Unbelievable

Get in

Leaving us with?

Didn't know that. He did and all

2-3

Seems apt that we’re approaching the halfway mark of this transfer window and the most pertinent question being discussed in this thread is whether our bid for a world class player under previous ownership was real or not. Rafa’s not getting anyone to help the cause, is he?

You are in heaven Mike. Embrace your red lads [emoji6] I left a table of filet mignon to eat mayo sandwiches with you incomprehensible f***s 13 goddamn years ago.

Hope Rafa is noticing these Man City defenders are shit when put under sustained pressure

Oh man

OMFG, Man City all over the place

You what mate?

Can't trust Arsenal to do us (and themselves) a favour

I disagree. For a club of their stature Martin O'Neill, Dick Advocaat, Sam Allardyce and David Moyes are what you would call pretty proven managers. Then you have some out of the box thinking with the likes of Di Canio, Poyet and Grayson who were promising based on their record in the lower leagues. I wouldn't say Ashley's record is much better in this regard. We had Joe fucking Kinnear, Alan Pardew, John Carver and Steve McLaren let's not forget. Apart from that he brought KK back home to much furore and abused him to the point of constructive dismissal within 9 months, gambled on Hughton (success until he fired him because he was siding with his players) and Shearer (failure and another club legend disrespected). Basically his saving grace is Rafa Benitez, who landed on his lap really and is probably only here because he's trying to force a chance of ownership so he can continue work on a project he took a fancie too. If it was for Ashley and without the prospect of a possible takeover he would probably already have walked after being lied too repeatedly.

I'm with this. I feel Rafa is just papering over the cracks really. It's no surprise we're more at ease away from home where there's generally more space, than at home where we're naturally expected to be a bit more adventurous. We have precious little creative quality in our squad, let alone goal scoring ability. The only thing keeping us in it right now is our team spirit and our defensive organisation. Player for player this is by some distance our weakest Premier League squad I've seen since I started following NUFC. I don't subscribe to the notion that Rafa Benitez is some sort of saint who can do no wrong, but it's plain to see he's forced to be pragmatic here and is pretty much wringing everything possible from a Championship squad with maybe a handful of PL quality players. Years and years of underinvestment are taking their toll, and it's painfully clear we are in desperate need of reinforcements. Just imagine for one moment what a difference a creative midfielder like Ben Arfa or a striker like Demba Ba would make to our team and our survival chances. We're a team of plodders, so it should be no surprise we play like one. Also, as I've said in the other thread what do people think will happen if we try to attack teams? We've no attacking quality whatsoever and our defence is hanging together by a spiders web but aye f*** it lets go at them We were playing the worst team in the league, who have scored 14 goals or something this season, at home. I'm not saying go gung-ho and forget about defending but in that scenario you simply have to go for the win IMO Normally I'd agree. However if you then take into consideration how little quality we have going forward and how easily we fall apart defensively when we try and open up the likelihood of zero points rather than all three perhaps becomes a whole lot bigger. So let's assume Rafa's thinking was is it worth taking a 20% shot on a win risking a 50% chance of a loss, would "going for it" given those sort of odds still have been the sensible solution in a game against a fellow relegation threatened team where not losing was perhaps more important than winning? I mean, we've all seen in the first half how clinical our forwards are and that was when there was actually some space for them to move into. I think us piling forward would have suited Swansea just fine. They would have brought Narsingh on sooner and been waiting for their lucky break as we huffed and puffed.

I think he's just decided the club won't get another penny from him after he's poured hundreds of millions in it to try and raise their profile, only to find that the people he entrusted with his money turned out to be charlatans. Not sure you can blame him much for their current plight when the only reason they were even in the Premier League for the last decade was because he was footing the bill that allowed them to live far beyond their means. He's finally had enough and is trying to recoup as much as he can. Where the comparison with Ashley fails is that Short tried and failed miserably at his own expense, whereas Ashley never even tried and has just been a leach to this club and its potential but will walk away with a very tidy profit if indeed he ever walks. Makes no sense sacking Grayson though. Might as well have used the compo as wages and fees for loan or something instead. I doubt he was expecting them to be bottom of the Championship and looking like going down again, but I agree from a financial perspective replacing Grayson with Coleman would have stung with no more money made available.

I think he's just decided the club won't get another penny from him after he's poured hundreds of millions in it to try and raise their profile, only to find that the people he entrusted with his money turned out to be charlatans. Not sure you can blame him much for their current plight when the only reason they were even in the Premier League for the last decade was because he was footing the bill that allowed them to live far beyond their means. He's finally had enough and is trying to recoup as much as he can. Where the comparison with Ashley fails is that Short tried and failed miserably at his own expense, whereas Ashley never even tried and has just been a leach to this club and its potential but will walk away with a very tidy profit if indeed he ever walks.

I'm with this. I feel Rafa is just papering over the cracks really. It's no surprise we're more at ease away from home where there's generally more space, than at home where we're naturally expected to be a bit more adventurous. We have precious little creative quality in our squad, let alone goal scoring ability. The only thing keeping us in it right now is our team spirit and our defensive organisation. Player for player this is by some distance our weakest Premier League squad I've seen since I started following NUFC. I don't subscribe to the notion that Rafa Benitez is some sort of saint who can do no wrong, but it's plain to see he's forced to be pragmatic here and is pretty much wringing everything possible from a Championship squad with maybe a handful of PL quality players. Years and years of underinvestment are taking their toll, and it's painfully clear we are in desperate need of reinforcements. Just imagine for one moment what a difference a creative midfielder like Ben Arfa or a striker like Demba Ba would make to our team and our survival chances. We're a team of plodders, so it should be no surprise we play like one.

He may not be great, but he’s sill easily the best we’ve got in his position

Cookie: Practically waving the white flag. Shame there's so much s*** near that bottom of that league that no matter how bad they are they're still in with a shout to stay up if they manage to put a few results together somehow.

Ah well, could have been worse, should have been better

Howay Lascelles

Does Ritchie ever go outside and try to put a cross in?

Some delivery that

Rafa made it perfectly clear in his pre game presser he approaches these games as must not lose before all else

Good sub