tmonkey

Standard of football in this division is absolutely shocking. Getting frustrated watching these clowns trying to control a fucking football.

When you look at it on paper, that's a pretty strong team. Good mix of pace, power, strength, and ability. One has to wonder why they were ever in trouble in the first place...

Average first half, good second half. People are expecting a little too much from him with this "didn't dominate the game therefore was crap" nonsense. He was pretty much marked out of the game in the first half, but still spreading the play alright and the most likely to create anything in what was an absolutely dire team performance. He was also the only player to actually show a bit of class and ability on the ball in that 90 minutes shower of shiite. The criticisms remind me of the double standards in play when Ben Arfa was here (or dare I say it, Wijnaldum) - for example, Ritchie by contrast was absolutely dire, constantly losing the ball with sloppy lay offs and touches or only playing it safe Colback/Duff style the rest of the time, yet there's barely a word said about his performance. Instead the guy who expertly tricked an opposing player to then hit the bar from 60 yards, scored a goal and was generally the only threat is the one getting stick. I guess, deep down, people just expect more because they know a good player when they see one and so are disappointed if they don't dominate. The shit or limited ones get the free ride because they can't actually do any more beyond graft.

Gouffran is a thick cunt of the highest order. Very lucky to not give a penalty away in the first half, and then a totally needless foul. Just thick as mince.

So unlucky by Shelvey. Would've been goal of the season. Pure class.

Trademark Lascelles, and why I want him shipped.

Bannan is a massive cunt.

He's a carthorse.

That Dummet clearance.

With a couple of months left, and despite the recent dip in form/suspension/poor tackles, Shelvey for me should be nailed on for Player of the season, unless he gets a suspension or something that causes us to miss out on automatic promotion. His ridiculous form from close to the start of the season till the suspension is comfortably two or three levels above anyone else's in this squad - he was absolutely running games with everything flowing through him, strolling around the pitch spraying ridiculously good passes at will that really did hurt the opposition, and making it all look effortless. That period of peak form is what will ultimately (hopefully) get us promoted as it helped us established a gap at the time that the chasing pack now can't close despite our poor results/team form since Shelvey's suspension and return. Additionally, this team looked utterly clueless and bottom half material when Shelvey was out of the side for a month. In terms of competitors, Clark has been very solid but unspectacular, although he looks to me like a Premiership ready centre back. It's hard to give a "solid" centreback too much credit as he hasn't stood out in many games defensively. Although I dislike Lascelles as a player (think he's a flawed liability to some extent like Steven Taylor was), he's probably had a couple of standout defensive games that were better than anything Clark has put in, so there's room for Clark to have more imposing defensive games at this level. Ritchie has a good goals return overall but hasn't really looked like a top class Championship winger or creative player at any point (minimal pace/trickery), and has had lengthy poor spells where he's done very little to the extent that plenty on here blamed the role Rafa had him playing in (i.e. "he's being held back, needs to play like a traditional winger like he did at Bournemouth" comments). I think he's overrated personally, and that there's a limit to the usefulness of a "graft, layoff to fullback and get into the box/hope something falls his way" type winger as opposed to a winger with genuine quality/threat on the ball. If Ritchie is still in the team next year he'll be the equivalent of a Dirk Kuyt / Freddie Ljungberg type who'll look to graft and get into the box from wide, i.e. his attacking contribution is primarily going to be goals, so it'll be essential to get a pacey creative winger on the other flank to carry the attack and unlock defenses. For this season I'd put Yedlin ahead of Ritchie in terms of impact, ability, and usefulness in games, and the same for Gayle given his pre-injury form and goalscoring streak. The one upside with Ritchie is his playtime and lack of injuries, but that is offset by the periods poor form. So players of the season so far, in order: 1) Shelvey. 2) Gayle. 3) Clark. 4) Yedlin / Ritchie. 6) Hayden. 7) Murphy. Everyone else has been mediocre or a bit s***. Or really s***, in Colback's case.

Figo surely. Judas personified.

