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The simple fact that we are creating the chances to miss should be enough to persuade people that we have improved hugely. The players were completely lost in the first 10 games. Smith knows how to set up a team in the PL which Farke and his coaches never understood. Results may not come quickly enough to save us, but at least we have a proper management team now.

Someone has to do a man marking job on Buendia, assuming he starts. I doubt that Normann will be risked yet. Rupp was excellent yesterday, as was Maclean. If we have another fit centre back, Sorensen will drop out again. Sargent also played well, despite a couple of his usual moments. Kabak too after a nervy opening. Krul Aarons, Kabak, Gibson/Omobamidele, Williams Rupp, Gilmour Maclean Placheta, Pukki, Sargent

The step up is massive these days. I don't think anyone from the leagues below us has a hope of making it mid-season and overseas players often take too long to settle. Now that we have a manager who knows how to set up a team in the PL, we have the opportunity to give Idah and Sargent chances. Both reduce the pressure on Pukki and create space for him. Both are marginally off where they need to be and it still might happen. I don't see us being able to bring in anyone better in January. I'd rather give one of the under 23s a game or two.

I really enjoyed the game. It was great that we competed across the pitch but unfortunately I don't think the Norwich supporters or the team genuinely believed they were going to win it. Conversely, I know loads of United fans and I'm sure not one of them ever believed they would lose. The advantage that the teams like United have in the PL is a mental one. We had that advantage in the Championship last season. Yes, the referees unconsciously show bias. We would never have got that penalty at Old Trafford, not in a million years. How McTominay didn't get two yellows is beyond me. Yet with all that, we still could have won it but for a couple of decent saves from a goalkeeper worth more than most of our squad. Their wageroll is more than 7 times what ours is. They had an £83m centre back, a £73m winger, a £56m midfielder and Ronaldo earning over £300k a week and we matched them. A bit more belief and we'd have beaten them. Of course we won't play like that against Villa because the mental side won't kick in, but we do now know that under Smith we can compete, so there is hope in every game. Whether or not results follow we will have to wait and see.

Give up on Brentford - we're not going to catch them unless we suddenly turn into Man City. We have to finish above Watford, Burnley and Newcastle because no one else in this league is likely to be dragged into it as they can all beat each other and will all pick up points. I am pretty convinced that the 3 to go down will come from the current bottom 4 - and if Newcastle can persuade some decent players to join them in January they will be the ones to stay up.

Everyone is moving content from free websites to (preferably) paid apps, on the basis they can then provide exclusive content. It's just a different business model. Targeted adverts will inevitably follow because that's what happens to maximise revenue, and the AI within the app isn't just going to sit there and do nothing. Currently free apps won't be free for too much longer. Organisations spending money on non-interactive websites for little or no return is over - unless it uses the same tech as an app there won't be a website. Desktops are virtually history already other than for very specific industries (design, entertainment etc) where processing power is needed. Laptops won't be far behind - almost every consumer and product development is now focussed on tablets/phones.

The latest agent almost in position......

This. All those slagging him off on here are the same ones who thought he was great against Southampton when he turned the game. Every professional footballer is a professional footballer because they have some talent. You can't get a contract at Bremen or Norwich or even Ipswich without knowing what to do. Sargent may be a footballer in a bad place at the moment, just like RVW was while he was here, but there is a player in there - he has already proved that. He's not a striker good enough for the PL - maybe he never will be - but his game isn't just about scoring goals. As you say, he's 21. I think he'll do brilliantly in the Championship personally and so will Tzolis.

I was never a huge Godfrey fan, but even I think this is a bit harsh! As a young player he was extremely promising, with good pace, physicality and a very competitive edge to his game. What never developed in his transition to a centre back was his spatial awareness and dominance so he was frequently caught out by quicker, cleverer opponents even in the Championship. His move to Everton has masked this weakness slightly - fans love a competitor and will often overlook such weakness, but he hasn't developed much from those early days. But every player has some kind of weakness - coaches are supposed to allow for it. For instance, Godfrey shouldn't be marking fast off the mark players from set pieces but leaving him to defend one on one long balls is pretty safe because of his pace. I never had him as a top level centre back - clearly nor does Southgate as he hasn't featured again for England since his initial call up. I think he's a decent player - but I said at the time that £25m was a great deal for us, given the player he was. The PR is such that he would probably go for more than that now, but lots and lots of players are massively over-hyped. We have bought/loaned a couple ourselves......including Kabak, who is nowhere near as good.

We have a goal to shot conversion rate of 3.7%. We concede more shots per game than anyone other than Burnley. We have scored 8 goals in 15 games, only 4 of which were from open play. In whoscored.com's ratings of the season so far our highest rated player is Normann - he is 92nd. Grant Hanley is next at 129. Every other team in this league has better players than we have. We either have to play out of our skins every week to get a point or we have no chance. Everyone on here needs to understand that if we don't pay £50 -60k a week in salary we cannot attract better players than Sargent/Tzolis etc. Doesn't matter if we can ever afford the transfer fee, the salary determines success.

