Greg

His time at Extremadura didn't happen? Not to jinx it but when he was in this situation, Extremadura went down. As always with Rafa his big brain will know what to do different. Aye. Finished 17th and went down via play offs. I’d take 17th this season if offered it now.

I'm with this. I feel Rafa is just papering over the cracks really. It's no surprise we're more at ease away from home where there's generally more space, than at home where we're naturally expected to be a bit more adventurous. We have precious little creative quality in our squad, let alone goal scoring ability. The only thing keeping us in it right now is our team spirit and our defensive organisation. Player for player this is by some distance our weakest Premier League squad I've seen since I started following NUFC. I don't subscribe to the notion that Rafa Benitez is some sort of saint who can do no wrong, but it's plain to see he's forced to be pragmatic here and is pretty much wringing everything possible from a Championship squad with maybe a handful of PL quality players. Years and years of underinvestment are taking their toll, and it's painfully clear we are in desperate need of reinforcements. Just imagine for one moment what a difference a creative midfielder like Ben Arfa or a striker like Demba Ba would make to our team and our survival chances. We're a team of plodders, so it should be no surprise we play like one. Also, as I've said in the other thread what do people think will happen if we try to attack teams? We've no attacking quality whatsoever and our defence is hanging together by a spiders web but aye f*** it lets go at them We were playing the worst team in the league, who have scored 14 goals or something this season, at home. I'm not saying go gung-ho and forget about defending but in that scenario you simply have to go for the win IMO Normally I'd agree. However if you then take into consideration how little quality we have going forward and how easily we fall apart defensively when we try and open up the likelihood of zero points rather than all three perhaps becomes a whole lot bigger. So let's assume Rafa's thinking was is it worth taking a 20% shot on a win risking a 50% chance of a loss, would "going for it" given those sort of odds still have been the sensible solution in a game against a fellow relegation threatened team where not losing was perhaps more important than winning? I mean, we've all seen in the first half how clinical our forwards are and that was when there was actually some space for them to move into. I think us piling forward would have suited Swansea just fine. They would have brought Narsing on sooner and been waiting for their lucky break as we huffed and puffed. Rafa will have been wary of what happened two weeks ago when Swansea scored twice in the last 5 minutes to win away at Watford. He should be thinking they’ve only scored 14 goals all season, we’ve dominated, created chances and are well on top, more of the same second half. But he probably was thinking they scored twice away to Watford. So a game we could and should have won comfortably based on the first half becomes a point we kind of did well to get. Sums us up at home under Rafa. Again it’s like he’s happy not to lose at home as if it’s some kind of spring board to success. After 5 straight defeats at home I can understand why he is taking this approach.

His time at Extremadura didn't happen?

I'm with this. I feel Rafa is just papering over the cracks really. It's no surprise we're more at ease away from home where there's generally more space, than at home where we're naturally expected to be a bit more adventurous. We have precious little creative quality in our squad, let alone goal scoring ability. The only thing keeping us in it right now is our team spirit and our defensive organisation. Player for player this is by some distance our weakest Premier League squad I've seen since I started following NUFC. I don't subscribe to the notion that Rafa Benitez is some sort of saint who can do no wrong, but it's plain to see he's forced to be pragmatic here and is pretty much wringing everything possible from a Championship squad with maybe a handful of PL quality players. Years and years of underinvestment are taking their toll, and it's painfully clear we are in desperate need of reinforcements. Just imagine for one moment what a difference a creative midfielder like Ben Arfa or a striker like Demba Ba would make to our team and our survival chances. We're a team of plodders, so it should be no surprise we play like one. Also, as I've said in the other thread what do people think will happen if we try to attack teams? We've no attacking quality whatsoever and our defence is hanging together by a spiders web but aye f*** it lets go at them We were playing the worst team in the league, who have scored 14 goals or something this season, at home. I'm not saying go gung-ho and forget about defending but in that scenario you simply have to go for the win IMO Normally I'd agree. However if you then take into consideration how little quality we have going forward and how easily we fall apart defensively when we try and open up the likelihood of zero points rather than all three perhaps becomes a whole lot bigger. So let's assume Rafa's thinking was is it worth taking a 20% shot on a win risking a 50% chance of a loss, would "going for it" given those sort of odds still have been the sensible solution in a game against a fellow relegation threatened team where not losing was perhaps more important than winning? I mean, we've all seen in the first half how clinical our forwards are and that was when there was actually some space for them to move into. I think us piling forward would have suited Swansea just fine. They would have brought Narsing on sooner and been waiting for their lucky break as we huffed and puffed. Rafa will have been wary of what happened two weeks ago when Swansea scored twice in the last 5 minutes to win away at Watford.

No. Unless we were in Scotland.

He had more time today, at Stoke he hit it hard and low, was a poor finish today. Doesn't use his left much.

Through on goal 15 yards out second half, missed the target. Small margins but they matter at this level. Well let’s replace him with... oh wait! In an ideal world but you and I know that Ashley isn't spending. So we have to make do. Not the whole picture I know, especially as Gayle came in for the likes of Man United and Chelsea away but still relatively telling... Won 1, lost 8 of 11 that Gayle has started. Won 5, lost 8 of 17 that Joselu has started.

His two main chances today that he fluffed, I think it would be fair to say were casual finishes. One did lead to our goal mind!

Through on goal 15 yards out second half, missed the target. Small margins but they matter at this level.

Great save. Should try him in net.

At the time, in the ground, I thought it was a miss-hit but looking back that's a great finish.