This league

Gouffran, Anita and Sammy are all out of contract. You're advocating the sale of some perfectly good squad players there, too (Anita being one of them). Mindless tbh. "Sold/shifted/released". No need to be pedantic, I'm typing on my phone during a lunch break and would have guessed some would be out of contract. Didnt guess anyone is going to waste their own time point it out. Fuck my life for having to type this out . As for the "perfectly good squad players", obviously I either dont think they are or even if they are I think we'd be better off cashing in whilst they might hold decent value and reinvesting in more suitable and competitive backup/squad options. E.g. shift Anita (who I dont mind all that much but recognise as having weaknesses) for £6m, bring in another more physically suited CM or a more defensively solid RB. Others like Dummett, I think as soon as they get game time in the Premiership even in a backup capacity, they're just too flawed to not be instant weakness, and on top of that they're unlikely to improve. Sell them if anyone is daft enough to pay decent money and find squad/backup options who have more room for improvement or can offer more/fewer weaknesses. Hardly "mindless".

I'd like to see Mitro, Perez (unless hes on tiny wages and ok with being fourth choice), Colback, Gouffran, Dummett, Anita, Ameobi, and Lascelles all sold. Mbemba has to go if Rafa wont play him.

Robben is such a great big game player.

Any time he had to pass the ball forward further than 5 yards pretty much resulted in possession lost nearly every time, and gave Wolves ample opportunities to counter. Thankfully they were shit. Really hope he's gone in the summer. Don't hate him as much as others might as I don't care about his history, only what he does in a B&W shirt, but the guy is absolutely without a doubt stealing a living. I don't know how he's carved this reputation out for himself as a decent hard working Premiership standard footballer since I'd doubt he'd even stand out in the lower leagues (I'm talking League Two), but he's done it and done it well, so kudos to him. I just want anyone but NUFC to be fielding the guy and some other set of fans telling themselves that he was once a borderline England international fringe backup squad member, that he might be shit but "works hard", or to have to suffer the odd post on an internet forum after a team win that had nothing to do with Jack's presence where some posters declare "I thought he was alright" despite the constant fouls, shit touches and misplaced panicked passes.

It'll be a miracle if he's still here in the summer. The fact he's having to communicate this through the media is genuinely f***ed up as it suggests not only was he stabbed in the back (i.e. the reason why he's furious) but he can't even speak to Ashley behind closed doors. Our manager has decided that his only option is to try to pressure the board via the press - and this is Mike f***ing Ashley, the guy who didn't give a s*** that he was breaking employment laws even when Parliament, Dispatches and the national media were shining a spotlight on him being a mammoth c***. He'll not give two s***s about Rafa going to the press on this. I really wonder if that snake Pardew suddenly being available is part of this lunacy. Mike Ashley thought Kinnear did a great job first time he was there, iirc it was stated in the press that Ashley felt we'd have never have been relegated first time round had Kinnear still been in the dugout, and this despite the dinosaur being utter s***. It stands to reason he feels the same way about his casino mate Pardew, that NUFC wouldn't have gone down under the fraudster and that Pards gave him some healthy profits in player sales. That Mirror article was obviously based on soundbites from Ashley and his crew. Absolutely disgusting stuff.

Same story.

Pretty sure we can still sign him after deadline day if we can convince the FA that our fax machine wasn't working. This is 100% happening.

Reports suggesting Charnley is in the Bournemouth stands watching the game. Contradictory reports suggesting that it's just someone wearing a Penfold tshirt.

From fat man to fatman. In the space of one sentence Mike went from an overweight male to an overweight superhero.

Personally prefer Hanley over Lascelles from the little I've seen of him.

We should use him as a stepping stone in the same way he used us. Use him for a couple of seasons (he's Premiership proven, decent, will probably hold his value if not increase it) then hopefully if we've consolidated our presence in the Premiership we can get someone better than him and immediately bench/sell him. Everyone wins.

MOTM for Blackburn.

Colback with a good assist for Blackburn. Good player is little Jack.