Happinesstan

colback and mbemba are in no way linked, it's a bizarre comparison to make. surely when talking about mbemba and whether he should/shouldn't be playing you need to use another center half as an example? Somebody mentioned he could play DM, in an earlier post. Got me a little excited. Then I thought surely Rafa would have tried him there.

My team. Darlow. Or Elliot if ready. I'd love to give Selz another chance, but I'm changing the defence so need confidence in the man in goal. Yedlin. Lazaar. I haven't seen enough to have too much confidence, but if he's going to do it, now would be a nice time. Or Gamez Mbemba. Take your chance mate. Clark. Consistent performer, Mbemba can take confidence from him. Hayden. Gotta be getting them tackles in and laying it off to: Anita. Quick, precise passing. Will need to be on his game, but I think Rafa would trust him. Ritchie. Any other options?? Peres. Ditto. Gouffran. Or Sameobi. I'll trust rafa as to whether Sameobi is ready, if not I'd go with mr. steady and reliable (at this level). Mitro. Or just sell him and buy Wilson before he's cup-tied. Bench. Selz, Lascelles, Gayle, Sam or Gouff, Gam or Lazaar, Could maybe play Sameobi on the right and switch Ritchie to the no10. *edit-Looking at it, that could be overly aggressive, but it's the cup. There's really nothing to lose, other than the opportunity of a morale boosting away win. Even if we beat them 6-0 with that, I'd be happy to revert to normal for the next game. Provided we have replaced Colback.

Totally. He seems like he has a touch of class about him, even if he is still a little unpolished, I think he's on a par at least with Lascelles and both could become big players for us. I understand the benefit of having Clarke as a left footer, he's also the most experienced, and has been pretty consistent. I'd like to see Mbemba given the chance to compete with Lascelles. Both players should benefit from the competition, and if one of them doesn't, we get better.

Agreed. He has been treading a fine line. He hasn't been bad, but a couple of lapses, just like Mbembe. If Mbemba is turning up in training then he might get another bite. If he can come in and perform,then we may have 3 good CBs going forward. I wouldn't want to loan him out, but he's gonna need to play matches. I don't think we need to drop Lascelles, but maybe the added responsibility, as captain, and still young, a rest could be justified. Man management and all that.

Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well. we were literally 1 Sels mistake away from winning that match, ffs. So Hull weren't organised and didn't limit our chances? They defended well the whole game, we were probably the better side and the conditions helped them I thought, but I don't think we looked comfortably more organised than them. I would say we matched them for organisation, except after we scored. Naivety cost us, but we did ourselves proud. As a championship team going out in the quarter finals to a Prem club, we shouldn't be disappointed in that performance. The key thing is Rafa didn't do a dance on the touchline when we scored. He knows.

Brilliant article. To Hans, in particular, and everybody who believe other's are over-reacting to our blip, I apologise. I felt you were over-reacting to others over-reactions, but I see your side now. The over reaction of fans can be just as damaging to this club as any run of bad form. We are a powerful voice, which is wonderful when in high spirits, but can turn venomous in bad times. Pardew, Carver, and to a lesser extent McClaren are all lesser men because of our passion, and justifiably so. But that venom directed at Sir Bobby, by a minority, was unforgiveable, and I would hate to see the same thing happen to Rafa. Rafa can turn our form around, no doubt. But can we as fans turn the club back around, if Rafa decides his connection to the club isn't as strong as Bobby's was?

Worked with a guy named mpoy, once. He told me just to call him Poy. Interestingly, I discovered that when saying Poy, my lips began in the same position, that they would form when saying mmmmmmmm.

This needs more love. I didn't get it, but still recognised it's potential genius. It's an old forum joke from a poster's (Stifler) poor effort at spelling steward as 'Stewart' when discussing security staff. of course.

This needs more love. I didn't get it, but still recognised it's potential genius.

Out of interest, how many goals do people think we need to score, as a team, to succeed in the prem?

