Embarrassing, humiliating, spineless – just a few of the words that can be used to describe Norwich City's abject performance down at the Amex Stadium. And Alex Neil can ill afford too many more performances like that.

The lads threw the towel in, it's that simple, and you could see in their body language when Brighton scored their third goal they couldn't wait for the referee to blow the final whistle so they could get back in to the safety of the changing room.

I've been there – when you're getting absolutely hammered and there's still 25 minutes of the game to go. You cannot wait for the final whistle to be blown to bring your misery to an end so you can get into the comfort of your changing room and away from all the stick that's being aimed at you.

Norwich have conceded sloppy goals all season, but last weekend's were comical. I wouldn't even describe them as schoolboy errors – that's an insult to schoolboys.

Michael McGovern – the best goalkeeper Alex Neil's ever worked with (his words) – had a shocker, but to be fair to him he wasn't helped one bit by the players in front of him.

What's happened to the commanding, no-nonsense centre-half the club bought last January, Timm Klose, inset? Did he go away for his summer holidays and when the time to return for pre-season came didn't much fancy it so sent his twin brother Tomm instead?!

Granted, Klose had a few stitches in his forehead before the game, but if that meant he didn't want to head the ball and put his head in where it hurts then don't play.

To be beaten as easily as he was for both of Glenn Murray's headed goals when he's 6ft 4 inches tall, simply tells me he wasn't mentally right and shouldn't have been out there. To cap his afternoon off, for Brighton's fifth he was trying to do a Johan Cruyff turn in the centre circle, tripped on the ball, lost possession and within 10 seconds, maybe less, Anthony Knockaert lifted the ball over McGovern into an empty net.

Klose's standards have dropped, but he's not the only one who's done that this season. I get the feeling that three or four of the players don't want to be here and help fight to get this great football club back into the Premier League. Russell Martin's comments after the Brighton debacle would suggest the same.

I thought Russell was spot on with what he said and I bet he ruffled a few feathers, which isn't always a bad thing after a defeat like that.

To me the changing room up at Colney doesn't sound as if it's the most harmonious of places to be at the minute and that needs to be sorted out, not by the manager but by the players – they are the only ones who can put things right because that's their domain.

It's been suggested that not all the players get on and there are little cliques around the place, which can cause so much bad feeling, and if those bad feelings are taken out on to the pitch on a Saturday afternoon or a Tuesday night they can have a horrendous impact on results and performances.

When I first joined the club back in 1997 I walked into a changing room which had cliques everywhere and you could tell by the atmosphere that all wasn't well – and our league position that season reflected that. I'm not saying you have to be best mates with everyone, but you have to have a good working relationship with your colleagues otherwise, you've no chance.

A fine example of this would be Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole when they both played for Manchester United. It was a well-known fact they didn't get on off the pitch; it would be fair to say they simply detested each other, but on the pitch all those off-field problems were put to one side for the benefit of the team, which is how it should be.

If you get your changing room right you've a great chance of being successful and my time at Leicester is a prime example. We had a great dressing room with some proper good lads in there. Of course, like every changing room around the country, we'd have our fallings-out and disagreements, but within a few seconds they were forgotten and there were no grudges held, which is how it's got to be. We won two promotions to the Premier League in my two and a half years with the Foxes, which was due to the great togetherness and team spirit we had. Believe you me, you get those two things right and it can take you a long long way.

I bet it's been a very interesting week's training at Colney and I can imagine the intensity that's been done has been higher than at any time this season. You can't solve problems overnight, but the players who start against Leeds tomorrow, whoever those 11 may be, need to show commitment, desire and a pride in wearing the famous Norwich City yellow shirt.