Mattoon

2-2 on aggregate, not a bad result

I find it staggering that people would take promotion over a cup. This club has won ONE trophy in my lifetime. I'm old. Fairs cup? or you are an old bugger It's the new generation unfortunately, there brought up that the premier league is the be all and end all but in reality it's not. The football league has 92 teams in it not 20 Of course staying in the top division is the aim(whatever they call it) but it's not success, not really silverware is I'd do anything to see us win a cup, who remembers that team that finishes 17th and just stays up? Nothings guaranteed but I do feel that if we don't get promoted this year, we will eventually, it will just take longer I don't think any of us think the PL is the be all and end all, I really like the championship and I like winning almost every week much more than the PL and survival. However I know that if we don't get in PL at the first time of asking it becomes a lot more difficult the second year and even more so the third. Cup or not, I can't see Benitez sticking around if we fail for promotion. Financially his hands will be tied, we may even have to sell to bring the wage bill down. Unfortunately, financially, to the people that matter, the PL IS the be all and end all. On paper, cup every day of the week, I'd love to see us win something, but realistically, for progression, to keep Rafa, we need promotion more than we need a cup.

Heart says cup win, head says promotion. Without promotion the money would dry up and a second season in the Championship could be catastrophic.

Darlow Yedlin Mbemba Hanley Gamez Atsu Shelvey Hayden Gouffran Perez Mitrovic

I'd like to see some of the new boys given a run out with Atsu and Lazaar getting some game time, I'd also like to see Mitro and Perez start, they have good chemistry and the more game time they get together the better.

Someone had to do it! Let's put the last game to bed and win the second leg 3-0

The one thing we know about Rafa is that he'll learn from it and he'll change it, you just know Pardew would try the same thing again... and again..... and again when it's clearly not working. I hope we smash them midweek and put this to bed as quick as possible.

One none performance isn't going to make me come down any, still massively confident we will get automatic promotion and once we're top spot we'll stay there. Rafa will not let performances like this keep happening, it'll all be forgotten after our next win.

that can't be allowed to happen and he knows it.

Just a kick in the balls after midweek, I had a bad feeling about this one but expected us to beat them at home. We've not turned shit over night but today has been a massive concern by the sounds of it. We just need to put it to bed midweek, hopefully they'll be feeling over confident after beating us so easily today.

fuck this, I'm gonna go and do some actual work I'm being paid for, this is how bad it's been. Hope Rafa skins the lot of them.

Jesus wept Hoping that was satirical ;-) is was in respect to Wolves supporters calling Rafa arrogant.

FFS Wake up!

Come on!!

Fwiw the media is full of reporters that dislike certain teams and write/report heavily one sided views, I've read some real shit about NUFC in the past as I'm sure most of us have. However I can empathise in that the reporter is from a direct rival and is reporting solely for the area he has grown up to hate. That doesn't immediately mean he can't be professional or impartial, I wouldn't be happy if it was the other way round but you've got to give the lad a chance to do the job he is qualified to do. I don't think he'll be there very long which is a shame because he's earned the right to do that job and deserves his chance, but it is a tad hypocritical to dislike a guy for calling you a cunt 6 years ago when most of you say the same about all our supporters on a daily basis.

I think Benitez is just a confident bloke, he knows what he's doing, I don't think that comes across as arrogance. He also oozes class, his work outside of football is testament to that alone so I'm not sure where they get that from. Saying that I never had much thought on the bloke until he came here and at a point disliked him due to the Liverpool link but never out and out hated the guy.

Yeah if you read on they think he's a crock

It was me in the Brighton game thread. I said unpardewed but De-pardewed is better. The whole club is being De-Pardewed. Rafa has done a sterling job of fumigating the place.

I'm loving the anticipation and excitement for each match to come. It's been too long but long may it continue.

You're right and I think the likely conclusion to all their pontificating is deep seated jealousy of the directions of each club. They're either lying to themselves and each other or they're just thick, tbf it's probably the latter.

RTG summed up perfectly in one post there.

Are you sure about that? erm, yup? Well, exactly. That's like saying I don't want to get a cancer or something. OK I get you, there's just a fair few of our supporters that genuinely wouldn't purely based on the Pardew school of thought and the media's "difficult" line. There's a few on here fwiw

I'm loving the levels of delusion at the moment, the whole contradictory stance mentioned above, should be pissing the league with the players/money spent followed in the same sentence with bloated championship squad should we be promoted. Then there's the whole, they sent us down and they're laughing at us for laughing at them looking like they're going down because we're delusional given the fact we're already down and they're still in the PL and they wouldn't swap with us. Where would I rather be? In the championship with a world class manager, building for a future and looking like we'll piss this league or getting hammered every week with a clinically depressed manager, no future and looking like you're going to get relegated? It's a no brainer! Oh yeah and it's Rafa's fault we were relegated, he was too shit to keep us up?!

This guy is a parody of himself, such a joke, what is the need?

I'm Pardew's sack!