rogerbarton

I guess Chelsea could get complacent and put out a second string (like they did against Norwich). But realistically the dream's over when it had only just begun.

I'm not sure - we've had some decent draws under Rafa and I fancy us for a cup run this season. Yeovil at home will do me.

I'm not sure I follow. All decisions on the field are currently based on one man's opinion. By using this technology, the same one man has the opportunity to review an incident he's unsure of, with support from two other men. Then they can all come to an informed opinion together. How is the technology then facilitating opinion over fact?

Truth is Ashley just doesn't give enough of a shit. He's got more than a full-time job going on elsewhere, and doesn't really want anything to do with NUFC other than completing a satisfactory sale. He definitely won't want Rafa to walk, as it makes us a more saleable asset, but equally he's got no desire to invest.

Hang Mike Ashley, Hang Mike Ashley, Hang Mike Ashley

To be fair, it does suit the negotiating stance of the club if Rafa makes it sound like we don't have a lot of money to spend. Pragmatically, we all know Ashley doesn't want to spend much money. He wants to get out and take as much money with him as possible. Yet I'm sure he's aware we could do with strengthening. So I think this window will be somewhere in between last summer and, say, January 2013 or 2016. Probably closer to last summer. I also think we're going to find much more value in securing loans for the likes of Walcott, Slimani, Ings etc. than by bringing someone in for £10 - 15m. Chronicle's said we're putting feelers out for Walcott - could he actually do a job for us as a striker?

Best of luck to David Silva and his son. Quality player showing his class in one of the best teams I've ever seen. As for those Falkirk fans, not even close to being funny. Pathetic.

£15m for Mitro is what we paid, isn't it? So he's probably decreased in terms of value since then, but PL prices inflation has gone up a lot. So not totally unrealistic! But by treating him as second fiddle to Joselu it's not really going to help our case. Rob Elliot's 32 this year and not even a guaranteed starter for us, so we'd be lucky to get more than a few million.

I think the idea that referees are all brilliant in every other country is a bit ridiculous. Just try watching some of the games abroad. However, there definitely seem to be systemic biases and failures that we can all point to here. I can't remember seeing NUFC get the rub of the green from a referee in a very long time (that 5-1 Stoke game on Boxing Day a few years back springs to mind). While Man Utd under Ferguson got away with murder, and Spurs seem to be getting a lot of help at the moment. Haven't Everton already had five penalties this season?

12 of our 22 points have come from Stoke and West Ham Also got to say Murphy's really come on leaps and bounds. Even if his final balls were poor most of the afternoon, the pass for Perez's goal was excellent. Get to 25 points with a win against Swansea, and I have to say that'd be a pretty good return for mid-Jan.

Good performance all in all. Solid defensively, threatened quite often and should really have had more than 1. Perez, by the way, was excellent today. Now if we can beat Swansea we could pull clear of the danger zone. As for Stoke, they were dire and look in big trouble. -24 goal difference!!!

Lacelles and Atsu coming back seems to have made a big difference. Only caught the highlights today as was heading in to north-east from London a bit earlier than everyone else! What were performances like? How did Saivet and Diame cope in the middle? (Not all that badly it seems.) Huge just to get a win, and we have Stoke, Brighton and Swansea to come - all teams we've already beaten this year. If Pep makes a lot of changes (I think he might), this could even be a good (better) time to play officially the best English team ever (they've got the largest lead to 2nd of any top flight leader at Xmas ever).

Let's face it, our current run can't go on forever. We're not a good team, but we could easily have scrabbled together a couple of wins from the last 10 had things gone our way. West 'Ammmm have looked much improved in the last two, but Lanzini, Antonio and Noble are all out and I wouldn't be surprised to see them revert to their poor form of games before. 1-2.

To be fair, I think only Martial and Pogba are getting in the first XI out of those, and Pogba's playing because he's been suspended for a couple of weeks. Was still a strong team like, and amazing result for Bristol.

Just on this point, are we all happy to say we've got by far the worst strikeforce in the division? Brighton have Gross, Murray, Hemed. Depoitre, Mounie and even Mooy have stepped up with goals for Huddersfield. Stoke are probably the only team I could put at our level with Diouf, a misfiring Berahinho and Crouch, but they've got Shaqiri. Even Swansea have Abraham and Bony.

While we're talking about out-of-favour players, could we get Mkhitaryan in? He'd be a perfect solution to our number 10 issue...

Let's look at it from Ashley's perspective. He sells with a relegation clause, invests big in January and gets his money back on the investments. Or he holds out til the end of the season, investing from his own pocket to keep us in the division. I think he's had enough and would rather just take the money now, investing what he and PCP would both know to be enough to keep us up.

Agree that 4-2-3-1 yielded our most solid performances and best results. We need to get back to basics and put in some backs to the walls performances. I’d argue midfield is looking passable - we need a striker and number ten, we need a goalkeeper, and we need a dependable left-back. In that order. I’d agree a loan striker - Sturridge or Ings being good shouts - and maybe invest the bulk of that cash in a really good number ten. Who that is I have no idea, but if we got someone in that position who could score goals I think it’d make a huge difference.

It doesn't make for good viewing, does it? First half we played well and were incredibly unlucky to go in behind. Second half was flat and ineffective. And we've now lost one of our best players. In deep, deep trouble.

Incredible. How we're losing this I've no idea. We desperately need something out of this game.

Is it time to celebrate?

They'll definitely be aiming for top four - that's where the big bucks is. I definitely wouldn't expect it immediately, but there's no reason why it can't be achieved within, say, three to five years with shrewd investment. Hell, we nearly did it under Pardew thanks to a few good signings.

We're a much worse side than Leicester. Just like we're much worse than Watford or Burnley. Rafa's right - it's individual schoolboy errors costing us. The first goal it's a dreadful pass by Merino, no closing down, then Darlow should have saved it. The third goal, Manquillo loses it stupidly, then Perez lets the Leicester player sprint past him, waits 5 seconds and then tries to make amends. It was too late. We're bereft of confidence now, so it falls to Rafa to rouse the troops ahead of Wednesday. Lascelles and Atsu back might make a difference, and I think we might need to see Shelvey make a return too.

Craig Hope has said Ashley might be willing to listen to a £300m upfront payment (without clauses), and says there's still hope as both sides are very keen on a deal being done.

That too