Stottie

Norwich have the hardest games left of any team in the Championship. Their home and away opponents are averaging 1.6 points a game. They play four out of the top five, i.e., all of them except us. http://www.soccerstats.com/table.asp?league=england2&tid=10

Nice post Elma. Some of the results Rafa got in the PL might have been against teams with little to play for, but we certainly finished the season strongly enough to stay up comfortably had Rafa been given more games, even with the players you mention. Personally I think Gayle deserves more game time in the PL, even if not as the number one striker. His scoring record at Palace was great if you factor in the limited opportunities he was given, and he'll have improved under Rafa. If results go our way, I'd like to see Diame play alongside Shelvey for a few games this season to see how they work together. We definitely need a new #10 and someone to play on the left. I would also stick Krul straight back in if he's still around. I like Sturridge as a goalscorer, but I think he'd be out of our league, in both wages and who he could play for. He'd have to want to play under Rafa and to revitalize his career to come.

Show your love everyone! His win percentage with us is now 59%, within a decimal point of Hughton's. That includes the 10 games with the relegated side last year. I don't see how the team with the best goal difference by far in the division could be "defensive". They should direct those questions to Huddersfield.

I only saw the last twenty minutes live, and aside from our third, my favourite moment of what I saw was when one of them hit a lovely, Ritchie-the-other-day-but-shorter lofted pass out to the left wing. It was the side closest to the camera, which is maybe why I remembered the other day. Their wide man got to it and volleyed in a not-bad cross into a dangerous area, certainly the best little bit of play I saw from Huddersfield and......Clark beat his man and routinely headed it out for a corner. It was the most incisive thing they did, but even that did not create a chance. Given that Lascelles was covering, they were lucky that Shelvey got close and gave the ref a penalty decision to make. They didn't look like scoring otherwise.

I see Brighton's goalie gave the ball straight to the opposition striker for the second game running, only this time it wasn't Gouff. I've been on 9 for months, since 10 is written next to Champions, but I think we're at 9.5 now.

Mings didn't appear to be looking at him.

Another farce that could easily have been avoided with replays.

I think this could come down to who has fixtures against teams already on the beach in the last few games. I'm convinced certain teams give up and become pushovers as the end of the season approaches. As one example, that game we had under Carver against West Ham which was Allardyce's last game there. The one with the Sissoko header and the Jonas goal. West Ham didn't turn up that day at all, for a game we started with the risk of relegation hanging over us. I don't think Everton turned up against the Mackems last season either. I think it was the mackems' game in hand and they won it with a supreme ease that belied Everton's away form that season. I guess the classic example would be Sven's last game at Man City where they lost to Boro 8-1.

Juve got to the CL final a couple of years ago with three of them, Pogba, Tevez, and Evra.

I thought our defence was more solid that season. However, we conceded 35 goals in 46 games. At that rate, we'd concede 26 in 34 games, versus the 28 we've conceded this time. So no big difference when you actually crunch the numbers.

Those three are bottom of the form table from Christmas Day, which covers nine games, about a quarter of the season. None of them have a new manager either, so there is no reason to expect a change that could bring improvement. I had a look at points per game for opponents in remaining games to see if any team has harder games left than the others (its on soccerstats.com), but Burnley playing away have 0.17 points per game, so anyone who has them at home has their average massively distorted by it. Hoping for Palace myself though.

Of those three defeats, we were clearly robbed against Forest and should have had a pen, possibly two, against Fulham.

Whoscored reckon they attack down the right even more than we do (46% vs. 45%). It also says they're not very good in the air, which suggests Murphy might be worth a start.

If they have been and are still getting results, I don't suppose it matters that much, but Brighton aren't very good, are they? They had conceded the fewest in the division, but their goalie gave it straight to Gouff, he challenged for the same ball with their center forward leading to a goal, and about three of them left Ayoze in acres for an easy pass for our winner. And that was the best defensive team in the league.

Did really well and really changed things up. Our first goal came from their goalie and defender challenging for the same ball from a corner, which is the kind of thing that happens when you've got a genuine aerial threat out there. I don't think it would have happened otherwise.

I heard a stat a couple of week ago that said we were second in the league for goals conceded from individual errors. All that dominance second half and only five shots on target is also very poor.

Kind of fluking 5th with fundamental weaknesses in the team is not the same as winning the league by 10 points. In classic Pardew fashion, we still managed six defeats in which we conceded three or more goals that season. Nearly one game in six! I bet no other fifth place team has ever managed that.

I think its bad to sack him while they're still in the Champions League. He deserves a crack at that even if they are struggling in the league. Avram Grant got to the final and di Matteo won it, so you never know.

Not connected to Carver, but I hope the fans of this team sing that song by Wings off Band on the Run. Every time I see the club name, it reminds me of it.

It sounds like the infamous banners were the work of one bloke who is a bit of a "I'm all about the humour" David Brent type. So it might be best just to move on and not give him the attention. Good to see Rafa get a win against them at the third attempt. Who knows how things might have worked out if we'd got three points in that second game last season. It would have put the mackems under more pressure, if nothing else.

Suarez and Bale became the finished article in the PL, that's two of the top 10 players in the world. Loads of other players have improved in the PL, de Gea, Kante, Lukaku, etc. PL teams have not done well in the CL for few seasons, but part of the reason is that the strongest since 2010, Man City see table below, have struggled with expectations vs. a lack of experience and hard draws into groups of death (compare with Leicester's group). City's failings in the CL then destabilized the club and made them trigger happy with managers and players. PSG are full of new money too, but have been much more stable. http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/premier-league/all-time-table/2010-2011/2016-2017 After Barca and Arsenal, I think Leicester would have to lose about 15-0 to be the embarrassment of the round. I hope it emboldens them and they can give it a good go next week.

Forest finished that season on 79 points, though you wouldn't have expected it based on the record in Dave's table. 79 was still enough for third. Reading won 3-2 having scored three times from three shots on target yesterday. Huddersfield also notched up yet another single goal victory. They both seem to have an unusual talent for getting three points without dominating their games.

If he's committed and sticks to instructions, the manager will like any player for that. Mistakes may be easier to forgive. Looking ahead to next season and at the "project" in general, it's a real shame that this second half of the season is not going to used to assimilate the two PL-quality players Rafa wanted into the side. It means that we are less likely to start strongly next season. Even one of the two would have made a difference. Apologies for probable Giggs/stating the obvious.

Probably best to get the Huddersfield and Brighton games out of the way I think. Once Gayle is back we'll also be at full strength.

Well depressing, all this. If there are guarantees in the contract, you would think he'd have a case for constructive dismissal like Keegan.