Norwich City boss Paul Lambert refused to condemn his players after their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Lambert prefers to look at the bigger picture, having overseen successive promotions up from npower League One.

He said: "Things like that can happen, especially when you are up against that type of opposition, you have to be right on the button or you will get beat.

"I am always disappointed when we lose, but try not to get too down, or too high when we win. A lot of the lads have put the club where they are, so I cannot be too critical.

"You just pick yourself up and go again."

Lambert added: "It has been a real hard season and we have had to be right on our game to get any points whatsoever.

"We are sitting in a really good position, and the objective was to stay in this league. Everybody had us being relegated, so we have surpassed anything which we have achieved here in the last three years.

"Hopefully now we can get over that line."