I think he's absolutely immense at this level but given that we'd hypothetically play with one striker in the PL it'd be foolish not to buy someone of greater quality. correct - gayle would have to push for his place when given a chance against a better quality upgrade you'd hope Of course. Every player needs to perform to retain their place, and I think Gayle is the one player who has done that this season. You could say Shelvey too, but he has let us down big time. I reckon Gayle is good for 15-20 goals in the prem. We replace him with what a 25-30 striker and we gain 10 goals, provided the new striker hits the ground running. So we improve by 10 goals. Better to get a couple of midfielders who can get 8-12 goals, and vastly improve the service to Gayle, who could benefit with an extra 5.

Why is it then impossible to identify what that plan is? Or can you tell me what our plan is when opponent sits back and Gayle struggles to touch the ball? It's not rocket science. If we have a real plan for these situations then surely most of us would be able to watch the game and point the things he has changed in the way we play. I sure can't. You can't? So you've never seen a change in our football following half time? You've never seen any of our players change position, or new players come on to up the pace or to replace someone who's playing particularly poorly? Perez for Diame, Gouffran for Atsu etc etc? No, I don't see anything consistent enough that tells me there's a solid plan for these situation. If he's bringing on Perez for Diame what is he looking to achieve? How is he changing the way we play if what has been happening for the first 60 minutes clearly isn't working at all. If there is a plan, he needs a better one. What I'd do if Gayle keeps getting abused by two thug center halves is bring Mitro in there and move Gayle on the left where he'd enjoy more space and would be able to do what Gouffran isn't: make runs between the full back and the center back. Mitrovic isn't a great goal scorer but in some games its just so painfully obvious you need a physical presence there to give someone an extra second or a metre. There's no one solid plan though. In some situations Rafa will change players, add players, change line ups. Honestly, not being adaptable or not having a plan B is exactly the last thing that I would accuse Rafa of, he's meticulous in his planning and you rarely see the same line up because he has a plan, not just a one size fits all approach to managing games. Your suggestion is to move the league's top scorer from his natural, favourite, successful position into another one where you think things will happen based on...? Where's this idea that he'll get more space, space to run into come from? You don't see what's looking to be achieved by changing Perez for Diame (for example)? They have different ways of playing for a start, that's before getting onto how one of them is in dire form and the other isn't. Diame drives at teams and gets out wide, Perez is supposed to be the typical tricky number 10, but isn't. Gayle for Mitrovic would come under the same bracket as the Perez for Diame example above, with the obvious reason that this doesn't happen being that one is the league's top scorer and the other isn't anywhere near that. Moving Gayle from his position is lunacy imo. Yes, bring Mitrovic on by all means, but shifting Gayle from the position that he's nailed down? Nah, no chance at this stage. 3 or 4 games without it working then maybe, but not right now. It matters absolutely nothing if he's the top scorer in the world or not if he's not getting a sniff of the ball and is clearly getting frustrated out there. Also I don't get how that comes under the same bracket as Perez and Diame. You were the one who said Rafa has a plan and makes changes like Perez for Diame based on that plan. Yet you don't tell me a single thing Perez brings to the table or how that sub changes the way we play for the better in a certain situation? How is that sub offering an answer to a problem, how is Perez's different style helping us open a defense? I gave a simple example what Mitro for Gouffran sub could bring when we've pushed and pushed for 60 minutes without progress. I said the Mitrovic/Gayle comes under the same bracket as Diame/Perez i.e. different players with different attributes contributing in different ways to make different things happen. The reason that it doesn't happen in the case of Mitrovic and Gayle is, imo, because moving Gayle to accommodate Mitrovic is lunacy. You've made your point for moving Gayle out wide, but I don't agree, and best players in the world aren't moved when it doesn't work once or twice and don't get a sniff. At this level Gayle is that sort of player, you don't react that flippantly when it's been so successful. Yeah but the best players in the world tend to play for big clubs who don't have the lack of personnel that we currently suffer from. but even with that in mind, I'm pretty sure that Ronaldo and Messi have played in a number of positions throughout their career.

I think frustrated has to be where we can all agree. It is maybe heightened by the rapid progress we seemed to be making, but let's not take it out on each other, eh? We are definitely still a work in progress, and have, arguably the best manager we could wish for. Let's hope we get back on track soon. Not putting too much emphasis on a cup run, but it would be nice to get a result before we return to league action.

Well it's actually won 4 lost 4, depending how recent you want to go. won 4 lost 5 including cup.

