Optimistic Nut Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11678/10592351/rafa-benitez-says-newcastle-should-have-put-aston-villa-game-to-bed He watched on at Villa Park as Newcastle took the lead through a Tommy Elphick own goal, before Aaron Tshibola headed in a late equaliser; the first league goal they have conceded since August 17. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEMTEX Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 he meant first league goal at villa park Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 That's wrong as well? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFEE Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 Can't decide if we are playing within ourselves under instruction or we're not that good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 Can't decide if we are playing within ourselves under instruction or we're not that good. New manager, same old shit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Can't decide if we are playing within ourselves under instruction or we're not that good. I think it's just a case of playing according to the performances. There's not much wrong with what we are doing, but if we lack the killer instinct then it's naturally going to lead to a more cautious approach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
louistoon Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Probably get members crying here, but sick of this defiance from Rafa sticking with this one up top bullshit. It's not working that well, And it's hardly necessary in this league to play with one up top, when on paper or spend wise have one of the strongest back four's in the league. Gayle needs Mitrovic next to him so he can make dummy runs pick up scraps and give opposing back 4's something to think about with both strikers in the box,Diame isn't offering anything as a number 10. Also if your playing one up top, why keep starting games with the smallest figure? We have Mitrovic & Murphy both over 6ft, but choose the 5"8 Gayle? We just don't appear adventurous in this league, I thought end of last season we would be really aggressive going forward in this league, bully sides, but it doesn't appear so. Can't really pick on players, because I'm starting to think it's how we are setting up. Agreed. Cant understand why he insists with one up front. Diame is in very poor form and needs to take a step back for a bit. Bring him on later in a game or something. You would expect to be on the front foot most of the time. Put them under pressure. Gotta try it at some point. Literally all of the strikers are in p*ss poor form. There's literally no discussion to have about formation though, Rafa has never and will never play two up top. So the defiance I said is true. We won't go up comfortable if his stance isn't altered. You can't play the same format all season you'll get found out, like sides are starting to see. Oh it's Newcastle who chuck a midget up top on his own, and stick with 4231 all the time, f***ing 2 holding midfielders is nearly as bad as one up top in this league. Keegan gung ho please....... 4231 would work if we had someone in the AM position who would properly support Gayle. I like the formation, but we dont really have an alternative to Diame, and with Diame our striker is isoloated. Personally I'd switch to a 2 striker system until Jan and then buy someone like Judge who would provide a little more creativity in the final third. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
louistoon Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we'd signed a proper centre forward we'd be an absolute shoe in for this league. Given that Rafa will have known he was going to only play one up front this season I'm struggling to see why we bought Gayle, we got Murphy presumably because Rafa has doubts about Mitro. Gayle will not work up front on his own. It's the one area of the pitch we're struggling with. Good centre forwards are hard to find and are expensive but expecting a 5 foot 9 unimposing Palace reserve to do the business on a regular basis is a bloody big ask. Ironically this was one of the games where playing Gayle up front looked pretty effective, there were enough chances created to have scored half a dozen and he should definitely have had at least one. I sort of agree I've been quite critical of Gayle up front on his own this season but at least today he managed to get into a few good positions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Banaloona Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 We shouldn't even be playing villa. Had Rafa not completely fucked up this game 4 months ago we'd be in the premier league. Yet we are 5th in the championship struggling to regain where we belong. I'll say it again, Rafa isn't all he's made out to be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Oh good, you're back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Banaloona Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Yes I am.... At the end of the season My judgement will be proved correct. We'll still be in this league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki679 Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Great, come back at the end of the season then. See you in 8 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameritoon Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 The entire football section is awful Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Banaloona Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Awful? How come? We are fucking 5th in a league we should be dominating. Recruitment has been terrible with the players bought, sub standard. Most critically Rafa didn't sign the centre forward we needed. Loaned out our best GK and replaced him with an absolute clown of a player. Perseveres with his negative tactics and mindless rotation of players. If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? No we wouldn't. I mean people like yourself who may or may not be on the spectrum might but people who can count without using their fingers and toes would probably think a bit more rationally. