Parsley

Nice seeing this sort of post after 10 minutes of play....

Hope Lazaar starts ahead of Gouffran.

Claude Makelele has joined Swansea as a coach

Of course he is, just as an outfielder is entitled to challenge for a 50-50. He shouldn't be exempt from sanction if he misses the ball and catches the man just because he's a keeper.

Was the keeper even booked? think it was careless/wreckless rather than deliberate. Doesn't matter does it? If it's late and dangerous it should be punished, regardless of whether it was intentional.

Was the keeper even booked?

This is how I see it as well.

Lazaar sounds like he's making a good case for the LW spot.

Jesus that team is grim

Isaiah Brown has gone on loan to Huddersfield.

We were alreet against Leeds and Brighton. Forest was a farce but we played well. Average against Wigan and Villa, although we should have wrapped up the latter in the first half. The rest were s***, like. Thought we were very decent against Villa until the 70 minute mark or so.

CB is probably the position you want to rotate the least, particularly when you're on the cusp of having a settled partnership as Clark and Lascelles seem to have. Also think the fact that Clark is left-footed is a massive boon in Rafa's eyes and Lascelles, as the club captain, is likely to play more often than not. Similar with Mitro really. I'm a big fan and I wish he'd featured more by this stage but Gayle's form has simply been too good.

Would have him at LB to replace Dummett but that's not going to happen. I'd happily have him at left mid tbh.

You can't say that Brighton have been lucky - they have deserved their results and are a team with a better mind-set and more experience of fighting to get out of this league than are Newcastle. We were only unlucky at Forest - the rest of the results were deserved because we cannot break down teams that park the bus and compete. How much of Brighton have you watched this season just out of interest? Consensus from their own supporters seems to be that they were very fortunate yesterday and in the reverse fixture. http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?346755-An-apology-to-Fulham How did we do at Preston, for example ?...lucky to win. We also had our backs to the wall at Elland Road for a period in the second half.. We never looked like scoring at Fulham or against Sheff Weds... We have had just as much 'luck' as Brighton and its results that count - near misses mean nothing. Were you watching the club in 1996...? I'm not denying that we've rode our luck at times - although IMO we deserved to beat Leeds, arguably should have had a point at Fulham after having two blatant handballs turned away and, a late flurry in the last 10 mins or so aside, were generally in control of the game against Preston. Yes, we were shite against Sheffield Wednesday but we got what we deserved. I just find it laughable that Brighton have 'deserved' all of their results whereas we haven't - particularly when you claim that we've been lucky on several occasions and they haven't, yet we've had just as much 'luck' as Brighton over the course of the season? Of course we've been lucky on occasion - although not necessarily in the examples you've cited I'd argue - but it's daft to suggest that Brighton haven't.

You can't say that Brighton have been lucky - they have deserved their results and are a team with a better mind-set and more experience of fighting to get out of this league than are Newcastle. We were only unlucky at Forest - the rest of the results were deserved because we cannot break down teams that park the bus and compete. How much of Brighton have you watched this season just out of interest? Consensus from their own supporters seems to be that they were very fortunate yesterday and in the reverse fixture. http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?346755-An-apology-to-Fulham

So we have to criticise Rafa to be fair to Pardew and McClaren? As if a temporary blip in an otherwise impressive campaign is on a par with the masses of s**** that we've had to put with in recent times? If anything, the sorry state of Rafa's predecessors should offer some perspective on the extent of the rebuild job he's currently overseeing. In some respects that is perfectly true but in regard to subs, formations and tactics during a game it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Not making subs until it's too late, playing a system that needs a tweak during a game has nothing to do with Pardew, McClaren or anyone else. It's perfectly fair for any of us to say it isn't working when it clearly isn't at any given time. It's not hysterical or wrong to comment on flaws in what Rafas doing. The man and what he's doing with the club are brilliant, the football side will follow i've no doubt at all, but to ignore clear failings in something i've no doubt he'll sort out is ridiculous just because he's Rafa. I never said that Rafa is beyond reproach; I agree that the substitutions were too reactive today and ultimately came too late. I only took issue with the suggestion that Rafa should be criticised simply because we've blamed other managers in the past.

So we have to criticise Rafa to be fair to Pardew and McClaren? As if a temporary blip in an otherwise impressive campaign is on a par with the masses of shite that we've had to put with in recent times? If anything, the sorry state of Rafa's predecessors should offer some perspective on the extent of the rebuild job he's currently overseeing.

I don't use Twitter but I hope you're talking about an official Ant and Dec account calling Colback a s*** ginger daft c*** or something along those lines. Not quite on Ant and Dec levels of stardom but professional cricketer Graham Onions weighed in with the following:

There are next to no alternatives man.

Disagree that the game was desperate for pace when Blackburn were playing as deep as they were. We needed more creativity in the final third and a better outlet up top. Agree with your broader point mind - the subs were too late.

Same s**** side that dominated this match for 85 minutes? We couldn't create a single clear-cut chance against the third worse defence in the division, man. Well that's a lie. Aye, I can't even comprehend how much of a contrary agenda you need to have to be able to say we created nowt in that game like. I didn't say that, though. There was nothing clear-cut. Half chances for Gayle and Clark admittedly. Gayle's chance for when he was slipped through by Gouffran was clear-cut.

Same s**** side that dominated this match for 85 minutes? We couldn't create a single clear-cut chance against the third worse defence in the division, man. Well that's a lie. Aye, I can't even comprehend how much of a contrary agenda you need to be able to say we created nowt in that game like. We had a handful of chances, but we didn't create a single definite goalscoring chance apart from the two that were rightly ruled out. This is also nonsense.