Mistle17

As good as he is, when we have players like Colback, Dummet, Gouffran making up the starting team it is inevitable that our results will be inconsistent- especially at home when we're supposed to be breaking teams down. It's a fucking joke that in a season as huge as this we only have Shelvey/Hayden/Colback as the distinguished players who can play as a deep midfield pairing (I'm sure Rafa made it clear that he is 4-2-3-1 and nothing else, so investment in that regard was crucial, but it obviously didn't happen...). With Hayden injured, our lack of investment in January is now glaringly obvious as we're left to stomach Colback in midfield. We could play Diame there, but the fact is he is not good enough nor does he have the intelligence to play a deeper, more conservative role. He's best away from home to help start counters. Dummet is a horrific football player, and his physical presence from set pieces can be the only thing keeping him in the side. However, Rafa needs to find a way to get Haidara fit or mentally capable to play there. Plus, Dummet is a left footer so gives a bit of balance when we want to build up. In saying that, Rafa is not immune to criticism; he is overly conservative against very poor teams (perhaps he realises our defensive frailties at times), whilst strategically is killing us at home most of the time. Some of the teams that come to sit in against us are brutal, but we're far to reserved about attacking them and occupying their backline. I know he likes our Wingers to come inside, but we can still have 2 Strikers and do that, with two sitting CM's and Full Back's bombing on. Murphy has proven he's a consistent goal scorer, we need to play him. With the quality Shelvey has on the ball, there's not a lot of need to have 3 in midfield against some of these teams, but Rafa has his ideas and in fairness we are top (if only just). Ultimately, if we want to play ball on the deck and attack teams, we need 11 players on the pitch who can do that- but we don't. Win at Birmingham and we'll be one game closer. As I said after Fulham, our next 3 fixtures are huge, we need 9/9.

Next 3 games will decide it imo. We need 9/9: playing Brum (A), with Burton and Wigan (H). Absolutely has to be 3 wins agains those shithouses. Leeds at home is going to be horrific, like. I think we'll scrape automatic.

Any radio links?

Would love to see the club 'heroes' for any banners of theirs. Bar Bob Stokoe, who the fuck do they have? Kevin Phillips, Niall Quinn, Peter Reid, Nyron Nosworthy, Julio Arca? Difference is, their 'star' would have something to do with beating us, and no doubt they'd fit 'FTM' in there too.

Not quite. 2,800. Seem to remember they don't like us very much for some reason; https://youtu.be/V1QE2d0dx58 Imagine trying to be a football hooligan but recording the whole confrontation on your phone? Unbelievably sad/crap.

We did the same , looks twatty on paper but thats business. No, Id say that's just being really shitty to good people.

Crying because we chanted Lansbury is a wanker :lol: This is fucking tennis you soft cunts. What a piece of shit club. Would love them to be flushed into L1.

Anyone else get on Exeter? Need counselling after that. 2-0 up but conceded 2 goals in injury time. Sick.

Score first and it's happy days. These cunts lost at home to Burton last week, fuck that.

Genuinely think I'd fully give up on the club if Rafa were to walk because of Ashley. Last time no one outside the club (and a lot of our supporters, in fairness) bothered to acknowledge Ashley's catastrophic policies- mainly because it was Pardew who was the manager in question- but this time I think it would be extremely obvious to all that the club is poisoned beyond help whilst the current ownership remains. Last Championship season during the Jan. window we signed Leon Best for £2m and Fabrice Pancrate on a free. Was there anyone else? Clear as day now that all Ashley's intentions consist of are getting us back onto the gravy train for as little as possible, before keeping us on that train for as little as possible. Actually makes me want to top myself thinking about it (the worst part though is knowing the apathy people would/will great Benitez's revolt with). 'We cannit compete man!'

Are we dominating?

Should look to nail Rotherham on Saturday with this guy back. Such a good player.

Obsessed "Went on my own and never felt lonely" :lol: :lol: What the actual f***? Edit- Genuinely I have never viewed it as them sending us down. We were fucked regardless, and as always I view it as the Ashley regime that wrecked us, not those tramps.

Yeeeeeeassss!!!

There is no other option in reality. If Diame isn't available, Perez plays. Unfortunate really because Ayoze has been abysmal this season.

