tmonkey

Jonjo is one of the main reasons why we shouldn't get a target man in and instead look for a more mobile striker with pace. Would be a complete waste of a genuine advantage over many other teams given how prevalent sideways or safe passers are.

I've wanted Perez moved on for a while - weak, terrible balance at times, average pace/acceleration at best, and seems to be a "head down" player who doesn't create anything for teammates. The worst thing I've always disliked about him aside from the slipping is the constant attempts at dribbling through his man as though he's up against 8 year old school kids and he can just nutmeg them diagonally, something he's not skillful or quick enough to do and which results results in him losing possession cheaply almost 100% of the time. Truth be told I think he always tries to take his man on because it's "easier" for him to try (and fail) at dribbling then to try to hold the ball up and use a combination of basic skills he doesn't have of touch + spacial awareness + strength to hold up play effectively. It's easier for him to mindlessly knock it forward and chase the ball. Nevertheless, in the second half of the season he's really grown into the role, to the extent that noone else in the team provides the movement he does, with the finishing he's shown recently to be the icing on the cake. Even the attempted dribbles that consistently fail are now tempered ever so slightly with the odd successful shimmy/feint and useful baited foul. So whilst I'd be much happier with a newly signed number 10 who does more for the team on the ball, at this point in time if Ashley releases limited funds again then prioritising a new number 9 and having Perez as the number 10 for another season isn't the worst thing in the world.

Wonder if we'll see a repeat of Liverpool fans stealing and forging tickets for the CL final again.

Given the age + recent injury problems + cost (wages/transfer fee), I'd argue it's too risky to spend good money on him imo. At this point in time he looks like the type of well rounded target man who looks superior to our alternative options, but one that you should only really consider if very cheap or on a free transfer. Mark Viduka would be a good example of this, good striker who many clubs didn't want to go near because of injuries, age, cost. Also not sure about his general effort levels. Can't quite tell if he's knackered due to poor fitness or at times lazy. Seems to be very selective about when he's going to bother trying to close defenders down, sometimes he'll go full throttle but the majority of the time he's just standing there staring. Hadn't seen him much at Leicester, but do vaguely remember seeing him standing around instead of chasing defenders down. Not saying that I want a workhorse type who chases after the ball like a dog and then has no energy for things like counter attacks etc, but at this level it's common for strikers to do at least something to help out, even if it's moving casually towards the defender. It's definitely more noticeable with the likes of Slimani when they're completely stationery and giving defenders all the time in the world to pick out a pass.

After promotion I felt that all we needed was 3-4 "good" first team starters added to our Championship squad to be a decent PL side. Initially Merino was one of those players, Lejuane has turned out to be another, but we managed to get the remainder in the January window (less so for Slimani so far, but certainly huge impactful additions with Kenedy and Dubravka). The reason for only needing a handful of new starters as opposed to an entirely new team is that the Premiership has always had at least 7 or 8 dire teams who play even worse football, with one of the factors behind there being teams like that at all times being the "revolving door" policy prevalent at the lower end of the Premiership when it comes to giving garbage managers like Pardew, Moyes, et al the gig. As you've said they also waste alot of money on mediocre players or have the wrong managers in charge. It really doesn't take all that much to make a Championship squad be able to compete (or even better) the majority of those dire teams and dire managers. In the past for some teams just adding someone who can stick the ball in the back of the net (e.g. Jermaine Defoe) has been all that's needed to compete or escape the relegation pack.

He needs to stop trying to dribble via nutmegs/45 degree diagonal dribbles through the player cutting across him. Does it what seems like 9 times out of 10 making it highly predictable, and it never works.

Sky Sports Mix Thanks!

Is the Madrid derby on TV? Bit baffled as to why it's not on Sky, and why Sky are showing Arsenal Southampton on 2 different channels (401 and 402).

