ExiledGeordie

I'd imagine he'll be given a chance next season given he's played quite well in the premier league before. Would be ironic if he suddenly started performing again

I agree, there's been too much pressure on Shelvey with zero creativity at number 10. Can see Benitez going for someone like McCarthy at Everton too though

This is his issue and he doesn't make up for it in other areas of his game

Have my doubts about him being here next season but just going to enjoy the fact he's got us up currently

Yeah some excellent posts above. He's had to pick up a complete mess of a club and there's been enormous pressure going into this season with the financial ramifications of not going back up at the first attempt. The squad has been so brittle for so long and so many people have been looking to see us fail. There's been unbelievable pressure throughout and recently it's started to tell. I think he's managed things extremely well even if our play has been a bit dull at times. The goal was purely to get promotion, first or second.

How many new starters do you reckon Rafa is looking at? LB, CB, CM, LW, No10, striker?

I though I'd read that Gayle might be ok for it, not sure about Clark though

And it's become clear that without key members of our team we just completely lack a cutting edge going forward and sta unity at the back. I'm guessing the players he'd indentified for Jan was to combat this.

There has to be a major inquest into today from everyone, collapse of epic proportions. Sit down and bash this out and decide if they want to go up or not

"our" players

Save for the odd flash he's been garbage all season

That's my feelings, we just don't have enough leaders and the longer this goes on the more stressed and incompetent the players become under the pressure

Today is an unmitigated disaster no doubt about that. To be so toothless in all areas is a major concern, we are doing our best to bottle this

Nerves and inexperience I'd say

It's starting to look this way. A loss today would be nothing short of a disaster

There was more to it with Mbemba. That's exactly what I heard from my in the know source

I like he lad, he's a young player with the right attitude and I'd keep him in the squad next season as he can improve under Benitez. No way should he be starting though, not good enough currently.

That's the one element this team is clearly lacking. We don't have experienced players to shut games down when they need to. You simply can't concede goals like that one last night. Back four will look very different next season though.

Great intensity and effort from the team today, really enjoyed that. Without Gayle we miss that cutting edge and we still seem to lack that experience and nous to close games out. Lascelles switches off on too many occasions and to concede a goal like that at the end.... We're almost there though, last push!

That was nothing compared to what happened to him once outside. The stewards were trying to get him down to the police van waiting to take him away which was parked outside the Strawberry when he was ambushed by dozens of Toon fans. He literally had the sh*t kicked out of him before the police got control of the situation. He'll be in a hell of state this morning. That'll learn him

We're still 8 points clear including goal difference without having played today yet. Huddersfield have Derby away and Fulham at home as their next two games, not easy. Let's not all piss our pants just yet

No point thinking like that. Let's hope our players don't run out tonight with this kind of pathetic bi-polar attitude

Apologies if it's been mentioned already but any involvement for Hayden or Yedlin today?

Exactly. How many points of 3rd were we clear last time after this many games out of curiosity? Apples, I'd like to introduce you to oranges Possibly the worst ever use of this phrase. You think the 2 scenarios are directly comparable Ian, really? The point I was making was that everyone talks about us pissing it back then so I was curious to see what the difference is points was. 17 Clear of 3rd with a game in hand last time at this point. We were on 89 points & with 48 GD, so bit better all around. Same amount of wins though, it's all draws. Considering we largely kept together much of a prem side that season though, compared to changing near our entire team this i'd say Rafa's done very well. Not to mention he's had to turn around a losing mentality that has festered for years. Club has been rotten to the core for years

He's proved he can't play the number 10 role and for me doesn't do enough in CM. He puts in a shift for the most part but just doesn't have enough impact on the game for me.