Dubai Mark

I am definately on the side of really rating this player, seen him many times live on TV over here and always impresses me.......on of those players, like Holt, in respect of CB''s seem not to like playing against, a real tricky player to mark....cheeky bid in the summer perhaps? 

This is surely another piece of excellent business by CH and the club and covers the situation the club are in with Ruddy and having inexperienced back-up perfectly. It is in no way showing a lack of confidence in our current keepers, and even if it does, there is nothing wrong with a bit of quality competition........a quality GK like Camp on a free.......another box ticked!

Whilst I trust that we have certainly made a second or even a third bid, I am very scepticle that even Lennon knows exactly what the offer is really worth, and I wouldnt put it past him to be doing a bit of spin here to help steady the waters a bit in respect of the fans reaction, knowing that Hooper is on his way. Whether its 9m or 5m,either fee will be value if this player is what we need to keep us out of the immediate drop zone and ultimately in this league next year. Its clear for all to see that we are desperate for another top quality striker in addition to Holt, and Hooper fits the bill nicely, particularly if we do increase the amount of times we play 442 going forward......this approach also clearly signals the club has genuine ambition, albeit within what we can afford.....probably at a stretch. 

When I saw we were in for both Hooper and Graham I straight away thought that CH is looking to change things around and start to play 442 more often, but cant do it right now with the limited choices he has.......both would Im sure be excellent alongside Holt and Graham in particular would be great at playing the lone role too

A match fit Bent is one of the best strikers in The Premiership,will get a move and start notching regularly again.....but not for us though

When I read the subjecy I actually laughed, I know he has a lot of fans on here, but I think he contributed little and seemed to be very happy staying at the club drawing his salary doing very little for longer than he should......Im sure he is a nice guy though and sorry if I have upset anybody for not being a member of his fan club.......... 

Most of our signings are kept relatively confidential until the day, so this one would be unusual. BUT, it is looking like it could well happen and now with the bookies situation too you have to start expecting this to come off I guess. Having watched the compilation on YouTube of his goals, have to say "if" this does happen it looks like we will have a terrific player, really good positioning and a trigger shot,  and one who will compliment Holt nicely if we play two up front or, who appears to also be good at player the single strker role when Holt needs resting/rotating.     

Its unlikely Holt will be 100% fit of course, but really cant understand why anyone would not out him in even at 70-80% fit, he is so much better than anything else we have, regardless of Jackson who did do well last week. Holt gives us leadership in addition to causing major problems across the oppositions defence and being capable of holding the ball up...which is so crucial, without him, this type of player, the ball simply comes pinging back and our defence takes it mor than they should. Losing Holt is like losing two players....

Enjoyed your report Ricardo and agree as per usual. Despite losing it was a very decent performance that won plenty of plaudits from the pundits on the live coverage over here. I agree, two big pluses were Harry Kane looking decent which is crucial considering Holt and now Morison''s injuries and Howson looked excellent in the time he was on the pitch, again a bonus considering Johnson''s suspension, shame because that was a MOM performance today and against world class players. Happy New Year to you too....

I havnt seen enough of him recently to really know his quality, but presuming he is the class act many say he is, then I would bring him in along with an additional striker. Why, well because I actually dont see us having the depth of strength some see, sure we have strength in numbers, but if we are looking to improve we need doubled up quality at least in every position. At the moment, we have a very decent partnership.....Bassong could well be the best CB to have ever worn the shirt and Turner of late is looking very solid and compliments Bassong superbly...they have rasied the bar. To be honest, even though I rate him highly I really dont see Russell Martin as coming close to these two, Barnett is inconsistent and still learning the game and Bennett is raw, still learning but with loads of potential. So, yes, Id love to see another quality CB to add to what we have, with Bennett and Ayala for the future, Martin being an ideal squad player filling in at RB or CB......leaving us to release Barnett (many will disagree I''m sure) and Ward, who I thought generally put in a good shift for us, but......looks very leggy against the very best in this league. What shocks me, is just how quickly our club is raising its standards all round, players who were good enough not that long ago are now having to move on as we seek the next level of player, fantastic! 

This is a really good question, and one that gets you thinking, the sort of question that deserves good feedback. For me, I dont see this window as the time for signing such young players, all of whom would probably be over priced, and probably not ready for regular starts, maybe more sensible to sign a couple for the future in the summer. Right now I feel that a couple of players who can hit the ground running with decent experience at the highest level here or abroad would be more appropriate or, even one or two more experienced signings from the Championship even...I personally rate Mackail-Smith highly, many I know disagree. But one I do like from your list, even though he is an ex Binner, is Wickham.....thought he looked class when he came on for them second half against us and I could see him doing an execllent job for us from the bench or even starting when Holt has a problem.....again, that wont be popular and it wont happen anyway.       