What happened to Robert after Sir Bobby was sacked? What happened to Ginola after Keegan left? They were cast aside by the next manager pretty much immediately. 99% of football managers imo either aren't capable, or don't want to, work with a flair player of that type, which is why Sir Bobby and Keegan were special since they appreciated them. That's down to the prevalent mentality within the sport, managers are trained and developed to appreciate hard work, teamwork, etc, more than individual talent because it's inherent to the job. The majority of professional footballers are "talented" so the easiest and default thing to do as a football manager is to get them as fit as possible and working as hard as possible on the pitch to try to get three points. A player like Robert / Ginola / Ben Arfa throws a spanner in the works, because their talent far exceeds that of those around them but they come with issues that causes disruption, not only in match day tactics but off the field as well - jealousy from inferior players, resentment from hard working teammates who see someone not pulling their weight defensively, etc etc. So on top of the requirement to be tactically flexible, managers need an additional set of interpersonal skills to deal with the complaints and squad harmony issues. Most managers just don't have that in their skillset or can't be bothered. Ben Arfa is simply unlucky in that he never found the combination of right manager + right club. At Nice he had the right manager and teammates, but the club was too small fry arguably. NUFC was the right club for him because we're a "sleeping giant" in terms of potential (we can afford good wages, have a big stadium with large support, "best league in da world" etc), Hatem himself said "everything is here" just before he left so he clearly understood the potential of the club if it were run well. We're also not able to attract players of his talent level minus the flaws - if Ben Arfa was solid defensively, made more runs off the ball, and released the ball more optimally you can be sure he'd have been snapped up by Real/Barca/Juve/City/Bayern/etc as soon as he was available. We never had a chance of getting Hazard, or Ribery, or Robben when they were in France/Holland for example, we'd only have a chance if there was something off-putting about them. Similarly, a top club won't need to put up with a flawed player like Ben Arfa since they can sign players at his ability level or higher without the flaws. So NUFC was a club where because we're restricted to flawed geniuses the team could have been built around him by putting him in a key position that compensated for his flaws (e.g. wide forward with minimal defensive duties) and having teammates with the necessary skillset to cover for him. But unfortunately we had the wrong manager at the time. Nice had the right manager, but were too small a club to keep him. Just to give one example out of many as to why Pardew was a terrible manager for Ben Arfa, just consider the fact that we played Ben Arfa as a wide forward in a front 3 (in a 4-3-3 system) about a dozen times in his 4 years here. That's a role he seemed to be most suited for, and it meant less defensive responsibility and more freedom to attack. Most of that dozen or so games were during the run of impressive form that had us playing fluid football for a couple of months which ultimately was the catalyst for us finishing 5th and nearly qualifying for the CL. Ben Arfa was our standout player in that period, but before that season had even finished Pardew abandoned that formation/lineup forever, and steadfastedly stuck with his preferred flat defensive 4-4-2 for pretty much the remainder of his time here. I can't recall if we saw Ben Arfa played as a wide forward in a front 3 again after that, but if we did it would have been completely sporadic/random one-offs. What kind of a shit for brains manager abandons a system/formation that gets the best out of not only everyone in the squad but also it's most gifted player who actually produced great form in that system? The Alan Pardew type does. Anyway, more to the point, since Bobby and Keegan were managers who appreciated flair players and understood NUFC as a club (especially its limitations of the type of player were restricted to, i.e. flawed geniuses that the elites don't want), I have no doubts they would have not only incorporated Ben Arfa in their teams but most likely would have built the team around him. With respect to Rafa, he's from the same school of manager as your Pardews, Sounesses, Alladyces, Mourinhos, etc, a negative manager who doesn't like players who don't follow instructions and don't like to take risks, but the difference with Rafa is that he's actually exceptionally good at most things (tactics, transfers, training, player development, etc), so that will compensate for him missing a trick at NUFC of utilising flawed geniuses whilst other clubs avoid it.

Odds on Mayweather to buy NUFC and bring C.Ronaldo here to finish off his career?

Heart says he'll stay. Geographically he has limited options if he wants to live near his family, he connects with the region that we're in and its fanbase, he's on a well paid contract, and he's had his fingers burnt at the "big" clubs post Liverpool. Alternative options elsewhere might not be any better if they have similarly untrustworthy owners (e.g. West Ham), and the remote chance of a new owner at NUFC would unlock some serious potential at a club that has all the infrastructure needed to get to the next few levels. Head says he'll go at the end of the season. He's been betrayed by Ashley in three transfer windows in a row, completely hung out to dry by people who have no interest in football beyond making money out of it, and has zero certainties going forward that the same won't happen in the summer and beyond. We got promoted because of Rafa's tactical abilities, nous, and steadfast approach despite having severe weaknesses throughout the team, and we'll probably stay up because of him too despite having a squad clearly not good enough for this league. He's the one who is keeping this clubs neck above the water despite Ashley/Barnes/et al trying their best to sink it. Why would he stay? It's like an abusive relationship that he's in, but an ironic one where he's the one saving the others hide. There's bound to be a few biggish clubs out there considering Rafa as a safe bet, e.g. post-Wenger Arsenal.

Genuinely disgraceful decision. Palace have been holding and tugging shirts in their own penalty box the entire game and we get nothing. Lascelles was fucking bear hugged just before half time, and they get a penalty for barely even a tug.

We've been the better team overall, but Palace have had some absolute sitters.

Souness just at the start of a rant that will undoubtedly end with how NUFC fans are too demanding and delusional and put too much unjustified pressure on teams/managers, and hence why he failed so miserably up here that it effectively ended his managerial career. Thankfully cut off by the presenter / ad breaks.

That is why players dive. Lascelles is very clearly obstructed, the guy "marking" him has zero interest in the ball and is simply preventing his man from moving. That is a stonewall penalty but won't ever be given by a ref because they want to see "more" before they give a foul.

This is why Ritchie annoys me so much. One shot scuffed straight into the ground, one cross into row Z. For a player with supposed technique that compensates for not having pace/flair he needs to be so much more consistent when he gets the opportunity to do something now and again.

Was Cisse wasn't it?

Was great having Rafa, even if only for a short time under a nasty, horrible, narcissistic owner who has twice in one decade relegated a club that has frequently had the 7th highest turnover in the UK and top 20 worldwide when in the Premiership.

"Exhausting". The cunt has just come back from a holiday in Miami at a time when he should have been at the negotiating table.

Stones

Sane and Sterling are both better all round wingers at this point in time than Sanchez. However, Sanchez is a much bigger goal threat and alot better at sticking half chances into the back of the net. If there's one "winger" (or hybrid forward, whatever Sanchez is) in this country you'd want on the end of these insane De Bruyne passes, it's Sanchez. Think this is a signing that makes alot of sense. Despite dominating the league City haven't been all that clinical in quite a few games this season, despite having insane possession levels and creating alot of chances. This was kinda evident a few weeks ago, with our game being a good example and the Palace goalless draw the game after also being a bit of a struggle. Having a big goal threat as an alternative option is going to be an improvement, especially when they need something a bit different to deal with teams that played the way e.g. we did where we parked the bus.

The Pards, The.

Their entire front 4 (when Loftus is fit) is maybe 3 or 4 times better than what we have - and that's being generous. Pace, strength, dribbling, finishing, experience, they have the lot. They have better midfielders with the exception of maybe Merino, and better defenders. And a better keeper. Every single one of their players is better than ours. Basically they're better.