Yes, absolutely. It has always struck me as a ludicrous system - but at least the auditors are usually not the firm's normal accountants (though there is no law against it and they sometimes are). But normally a company has to pay two sets of accountants to agree that the way things have been accounted for is correct. Wonder who audited Derby?

A good summary. The point I was making about administrators is both the conflict of interest (the more efficient they are, the less they earn) and that football clubs are (or should be) different. A good administrator will do everything they can to secure the future of the business, but ultimately it is a financial decision about whether to ultimately liquidate or wind up. Ending the existence of a football club should never be an option.

Derby don't own their ground, they sold it to Morris for £80m to try to avoid FFP penalties. He then used it as security on a £20m loan he then gave to the club.......to also try and avoid FFP penalties. So that one transaction generated £100m in cash and assets for the club over 2 or 3 years. It's all gone. Morris has lost more than £200m in supporting Derby but he's still worth £500m plus.

Let's not forget that the reason Bury went and why Derby might is because of very rich owners who suddenly decide they've had enough. In this case, Morris is still worth hundreds of millions - he's just chosen to stop spending it on Derby. It's a personal decision he's made. Of course he's entitled to decide when and how to spend his money, but there are consequences. When such individuals or corporate owners (the Coventry and Blackburn examples are also relevant here) make that decision, it puts a football club at risk, not a standard entity. A football club is much more than a company they are used to playing with and yes of course special rules should apply so that when this happens there is a failsafe in place. That is part of what the recent enquiry has reported on (and which the PL are today rejecting). The Government will need to appoint a compulsory regulator - voluntary regulation never works where so much money is involved. It will happen eventually because so many clubs are in trouble. Rooney seems to think it's all fine. He's ignoring the fact that Derby has very few assets and lots of debt and liabilities. The situation is similar to the one Sisu played out at Coventry, and I can see a similar thing happening; the guy in the frame to take over doesn't have enough money to also buy the ground back and there is very little security to borrow on. Administration and rebirth in the National League may actually be the only way the club survives.

HMRC can't give in, too many other clubs also owe them tens of millions. Part of this problem is the complete ineptitude of administrators, whatever business they get involved in. It's a ridiculous system having to appoint accountants with no accountability themselves. The EFL and the PL should have their own people to act in this situation and their own hardship funds or levy for making sure that clubs cannot fold - many other industries have this in some form.

I genuinely don't think Armstrong is any better than what we have. Personally I think Idah deserves a proper run in the team in place of Sargent. Although he doesn't score, he does usually create some space for others when he comes on.

You've already pointed out that we can't afford a proven PL striker so not sure what you've got to be curious about...... He has though scored several in the Championship, which is more than can be said for any other striker currently on our books.

Daryl Dike on his way in January? Loan with a view to permanent.

I doubt much will change. Rashica will start instead of Tzolis if fit, maybe PLM if he's not. Maybe Idah for Sargent. Williams is much the better defender so I would still start him. Gilmour Our problem against Newcastle was that we were completely confused by the red card. We had a midfield full of multi-touch footballers who were there to counter Newcastle and play on the break for Pukki. Mclean and Rupp in particular seldom use one touch, and when they do it usually goes astray. The bigger surprise for me was that Aarons and Gilmour fell into this lassitude as well on the night, when we needed them in particular to find another gear. We actually have a decent chance of getting something against Spurs. It's a ground we have had some success on in the past, and it will suit the way Smith is setting us up that they must attack us.

Newcastle's probably.

Apart from the penalty shout, I think he's tried to be quite impartial but imagine how hard that must be - picture yourself commentating on this and trying not to favour Norwich. It's stupid having Shearer on this game, though. By the way, it should have been a penalty ;his hand clearly stopped the ball going on target and was away from his body.

Agreed. We look like a team set up to play on the break and suddenly we have possession. We have no idea what to do once we get to their box. Smith needs to work some magic at half time.

Is that the last time we won there?

Ferdinand made mistakes - in fact he was odds-on for at least one howler every game (check out some of his England appearances, for instance). Van Dijk makes mistakes. In both cases their positional awareness generally got them out of trouble but the bigger issue is how quickly they and their teammates recover from errors.

Far too much positivity on here. Yes, we've made some progress in the last couple of games but nothing like enough to believe that we can go to Newcastle in these circumstances and win. I will be astonished and delighted if we come away with anything. Given we have not scored a goal in 8 of our 13 games and in 5 of our 6 games away, forecasting us to score 3 is somewhat optimistic. When you add in that we have kept 1 clean sheet away from home, we are very unlikely to be able to stop them scoring. I'm afraid I can't see anything but a defeat. Hopefully not too heavy. I think we have a much better chance of getting something at Spurs.