Elma

Why should we forget about them? They've been our rivals for 125 years! The going down, going up song has been tremendous for the past few games but other than that they don't really get sung enough that much. Rivalry is one of the things that makes football what it is and what sets it apart from other sports. I find it staggering how many people on here don"t understand that. I'll take great delight if they struggle badly next season and get turned over by Burton Albion. If that offends you then tough sh*t. Agree about the banner/plane fwiw. I agree about rivalry being important in football and all that. But to me I'd rather focus on or season of achievement then theirs of plight. We can have endless amounts of laughs after this summer if we still have Rafa, he's been backed and they're struggling in the Chanpionship No reason why we can't do both. We've had a great season and their demise has been the icing on the cake. Cake with icing made of mackem tears. Delightful. ....and a Boro cherry. Dare we wish for some Palace flavoured ice-cream to go with it?

Wouldn't agree with the first part but then at 42 I've been through about 35 seasons. The bit in bold is why I went for a four over a three, which was my initial reaction.

Not sure I'd keep Krul like. Not followed his form much since on loan but thought he hadn't played much? You need three keepers so if Woodman is to come through, is Krul that much better than Elliott or Darlow? He wasnt the year he got injured. I'd argue Elliott was better after he came in. Sels to go obviously.

They won't, but I still see three wins as the target. That would put us on 93 points meaning Huddersfield would have to win all remaining games to surpass that. Funnily enough, the 'easy' run in that both Brighton and Huddersfield were supposed to have doesn't look so easy now (to me anyway). Brighton have to go to both Norwich and Villa, as well as Wolves who are on a great run. In fact, Brighton only have two home games left, one of which is Bristol City who are fighting for their lives. Huddersfield have to go to both Wolves and Derby (both of whom are now also in great form) as well as Preston and Fulham at home. Our next two are difficult on paper, but after that, three from the last four are against sides with absolutely nothing to play for.

Is exactly what the banner should say. Yes please Good shout. Might be too long though...?

Spot on.

The way I see it, win on Saturday and it takes us to 80 points with 9 to play. Even dropping to a two points per game average (over what is essentially, a middling group of fixtures) would leave us on 98 points. Although I think the total required for promotion may be slightly over 90 this year, it would take a miracle to stop us on 98. If Huddersfield won every single game of their remaining 11, they would finish on 101. So basically, with our goal difference they could afford one draw. Just got to keep our heads down and keep going as we are. Personally I think promotion will be confirmed at home to Preston (and I'm a glass half empty person).

Think it's just the one defeat against Blackburn wearing it ? Wonder if it'll get the same cult status as the two tone yellow kit the last time we went up.... f***ing love that kit !!!! ....... Fancy another 2-1/3-1 tonight but would take a point Love all three kits this year. The third is probably the weakest but gets the least exposure anyway. If we do go up they would have made a good trio for record shirt sales with a new sponsor - doubt Puma will better them next year. A point good enough tonight. Keeps us effectively more than a win ahead of Brighton and more than two ahead of Huddersfield, what with our goal difference. A win would just round off a great week.

Can't disagree with that. 50m should be enough for a solid season.

A fit Andy Carroll yes, but he's even older than Sturridge and his recent injury record is even worse, I think? Interesting though that our injury record (to date) seems to have significantly improved under Rafa - only really Gayle's hamstring and perennial sick note Aarons have impacted the season. Anita had an impact injury but returned as quickly (if not quicker) than expected and no real significant training ground injuries.

I think we'd stay up with less than that (provided Rafa stays), but would hope we spend at least 70 million to give us a chance of comfortable mid-table.

