Hughesy

Play like we did today for the rest of the season and we'll be fine.

Absolutely no idea why he didn't come for the ball just before they scored. Looping up in the air by the 6 yard box and he's rooted to his line.

Agreed - all you need is one or two wins and you shoot up the table. We've got some tough matches coming up, but we've also got some great opportunities to get points against Everton, West Ham, Brighton and Stoke. I'm a 5 at the moment.

Yeh - people voting for an 8 or above are so certain we are going down, they should be piling in on some bets on us to go down. We're currently about 3-1.

Sounds awesome - top work.

Not sure I'd go for King - pretty certain that on a stats basis, he was just running hot last season and has reverted to type this season.

yeah - had a mare with Coutinho there...! Didn't seem like he bought anyone of note at Inter at all.

This is wrong. He bought and built really well with us, and also at Napoli where the team he built is the one doing so well now. I thought he bought well for you for last season. Maybe not so much for this, but he wasn't given loads and he found you a bargain in Merino. Yes, he buys a few players at lower prices who don't work out, but then that applies to all who rummage at the bottom end of the market. The problem is when you only have a few quid, nearly every buy has to work out. Totally agree - https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/rafael-benitez/spielertransfers/trainer/1522 Particular highlights being: Napoli - Higuain, Callejon, Jorginho, Mertens, Koulibaly and Ghoulam Liverpool - Torres, Mascherano, Alonso and Reina He's definitely bought a few duds in his time, but the list above is pretty impressive work.

Great play by Delph to win the free kick.

Some people really need to take a look at the quality (or lack thereof) of our squad now and compare it to the squads of every single previous manager and then re-evaluate their opinion of Rafa. Makes me mad to think about some of the quality that the likes of Pardew had at his disposal (and wasted) and then you look at what Rafa is managing to do with basically a Championship team..

I've gone for a 4. Just think there are too many beatable teams outside the top 6 that means we should, with Rafa in charge, get enough points to stay up.

Get in!

Don't dislike that team. Glad to see Mbemba back and like the look of a midfield 2 of Hayden and Merino.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/nov/23/terrace-tunes-viral-source-september-chant?CMP=share_btn_tw Relatively interesting about the Chancel Mbemba chant.

If it's relegation clause linked to the HMRC investigation, that seems perfectly reasonable. Less so if it's purely performance based.

This is all sort of in line with the timetable I was expecting. DD just doesn't take that long.

Given the timelines that I've worked to on actual DD exercises, the DD should be coming to a close quite soon (if the start dates we were given are correct). To a degree, DD can fill the gap you leave for it, but over a month for a business like NUFC would be unusual. As I've said before, NUFC is a relatively straightforward business with clearly defined income streams.

I'd be intrigued to know what would happen if at the end of the season each team from the PL, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga played the team that finished in the same position as them in the other leagues (not sure what you'd do with the Bundesliga). Make it the 39th game (and 40th and 41st...).

Interesting re Mort as Ashley doesn't use Mort's law firm anymore. In typical Ashley style, he uses a much much cheaper law firm. Given the identity of the law firm that he used to use, I'd also question the truth of Ashley's story about not knowing he needed to repay the existing debt when he purchased the club.

As mentioned before, a takeover of this size with the relatively limited DD involved (i.e. NUFC as a business isn't that complex compared to a lot of deals - they don't have loads of overseas subsidiaries, income streams are pretty limited (mainly tv contract and season tickets etc) shouldn't actually take that long. Obviously the HMRC issue is one that needs to be negotiated, but an indemnity for tax liabilities isn't exactly unheard of. I'd be surprised if we haven't heard anything by the end of November.

No game until 18 November after this one, so might be worth giving him a bit of extra time to recover.

Those processes take weeks because we are in a cue and having our checks done. I'd be surprised if Stavely's backers are in a similar situation. So you reckon this should be done already? Don't be daft. In fairness, you can get acquisitions done pretty quickly if the parties are willing (big 'if' there with Ashley). DD for a business as relatively simple as NUFC shouldn't take much more than 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks.

Decent article by Douglas on Mitrovic this evening.

Was just trying to write something on Perez and I think you're spot on actually. He's a very strange player to work out - feels like he should be able to play as a number 10, but something just isn't clicking.

To get bites. This one worked perfectly. I'll rephrase then - what's the point of getting bites? I'm failing to see what particular itch making something up on a football forum scratches. Maybe I've missed some obvious humour.