Hughesy

Only complaint I have is Diame really. Would much rather see merino or saivet there. Don't see a problem with Perez upfront. Best football he's played has been up there and I think his skill will be useful vs Stoke centre halves.

Intrigued to know where you think we should be with this squad? Our squad is easily one of the weakest in the division. So why do you expect us to be outperforming teams with far superior squads and resources? Utterly bizarre.

Not only do Palace have far superior players, they have also, even under De Boer, been performing quite well all season. Their league position is not representative of the quality of their team or performances.

Amazing how you can produce a better performance with far superior players. Almost like there's some sort of link.

I'm at a 4. Just think there's enough shit down there with us for us to pick up points. And we have Rafa.

Really don't want NUFC to be in a position where a player like Joselu is near our first team and I really wanted to see Mitro be given more of a go, but some of stuff that gets said about him on here is pure hyperbolic bullshit. He's clearly not a natural goalscorer and clearly we need one, but he holds the ball up well, works hard and wins a huge amount of headers. I don't see as many matches live as I would like but I was at Arsenal the other week and he was one of our better players. He had a good game against West Ham. Yet every game, all I ever read is how he's the worst player we've ever bought etc etc

Hope Shelvey proves me wrong.

People seem to hugely overrate Shelvey's passing ability and creativity. He undoubtedly plays some great passes but they are so few and far between, he's often a passenger in a midfield two. Merino is a superior midfielder in general, but indisputably so in a midfield 2.

Think people are suggesting that they'd sell if we got a decent price and we got a replacement. Not really that controversial.

I haven't seen anything to suggest he can be effective in a midfield two on any kind of consistent basis. Any offer of around 12m or above and I'd take it.

You could say the same for a fair few strikers - Bellamy for example wasn't prolific at any stage bar one decent season at main striker at Blackburn. Obviously Bellamy was a far far better striker than Long has ever been, but there is more to Long's game than goals.

Might seem a bit revisionist, but I don't remember him being particularly bad for us. Just never really got a run in the team.

Yep - looks like he's getting back to his best.

There's no excuse for him not claiming that ball. It's an easy take and he just stands there gawking at it. Rest of his game was fine, but didn't do anything beyond the bare minimum.

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.