jonny1403

What Ben Arfa left a year before Rafa even arrived!

Should be starting every game now. There's a good chance his attacking play will improve as he grows in confidence/has more players around him as well. He was linking up well with Fraser, ASM and Wilson before Clark fucked it all up.

This could literally have been written about Lewis 18 months ago.

Can we stop with shit like this please.

BBC have confirmed he will be banned from playing our next game.

Atsu and Carroll were both in the squad from Jan onwards. So adding Woodman to that means we should have one space left.

Of course

How much did we get for him?

It’s not his money. It’s the clubs. It is his money. It's his asset that is depreciating in value.

Confirmed Wilson is out.

Even more fun when you know that he was a fantastic defender, but because we didn't feel he fit in with what we think a central defender should look like, he must be unsuited to British football. He left because he didn't follow Rafa's instructions Yeah, at the end of things, Rafa didn't want to play him for whatever reason and the club was not wanting for quality centreback play while he was manager. Like Mbabu, it was a poor economic decision, given the way the player developed and the low return on investment, but would not be a problem if Rafa was still here building. I have always been a fan of Chancel though, and it has been intriguing seeing him as a fairly dynamic midfielder for DR Congo while being strictly a defender in Europe. Boy is definitely talented too, I hope things continue to progress well for him. Yeah spot on. Another one who, because they're doing well elsewhere, makes you automatically jump to "should never have got rid of him," or something similar. When in reality the context dictates that it was probably the right decision for all parties, including NUFC. Chancel leaving paved the way for Schär and that tasty three-man CB dealio Rafa constructed in the second half of the season. Mbabu is just about the only player who Rafa didn't fancy where I think he objectively got it wrong. Mitro, Armstrong, Toney, Mbemba, Merino - all perfectly justifiably outgoings only brought into question by them being allowed to excel elsewhere and/or NUFC insufficiently replacing the player. Mbabu isn't tearing up trees, I fail to get the hype around him. Just because he plays for a decent European team doesn't make him a good player, he's only consistently started in the Swiss league ffs.

] 'Winning a World Cup' ffs. It means absolutely fuck all.

Play Gayle before the other two. Agreed. I fully expect big Joe to start though.

Such an exaggeration - as if any club isn't going to vote for measures that benefit themselves Two of the scummiest clubs in world football ffs

Hendrick has a 4 year deal doesn’t he? Insane.

He didn’t have a chance man Funk off man, totally at fault One of the best free kick takers in the league putting it into the top corner, aye ok

He didn’t have a chance man

Still doesn't look fit enough to start...

That nutmeg and pass through to Fraser was sensational.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4302526/usmnt-defender-yedlin-agrees-to-join-galatasaray-sources

If he's not fit he's not fit. He had a terrible injury, there's no point signing him based on the player he was for us.

He's been saying that for 18 months. Remember the little digs at Rafa about how he would improve the style of play and attacking? Why in his press conferences is nobody flagging this and noting that we've got noticeably worse in that department?

We're not just going to lose every game from now till the end of the season, football just doesn't work like that. For everyone who is praising Fulham, and even I have been impressed with their recent form they're still on 12 points with 1 game left to play before we're halfway through the season. If Bruce doesn't go I think there's a reasonable chance we'll go down, but I wouldn't think it's a certainty as the teams in the bottom 3 don't win enough games for me. I'm still interested to know where our next goal is coming from? We have 2 shots on target per game (3 against Sheff united admittedly). Wilson averages 0.75 shots on target per game, the next highest is Jacob Murphy I get that we're going to get the odd point, maybe a few 0-0's will be enough. I'm asking where the goals are going to come from for those confident of picking up some wins. Dodgy penalties? Do you seriously think we won't win again until the end of the season? As has been said, we are a terrible team but football doesn't work like that. We've had similar horrendous performances under Bruce and then stepped it up slightly in subsequent games. We'll do so again. We weren't great against Liverpool and Arsenal (FA cup) and yet if one of our strikers had put their chances away we'd have won both. That's right, I don't think we'll win again this season. I think we'll get 5 draws and the rest losses. Not a chance. There'll be one or two teams that have an off day against us. If we haven't won in the next 6 games Bruce will be gone anyway.

This is absolutely spot on. I'm not going to judge any of our centre backs (even though I think they have again been consistently reliable this season) when they have the likes of Shelvey leaving them massively exposed every week.

Sherwood, Howe or Shola?