I meant he needs to start every game if fit. If you want us to get relegated. 0.45 - Points Per Game when Gayle starts 1.50 - Points Per Game when Gayle doesn't start I’m saying if people want Gayle to start scoring regularly, he has to play regularly, and not in fits and starts which is what has happened this season. Your stats btw, you could say the same for Hayden, for Shelvey, for half the team. It’s irrelevent. Doesn’t mean we are losing games not winning because Gayle is playing or even vice versa. Play Gayle and we get relegated is that what you are saying, or rather your stats? Basically I’m just defending him today. I thought he was a goal threat, a nuisance and generally played really well. Put one or two of them chances away and it’s MOTM and 8/10. He was awful today, 4 good chances, cocked them all up. He's played plenty of football recently. He's not good enough. He didn't have 4 good chances mind Watching it back now, certainly had 3 good chances. Considering how pedantic you are at times I stand by what I said

I meant he needs to start every game if fit. If you want us to get relegated. 0.45 - Points Per Game when Gayle starts 1.50 - Points Per Game when Gayle doesn't start I’m saying if people want Gayle to start scoring regularly, he has to play regularly, and not in fits and starts which is what has happened this season. Your stats btw, you could say the same for Hayden, for Shelvey, for half the team. It’s irrelevent. Doesn’t mean we are losing games not winning because Gayle is playing or even vice versa. Play Gayle and we get relegated is that what you are saying, or rather your stats? Basically I’m just defending him today. I thought he was a goal threat, a nuisance and generally played really well. Put one or two of them chances away and it’s MOTM and 8/10. He was awful today, 4 good chances, cocked them all up. He's played plenty of football recently. He's not good enough. He didn't have 4 good chances mind Watching it back now, certainly had 3 good chances.

It was in the papers a few days ago.

I meant he needs to start every game if fit. If you want us to get relegated. 0.45 - Points Per Game when Gayle starts 1.50 - Points Per Game when Gayle doesn't start I’m saying if people want Gayle to start scoring regularly, he has to play regularly, and not in fits and starts which is what has happened this season. Your stats btw, you could say the same for Hayden, for Shelvey, for half the team. It’s irrelevent. Doesn’t mean we are losing games not winning because Gayle is playing or even vice versa. Play Gayle and we get relegated is that what you are saying, or rather your stats? Basically I’m just defending him today. I thought he was a goal threat, a nuisance and generally played really well. Put one or two of them chances away and it’s MOTM and 8/10. He was awful today, 4 good chances, cocked them all up. He's played plenty of football recently. He's not good enough.

The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market 2 million in a premiership striker The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market was different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. as different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. So Any Cole at that time playing in the Championship with Bristol scoring 12 goals would be worth more than 8 million than a premiership striker like Gayle at that time aye right. Quite possibly yes, much younger and much more potential. The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market 2 million in a premiership striker The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market was different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. as different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. So Any Cole at that time playing in the Championship with Bristol scoring 12 goals would be worth more than 8 million than a premiership striker like Gayle at that time aye right. Quite possibly yes, much younger and much more potential. Not 20 million at that time no chance Semantics. The point is that the market and the game is entirely different to 25 years ago. The Rafa and Keegan situations are not comparable.

I meant he needs to start every game if fit. If you want us to get relegated. 0.45 - Points Per Game when Gayle starts 1.50 - Points Per Game when Gayle doesn't start

The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market 2 million in a premiership striker The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market was different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. as different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait. So Any Cole at that time playing in the Championship with Bristol scoring 12 goals would be worth more than 8 million than a premiership striker like Gayle at that time aye right. Quite possibly yes, much younger and much more potential.

Funny mentioning Trump when you’re talking s****. How did neesy get nominated above this clown?

The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them. So you think the likes of Andy Cole, Beresford, Bracewell, Venison and Beresford wouldn’t have made it now - really? No not at all, I said the market was different. We'd be looking at around £20m for Andy Cole for example after a decent season at Bristol City. When did we last spend £20m? Oh wait.

West Ham away, Stoke away, Stoke home, Crystal Palace home. So quite a few, pressure increasing as the season draws on though. We clearly struggle at home, as we did at times last season when the onus was on us to break teams down. After 5 straight defeats Rafa seems to have gone for approaching the second half of home games as must not get beat. I can sort of understand that.

Think you're the one that's been on the rum!

Merino started against Brighton and was poor. He's clearly a very talented young lad, playing in a new team, a new division, in a new country etc. It's only natural that he will have ups and downs and as such will be in and out of the side at this stage of his career.

The home form is disgraceful especially when you consider there is only Man City who were a top team all of the other games were certainly what I would class as winnable games. And 2 points out of 21 is not good enough. The fact that there is probably no signings of the required standard to come in it’s essential we beat the teams which you would think we should especially at home. Rafa obviously doesn't trust this group of players to open up and frankly I think he's spot on. Maybe he doesn’t but then again it doesn’t hide the fact that 2 points out of 21 is not good enough He's playing the margins but the s**** he has available to him are missing key chances at key points in games. I don't know what you want, we probably have the poorest squad in the division, if we go at teams at home they'll pick us to bits. Almost certainly. Somebody like a Demba Ba in this side, and we would have been just about safe by now in my opinion. Absolutely. Today is a perfect example of our problems. He's got a load of poor/average players working a system and we created enough chances to win the game in the first half. Striker didn't score any of them because he's not good enough at this level and Rafa knows it. I’ve got every sympathy with the lack of funding but the team was built last year with the sole purpose of getting promoted and I again compare that to Keegan who added players with the intention winning the league but also players he knew could make the step up. Maybe Rafa thought some of the players he bought would but surely with Ashley’s track record he wasn’t expecting another team to be bought A lot easier to do 25 odd years ago, the market was very different and you may recall Rafa tried to bring in Premier League ready players last January but Mike Ashley blocked them.