LoveItIfWeBeatU

He obviously loves the day to day of club management (e.g. Filling his time coaching a kids team when he wasn't managing) so I can't see him taking an international manager job. He's only 56 so he's got plenty of time to be an international manager.

Who to play on the left wing is a problem. Perez hasn't had a good game for months and he isn't really a left winger anyway. Wijnaldum has been OK at best when he has come on as a substitute on the left. Rafa seems to prefer experienced players so Aarons hasn't played. He's our only natural left winger. Sissoko has been playing better in the middle recently so I doubt he'll go back to left wing.

We have around four number 10's and no left wingers (apart from Aarons but Rafa prefers to play players with more experience). Perez certainly isn't a left winger. We always end up playing players out of position. No wonder we're poor when a third of the team is played out of position or have no competition for their place in the team.

Perez hasn't had a good game for months. I'd be surprised if Tottenham were still interested in him.

How long is Ben Arfa's contract with Nice? Are Nice looking to cash in on him or is Ben Arfa looking to move on? He's obviously a good match with Nice. He plays all the time, is an important player for them and I imagine he is well loved there. I assume he's happy. It would be a bit of a risk for him to leave (after only one season at Nice) to go somewhere where he may not start every game. At the moment he's a big fish in a small pond. That won't necessarily be the case elsewhere.

Really? What am I missing? I'm with you here, not sure where the Leicester panic has come from. Because they drew at home to a decent team after being reduced to 10 men? They haven't lost since Feb 14 (W6, D2) and that's their only loss in 2016. And they were also reduced to 10 in that game. That's wobbly? If Spurs drop any points in the next 3 games they will very likely have nothing to play for on the last day. Jamie Vardy will miss at least one game due to being sent off. That doesn't help Leicester.

He was confident enough to take the job on in the first place as he saw the potential and he wants to work in England. Would he really view 1 year in the Championship (I'm assuming he'd be confident of getting us promotion at the first time of asking) as a deal breaker? He views us as a project over several years. Hopefully if we do get relegated he doesn't abandon that idea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/35897338 It's a shame he didn't decide to rotate his team for us rather than Stoke.

Mitrović replacing Cissé didn't have the impact I thought it would. I thought he'd be able to hold the ball up better.

Credit where it's due, he's looked fine since he came in for Elliot.

Well that linesman didn't see the ball go out twice so why would he see someone standing 2 yards offside?

Reading that makes it obvious to me that if Newcastle are relegated Mike Ashley will do whatever it takes to get us promoted straight away. He'd be crazy not to.

If we get relegated and Sunderland don't I think our fans will probably have a more enjoyable next season in the Championship than theirs will in the Premiership.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36063763 It's a tall order to survive. We have to better the results of both Sunderland and Norwich for the rest of the season. Sunderland's 2015-16 run-in Sun 24 April Arsenal (H) Sat 30 April Stoke (A) Sat 7 May Chelsea (H) Wed 11 May Everton (H) Sun 15 May Watford (A) Apart from Arsenal, none of those teams have much to play for. Even worse, Everton and/or Watford may be resting players for the FA Cup final when Sunderland play them. Norwich's 2015-16 run-in Sat 30 April Arsenal (A) Sat 7 May Man Utd (H) Wed 11 May Watford (H) Sun 15 May Everton (A) Pretty much the same teams to play as Sunderland so the same applies. A mediocre Man U may have something to fight for. Newcastle's 2015-16 run-in Tue 19 April Man City (H) Sat 23 April Liverpool (A) Sat 30 April Crystal Palace (H) Sat 7 May Aston Villa (A) Sun 15 May Tottenham (H) Our fixtures are probably the toughest on paper now. Man City are in form and going for top 4, Liverpool are in form but might rest players before their Europa League Semi-Final 5 days later. Crystal Palace will probably be more or less safe by the time we play them. Aston Villa are relegated so who knows how they will perform, on the beach or playing without any pressure? Tottenham might be fighting for the title or second place (or on the beach).

Atletico won with 23% possession the other day. You must have missed my reply: - Ahhhh shit, does that affect the result? Nope. Just proves it means nothing even though McClaren wanted us to keep the ball all the time. Leicester have done alright always having the lower possession stats.

Ahhhh shit, does that affect the result? Nope. Just proves it means nothing even though McClaren wanted us to keep the ball all the time. Leicester have done alright always having the lower possession stats.

We only had 34% possession.

My river is like going down the rapids it's so choppy. I've tried other routes but all are the same.

I'm amazed he won. Great guy who tried his best but most people wanted him dropped from the team the season before he was. Pardew kept playing him when he was awful. "The tribunal also ruled the club made it impossible for Gutierrez to trigger a further deal through appearances." So even if he hadn't had cancer he could have sued NUFC for not playing him enough to trigger a new deal?

NUFC should fine Janmaat for his stupidity. Might as well play Mbabu or Sterry. There's a good chance they'll be here next season so giving them game time is a reasonable idea, especially when there is no one else for their position. They couldn't do much worse than our first choice option.

I don't get the clamor to sign Carrick. He's 35 in July. He hasn't played regularly for awhile and has had quite a few injuries throughout his career. He was born in Wallsend and is a boyhood fan of Newcastle United but so what? His career is pretty much done. Has any player ever signed as 'pay as you play' contract? How many outfield players play on after they're 35? Not many.

Problem is that this squad are as bad at attacking and scoring goals as they are at defending and conceding goals. On paper we have a lot of attacking players. Sissoko has played every game bar one but he has scored no goals. He makes Jonas look prolific. Gini scored most of his goals in one game. He hasn't scored away from home. None of our strikers are regular goal scorers. Blunt in attack and leaky in defence. Our central midfielders are shite too.

It took Keegan a good few games (8?) to get his first win when he came back. Unfortunately Rafa hasn't had the instant success that sometimes happens when a new manager is appointed. Who would consider Benitez's reputation as a manager damaged if Newcastle are relegated? It was always big ask anyway to keep us up. If anything his reputation should be enhanced for having the balls to take the job on. If another club were put off appointing him because he didn't manage to save Newcastle then the jokes on them.

Ashley talks shit. There was enough money for Berahino. Also, last season before the West Ham game Ashley said he'd spend whatever it takes to get us back up if we got relegated. Why wouldn't he do that this time when the rewards are even greater?

No. Which club is going to pay anywhere close to the £15m he cost NUFC? Mike Ashley won't sanction a fire sale. He'll also be on Premiership wages (even in the Championship if it's true NUFC don't put relegation clauses in contracts) so no club other than a Premiership one could afford his wages.