afar

Good, tbh you could have drop 11 of them based on their performance

This season he's been good in 3 or 4 games and pretty poor in the other 10 or so. Those games he has performed in have seen us pick up points, he's essential to us, we have so few creative outlets that when probably our best one is underperforming we don't have a chance.

Rafa is sticking around because of the potential takeover that's obvious, he may feel a sense of loyalty towards the fans that will make him stay till the end of the season when the takeover inevitably collapses. Right now though I do think he's under performing, his game planning during this run we are on has been extremely poor, his team selection has been stupid and the lack of changes he's made during games when we've fallen behind has been very alarming, something we were told from many Liverpool fans was a strong point of his. Having said all that any chance a Ashley owned NUFC has to stay in this division lies solely on Rafa being in charge, Ashley may not know that and his advisers have fed him so much crap over the years might well tell him to change the manager if things don't pick up post January (where he is safe while the takeover is in process), assuming we are off the market again and Ashley is still in charge.

He needs to step it up tonight both going forward and helping out Yedlin. His simply not been good enough on the whole this season, had a little purple patch where he got a few assists and no coincidence that that was during our only decent spell of the season, he's vital to us but not playing anywhere near the level we need him to, to win games.

It's probably the most predictable team selection that seems completely at odds with logic. Rafa's going down in my estimation with his continual support of the player tbh, not that he cares but it's difficult to see what exactly he sees in the player.

Since when has Mike Ashley given a f*** about the wellbeing of anybody but Mike Ashley? He doesn't give a f*** about this club and what it represents. He'd take us down again if he thought the market to sell it would be better in 3 years time. Say he had a hunch that the TV money was going to be even more extreme with the likes of Amazon/facebook going for it, I think he'd happily hold off to that point. What's good for Ashley is not going through another relegation, he has no chance of that not happening if he hangs onto the club and doesn't invest. He's stupid but not stupid enough to see that. He wants out, I'm pretty sure of that, you got the sense that he was fed up with the whole thing in his propaganda speech with Sky at the start of the season. I honestly don't think he has the stomach for another relegation and fight to get back up. That said he's still stupid/stubborn enough to cut his nose off to spite his face, just to get an extra 10 million or so.

That kind of thing actually wouldn't surprise me, I think he is desperately looking for a resolution to the number 10 position, one or both of Gayle and Joselu will be dropped surely even Rafa must have seen how ineffective they are together. Perez is a little out of favour, he doesn't see Diame as an option there anymore, so he may as well try something different.

At some point soon, for the good of the club, Ashley needs to make a decision to either accept a number he obviously does not feel is giving him true value or end the process. We can't go into January with this uncertainty, if we do we may as well start planning for another season of purgatory down there, we need players pure and simple. Even Ashley must see this, he can not have the stomach for another attempt to get back in the PL surely. I would say with the next 3 weeks, this must end otherwise champo here we come yet again.

We have 14 points dude, that's not reasonable especially when you consider the friendly schedule we've had. We are 4 points ahead of the woeful West Ham. We need the win to get momentum back, we certainly can't afford to lose a 5th on the bounce as we'll lose the next one for sure, then come up against two teams with new manager bounce (surely Everton will have appointed someone competent by the 13th of Dec). It's difficult to see where the next win is coming from and the potential of 6 losses on the trot could kill us. We need to win, we really do.

I think this is close to a must win with the up coming schedule, certainly a must not lose against a team with no manager right now. It's though one of those type of games we've struggled so badly this season in, on the road to a defensive limited team, Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton etc. We need some luck that we didn't get in those games and Rafa needs to get his team selection right for once. Team I would go with: Woodman Yedlin Clark LeJuene Mbemba Ritchie Hayden Merino Shelvey Murphy Mitro Chance of that happening: 0%

Ritchie for me has been as bad as anyone on this run we are on atm, he needs to step up his play.

It is, Ashley better hurry and accepot otherwise he has to think what he does in January, as clearly investment is needed otherwise no matter who is in charge we are going down.

At last everyone is catching up, I was saying this after his first couple of games, that was his peak. He's not a striker, never in a month of Sundays, don't care if you hate Mitro but he's 10 times the player that Joselu is and that's no exaggeration, not because Mitro is world class but because Joselu is barely pro level.

Who was it that kept bleating on about him not doing losing streaks, we are at 4 now with no end in sight.

Shot up to a 7 now. We look awful at thew moment, we can't score and can't defend, recipe for disaster. Rafa doesn't seem to have any answers at the moment.

We aren't getting back into this unless we improve immensely, it's awful

It's on the website not the regular channels, which sucks because I can't PVR it and I need to take my boy to his footie this morning.

Can't find our game on TV tomorrow, here in Canada, wtf ?

I'd pull my cock completely off and wave around like a football rattle if/when it does happen. I'm tempted to say I would like to see that, but I really wouldn't and highly doubt you'll follow through with this

Yeah, 52 points is way more than they'll need. They are only 4 away from safety now, with ton's of games left, last year Rotherham were the only team that was way off the pace, hell we lost both games against Blackburn who of course went down. This year there are about 4 or 5 teams, including Sunderland who are playing at Rotherham levels, if they just raise their performances slightly to play at the Wigan/Blackburn level of last season, they will be more than OK. They'll have a new manage bounce for the next few weeks, if they can get a win, especially breaking their home streak, they'll probably push on up to safety soon. Of course if they don't and the bounce starts to fade, it's going to be very hard to see them turning it around.

Yeah hope they wait until after our game to appoint him, he's going to get that initial bounce he always does.

Burton just levelled, if results stay the way they are and there's a little gap opening up at the bottom.

Still plenty of time to purchase players before the window closes. Not buying that at all as an excuse. The bid hasn't been accepted yet though. If it's not accepted before late December then the club should be taken off the market, as we'll be effectively down. We need investment that is clear, even with Rafa in charge, and there would be no chance of that happening while in the midst of a takeover. We are more than a month away from that point, it's not time to panic yet.

Still plenty of time to purchase players before the window closes. Not buying that at all as an excuse.

I think you are, bastards the lot