Tiotes Witch Doctor

Think if he left tomorrow attendances would drop to about 42-45k rather than full houses, but still not a significant enough drop to make a statement.

Couldn't even get through a season in the championship without drama ffs. I wont set foot inside SJP again until Ashley goes if Rafa leaves, I've only been to about 10 games this season home and away like but still.

They will stay up. One of the shit cunts they've signed will miraculously turn mint and they will scrape up, probably at the expense of Leicester and or Boro.

Class that, shame it wasn't coming at a happier time but should still be a great experience, ask him if hes fucking off then report back plz.

That's where I'm at, even if we win every single game from now till the end you just know down the line, probably in the summer it will be business as usual, with a shit has been or never was manager, and Ashleys "transfer model"

Get promoted, Rafa walks, Ashley brings in another McClaren, Pardew type and we scrape survival for another few years will be good enough for him. Maybe release some funds in January if we're looking to be in serious trouble, it's thick, but its a gamble hes been willing to take on more than one occasion, could even be engineered all this, in a really shit way.

"We've been found out. Opposition team talk. Pressurise Clark and Lascelles and stop them having time and space to play out from the back, and stick a man on Shelvey. Result --they won't know what to do to get over the halfway line apart from the long ball. Attack Lascelles on the ground-- he can't cope. Encourage the Toon to get the ball to Perez --he will lose it or make the wrong decision. Hayden always needs an extra touch. Ritchie and Gouffran aren't orthodox wingers and their first job is to defend, so don't worry about them beating our full backs and crossing because it won't happen. A few obvious flaws which we can all see so Rafa needs to change things fast!! Playing Goofy up front and Sammy on the wing made an immediate impact last night. Bring in Diame on Saturday. Please drop Perez now he has been the weakest link for most of the season--he works hard but just hasn't got it!!" Someone on the ronny gill website nailing it, never thought I'd say that.

It's us, of course we're going to lose to the clueless manager who relegated us with our top class manager at the helm with much better players at his disposal, of course we're going to be 1 point away from third after the week, of course Rafa has ALREADY been undermined and of course he's going to walk away if not now but in the summer. The writing is on the bastarding wall with these people running the club, they struck fucking oil with Rafa and despite his flaws this season was the only chance left of this club being respectable and and bringing back a slight bit of dignity, and it looks like that is due to be taken away from us again.

Not to mention the fact he has been below average as a premier league player for some time.

Compromise :lol:

He has cost us more goals than Sels this season but he does still seem the more confident choice. Agree with rather having Krul in goal. Thats just not true.

Great post

Think Clark tried to head it, heard the call and tried to back out of it but ended up getting caught in two minds and naffing it up. A mistake that we can probably forgive him as he's been outstanding all season. That's what I think too, and most definitely, hes been our best defender by far and has saved our arses on more than one occasion when others have faltered.

Scary that

Saw a few tweets from people who were supposedly behind the goal for the own goal saying Darlow did call for the ball, maybe a rush of blood to the head from Clark?

Hayden could've easily had three assists Fair play on that one, probably not a good example, I think in my head its just overshadowed by the countless times he gave the ball away and misplaced his passes, was such a strange performance from him.

Do you not think Rafa could be part of the problem with the rigidity of formation ? If he used the squad better this pressure wouldn't be on, fwiw I've said all season he's not getting the best performance wise. 100% Not only that but our gameplan never seems to change no matter what is happening in the game, whether we're drawing winning or losing it never adapts to change things, and perhaps the most frustrating thing of all is the substitutions, far too late, not positive enough and almost always reactive rather than pro-active, we go 1-0 down and then normally about 70-80 minutes the change is made, I was led to believe Rafa is the sort of tactically astute manager who could see this sort of thing coming. Still though we have a game in hand on 3rd and still 4 points ahead, but we cant afford many more mistakes or we'll end up in the play offs, and we all know another season in the championship will beckon.

To be fair we were coasting to the full time whistle at 2-1 up and had it not been for an unlucky moment we would have won the game, its the fact that we had plenty of chances to be more comfortable and failed, and the general performance made us lucky to even be 2-1 up at any point in the game, something isn't right, and it just doesn't look like anyone in the side including the manager know how to fix it. We play dire football every week and have hung on loads this season in a lot of our wins, in truth Rafa should be doing better with the squad he has with or without new signings, but a CM was desperately needed especially if Shelvey gets another ban or injury which from tonight looks likely. We're fucking this right up at the minute and we need to go on another run like earlier in the season. On the plus side we're still on more points now than we were at this stage of the 09/10 season if that makes anyone feel better. I fear none of this will ultimately matter though as I feel its only a matter of time until Rafa is pissed off enough to walk away, and if that happens I wont give a flying fuck what division we are in.

Aye it makes me sick hes even in the squad but he offered far more to our attack than the likes of Gouffran or Hayden when he came on. Might be an alright option from the bench until Atsu returns, who should be replacing Gouffran immediately IMO.

Darlow Yedlin Hanley Clark Dummett Ritchie Shelvey Mbemba Lazaar Diame Mitrovic

0-2 defeat and Rafa on the brink.

I cant overstate how utterly fucking terrible this performance was, he consistently gave the ball away, lost out aerially and was done every single time, at times he looked like he could barely keep his balance, how is Rafa not seeing this? Hanley or Mbemba need to be starting and whatever his issue is needs to be ironed out. Hes in no state to be our captain at the moment.

100% We've no fighting spirit our captain looks like he can barely stand up and for the most part we have no idea what to do with the ball. Pardew levels of shambles tonight, absolutely disgraceful, beginning to quietly wonder if Rafa is not the same manager he once was. 6/10.

Too much complacency, people trying fancy flicks and dummies its unnecessary man, I fucking hate it when we go 1-0 up early in the game because we just completely stop playing football, not that we play good football any other time either mind. Lascelles has been terrible for ages now and should be dropped immediately, Hayden is fucking shite, Gouffran offers nothing and the entire team look completely disorganised and unbalanced, sort it out Rafa ffs! Diame must always play ahead of Perez, he is a shocking excuse for a footballer.