Altamullan

No. Felt bad about letting him go. Seemed like we didn't give him a fair chance/the support needed. But, no.

Well, Diame should be better there. Hope he and Perez can link up well going forward. Would be nice to attack through the middle on occasion. Good enough to win and expect us to by a couple of goals.

loathe Mourinho but Keane should be ashamed of himself there Why ? Keanes showed himself up talking crap plenty of times but he's spot on here. Man who can't manage either a football team or his own emotions going to town on one of the most successful managers in the modern game. Urgh. Mourinho can't manage his emotions (see eye gouging etc) and would he have done as well at Sunderland ? Give keane a premier team and the ability to blow most out the water financially and we'll talk. I'm not a mourinho fan. Fair enough, but Keane is a fucking arsehole: self-centred and psychopathic. He was a bully as a captain not a real leader and obviously was going to struggle as a manager, particularly to sustain the kind of consistent relationships you need in order to keep the whole team onside (so to speak) and motivated.

Really like (liked?) him, personally, but I suspect Mbemba is seen as a bit of a loose cannon. The type of player very much not Rafael's glass of sherry.

Yep. Isn't it just. Everybody: "Black n White (thinking) Arrrmmmyyy!" Seems to start with a reasoned, wish he would mix it up more at home, went through Rafa can do no wrong, we're/you're not worthy, a few personal squabbles were giving an opportunity for airing, and breathe... let's get on with enjoying a good season (all's well, that ends well).

with friends like that...

Reassuring to see that reds are afflicted by black and white reasoning, too. Albeit, with a bit more humour!

29 games (2 less than he had for us). 44.8% win rate; about average for him over his 8 club sides. Funny, I saw a close up of his face during the last game and thought he looked like his arse has gone.

"... Oh, it makes none. But now you have gone. And you must be looking very old tonight." enough for you?

So you know better than Rafa? Remind me who sits top of the league? Managed by whom? Absurd logic which only gives credence to rival fans who accuse of a Messiah complex. Rafa doesn't change, whinge if you want, just accept it and crack on............we got well beat yesterday by an infinitely better side , deal with it. He has us on target, on top, stop f***ing moaning At the risk of treating you like a f***ing imbecile, being on top at the end of the season is what is important. We have a, relatively speaking, poor home record. Failure to try to understand and problem solve that is poor management. As is inflexibility for the sake of it. Rafa is and always has been methodical. However, he did explicitly say he would play two strikers if indicated (Holloway interview) and is undisputably a good manager. He will have his own views on our home form. We will all have views too. And guess what? They are being expressed on a forum to discuss NUFC. We are all are exposed to your opinion (including that we'd blow promotion by the play-offs and an unhealthy Makem-obsession) I suggest you develop some tolerance for others' views.

I'm not joining in the WUMMING, but I feel compelled to dust-off a variant of the 'two up front' rant. The lack of variation in our home formation (pretty much lining-up as we do when away) does two things: makes us predictable as hell; concedes home advantage which adds most benefit when we have possession football and chances to crank-up the atmosphere into something helpful rather than harmful. Why do either? Especially when we have three fit strikers and are without an obvious 'no.10'/AM in our usual system. RB needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and channel his internal teacher: could do better; more flexibility required.

Must have Cairney and Knockaert, or their type.

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/lolof1.gif

Looking forward to closely watching (scouting?) Tom Cairney. According to Squawka (footy stats) clearly the best performing midfielder in the Championship. A Nottingham born Scottish international; he'd fit right in. If only we had space for another central midfielder...

Trying to be objective (ish), I have us on 100, BHA on 94 and HT finishing on 84. Here's hoping... That's 23 points from the 30 available: 76.6%. Thus far we have 77 from 108, 71.3%. So a strong finish, but not impossible. Maintaining the same percentage return (71.3%) would give us another 21 points, so a total of 98 points. Personally, if you take into account our slow start (lost first two) when I think we were still bedding in players and a system, plus the Forest debacle, we could easily be 7 points better off, and on this optimistic crystal ball gazing I think we'll have a stronger finish than start: 100+ points.

Pimms?? Would be a spiffing fit with one's new away kit.

Say it again.

Nice! http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/oooh.gif

Yep, and would trade-off feeling sorry for Chris Hughton, and general sense of injustice, for chance to sign Knockaert should Brighton miss out again.

Barbour. Seventh on North East 'rich list' (no prizes for guessing who is top...) credible and would actually instantly increase their sales, rather than just be a tax break.

In the position we will be in (all being well, i.e. newly promoted, not in Europe, needing to reestablish ourselves as a credible Premier League side) and the impact of this on how desirable we will seem for better players with multiple choices, I think this will be be exactly Rafa's approach. He'll choose players with the right attributes who he believes he can develop/mould into a particular role, rather than base decisions solely on previous performance of a role. Alongside this 'potential' I hope he goes for one or two old heads who have already demonstrated they can do the particular job he wants doing.

Might pick-up a couple of players from relegated teams: Januzaj looked canny today and still only 22.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/two-hard-boiled-eggs-picture-id85375019

Liable to get another howking this weekend though. On a bad run already, can't defend; hard one to turn around. Key for those down the bottom is who has games at home to Stoke, West Ham, Watford, Saints in the run in. At least the mackems aren't facing that this year. On the surface, they have a nice late run of Bournemouth, Hull, Boro, Swansea but they're all fighting..... unlike those Everton bellends last year. Heading into the last 5 games you want to face the likes of Stoke,West Brom and West Ham. Totally midtable and carefree. I reckon Palace will get a result at West Brom today Good call fancied West Brom, myself.

Boro pretending that anyone from Newcastle gives a s*** about playing them.