Infinitely Content

Ahhhh man, has to hit the target there Gayle. Perfect pull back from Ritchie.

Very nice hold up play from Gayle & a good effort from Ritchie. More of that please.

Can someone PM me a river please, having a mare.

Saivet + Diame could be the answer. The midfield answer to the double Demba. (or not)

Yes, absolutely

Uninspired by the team, but I still hold hope that they can grind out a result with hard work & following the managers instructions closely. Hoping Saivet will be fired up, and I'm looking for a faultless display from Lascelles & Clark to get some confidence back in the defence.

Aye :lol:

Bring Luiz in and stick him up front imo. 15 goal man.

Yeah, I've got lots of respect for Bilbao as a place & as a club. Their stadium is fantastic and they have, and often have had, a very talented set of players too, which is all the more admirable given their strict transfer policy.

Would make sense with him being from Pamplona & with Bilbao's transfer policy (if still Basque Country specific for their players). Just as easy could be papers creating a story for these same reasons.

He was excellent tonight, best I've seen of him in a City shirt. Was magnificent for Monaco but playing for City requires a bit more and I feel he's starting to settle into it now. Could be a massive player for them for years to come.

I don't think there's a problem with Shelvey. He needs players in front of him with a bit more confidence making better runs & more often. We are very static up top, both Joselu & Gayle are guilty of that, so we can't expect Shelvey to find the killer ball when it's simply not there to be played. Put him in a team with better attackers and he assists plenty, put him in a squad void of confidence like ours and it's asking too much of one player unfortunately. With that considered, he should be one of the last players we should be looking to move on.

Be interesting to see what they do with the transfer window right around the corner. Need to move now if they are going to try something new. Wonder if he'll still be in charge for when they come to SJP. (13th Jan) Probably not knowing our luck with the 'new manager bounce', we always seem to get stung by it.

Can't really knock that. Effort was there in abundance, sadly the quality for the most part is not. Merino was excellent, mind. His best game for us since coming back.

That's the side I'd have gone for

I agree with a lot of that HTT, good post. I also put the flag movement down to Rafa's presence, who has inspired us to feel like we have something to get behind again; and the displays are a great reflection of that on match days, even if recent results have been disappointing.

Kiko Casilla I'm a little more cautious about personally. I wouldn't be blinded by the fact he's at Real Madrid. On a free however, he would probably be worth a shot, at least he fulfils Rafa's experienced keeper criteria.

Gameiro is exactly what we need imo. Probably about as close to a safe bet as we will be able to get. Comfortably better than what we have upfront at present.

I see, that's a shame - it was a wonderful through ball.

He got a great assist against Liverpool, whether he started the game or not is kind of irrelevant tbh.

I was actually more saddened to see fans had treat Diame the way they did than to see us lose tonight tbh. I really can't understand those willing to treat one of our own players with such disrespect, a player still part of the squad they're supposed to be supporting. I too don't want Diame to play for Newcastle, but to make it vocal in such a way is embarrassing to say the least for those involved and lacks any sort form of common decency. A shame.

Feel a bit sorry for him tbh. He was booked initially on reputation alone. The thing is, if he doesn't make those tackles, particularly the last one, he is moaned at by fans for not putting effort in and being unwilling to get stuck in. But when he makes the challenge, referees are so much more likely to punish him even if, as seen tonight, the tackle is unworthy of the punishment. Kind of a weird limbo for him. Sadly for Shelvey another suspension only strengthens that perception in referees and it's likely to play a part again in the future. Regardless, one of the first names on the team sheet for me. One of few players currently with real, genuine quality in our squad. Sure, he's been sent off again, but trying to win the ball back to hopefully give us one last chance to win the game? I can certainly forgive him for that.

Creases me up every time the bloke in the blue baby grower joins in on these videos.

Imagine it man. STAAAVELEY - STAVELEY -STAAAAAAAVELEY we can't face this league alone, STAAAVELEY - STAVELEY...

dunno why but it was that bit that got me.