamstring problem.

Lambert had been pleased with the England striker's efforts up until his departure.

"I thought Darren was looking pretty sharp," the manager added.

"It was just a blow for us. I don't know how bad it is but he was hurt. It is just a thing we have to contend with next week."

[somec]

Great result, get in there!

Well done lads!

[hawkeye]

give us the second leg at VP and I dont care.

it will obviously not be the same as that famous victory against the Charlton Law Crerand Kidd Stiles et al

The greatest night at VP in living memory

[Lobsterboy]

As Nicole Scherzinger might put it; that was absobloodylutely Jahmazing!

Great win and feeling particularly pleased with myself for backing us at 9/1 this morning to win the Capital One Cup!

Middlesbrough, Leeds or Bradford over two legs will do me in the semis!

[Richie]

What a fantastic result. Listened to it on the radio and our support sounded tremendous all night.

Delighted that the effort our fans showed supporting the boys was rewarded by a great night.

The comment below has been copied from a Norwich fan on their forum.


When has the atmosphere at carrow road ever been electric? Fair play to the villa fans, they deserved that result for their support tonight.

[abc123cox]

Great result! very happy with the way the team are starting to gel, i can see some big things coming in the next few months, years ahead!

[PeterWithesShin]

Norwich fans saying it's not the end of the world as they can do without all the extra games so as they can concentrate on the league. They do realise those extra games would have been 2 semi-finals and possibly a final don't they? Bring on those type of extra games as often as possible please Villa.

[Ger Regan]

Norwich fans saying it's not the end of the world as they can do without all the extra games so as they can concentrate on the league. They do realise those extra games would have been 2 semi-finals and possibly a final don't they? Bring on those type of extra games as often as possible please Villa.

Concentrate on the league? What, finish 9th instead of 11th? Quite odd, they won't be relegated and they're hardly going to trouble 4th.....

[PeterWithesShin]

Chris Hughton is adamant tonight’s painful 4-1 Capital One Cup quarter-final exit to Aston Villa will not derail Norwich City’s Premier League survival bid.

The Canaries’ saw their Wembley dreams crushed by Paul Lambert on his first return to his old club, but Hughton is confident his dejected players will get back on track against Wigan at Carrow Road this weekend.

Steve Morison’s early opener was cancelled out by Brett Holman before Andreas Weimann’s late brace and Christian Benteke’s stoppage time strike ruthlessly ended City’s 10-game unbeaten run.

“We have a group of lads who have been through it before,” said Hughton. “We are not going to win every game at this club and fortunately for us we had been on a great run. At some stage that was going to end. They are good enough professionals. They know we have to be better at the weekend and they also know there is a real good opportunity at home to put things right. The players are down and disappointed because it was a semi-final at stake. The changing room is down but what we mustn’t do is take away what they have achieved in the last couple of months and how good the team have been. It is my responsibility to make sure we get back on track.”

Hughton was magnanimous in his praise for Lambert’s young outfit.

“I can’t fault the endeavours but we have to take it on the chin,” he said. “We knew that everything for us is this season is going to be a challenge. We have probably surprised a few people with the run we have had. It is important the players now get some rest and go again. It is not as if we were playing a poor team tonight. They were also in good form, they are young and energetic. They are a decent Premier League team and although we were at home we have probably been beaten by the better team.

“Did we want to go through? Yes, absolutely we wanted to go through but our priority is to make sure we have got Premier League status next season. These type of defeats you have to take it on the chin and you have to learn from it. The disappointing thing is we did concede goals but we had opened up so much to get back in the game. I don’t think it is a true reflection of how we have defended for most of the night. Good luck to Aston Villa.”

Hughton admitted City paid for failing to take their own clear-cut chances in an action-packed quarter-final.

“We had plenty, but I think it just came down to the pivotal moments in the game and we had to make sure we held onto that lead for longer than we did in the first half,” he said. “We had a great couple of chances in the second half and if they go in then it is a different game. It became very open in the end because we needed to try and get back into the game and it became I suppose a typical end-to-end cup-tie. In the areas that mattered they obviously showed more than what we did. If you look at their finishes they were all good.

“Shay Given pulled off a great save from Grant Holt and Morison had a chance early in the second period. It was a game where you had to take the chances. They are a good side and they use the space really well. We needed to use it better at times and when we needed to show some composure in that second half we gave the ball away a little bit too cheaply and we conceded poor goals, which is not like us.”

[unclefabio]

League: 12 goals in 16 games
League Cup: 14 goals in 4 games

Anyone got any sort of explanation for this stat?

I really fancied us tonight, had £20 on us at 11/4. Benteke is a machine.