Tettey: We were doomed from the start.. the boss is not a magician, we didn’t have the mentality to win enough matches

ALEX Tettey admitted he knew before a ball was kicked that Norwich simply were not good enough for the Premier League.

Michail Antonio’s fabulous foursome sealed the Canaries’ fate as well as propelling West Ham to the brink of safety.

It was a seventh straight loss for Daniel Farke’s side, who became the first side to be relegated behind-closed-doors.

The German had insisted all season that Norwich’s decision not to spend heavily on new players last summer had made survival almost impossible.

That was seen as disappointingly defeatist by many fans and pundits alike but stand-in skipper Tettey backed his boss simply because he believed it was true.

He said: “I knew at the start of the season how it was going to be and sadly there were a lot of games where we haven’t had that mentality to get wins.

“It is not wise to blame Daniel, he is not a magician. It’s not me being diplomatic – that’s the way it is.

“The fans will always want more, they will criticise us when it goes wrong and praise us when it goes well. It is their right to have their opinions.

“But the boss has done everything he can.

“He hasn’t got £15-20-30million players, he has young talent mixed with a couple of senior players.

“It’s tough for him as well, when he wants to play differently and doesn’t have the players to do that.

“His philosophy is fantastic – the club believing in young talent that’s the way to go – but if you don’t have the

quality regardless of your football you will get punished.” Antonio certainly did that as he plundered a career first hattrick thanks to defending on a par with his days as a youngster at Tooting and Mitcham.

Terrible marking from a corner allowed him a closerange opener in the 11th minute and he doubled the lead just before half-time with a simple header from Mark Noble’s freekick. Noble – roaming in an unfamiliar number 10

role – sent

Norwich have been relegated from the Premier League for the fifth time since 1992-93 – more than any other side.

1994/95: 20th (43 pts) 42-game season 2004/05: 19th (33 pts) 2013-14: 18th (33 pts) 2015-16: 19th (34 pts) him through nine minutes into the second half and although Tim Krul parried his shot Antonio was able to head in the rebound. Goal number four was a near-post tap-in after Ryan Fredericks had outmuscled Lukas Rupp in the Norwich box.

“It is mentally tough when we concede goals like that,” said Tettey.

“There are things at the moment collectively that we do in games that are just not good enough.

“Giving away goals that in this division, or any football division, is not good enough.

“Most of the other teams would defend all four goals like that – we are the only team that has been doing that lately.”

West Ham will be all but safe if they beat Watford – who are also on 34 points – at the London Stadium on Friday night.

The Hammers are a club seemingly allergic to success but were always likely to find three teams worse than themselves.

“I have been here five years and the next year is the club’s 125th anniversary so it is better for us to stay up and celebrate,” said defender Angelo Ogbonna.

“It is totally sad playing behind closed doors and we certainly don’t want to play without the fans and then give them the Championship.

“We are doing our best to stay up.”