VillaFaninLondon

That's mainly because Brighton's strikers are pants and don't make good of any of the crosses he puts into the box. His crossing is much better than Targett's for sure.

I think there's no question if we want to break into the top 6 or heaven forbid the top 4 most of the team will need upgrading. Other than Martinez I can't honestly say anyone else is top 4 standard. Konsa is a very good defender but is a little bit overrated on here as he also makes mistakes. In terms of who could we get that are better CBs than our current ones, Gomez could well be (I don't know how good he actually is because anyone playing alongside VVD would look good). Botman at Lille has been linked with teams like Wolves and could be an upgrade on what we've got (he was outstanding last season when they won the league and is only 21). Otherwise it's up to our scouting team to find them. Mings and Konsa definitely need a quality third defender to compete with IMO.

If we want to break into the top 6 we will have to spend big to upgrade some of our starting positions at some point I reckon. Cucurella was a snip though at 15m. Think Newcastle's aim this season will be to just get 17th. Think they're in major trouble regardless of who they bring in.

Gaya's a great shout if it were possible.

That is a lot, then again I don't think his transfer fee would be that high if Rafa wants rid. Ings is on far too much money considering his output so far.

Someone that hasn't been mentioned is Lucas Digne at Everton. Clear upgrade on Targett and clearly on his way out of Everton. That's the sort of calibre of player we should be targeting, and for me Targett is one of the first players in the starting 11 I'd look to upgrade if we're going to get better. Cucurella at Brighton is another that would be an upgrade but not gonna happen in January. We needed another holding midfielder regardless, but we need one even more now Nakamba is injured. Attack-wise, lots of players have underperformed or been injured (Ings, Watkins, Buendia, Bailey, Traore) but I reckon the quality is there and defensive positions need fixing more. If we signed 2 quality players to come straight into the first team next month at DM and LB we'd have had a very good window. But we need proven quality and not the lazy links of players from Rangers who would only make the squad even more bloated than it already is.

Very disappointing. Still a lot of work to do clearly and clearly we need a couple of quality signings in January if available. Gerrard missing today hindered us. Chelsea are good but have been off form for weeks and once again Lukaku looks a world beater against us despite being recently injured/out of form/out with COVID. Basically gifted them two goals through penalties by making brainless decisions when defending which we do time and again against the better teams. Need to bounce back next weekend against Brentford. We usually beat the teams in and around us or below us.

Yeah they have been recently and have looked toothless in front of goal.

Considering West Ham, Wolves and Everton have recently got points off Chelsea this is disappointing. Made very poor decisions on and off the ball today.

Traore and AEG for Ings and Buendia.

Make some God damn changes.

Huge let off. That's a sitter by Mount.

How the f*** have we thrown this game away. Shocking start to the second half and was always likely they'd score given how generous we've been in giving the ball back to them.

It's a farce that the game is due to go ahead. We'd have a good chance of a result if we had a fit squad but seems we're being forced to play a weakened team, disgrace.

A lot of injuries/players out currently but shouldn't be starting as an AM/winger for us at his age. Maybe LB when Targett is injured/out of form. He's not the pacey, skillful winger he was 10 years ago. His best position now is FB and he shouldn't play further forward for us. The weakest attacking player last night.

Another really good performance, a decent win and a clean sheet, Norwich weren't great but our football was really slick tonight. Another 3 points against Burnley and it will be a happy Christmas. Gerrard has done a great job so far and it's exciting watching us under him, very solid at the back but great going forward too. What a great assist by Carney, would be very tempting to start him against Burnley over Young. A massive prospect who makes the game look easy. Also a good night for Ramsey who keeps getting better and better after each game. The future looks bright.

Assist by Carney

Really good first half and should be more than 1 up. Let's hope we see a full 90 minute performance today and no dropping off in the second half.

He keeps losing the ball.

Don't understand why Young starts at all.

Norwich don't score many goals. We kept a Liverpool side that had averaged 3 goals a game in this league down to one goal and that was a dubious penalty. Of course I'd expect us to be a lot more attacking than against Liverpool but we really should be looking to keep a clean sheet for this one. We've only kept four clean sheets in 16 games which is poor but we've definitely improved defensively under Gerrard. It's also about time we saw our attacking threat. Ings and Watkins are averaging a goal every 3-4 games which is below usual. Buendia only has one goal, Sanson hasn't scored for us yet (or even got an assist) despite scoring a few at Marseille, AEG has goals in him but isn't getting a look in. Young should sit this one out for me, we need more goal threat and I wouldn't mind seeing AEG for this one either off the bench or starting.

Would be nice to see a comfortable win and a clean sheet for a change. Need our midfielders and strikers to start scoring more, particularly Buendia, Ings and Watkins. Two changes from Liverpool: Sanson and Buendia in for Ramsey and Young. Our away form is poor and needs to improve in the next few games. Norwich have looked better recently but lack quality and it's the sort of game we must be winning if we're to finish top half.

Undone by a penalty that never was and denied one at the other end as the officials bottled it like they always do at these grounds. But we played poor. Barely created much until the last 10-15 mins and even then didn't even make Allisson make one save. Defended well generally though. Next two fixtures against Norwich and Burnley are games we should not only be winning but creating lots of chances in and I hope we do that.

That looked a pen as much as theirs did.

We've looked good last 5-10 mins but whenever we get near the goal we try to walk it in. Don't know why we're afraid to shoot.