Since the start of the season I've had a sneaky suspicion Sturridge will join next year. Whether it happens will depend upon whether 28 (just after season starts) will be considered too old for Mike and Lee, and whether NUFC think they can improve/manage his injury record. It's just I think Liverpool will be shifting him on, and he's exactly the sort of player Rafa likes - lots of pace to get in behind, good on the ball, and gets a fair few headers for his size (18% of all goals). If we don't go for him, it will be someone like him from abroad. Can't see Mitrovic still being here. Gayle will be used more sparingly but still has lots to offer. Elsewhere, it's probably worth pointing out that last year we were unlucky to drop on 37 points. SMc had a points average of 0.85 points per game. Rafa had 1.3 points per game (49 points over a season which would have had us in 11th, between Chelsea and Everton). If you exclude the first four (three away and home derby) when he was still trying to organise them, the ratio jumps to 1.86 points per game, a run which included games against Liverpool, Man City and Spurs. The point of this is to flag that the following back five played a considerable part in that - Darlow, Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett. Now we've swapped Clark for Mbemba but Mbemba is still on the books and we could still field that defence. Yedlin has replaced Jaanmaat. In front, Shelvey was used as a sub more than not, but Colback and Tiote became the preferred two. Again, not a million miles away from where we are now. Shelvey's game has improved under Rafa, Hayden is a solid addition, and Tiote no loss. I'd like to see us sign a beast of holding midfielder with decent distribution though. In front of them it's a little more tricky. We were using Townsend, Sissoko and Wijnaldum, all of whom have gone. I would say we need a replacement in the number 10 role for Wijnaldum. We have Diame in that position but we need an upgrade there. I wouldn't be surprised to see Townsend come back, but we now also have Ritchie who is one of the few players who I have no doubts about in the Prem. Gouffran will probably be let go, but I don't think Sissoko is a huge miss. I don't think we'll retain Atsu so we'll need someone wide left. Up top we were playing Cisse. For me, Gayle is an upgrade there but as per the opening paragraph we need a proven premiership quality striker, maybe two. Where this is going is that we still have 6-7 of a side that did remarkably well under Rafa in the Prem in the last six games, and I don't think we are significantly weaker man for man. The mackems may shout that we were s*** and Rafa relegated us, but we were relegated by SMc and a chronic lack of action from the board. If Rafa had had two more games we'd have been fine. Therefore, to say our current squad would be immediately relegated is miles away from reality. The collective improvement from solid coaching and a decent shape count for more than the individual quality of each player. Look at Burnley? Comfortable this year and with no better a squad than us. In summary, we need a quality centre-half (as Hanley and/or Mbemba will be off), a right-back if Anita is released, a quality left-back as an upgrade on Dummett, a holding midfielder, left winger necessity, right winger "nice-to-have", and at least one striker, two if Mitro goes. Sounds like a lot but will allow us to release 5 or 6 and players like Dummett will drop into the squad as cover. I actually think the current side would just about survive under Rafa - the above is to get us comfortably into mid-table rather than fighting a relegation scrap.

Think the pitch and last two tough games will take their toll - would have snapped your hand off for beating Brighton and Huddersfield then drawing with Reading before the three games started and I think it will be that. A win here though would really cement our position. Got a feeling Huddersfield won't beat Villa.

I randomly chose Hull, Boro and the mackems...then did the predictor and got the same result. Hull (20), Boro (19), mackems (18).

Certainly hope so. Imagine Rafa's press conference on Friday is when we'll hear further though. Was thinking about this earlier. The 'late fitness test' has gone out of the window with Rafa here. He's so methodical he needs to be planning at least 2-3 days ahead of the game and know the personnel available. If a player isn't fit in mid-week for a weekend game then I think he rules him out, at least from the starting eleven, so that he can prepare properly. This is probably impacting the return of Gayle, but at the same time makes sure the eleven that go out there are able to execute the plan as closely as possible (thought they did this perfectly v Brighton), whilst also reducing the chance of rushing someone back. Gayle pulling up v Villa doesn't really fall into this as scans proved no additional damage.

Would happily take a draw in this one. Huddersfield's game in hand is away at Wolves, which isn't easy. A loss, however wouldn't be great with Reading up next. A win, and although I wouldn't say we're up, would mean that effectively eight wins from our last eleven games (same points ratio we have to date) would force Huddersfield to win every remaining game.

