kingxlnc

Rafa managed to turn Ayoze Perez into a £30m player. Longstaff we wanted £50m for, for his form under Rafa Almiron prior to this season's form, last showed this type of form under Rafa, the first season he joined before he got injured (minus the goals) Rondon was a great fit here Lascelles thrived as captain Dubravka was an unknown, and a steal Schar and Leujene were relatively unknown and both steals He managed with very very paltry resources to make a competitive team that finished 10th! It was ridiculous what he achieved - that NUFC which came up is probably the worst, man-for-man in the PL era, compared to the other teams. It was the definition of solid and unspectacular. Ashley didn't want to compete - who else can make miracles happen with a 5m reserve striker from Stoke as your first choice? I can't believe the revisionism in this thread. Rafa achieved amazing things against the odds and had to make do with whatever he was given. To be honest he is similar to Howe in terms of how well drilled his sides are, they know their roles and he improves players no end. And when he's backed, he is very attacking, his Real Madrid side, his Liverpool sides all had record wins under him. When he's the underdog, he has to adapt - e.g. Valencia, smaller budget but his pragmatic style won through. Ditto Liverpool 2005, not the best team - but in 2008 when they had Alonso and Torres they finished second and scored tons of goals. Ditto us, not a great team but if he actually got money to spend (e.g Almiron) the signs were there it was all going in the right direction and would have had us competing for a top half finish.

Yes definitely a West Ham, they've let old skool Moyes have a heck of a lot of control - Rafa would be doing way better with the kind of players they have. This is why I previously mentioned Forest as a good fit - a city who would appreciate him and a big club trying to get back to glory days, decent players but need a system to be moulded. They love Cooper though so it may be a tough act to follow. We loved him as we had Pardew, Carver, McClaren so we could recognise greatness. But if your previous manager is popular (e.g. Everton) then it's a tough one. Sad to see his reputation in tatters though as it's clear he is a great man and manager. Poor choice of jobs has come back to haunt him. Him and Mourinho were very similar as managers, but Mourniho has insisted on only top clubs who can have a chance of silverware. It's kept him relatively undamaged.

If we get Pedro that will probably mean we aren’t in for Marcus Thuram

Would rather Rafa ends up at Forest would like to see what he can do with them

Leicester are like the Brian Kidd Blackburn Rovers of 20 years ago. Had not long won the title and some talent still in the team but just stuck in a rut and can’t get out of it.

Yes but being greedy would also want a Milonkevic-Savic too. No chance of getting 3 CMs though. Just conscious of filling the middle with youngsters, need a blend of world class experience too.

This is a far cry from opening day last season where we started well but Bruce’s lack of fitness training kicked in and the team gassed out after half time and lost 4-2 to West Ham after leading 2-0

Bowen is skinning Burn here need Targett on

Surely Krul (penalties) Schar (for the blasted shots on goal) Bruno (no brainer, Futsal) Ben Arfa Shearer Subs Given Albert Beardsley Emre Kluivert

Kane is similar to Shearer in that as Englands top man, you can do no wrong. Shearer got away with a few dirty ones in his time.

Our Aguero

Leicester or West Ham to go down is another way of saying do you prefer Maddison or Pacqeta as our AM

Diaby - 56m Maddison - 48m K Thuram / K Kone - 40m Grimaldo (free) M Thuram (free) Christensen (Barca) -37m Tielemans (free) / Mount 50m That would be a team that wins something next season.

The biggest sliding doors moment in NUFC history bar none was not getting Robson after Keegan left - he initially said yes then changed his mind. He became available that summer in any case as Barcelona brought in Van Gaal behind his back. Robson in his younger pomp would have been the perfect man to finish off Keegan's great work from a higher base; instead, we got two ex-superstars with huge egos and little care for the club. And it meant Robson had to build it up again from scratch, essentially. Imagine Robson handling Asprilla, Ginola etc. Perhaps some of his Barca team would have joined him given his standing (and NUFC's standing) in 1997.

That was the other thing. He actually felt at home here and wanted to stay despite being frozen out. His output was phenomenal in a struggling team. And then when he was forced out he was the iconic rebel, the symbol of the revolution, of hope. There's plenty of reasons for the love story.

One of the reasons we love him so much is that he reminds us of NUFC of years gone by - huge huge potential and amazing when it's all working but for some reason we always press the self destruct button and capitulate horribly. Whether it's appointing Dalglish, Souness, McClaren & Bruce after Keegan, Robson, Pardew (fresh start) and Benitez or it's only signing Bowyer or Anita the summer after a good season, or its buying good players in theory who promise a lot but it doesn't work out (e.g. De Jong, Luque, Owen, Cabella, Thauvin etc)

If only Keegan got Ben Arfa to manage - even for one season. It probably would have been like his season at Nice. If he got a creative tune out of Owen, who was a fading speed merchant who was losing his legs, imagine what he could have done with the natural talent of Ben Arfa.

Can see a front three of ASM Isak Thuram being a fun watch and can see them having a good understanding

If we had gotten Joao Pedro instead of Isak I think we would have been in for Osimhen this summer as number one striker. Isak is number one for foreseeable I think as they would've sold him being a central part of the project like Bruno when he was bought.

Give him any decent top flight professional's mindset / work ethic and he'd be a multiple league winner with a whole host of individual awards. Give him the mindset / work ethic of a Speed / Shearer and he'd be a Ballon D'or winner even in the age of Messi and Ronaldo. Give him the mindset of an Ibrahimovic or Ronaldo and he'd be vying for GOAT status with Messi.

Ben Arfa is my generations Tony Green. All I've heard is how good he was without never seeing him play. In the 2043 version of N-O we'll be saying oh Ben Arfa was one of the naturally talented players NUFC ever had to incredulous youngsters who having been spoiled by over a decade of success can't believe anyone from the 'poor' years could ever have that title

Would defo try ASM on right, Gordon on left. Almiron needs a break, rest him for the next two. Would like Ashby to come on as sub for Trippier at some point if we're ahead by two in the next few games. Isak has to start up top. Willock in for Joelinton's suspension. Give Burn a rest for the next few, put Targett in. Wilson can come on for Willock if we need a goal, Almiron for ASM if we're leading and need to hold onto the game. Schar should start but more confident in Lascelles than before . The only indispensible players in their roles: Pope Trippier Botman Bruno Isak Possibly Joelinton The rest are interchangeable. We need to add at least 3 indispensible players - a Diaby, a Maddison, and a Tierney for this summer.

Isak was elite level when he signed, he was being spoken of in the same breath as Haaland and Mbappe, slightly below that tier, in the Vlahovic or even Osimhen level. Bruno was less known but known amongst the bigger teams, Liverpool in particular were absolutely shocked he went when he did as we caught everyone unaware. He would have been unattainable in the summer had we tried.

We do, we have Isak. Just hasn't been playing enough yet. I have visions of him having a Papiss Cisse like end to the season from his next start and qualifying for the CL on the final day

One of the biggest issues with not investing in Jan was that we were 3rd at the time. Essentially we could have dangled the CL carrot to CL-worthy players - instead of the summer when that may not actually be true. So it's a missed opportunity. Gordon ironically we could have gotten whenever, so there was no need to rush that one.