The College Dropout

He’s no N’Zonzi.

Cos he is our best defender and captain.we are s**** without him Also - if we cannot best Luton without him. That further reason for him NOT being risked. The positives don’t outweigh the risk. Let’s minimise the chances of him being injured for PL opposition.

Rafa doesn’t seem particular cautious with rotation when it comes to Lascelles mind. Played him consistently through injury last season. If I’m not mistaken, he was the only player to play all of the Christmas fixtures and to start today.

Must be nice.

Pards should’ve waited longer. The Stoke job is perfect for him. EnoUgh genuine talent to mask his ineptitude for 18 months. Anyone not named Steve McClaren or halfway competent will keep them up. I don’t think Hughes is a terrible manager but his time has gone at Stoke.

Is he an intelligent footballer?

Yeah, but he’s Rafa Benítez, and you have no professional footballing experience. When Lascelles went off we were loads more vulnerable and you’d have been Captain Hindsight if he hadn’t been in the squad and we’d lost. I’m allowed to have a difference of opinion. If we can’t bat Luton Town without Lascelles In he FA Cup it’s even more imperative that he’s rested. This lad gets injured for 3 months - based on last time - we are relegated. It’s not worth the risk.

Said at FT last game that Lascelles needed a rest.

All of the others have been rotated and aren’t as important.

Since returning from injury just 4 weeks ago hes completed 6 PL games and Rafa wanted him to play a 7th? I think he’s the only player to have played every minute of the Xma fixtures. Should’ve been rested. And given a few days holiday. He shouldn’t have been in the squad.

If there’s one player that needed a rest it was Lascelles. That’s awful from Rafa imo.

We're going to struggle to win at WHL this season It’s always a struggle but luck has been on our side.

Costa’s a top player.

Rafa wants us to pump some goals at SJP? That’s close to our most talented side technically.

Shocked tbh. Feel like Jamaal and maybe a few others could do with a rest.

We need a true purple patch to stay up imo. We'll need to win at least 1 game that we shouldn't. One of the home games against a top 4 side or more likely at WHL where we have a decent record considering how bad we are against other better teams away. There will be a team that simply falls like a rock. 1 win in 10. I thought Huddersfield would have a run like that but they haven't. Another team will win 4 out of 5 or 5 in 7 or something to steer out of trouble. I hope it's us. For me - we should really aim to finish above 1 of Huddersfield or Brighton. I'm not worried about the rest. If we finish above 1 of those, we'll stay up.

They are in the CL and FA Cup. Also Bakayoko has been pants.

Always liked Deeney. Him and Walcott on loan. Yes please. I’d like Danny Welbeck.

Pathetic post that. Why don’t you dig up the posts from people asking for him to be benched this season?

One thing Fat Sam likes - spending loads of money. 1 window for Palace. Signed Paddy Van Aanholt, Schlupp, Milivojevic and a plan for Sakho on massive wages. £40m easy there. Not too mentioned Pardew spent £50m on Benteke and Townsend that summer.

We’ve not spent much time in the bottom three which is great psychologically for the team imo. Last 2 relegations we had spent a number of weeks in the bottom 3. The last time - it felt like we spent the whole season in there.

Shaping up to be the best defensive performance across a season from one of our lot since Colo and the 5th place finish.

aye. When he first burst onto the scene he played right up top or ‘wide’. I have no idea about Perez anymore. As a player. His impact on the team. I just don’t know. Happy for him.

Diame’s a bit of a scapegoat around here. Not as bad as some make it. He hasn’t been bad for some time. He’s not th answer but he’s not the problem either.

The upswing in defensive solidness from his injury and his return (and even prior) is so big it’s scary. Get Jamaal lad a a 7 day holiday. He’s as crucial to our survival as the takeover/Rafa imo. A 2 month injury and I reckon we are down. Keep him fit and in good form - we keep enough clean sheets and low conceding games to stay up.