Surpised they had a go at Holt today, back after probably not training for the best part of ten days and he put in a good shift. Today wasnt an easy game for our midfield as they were up against top top players who worked very hard I thought, and they actually came out of the game pretty well, even Pilkington who had to do a lot of dropping back as expected.  That said, I wouldnt be opposed to fesehining the team up just a little with Elliot Bennett and moving Snodgrass over to the other side, but thats probably because I really rate Bennett and feel he needs a few games.

I understand where you are coming from, but felt that had we opened up any more than we did at 0-1 we could easily have gone 0-2, 0-3 very quickly. I liked the strategy, at just one down we were always in it and nearly nicked it with that Bassong effort, despite the result I thought Hughton''s tactics were just how to play Chelsea.

To be honest, I havnt seen any signs of complacency yet this season...... 

Watched the Villa game and it could have been another eight! I''m puzzled by his strategy, even though he has a few senior players injured he is not playing his remaining experience in the team or those players who were their better players before he joined......thought they were really terrible today and will certainly get tonked a few more times this season without some changes, Spurs won at a canter. 

Thanks as usual for report Ricardo and as per usual I agree with the overwhelming majority of it, although I struggled with a MOM as didnt think there was one real stand out today, but it was a very decent team performance against a team full of quality. It was a game I didnt thnk we would win ahving watched them dismantle Villa, but as it wore on really thought we would snatch an equaliser and actually feel we deserved a point.

A thread well worth putting up, agree 100%, I thought Snodgrass was the best player on the park yesterday and also watched two other premier league games and there wasnt a better perfromance in those either.......he is actually a class act!

Some of the posters on this board really need to take a reality check on all things Norwich City whilst also consider posting in a more pleasant manner. Putting aside whether Morison had a good season last year or whether you like him as a player or not, yesterday was a huge opportunity for him to cement his place in the squad and ensure Hughton was impressed enough to see him as Holt''s automatic replacement or even a long term squad option. Unfortunately, it''s frustrating to say that when he needed to shine he didnt, and he probably put in one of his poorest performances in a City shirt since he has been at the club, which I found strange. For me the one thing that really showed him up, was when he chose not to chase down a ball that was heading for the corner and Snodgrass took it upon himself to set an example and to do just that, I feel his heart isnt with our club anymore. 

BroadstairsR, reading through all of the drivel I thought you had brought things back on track, but no chance....lets try again.. I agree Hughton definately to blame.....for taking over an almost no win management position and after a few struggles getting the team to a situation where we had a ten game unbeaten run and to date more clean sheets than we managed for the total of last season!! As for yesterday, whilst we didnt play to our best, we certainly deserved a point from the game in my humble opinion. Sure West Brom had a few more chances and a little more of the ball, but they were the home side and are strong at home too. In addition, we were without our best player who really does make a huge difference and their first goal was a clear foul on the keeper, which was replayed many times on the TV over here and both pundits said the same. So, in my book we were robbed and should have come away with a point, OTBC   

Havnt seen CMS play at all recently, but when we were last in for him I, like many others I''m sure, made a point to check him out as much as I could on the Football League show and other various clips (hardly Chief Scout stuff I know). At that time, I was very impressed and thought he would fit in well due to his energy and general type of play, not so different from Holt from what I could see at that time. In addition, Poyet seems to know a good player when he see''s one and he currently has a very decent strike rate. Much prefer CMS than some Premier League reserve player heading towards the end of his career, well I think I would anyway OTBC

Bethnal''s approach is my preference, certainly not wholesale rotation, but resting two, maximum three players for each game over this period would have limited impact on the side providing it''s done well. At the moment my trust of CH in making decisions is very high and I am sure he will manage the squad impecably over the next few weeks.

Watched the game live and first look I thought there wasnt much in it, BUT then seeing the replay as few times, even through my green and yellow tinted specs have to say the challenge was nasty and its not the first BJ has caught another player like that. As for "targeted"......no evidence of that at all, but his injury was much appreciated. 

Certainly some credit to Shawcross for not reacating, BUT no credit to hime for his continual holding, ridiculous situation that the game is allowing this and that refs dont pick up on it. As for Fellaini, this was a pre meditated assault regardless of how much he was wound up. He looked around first to make sure the ref wasnt looking and then put one on Shawcross that many drunks after twelve pints would be proud of....and they would be arrested, charged with ABH, possibly GBH depending on the injury caused, and go to court for their punishment to be dealt out.  I''m usually of the opinion that the Police get involved in Football when its not necessary, however in this case he needs aknock at the door from the boys in blue!      

A great report as usual Ricardo and agree with it 100%. On the TV it was a decent game and for me what is so noticeable is just how organised we are week in week out now, which was not the case consistently last season. Agree on all the players you highlighted as having fine games, yes Wes deserves MOM and the referee had definately started the Christmas Sherry early! Crowd sounded very low key on the box though...perhaps because of low number of visitors? 

What a great day for Hoolahan today, new contract and at last a goal plus an assist and as usual high energy (something he has been doing all season I agree). Close to a MOM performance along with Pilkington, I''d give it to him though...even despite giving the ball away a few times (wait for statistics to prove I''m wrong) as his plus points more than made up for those, a real pivotal performance!