Cronky

Fulham were very unlucky to lose, I thought. I ended up willing them on, even though I knew it was in our interests for them to stay down. Cairney certainly looked good. Yes, similar to Shelvey, but I don't quite trust Shelvey's attitude so I wouldn't say no to a like for like replacement. I have this nagging worry that he's going to let us down in the same way that he let Swansea down.

said yesterday can see a few loans with obligations to buy the following summer when the TV money actually rolls in Wouldn't be against loans for Loftus Cheek and Ake like. Of course, there are disadvantages with loans, but Rafa might well be looking to the long term. Some of the better players may be reluctant to commit themselves long-term to a newly promoted side, and we can end up instead with a lot of signings on long-term contracts who won't be able to achieve more than just keeping us up. We then won't be able to afford to push on from that point, and will end up falling back. To an extent, that's what's happened before. A few loan signings can help us develop whilst still giving us some flexibility in the longer term. That may be Rafa's thinking.

Hardly seen the bloke play but we need competition for Shelvey, team falls apart without him and it's not wise having such a big drop off in quality for such a key position. Wouldn't Cairney play #10? Tbh, not seen much of him, but he didn't seem to have much pace, which is the quality we lack in midfield.

I don't want or expect him to put any of his own money in. Do you? I was just pointing out that there's no apparent change to the previous policy - that the club should be self-financing. And no, there should be no expectation on any owner to put their own money in. The only exception would be if the club are fighting relegation and a player becomes available whose cost is just beyond the budget. What has changed is the manager appears to be in a more powerful position, and has the status to attract players on his own reputation. I don't think we're going to get any more eccentric, left-field decisions like appointing Kinnear as Director of Football.

I wouldn't get too excited. All he's said is he's not going to take any money out of the club, but at the same time there's no indication that he's going to put any in. That's pretty much how he's tried to run things since he took over. He's not suddenly gone all Abramovich on us. For sure, with the new TV money, that gives us a lot to play with, but that's the same for everyone.

I hope to Christ we do upgrade Yedlin. He's decent going forward but his defending is way below Premiership standard. He'll get eaten alive. Seemed to do fine at Sunderland. I didn't see much of him in the Premiership, but I suspect he ended up in the Championship for a reason. I just think he gives his opponent far too much time and space to get their cross in. His positioning looks wrong.

I hope to Christ we do upgrade Yedlin. He's decent going forward but his defending is way below Premiership standard. He'll get eaten alive.

Yes please. Proximity to Scotland could work in our favour.

I don't think that article has been written with any insider knowledge. Any of us could have written it just based on the bits and pieces of speculation that are already out there in the media.

I doubt if there's anything in the Santon / Sissoko rumours. They're both players who are likely to move because of a lack of first team opportunities, and it's easy for journos to speculate about 'a possible return'. Santon isn't any better than Dummett and Sissoko has been sussed out by Premiership defenders.

I can't quite pin down what they need for next season. Probably more quality across midfield and attack. Bailey is starting to grow into a good defender, but they need a good left back and probably a CB to play with him. Valencia is good at RB. They need a DM to help Herrera and Pogba. Then they need 2 or 3 quality attackers. It feels a bit like they're slipping back to the pre-Fergie days when they were spending millions but ending up no better off. It was noticeable tonight that City totally dominated them physically. They need a player like Wanyama or Kante who can compensate for some of their team mates' defensive frailties. It's difficult for a manager in this situation in the sense that they want to improve the side but they also need to give the team a chance to gel. It feels like no-one since Fergie left has known what their best side looks like. There's so much pressure to get back into that top 4 right away. Ferguson's stroke of genius as a manager came when he'd finished second to Leeds after quite a tight battle. In the close season, he bought precisely no-one. He gave the message to his players that they were good enough. Cantona's arrival a few months later gave them a boost, but that show of nerve by Ferguson was very important. So maybe not too many new faces. Just one or two.

Man U look like a team that's had 4 managers in the last 5 seasons. There's some decent players, but nothing quite fits together.

I've just felt this season that I've been able to look at the team sheet before the game, and know how we're going to play, and how unexciting it's going to be. Fair play to Rafa, he's done the business. But I'm relieved it's over and that we can look forward to some better football.

You have got to be kidding. No.

Too slow.

Gayle, in a heartbeat. He's proved to be a really good all-round striker and his goals were vital in getting our promotion campaign going.

What a relief. I don't think I could bear to watch that team for another season. It hasn't been pretty, but Rafa has delivered. Hopefully, he'll be able to attract players of a class that McClaren and Pardew weren't able to. All areas of the team need strengthening.

Agreed. I think the players will actually be looking forward to this game. The tension that's affected our last few games should have lifted.

I've watched their goal again, and it really was one you shouldn't concede when you're defending a lead in injury time. There was a huge gap between the centre backs and no-one from midfield was covering the space either. And it was a huge amount of space, right in front of the goal. I'd put it down to nerves. We lack calm leadership and our players were all over the place.

His lack of pace will always limit him, but he did his job well last night. He also didn't look like a red card waiting to happen. Hopefully he's grown up a bit.

Agreed. Our current team would sink like a stone in the Premiership and the realistic aim would be survival.

A good analysis which is not likely to go down well on here. He's a player who we've neither backed nor let go. It seems that he and Atsu were competing for the same role, and Atsu has won out. It's very likely he'll leave now, but even so I'm still not entirely sure what Benitez is going to decide. As you say, he does produce these moments of class. Making no bones about it, I'd play him. I think he's probably developed as a player since we first sent him out on loan and I'd give him a chance to show it.

There's a big difference between misjudging a foul and ignorance about a fairly basic law of the game. Particularly when it seems that the fourth official was trying to help him out. That's what the fuss is about. Whatever you think about their competence, referees at that level are dedicated individuals, and the bloke must be feeling crap. He will have devoted a major part of his life to reaching that level. Luckily for him, it didn't affect the result.

Torres seemed to go from one of the best strikers in the world, to quite an ordinary striker very quickly. Getting transferred to Chelsea and then being unable to displace Drogba seemed to drain his confidence.

That's amazing. Firstly, that an experienced ref can make that mistake. And secondly, that none of the other three officials were able to correct him. For some reason, refs are now much more lenient when it comes to enforcing offences at penalties than they used to be. A while back, I reckon about 1 in 3 penalties got retaken, either for the keeper moving early, or a player encroaching. It was such a frequent occurrence that a ref would never get the response wrong. I can only think that Gayle's encroachment was so blatant, and the defender had been so forceful in pointing it out, that the ref felt he had not choice but to give it. He then got confused about the right response, almost through a lack of familiarity with the situation. All the same, it's a bad, bad error. It's just as well we won.