MATCH REACTION: Furious McCann condemns his '˜arrogant' players after record-equalling defeat

Posh were thumped 6-1 by a youthful Canaries outfit - only hat-trick scorer Tony Andreu was over 21 - and McCann accused some of his players of ‘arrogance’.

It’s the joing biggest margin of defeat Posh have suffered at home in a Football League era that started in 1960. Posh have twice lost 0-5 at home in the League to Northampton in 1985 and Rotherham in 1999.

The Posh boss is now ready to let several members of his first-team squad leave on transfer deadline day tomorrow (August 31).

In an angry post-match tirade, McCann said: “That was embarrassing. I am angry and frustrated as this competition is a priority for this club. It always is. We were lucky enough to win it a couple of years ago.

“I take responsibility for the result as I’m the one who made seven changes to the starting line-up, but I cann’t accept what I stood and watched tonight.

“The biggest disappointment for me was the arrogance we showed, I don’t know why, because we never spoke about it beforehand, but we played as though we thought the game would be easy.

“That really frustrated me and if I was in our dressing rooom tonight I would be fearful about transfer deadline day tomorrow. Some phones could be ringing and some players could be getting shipped out after that performance.

“Norwich didn’t have any arrogance, They came here to play and to win and they were ruthless in front of goal, whereas too many of my players were fine in possession, but unwilling to do the dirty things like tracking back and marking opponents.

“Norwich kept pulling the ball back to players who were under no pressure on the edge of our area. Their finishing was excellent, but we made it as easy as we could for them.

“The bottom line is some of my players are not as good as I thought they were.

“There were three main positives for me tonight. The young lads who came on in the second half, Morgan Penfold, Deon Moore and Leo Da Silva Lopes all did well, but apart from getting important minutes into Ryan tafazolli and Jermaine Anderson, and the hard work put in by Tom Nichols, there was nothing else to enjoy.”

Moore and Penfold are Posh Academy players who were making their first-team debuts.

Posh expect to sign a goalkeeper on transfer deadline day. Posh are trying to ship number one Ben Alnwick out of the club after he handed in a transfer request for personal reasons yesterday (August 29).

There could be others coming and going on what is now expected to be a frantic 12 hours or so until the 11pm deadline.

Even loan signings will not be allowed after the deadline has passed.

Posh are still in the Checkatrade Trophy. They are in a groupo of four which also contains MK Dons and Barnet with the top two progressing to the knockout stages.

League One rivals MK Dons, who are Posh’s next opponents in the competition at the ABAX Stadium on October 4, beat Barnet on penalties at stadium:mk tonight following a 2-2 draw.