Gallowgate End

Fernandez will be getting some games soon with Schar being on 8 bookings/due a 2 game ban. Great that we have a backup of the standard of Fede

Won them a lot of penalties and free kicks that Atlanta scored from last season think it was 12/13 penalties or something I know Almiron took and scored half and Martinez took and scored the other half. There was a free kick he won where he dribbled 30 yards through the middle of a team to win it and it ended up being taken like 15 yards further forward because of how fast he ran, he scored it too Takes a good penalty doubt he will be able to get Ritchie off them if he tried though

Remember when some people said he was too tactically stubborn to move away from using 4-2-3-1? The amount of stuff thrown at Rafa in his time here, not just from our own fans but the media and other clubs' fans, I'm surprised he's not walked. I had one of those "are you fucking kidding me" moments watching the cup final over the weekend. Every pundit was licking Sarri's nuts for parking the bus against City. Even John Terry was all "oh yeah, great job keeping City at bay and goalless!" While Rafa got absolute pelters for doing the same thing. Aye made me laugh how Chelsea got called “HEROIC” for producing 0 shots on target in 120 minutes of football with a team worth over £250million on the pitch Meanwhile Rafa with his £30million team was demanded to go hit for hit with the Big boys just for Skysports and Jamie Redknapps sexual pleasure. Put Man City vs Fulham on TV if you want to see self inflicted thumpings Rafa ain’t about that life

Loved how Skysports called Chelsea having 0 shots on target during 120 minutes of football and 30% possession with over £250million worth of talent to play with an “HEROIC” effort Was nearly as embarrassing as Gary Neville earlier on in the season telling the public don’t compare Man Utd and Man City when they play eachother “Man Utd shouldn’t be judged against the likes of Man City”. Yet WE are the ones that should be going hit for hit with them Gary Funny how much credit Chelsea got for their gameplan by the media yesterday Rafa must laugh at the cheek of it.

Aye but Rafa could have easily packed his bags and gone to West Ham to spend over £100million last summer for a similar project to Leicester, but didn’t. He will feel he is building something good here with the 3-4-2-1 system with his ball players Lejuene And Schar at the back with Longstaff coming through in midfield and the Latin trio of Almiron, Perez and Rondon upfront. As long as we don’t TOTALLY p*ss him off in the summer over an extension then we will have a good chance of keeping him. I honestly think it would take a lot for him to leave more than people think, the fact he could have went to West Ham shows that apparently has had offers from China too.

They have had the most shots of any Premier League side in 2019 apparently. I don’t buy the negative tag. Especially not when I’ve watched them at Spurs and at Liverpool just seems their fans have latched onto a lazy opinion of him and all the sheep fans have followed because they arn’t winning the league anymore :'(

Apparently their head of recruitment is the same man Rafa worked with at Liverpool.

75 minutes and still no shots on target by Chelsea and still no outrage by Skysports

Chelsea 0 shots on target and only 1 attempt are getting praised for their gameplay by Jamie Redknapp the same man that slammed us

Aye Southampton will be in deep trouble if they lose to Fulham in midweek like they did to Cardiff in their last home match. They have Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs after

Arsenal 0 shots attempted at goal in the second half

Not much chance of that if Bournemouth keep spending what they have given Eddie Howe in the Premier League Bournemouth spend midtable money even a half decent manager will keep them midtable with the money they spent. Ake £20million+ defender he bought. Lerma £20million+ midfielder he bought. Solanke £20million+ striker he bought. Honestly where do people get this picture that Eddie Howe is working with some League 2 squad with the worst budget in the world? He isn’t doing some Premier League miracle every season spending that much. I really don't get your weird hatred of Eddie Howe He did wonders in the lower leagues but is doing just a decent job in the Premier League considering how many £20million+ players he has bought and how much he has spent £170million Just not doing the Premier League miracle that people make out is my point

Not much chance of that if Bournemouth keep spending what they have given Eddie Howe in the Premier League Bournemouth spend midtable money even a half decent manager will keep them midtable with the money they spent. We’ve spent £80m more the last 5 years. Why you adding what McLaren spent? Talking Rafa vs Eddie Howe here. Rafa has been stripped of £160million worth of players since he joined while Eddie Howe has been stripped of just £40million and has spent over £100million net more than Rafa Benitez. Eddie Howe isn’t doing some Premier League miracle with a League 2 squad and some tiny budget like people still think How many more OVER £20million buys does Eddie Howe need to do for people to realise he isn’t working with a League 2 squad in the Premier League

Not much chance of that if Bournemouth keep spending what they have given Eddie Howe in the Premier League Bournemouth spend midtable money even a half decent manager will keep them midtable with the money they spent. Ake £20million+ defender he bought. Lerma £20million+ midfielder he bought. Solanke £20million+ striker he bought. Honestly where do people get this picture that Eddie Howe is working with some League 2 squad with the worst budget in the world? He isn’t doing some Premier League miracle every season spending that much.

Frankfurt play the same system as us and he plays the focal point role very well would fit like a glove in our system. Very Benitez type striker too.

Fulham spent 120 mill and are effectively down in February. Imagine if Rafa had been properly backed. If Rafa had been properly backed then we would at least be the best of the rest. If we keep improving the forward areas with quality like Almiron then Rafa will have us 7th and pushing. I think a striker like Haller or Willian Jose in the Summer to give Rondon strong competition and another inside forward like Almiron(Someone like Saint Maximin) would have us challenging for 7th/best of the rest. Defensively we are already Top 6 stats wise for the whole of the last calendar year. We just need to add a few more quality attacking players like Almiron then we will have the balance To be where Wolves and Watford are isn’t that big of a jump. We have to keep adding more attacking quality though.

Agree love our back 3 Be lucky to get another ball playing defender in our price range so lucky to even have 2 of that type for the money we payed IF Rafa added Bartra from Betis to our collection though

Me if they take Nuno Santo off Wolves instead

Is Longstaff on a long contract already or?

The best I've seen organisationally, definitely. Would be interested to hear Crumpy's take on this. Or possibly not.

It wouldn’t be a Crystal Palace match without them getting a penalty How many penalties has that lad scored in 2 seasons now 18 goals? Has to be a record amount in that time.

The best I've seen organisationally, definitely.

Aye took all the high balls really well

Loved the support we gave him today Can’t think of a fanbase that would give him the amount of love we gave him today after the last 2 matches well done everyone

Some of his one touch passes through the lines were superb. Breaks things up so well too