Infinitely Content

Backing Ritchie to get his second here. I say that now I bet Murphy comes in with Ritchie dropping to the bench knowing Rafa

Well you said he shouldn't talk about other teams like that in public, but he's not he's talking about how good we played and were set up & how it led to errors and made the opposition struggle to assert themselves. That's where all his points come back to, absolutely nothing wrong with that in my eyes. Think you're taking too much from the article headline and not enough from the substance of his comments themselves.

He deserves full backing like, he's earned it the hard way through performances. I and many others have been massive critics of him in the past but he's well and truly turned it around this season & last.

Aye but he's making the point that the way we played didn't allow them to settle and led to errors. His comment is largely focused on us and not them, despite the headline of the article. "We were aggressive..." "We set up really well..." "The manager got it spot on..." "...but it was down to our pressing" Think you're misinterpreting the focus of his comments a bit by saying he's focusing too much on the opposition.

Have you got him a Valentine's day card?

Where did you see/hear Rafa mention anything about who the centre forward would be? It's not that he explicitly said one of them would start, it's that he commented on both Slimani & Joselu in the week leading up to the game which would suggest to the opposition preparing to face us that one of them was likely to play. https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-discusses-whether-slimani-14270745 https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-gives-upbeat-fitness-14245354 I'm perhaps reading too much into it, but if it was his intention to throw them off, then it was a very astute bit of tactical work.

Maguire is also a really good ball player and perhaps less prone to a mistake than Stones; although I'm only saying that based off general consensus, I haven't seen enough of Stones lately to really know that to be true.

It was a good strike that like. I don't get the opinion that he is a poor striker of the ball or a poor finisher. I think he's very much proved the contrary when he's been given the chance to get in the positions. He's comfortably the best finisher in the squad not counting Slimani.

Tarkowski shouldn't be overlooked either, he's been fucking excellent. If the likes of Jones & Keane are even in the discussion, Tarkowski simply has to be as well.

Aye it was in the first 2 minutes I think, Martial drifted by Shelvey with a nice change of direction and Diame just clattered him and set us away on the counter. We sustained about 10 minutes of attacks from that point on and I truly started to believe we were getting something out of the game Big moment for me was Dubravka collecting the cross after his first good save, he must have came 7-8 yards to gather that, massive boost of confidence for the back line.

http://i66.tinypic.com/foey9v.jpg

Does this mean football will cease to exist next?

Indeed, won every header asked of him today, some of which were very awkward namely a freekick they had in the second half. What a defender he is.

Alan <3 Dubravka

I'm reluctant as to get a full back who can defend as well as Dummett and also attack would cost a fortune and would probably not be feasible for us. I think if he was replaced with more attacking player we would miss him massively. The solution may be to get a back up attacking left back to challenge Dummett but not to replace.

Love the way the narrative from him leading up to the Man Utd game was all about Slimani/Joselu probably leading Mourinho to prepare his players for facing a big target man, yet kick off comes and it's Gayle & Perez Smalling had a nightmare today too, and perhaps if Mourinho knew it would be Gayle/Perez he would have played the more mobile Rojo. Good tactics from Rafa.

That’s about right IMO Same here, he was good in the first half, faded in the second and made quite a few poor passes. 7 maximum but I wouldn't argue with a 6.

Gorgeous bit of football. He was the best player on a pitch that included Sanchez, Pogba & De Gea by a country mile. Outstanding.

He carries the ball well, follows the managers very specific orders to a tee (not many attacking players can do that), he links up well with whoever he is playing alongside (trustworthy), he constantly hustles and harries opponents defenders which I can absolutely say has single handedly led to goals this season alone never mind other seasons. He is always available to play intricate 1-2's with and doesn't ever shy away from being involved. Perhaps most importantly he wins us tons of free kicks, similarly to how Jonas used to. I'm sorry he's not Iniesta but given the position we're in he's a bloody good option to have. You can trust him every game, and for whatever reason, we have been a better team with him in it for years. Look at the position we're in, and be more realistic, Perez is absolutely fine for where we're at as a club. If he possessed the attributes outlined in your post he would be above and beyond stature wise.

Aye, lots of similarities can be drawn between the two in terms of their leadership, namely the state they found the club in and their passionate connection with the fans. Lascelles edges it for me though, due to a few things including his outspokenness, his age & the fact he was unproven before arriving here. Love him.

Load'a rubbish, Ayoze gets through more work than anyone else in the team game after game, to say he does nothing is hugely inaccurate. To say he needs to go is outright ridiculous. He has been excellent in games for us this season.

Unbeaten in 9 other than City games which can be rightly excused/written off. No, we're not getting relegated imo.

If PCP would keep the likes of Rafa & Lascelles here, then yes, they would be very good.

And a statue while we’re getting carried away Just the one? Deserves 4 I reckon, one at each side of the ground.