Incredible that he's allowed to referee this match. I see he made (yet another) cock up yesterday in the Palace game and booked someone for diving yet it was a clear pen. Agreed. It's not asking much for the referee to be impartial and with no vested interest in the outcome of the game. It's a joke to be frank and I really hope it doesn't bite us in the arse. you know it will You'd have to expect at least a yellow for Ritchie and maybe a red for Shelvey, thereby ruling them out of Saturday's game v Huddersfield. Shocking that they couldn't find a better appointment for this one. Would rather a championship ref than one off the prem list with a vested interest.

Me too - seemed to click at our place and had a good relationship with Rafa. Made a professional decision (wrongly in my opinion) but did it in the right way and as far as I'm aware didn't twist in public. No hard feelings at all towards him and would welcome him back.

That's just normal for Pardew. FYP Good job he got to play Stoke twice in all of that. Thought the same - they must feel like shit losing to him twice. Throw in a win against a promoted team, one against one now relegated, and one against the mackems. They've only really beaten one decent side in 2016 (Southampton).

If Carlsberg did message boards…

We'll appeal them both, but only got a chance on Dummett.

League record in 2015 was 19-6-14 (very quickly worked out so may not be 100% accurate). That's 63 points on top of the 41 from 2014 and 2016 to date. Combined that's 104 over three whole years, giving an average of 34.6 per year (likely relegation over a full season). He might be able to get that up slightly if he can pick up a few points before the end of December.

A month ago my cardiologist actively encouraged me to move to a different country (developed one) as in future years I would likely receive better treatment there than here because of lack of funding partially down to Brexit. On top of this I have lost 1/5 of my pensions (accounting for a years worth of contributions), the career I have been working 5 years towards and currently at uni for will virtually not exist in the UK after 2020, this is all things that have happened before we have even left the EU. So yeah, imagine being p*ssed about all of that. Here in Turkey, sterling has just got back to the pre-Brexit lira rate, a few short hours ago. That's not Sterling recovering but the Lira crashing through the floor due to a military coup, the arrest and detention of thousands of academics, journalists and opposition MPs, suppression of the media, billions of dollars of international capital being withdrawn, the credit rating being downgraded, and ironically, the suspension of EU talks to get there. Article 50 not even served yet too. Would be funny if it weren't so serious. I'm not surprised you're p*ssed off - a lot of people are.

My last live game moment was the 69th minute of the Cardiff home game, when my dad and I walked out, having cancelled our season tickets in the January. Although the root of it was Ashley, had there been a decent team to watch, organised and putting in effort, then we would have stayed. I too laughed when the opposition scored under Pardew, although my disillusionment was more or less coupled with a move abroad, so it made it easier to keep my distance. I dropped down to watching maybe one game in four on TV, when it didn't interfere too much with anything else going on in my life. I wouldn't say I had gone as far as a mate of mine (Luton fan) who has zero interest now, mainly driven by the money in the game and what he perceives is a corrupt sport, but I was starting to become disconnected from the club. Despite relegation, I got re-energised to a degree by Benitez. As much as it signalled a departure from the failing blueprint, that turned into something more tangible when he decided to stay on and I was really anticipating the Fulham game. This weekend is my first trip back to the UK since June and I'll be cramming as much NUFC in as possible - straight to the match from the flight, then tickets for the beamback, Forest on the TV and then the Brum game before returning home. I actively jumped up and celebrated the goals on Sunday for the first time in years. I'll always have a deep suspicion of Ashley, but I feel I'm back at 90% of what I felt for the club before the disillusionment kicked in, probably around the time Keegan was forced out. My dad is now going to virtually every game again now too, but on a match per match basis rather than with a season ticket.

Could see Rafa bringing in someone in the summer and dropping Gayle to back up, as Keegan did when we went up replacing Kelly and Peacock with Cole and Beardsley. Can't see Gayle or Mitro being first choice if we go back up, but would be surprised if Gayle were sold at all either in Jan or the summer. He's proven to be a perfectly capable squad player in the prem.