|
Svensson's at a loss over score
16 May 2005
Mathias Svensson was at a loss to explain how it all went wrong after City had dropped out of the Premiership in the most embarrassing fashion imaginable.
The Swedish striker had witnessed the full horror of yesterday's 6-0 drubbing at Fulham after being introduced as a second half substitute and could hardly bear to watch as the goals kept flying in at the wrong end.
While City were being torn apart rivals West Bromwich Albion were getting the result they needed to win the four-way battle for survival and afterwards Svensson was clearly finding it difficult to come to terms with what had just happened.
"I can't really believe it," said the Norwich striker.
"We are all really down at the moment. I've just come out from the dressing room and it's a very quiet place. It's very disappointing. The preparation for this match had gone well and we were all fully focused on the task in hand. We were ready for the game but for some reason we didn't play as well as we could at all. After half-time we really had to go for it and we conceded a few goals as a result. I don't really think it was a 6-0 game but having said that we didn't play well — and we all know that.
"We have been on a good run recently and had done really well to get out of the bottom three but we just couldn't reproduce that sort of form today. We looked a little bit drained and maybe a little bit nervous too but I really don't know why we fell below the standards we have been displaying in our recent games. It's very difficult to say why things turned out like they did but at the moment it really is difficult to provide the answers.
"All I know at the moment is that we have been relegated and I feel really terrible about it."
For Svensson one of the few plusses of a dismal afternoon was the "performance" of the Norwich City fans who gave their team a wonderful reception at the final whistle.
That proved to be a humbling experience for the popular Swede and he was quick to pay tribute to the Green and Yellow Army before heading for the sanctuary of the Norwich team bus.
"I'd just like to say a big thank-you to the fans right now," he said. "They have been absolutely tremendous all season and were brilliant again today. I've played for a few clubs in my time and they are the best fans around, there's absolutely no doubt about that. I've never seen anything that matches them. They stick by you though the good times and the bad and you saw another great example of that out there. It wasn't easy for us to come out on the pitch again after being beaten 6-0 but that's what we had to do. We had to show our appreciation to them. They spent a lot of money coming to game and always give us superb backing and its important we give them something back in return. e didn't do that on the pitch today so the least we could do was thank them after the match."
Svensson wasn't exactly in the mood to look on the bright side as he took time to speak to his local paper but, when pressed, he insisted there were still grounds for optimism going into another season of Championship football.
"To be honest it's a bit early to talk about next season at the moment all we can think about is the game we have just played in. But we have got a good squad here and if we can keep it together I think we have got an excellent chance of coming straight back up again. I have got another year on my contract so I am expecting to be back here next season and I hope all the other lads will be back here again too. We'll just have to see what happens."
Email A Friend
|