That's not what he said Hans. But we all know You're fond of taking the p*ss out of people based on your own personal inability to rationalise. Does it make you feel good? cos it doesn't make you look good. Given the options available today, it would have been perfectly reasonable to play 442 with Hayden and Diame in the centre, Ritchie and Atsu on the wings and Gayle with Mitro up front. Nothing to say we would have battered them with that line up, but you can bet your arse they wouldn't have been prepared for it. I never said that's what he said did I? I wasn't being f***ing literal And are you seriously pulling me up on my inability to rationalise in this thread? If you've read the forum the general gist is that Rafa just needs to make x sub and we win the game, or start with 2 up top and we'd score 4. If you cannot see that then I don't really know what to say like, it's definitely there and has been since the start of the season. Nah, there's one or two like that yeah, but the general gist seems to be that a more flexible approach might have brought better results in the last few weeks.

Perfectly fair and quite rational. If 6 weeks ago we had been fourth and our recent form had put us into 2nd then I doubt anybody would be concerned. I'm sure we'll get back on track and get promoted and our fears will prove to be unfounded, but until that is secured, form like we have shown recently will be of concern.

That's not what he said Hans. But we all know You're fond of taking the piss out of people based on your own personal inability to rationalise. Does it make you feel good? cos it doesn't make you look good. Given the options available today, it would have been perfectly reasonable to play 442 with Hayden and Diame in the centre, Ritchie and Atsu on the wings and Gayle with Mitro up front. Nothing to say we would have battered them with that line up, but you can bet your arse they wouldn't have been prepared for it.

Didn't we have two up front when losing to Norwich? Not saying it's common of course. I ate a carrot once. Doesn't make me vegetarian. Very /r/im14andthisisdeep Not meant to be deep, just a bit of fun. Any need to be so petty, so soon in the new year, man? I wasn't being petty at all. Likewise, it was just a bit of fun. I'm going to try this in blind faith. Not in you but in my emoticon skills. *yay

Definitely got enough quality to deserve a chance in the Prem (if we go up) next year.

Also, that opportunity when Gayle shot from the right and the keeper tipped it away and round the post. Another forward would have been in the box long before Diame, (Who arrived too soon as a result of him realising we needed a body in there) and would have been in a great position to tap home.

For that very purpose, he's a last resort/cup player. Three minutes is laughable though. Was clear that Gayle was both starved of service and having an off day; Murphy should have been on for longer than that. I'm a Rafa supporter, massively, but having sat through Boxing Day and today, I'm very concerned that his reliance on certain players and this system is going to lose us points that we should in no way be dropping. Tbf, Gayle is that type of player. Murphy hasn't really got a lot going for him aside from being something a little bit different. Agree that he should have come on earlier. I can't agree with the bit in bold, his system has gotten us where we are, no harm in being flexible but I don't necessarily agree that he isn't, just maybe not to the extent that some want him to be. I think it's understandable, when it doesn't work, for people to wish he had tried something that did. There is no guaranteed recipe for that something, though so there will probably always be disagreements. I watched today's game and for most of the first half tried to pass our way into the box, we did all right but BBurn were well organised and their keeper was in good form. Towards the end of the 1st half we appeared to have a bit more urgency and we managed to rattle their defence on a couple of occasions, resulting in clearances that were less composed and could have been capitalised on by another body in the box. 442 would have been perfectly safe in stopping any counter attacks, especially with 2 defensive CMs. In fact fuck that, take Colback off and move Diame into the centre. Christ though, we need to get a penetrative left winger or FB.

Didn't we have two up front when losing to Norwich? Not saying it's common of course. I ate a carrot once. Doesn't make me vegetarian. Very /r/im14andthisisdeep Not meant to be deep, just a bit of fun. Any need to be so petty, so soon in the new year, man?

Looks like we'll be quite limited for options in midfield, like. I would think if Rafa has any intention of engaging in the cup he will want any signings beforethey get cup-tied though, so fingers crossed for a winger and attacking central midfielder.

Didn't we have two up front when losing to Norwich? Not saying it's common of course. I ate a carrot once. Doesn't make me vegetarian.

4 defeats in 8 is not the kind of form that wins promotion. I'm a big fan of Rafa and have faith, but his seemingly steadfast refusal to play two up top, even when losing, is worrying. I just don't understand the benefit of being so inflexible.