BleedBlackAndWhite

Pretty much this. We are playing the best team in the league, considering the shite we have out on the field I think we're doing great. Having said that, 6-1 man city sits deep in my memory. We have capitulated so often in the 2nd half of games, would love to see us come out and just... not collapse.

So Vardy was offside for the goal, we could REALLY do with a little bit of luck going our way tonight ffs....

Shelvey has been quite anonymous so far, although I did literally fall asleep for the first 20 mins so maybe he started strong...?

This has been such a horrible game of football, both sides playing poorly. However, we DO look more organised, fingers crossed we can snatch a goal...

BroScience.

Rafa plays 4-2-3-1, I strongly suspect we'll see Shelvey as part of the deeper 2 in midfield, alongside tiote if he's fit, if not then colback or anita (needs must). Ahead of him, either sissoko or wijnaldum. I agree that building a team around him isn't a bad idea, the same way wenger did with fabregas. I'm not saying shelvey is as good as fabregas, but his passing vision and ability is incredible and he's still so young, so who knows how good he can become?

The pressure is rightfully on Wenger this year like, considering what other clubs are doing at the top of the league. He also still hasn't strengthened at CB, CM and striker which they have been missing for years. All valid but the banners directed at Wenger are embarrassing. One of the greatest managers the club and the country have and will ever see. Completely agree, it's one thing wanting him out, but their actions are a disgrace. Holding up a banner that says "Arsene - thanks for the memories but it's time to say goodbye" is a disgrace?! They are fans who are trying to let their voices be heard the only way they know how. They ARE the club, not henry, not wenger, and what they think should matter. They are angry that wenger has too much power, and that their board lacks ambition to win anything. Clearly the board doesn't care if wenger wins the PL because it's been more than a decade and he's still there. Football fans can't demand success, but they can demand that the club tries - in the same way that you can't demand a player be more talented, but you can demand he gives 100%. The only pressure on wenger is that he gets top 4, and the fans want the board to have bigger ambitions than that, and I can't blame them.

You got all that from a photo of them standing next to each other? Anyway, Colo has another year of his contract to go after it was extended. I doubt he'll hang up his boots at the end of this season. I thought he had signed a 1 year extension? Utter stupidity if he's got 2 years left, he's already useless.

Blimey it's as if we need Pardew for this game haha, well the difference is rafa actually knows how to do these things WELL. Rafa is a defensive/pragmatic coach, I wouldn't be surprised if we use this tactic tbh. It doesn't matter if you have 10 men behind the ball with pardew in charge as none of them have a clue what they should be doing. Rafa's teams might sit deep but I don't recall them hoofing the ball forward, they used to pass it out quite rapidly. If there were long balls they tended to be very accurate rather than hoofing in the general direction of the centre forward. You're right but if we pass it out rapidly I think we run the risk of pushing too high up the pitch, then leicester clear the ball and we get caught by their counter attack. I think for this game we might just do what pulis did, which to be fair actually worked. Ultimately I don't care though, as long as they all put a shift in. I may be selling myself short here but it's also possible that Rafa knows a little more about football than I do (I know, I know).

Blimey it's as if we need Pardew for this game haha, well the difference is rafa actually knows how to do these things WELL. Rafa is a defensive/pragmatic coach, I wouldn't be surprised if we use this tactic tbh. It doesn't matter if you have 10 men behind the ball with pardew in charge as none of them have a clue what they should be doing. It's weird because while i reckon we'll get done, quite easily if i'm honest. I'm looking forward to it, even if we do get done 2 or 3, i want to see some sort of shape, some sort of system in place. Something completely lacking in McClaren's set up and Pardew's most of the time. Man City got done good and proper at home by Leicester, they're a good side, the table don't lie. We get a point and it'll be a massive result for us. I completely agree, a draw would be a HUGE morale booster and might also be the point that keeps us up. I think the reason City got destroyed was that they tried to play too open and expansive, as you'd expect, whereas west brom for example just played Pulis tactics and it largely worked. I don't think we can expect too much of a difference tbh, he's not even had 1 week to work with the players, I'm mainly expecting (hoping) to see them actually trying, listening to the manager (not head coach) and not giving up even if we go 2-3 down.

Pearce was a good signing for a couple of years, Barnes was a good signing for a season too. And I was talking about the cornerstones of Keegan's team, not the additions. Lee, Ferdinand, Ginola, Beresford, Albert etc all over 30 in Dalglish's first full season. Bottom line: Dalglish did some good things here. McClaren didn't. They were all over 30 but playing incredible football, getting rid of ferdinand, ginola, albert and also refusing to play asprilla for long periods of time was criminal. You're right he did also bring in some good signings, but he broke up a team playing insanely good football and things just went steadily downhill. Ronaldo, iniesta, pirlo, john terry, there's tons of footballers who have/still do play great into their 30's. I will agree he hasn't been as bad as SMC though.

Blimey it's as if we need Pardew for this game haha, well the difference is rafa actually knows how to do these things WELL. Rafa is a defensive/pragmatic coach, I wouldn't be surprised if we use this tactic tbh. It doesn't matter if you have 10 men behind the ball with pardew in charge as none of them have a clue what they should be doing.

Perez really hasn't been given much of a chance since he joined, not just under SMC. When we do play him we play long balls, he's talented enough to occasionally get on the end of them but he would work much better as a false nine, like Firmino at liverpool. Hopefully with some experienced coaches at the club now, his potentially can be tapped into by playing to his strengths.

Rafa is very pragmatic and almost always plays 4-2-3-1, no reason to think he'll do anything different. The only time I've seen leicester struggle is when teams sit extremely deep and just hoof long balls up to a lone striker, making it impossible to be counter attacked. That's what I expect rafa to go with, this would mean at least we dont get embarrassed and go into the derby with higher spirits.

I think Carr will survive. He's worked his way up the ranks so he clearly knows how to suck up to the people that matter. Rafa has been given a seat on the board as far as I'm aware, I think Carr will work with Rafa as he has no other option, and convince MA it was all McClarens fault and as long as we survive, he wont go anywhere. If we go down though, he's gone.