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohmelads Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 I'm more concerned when performances are sh*te to be honest. It feels like a defeat but it was a good performance overall and we could - and should - have won comfortably away. If one of those chances had gone in, I felt Villa might have caved. The Yedlin injury was an unfortunate and we lost all shape as we had to pull Hayden out of position and threw on Tiote who hasn't played in months. People are talking about Mitrovic but the substitution made sense as Villa made it clear they were gonna launch high balls into the box and their set pieces were a threat. If anything is costing us, it's the lack of a proven striker. It's also one of the key reasons why we went down in the first place. So far we're getting goals from elsewhere, but it's something we need to sort out in January. Hopefully Armstrong can be the answer because I don't trust the club to address the striker situation otherwise. We should have buried these in the first half. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Banaloona Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? No we wouldn't. I mean people like yourself who may or may not be on the spectrum might but people who can count without using their fingers and toes would probably think a bit more rationally. Let's not get into the semantics of ones mental well being here. As things stand we aren't going up. That is a fact. all this shite about his attention to detail yet he continues to pick a GK so far out of his depth it's not even funny. Rafalution, in Rafa we trust, Rafa knows best..... What a load of bollocks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? No we wouldn't. I mean people like yourself who may or may not be on the spectrum might but people who can count without using their fingers and toes would probably think a bit more rationally. Let's not get into the semantics of ones mental well being here. As things stand we aren't going up. That is a fact. 5th place gets into the playoffs so I don't think that you could write us off yet even if the season did end after 9 games. But since it doesn't, if it takes a little time for everything to really click then so be it. I don't think that's a 1 month thing or a 2 month thing but a continual process to maintain levels. tbh this is the first time in ages that an appeal to fans to remain patient sounds like reasonable counsel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Banaloona Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? No we wouldn't. I mean people like yourself who may or may not be on the spectrum might but people who can count without using their fingers and toes would probably think a bit more rationally. Let's not get into the semantics of ones mental well being here. As things stand we aren't going up. That is a fact. 5th place gets into the playoffs so I don't think that you could write us off yet even if the season did end after 9 games. But since it doesn't, if it takes a little time for everything to really click then so be it. I don't think that's a 1 month thing or a 2 month thing but a continual process to maintain levels. tbh this is the first time in ages that an appeal to fans to remain patient sounds like reasonable counsel. 5th place, we really are clutching at straws. Given our resources 5th place is embarrassing even at this stage of the season. Ridiculous amount of excuses being trotted out when it comes to Rafa. Team needs time to click etc. I haven't seen anything to suggest we are going to create enough and be consistent enough to gain promotion. That is down to the manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoot Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Trust Rafa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shintonsghost Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Finally sobered up to write a reply. I thought we played ok, Villa are no pushovers and were always gonna respond. Decent point, still in the mix Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPL Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 If we were in this position with any other manager we'd be calling for change. see ya in May ???? No we wouldn't. I mean people like yourself who may or may not be on the spectrum might but people who can count without using their fingers and toes would probably think a bit more rationally. Let's not get into the semantics of ones mental well being here. As things stand we aren't going up. That is a fact. 5th place gets into the playoffs so I don't think that you could write us off yet even if the season did end after 9 games. But since it doesn't, if it takes a little time for everything to really click then so be it. I don't think that's a 1 month thing or a 2 month thing but a continual process to maintain levels. tbh this is the first time in ages that an appeal to fans to remain patient sounds like reasonable counsel. 5th place, we really are clutching at straws. Given our resources 5th place is embarrassing even at this stage of the season. Ridiculous amount of excuses being trotted out when it comes to Rafa. Team needs time to click etc. I haven't seen anything to suggest we are going to create enough and be consistent enough to gain promotion. That is down to the manager. Take it you was part of the crew that said we would walk this league when we beat QPR 6-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPL Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 This game was similar to the one at SJP last season, should have been 2-0 at the very least, sucker punch goal. No matter what their form was, going to Villa Park and getting a point isn't the worse result. Test comes at home to Norwich and then a stretch of winnable games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyn davies Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 promotion may not be the definite we believe it i,s unless players bang the ball into the net ,unlike the two knackers that missed yesterday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novocastrian Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Watching Mitrovic stroll round the pitch after being on for 5 minutes with 5 minutes left brought back my worst memories of Shola. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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