madras

He gets cut a lot of slack because he stood up and spoke the harsh truth last season when it should've been more experienced players doing it.

The Murphy love in was merely some people backing whatever Rafa does.

He has cost us more goals than Sels this season but he does still seem the more confident choice. Agree with rather having Krul in goal. Seriously ? I think the stick of Sels is way over the top but Dralow is the choice between the two, quite clearly aswell. Krul not playing for over a year should count him out of consideration right now.

My personal reply would be "If you used your squad less dogmatically we would only be using this window for next season"..........even saying that I'd rather Rafa than a "Pardew, MaClaren, Carver"

Colo we kept because no one would take him (he came good because of that season), Simpson was/is a championship player who got lucky, Carroll wasn't a thought at the start of that season., agree with the overall thought though.

Do you not think Rafa could be part of the problem with the rigidity of formation ? If he used the squad better this pressure wouldn't be on, fwiw I've said all season he's not getting the best performance wise.

Completely agree - it's not the first time either, been saying it for months. We score a goal and go in front and it's almost like Rafa asks them to stop playing and revert to aimless passes around the back four and long humps up. Hang on, we played our best stuff after we scored our 2nd ?

Think it's fair to say a lot of our players don't quite suite the 4-2-3-1, like. On the other hand our best 2 players most certainly do, so it's difficult to argue with when it gets results. I'm sure Shelvey could handle a middle 4 at this level and Gayle should thrive if we are more on the front foot because of it.

Not saying it's the fans fault at all but it's times like this, there needs to be some resolve and spirit coming from the fans when things inside the club appear to be in a bit of turmoil. I would love to see some massive vocal support for Rafa and the team on Saturday. It won't affect the fat c*** upstairs' attitude but it might help Rafa and the players because confidence is blatantly very low at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I get behind the team in the stadium but on here and in the pub I'll call it as I see it.

Those are two very different questions TBF. We might well set the team up differently and completely fail because Rafa knows a lot more about football than us. Every professional manager knows more about football than us then..............we can still see when they are obviously getting it wrong. I'll put it another way, should a manager stick to the same tactics regardless of personnel ? Also I'll ask again, Do you think he's getting the best out of this squad ?

442 With this squad in this league, yes, rather 3-5-2, 3-4-3 than 4-2-3-1.

Like to see him in a middle 4 with more options to look for up front.

Does anyone think he's getting the best from the squad ? I mean given the squad we have in this division how many would set up the team the way he is ?

8...8 and a bit, make it 9, more 8ish, defintely high 8 area.

Don't know if the supposed joke is in the spelling or the idea.....both wrong BTW.

I'd be tempted at the right price. Spurs fans were laughing at us even when we were sniffing about, he's been crap at Palace.....when here he got back into the England squad in a struggling team. Some players just fit somewhere, This could be his place and don't blame him too much for choosing the prem over the championship. Most hate that he went to Pardew more than going to Palace.

Exactly. I'm more concerned about Rafa leaving than us not getting promoted. I'm concerned about him leaving as I wanted someone to get the place being a football club again and that means havingthe strength to control Ashley without being daft (Rafa fits the bill to a tee), however we have enough to go up and I sound like a broken record that I don't think Rafa gets as much from this squad as he should and if we don't go up it's on him.

If that were to happen most managers would alter tactics to get more oit of other players. Didn't happen while Shelvey was out. think it was finally dawning in rafa that playing the same system with colback or hayden in the shelvey role wasnt working. if we went back i'm sure he'd play it differently with the benefit of hindsight. wont make that mistake again if shelvey gets injured. Don't hold your breath!

Isn't he a minister now in the US? Canada I think.

Manager yes, manager hopefully controlling the club (not sure after tonight), yes....playing staff..not a chance!

If that were to happen most managers would alter tactics to get more oit of other players.

Sean Dyche just been interviewed there. Said there's no value in the transfer window now. You either pay the money or you don't. Rafa wanted Townsend, those above him wouldn't pay what it would have taken to bring him here. Simple as that. We'll know in just over 3 months if it was a gamble worth taking. Personally with the transfer profit we made in the summer I would have invested most of it just to more or less guarantee being promoted. Now we're sweating on Shelvey and Ritchie being available from now till the end of the season. Do you think maybe that that transfer profit isn't held in a kitty just for transfers but is hoyed into the kitty with all other incomings to pay all other outgoings ? I think it's been used to cover the losses occurred by being relegated, yes. Let's not forgot the reasons we've been relegated twice in 7 years though. Poor investment quality wise as much as poor investment quantity wise ?

isnt that true for most of the teams at the top of the championship though. lose your most creative player and its unlikely there's gonna be a decent back up option. no decent squads in the championship. We have a very creative player in Matt Ritchie but we don't play a game that helps him.

Sean Dyche just been interviewed there. Said there's no value in the transfer window now. You either pay the money or you don't. Rafa wanted Townsend, those above him wouldn't pay what it would have taken to bring him here. Simple as that. We'll know in just over 3 months if it was a gamble worth taking. Personally with the transfer profit we made in the summer I would have invested most of it just to more or less guarantee being promoted. Now we're sweating on Shelvey and Ritchie being available from now till the end of the season. Do you think maybe that that transfer profit isn't held in a kitty just for transfers but is hoyed into the kitty with all other incomings to pay all other outgoings ?

I go along with most of that.....except the last paragraph, if he's been lied to he has to either come out and say it and challenge Ashley or walk.