Tiresias

It's hardly great motivator for his squad is it when manager basically says they're barely good enough in public.

Been Benitezed

It's not like I'm saying we're not on course to promotion, just a long way to go

I don't disagree it's just a bit too early. Not too concerned about table position as of yet, just need to keep banking the points and know that with our squad we should outlast the other teams around us. It'd be nice to have a healthy gap to 3rd place going into december.

This, now players know there are hungry players ready to step in, and perhaps just as positively they all know they'll get a fair chance.

Still just a 7, plenty of time to implode, it'll take being at the top with a gap for me to go any higher tbh

the bad news is Huddersfield have QPR so can't see us going top

Rafa knows how to get him firing, if he can keep this up will be the making of him as a player

I was more thinking culmulatively

Glad he's getting back to his old self. So many options up front for us at the moment

Love a tonking with loads of scorers, shows team all at it

Pretty impressive number of clean sheets this guy is starting to rack up

Not 7? Sack Rafa!

7 for Barca we usually follow suit

No sixth goal? Sack Rafa

Yeah am concerned about our goals from open play however this is just a natural result of a lot of pressure

bbc1

Knowing Celtic fans they will really have thought 'containment' was ever a possibility

Tbh I could live with the pose if it just actually looked like him

Fair play

You kind of hope when Denayer makes a block tackle fans will shout DENAYED

I was a big fan of him back when I thought Pardew was criminally underusing him, but he has showed often that in centre midfield he can be overpowered and bypassed and he goes invisible. He is a very accomplished tidy player at times, and he has very much impressed me last few games at right back, however he seems to be permanently on some swing of oooh he's doing well at right back lets try him in the middle till he's tried in the middle and fails. In a possession based 3 man midfield he may work but here's the problem, he's naturally defensive but not strong enough to be the midfield enforcer, so he either sits alongside a proper defensive mid and then we have a very negative midfield who won't bring the ball forward, or he is expected to win the ball not just circulate it and he ends up being overrun. Alongside a strong ballwinning box to box type player or two he may thrive in the middle but I don't really think his midfield type really fits either with the squad or the league. Atm however he has cemented his right back position well and perhaps handy as emergency midfielder. I think purely theoretically he could play like Guardiola's full backs and tuck into the midfield to give more numbers there but seems unlikely this ploy will catch on too much, and that is kinda reliant on being able to go to 3 man defense fluidly. He may suit more sophisticated systems as he is a smart player (which is why Benitez has praised him) and perhaps could do the false-cb thing in a 3 man back line but again such tactical experimentation is totally unnecessary and just risky at this level.

Progressive manager improves team shock

I'm not unimpressed lol, can't believe he's only 19 from how long he seems to have been getting the odd game. Basically is he actually a straightforward sturridge like striker, I kind of got impression he was a no 10 at some point...