Not a good feeling about this. Just can't see us winning sadly, we've been so poor of late I reckon Rafa will go with: GK: Darlow RB: Anita CB: Lascelles/Clark LB: Dummet CM: Colback/Hayden AM: Perez W: Gouffran/Ritchie ST: Gayle Starting to feel uncomfortable with Leeds winning tonight.

Hopefully he does a Dream Team on it and jumps off the top of the stadium after he costs us the match today.

We're set for a record number of fouls by a team with Colback and Tiote in midfield today I'd take a fucking draw (then lose the replay 1-5 at home....still haven't gotten over that )

The view on this board of the FA Cup is incredibly depressing. God forbid a chance to win a trophy

Main issue for us is penetrating the first defensive line of the opposition. A lot of teams will screen/mark our CM's and allow Lascelles/Clark to play back and across- sometimes they will use triggers to spring out and press us high. There was one occasion yesterday when Lascelles played an excellent pass in the 2nd half that broke through Blackburns Attacking & Midfield lines to find Diame, but otherwise we lack any sort of penetration in our build up. Relying on Colback as opposed to Shelvey to provide forward passes that can find our Wingers in between the lines is destined for failure- Anita would be more suited to such a task. Imo, that is our biggest problem, and we are becoming very easy to defend against during our build up. It's no coincidence that our best chances came in the first half when we we're hitting them on the break. Taking this problem into account, it's fair enough that we do play with 3 midfielders and bring our wingers inside in an attempt to overload the centre of the pitch and have more options for penetration, but it isn't working. Rafa needs to be flexible and play Atsu who provides us with more pace (ideal for the counter attack) and is good 1v1. He's a player who is direct and will provide service into the box- when you have someone as good as Gayle you should be looking to provide it as much as possible. He needs to restore Yedlin to provide us with more pace on that side and like Anita DeAndre is quick enough to recover in transition. He's capable going forward, so it will only make sense for us to play Anita CM with Hayden. Anita is technically competent and doesn't avoid chances to receive the ball, unlike Colback. For me, I can accept us playing 4-2-3-1 if we field the correct personnel, but we're not. Gouffran, Colback, Dummet, and at times Ritchie and Diame are simply not good enough (former 3) or not effective (latter 2). When you consider that all but one of those names are midfielders of some capacity it is frustrating that we are not playing Mitrovic (or Murphy) alongside Gayle. If Rafa still wants his wingers to come inside you can easily do that with two up front and allow your Full Backs to provide width. Lazaar HAS to start playing instead of Dummet- he cannot be any worse. Dummet is at the level of Blackburn Rovers tbh, and it's an embarrassment on the clubs behalf that he is a 'product' of NUFC. There's no point in having a patient build up, controlled approach if when it lands at PD's feet he launches it. I can't understand why Rafa is persisting with him, Colback, and Gouffran. I love Rafa, am fully behind him, and unbelievably grateful that he is our manager, however he cannot be immune to criticism (that never ends well...) and with our appalling recent performances and results- in a division we should be a lot more comfortable in- it is absolutely fair that his team selection has been questioned of late.

Because I'm out of the country.

I don't think what he's asking us to do is beyond most of these players, it's the likes of Colback and Dummet who don't have the technical ability to play on the ball. If you try to dominate the ball but don't have 11 players who are comfortable on the ball it will break down. Also don't think he'd persist with instructions that players can't understand.

That tells me if we attack team a lot more and Rafa didn't over think things we would be ripping the league to bits. Ronaldo said much earlier in the season that Burnley won the league at a stroll playing 4-4-2 (not that debate by the way) playing a midfield of Arfield/Barton/Boyd......can't exactly remember the players but the point was valid. Not world beaters but set up just like Brighton are now, simple, effective and attacking. Rafa is complicating it a bit when he really doesn't need to (not at this level anyway). Good post. Villa away was a demonstration of needless conservatism from Rafa. We could have gone on to beat them by more but tried to sit off despite Villa being very poor. Lucky to get a draw by the end of it. Think our build up play is also very predictable and teams are managing now to prevent us from penetrating into midfield. Having Mitrovic would offer us great variation and I personally don't think that the extra CM (Diame) is worth it against the likes of Blackburn.

Yeah, not worried about Rafa long term, but short term his hesitation to make subs is becoming annoying, whilst at it is a case of we must score first or else we won't win. Every team goes through a blip but the way teams set up against us it is incredibly hard for us to recover a match if we are losing.