On a day where Ashley made his first appearance at St James’ Park in sixteen months, perhaps the only positive we can take is that he saw first hand what a mess he’s created.
Whether he takes action is a different matter, but today confirmed what we probably all knew; it’s going to be another long, hard season.
Our severe lack of quality or ideas in attack was there for all to see once again, with Leicester barely having to get out of second gear to come away with a comfortable three points.
We had just one shot on goal and, quite incredibly, that one effort was Jonjo Shelvey’s from his own half. That perhaps sums up how much we’re struggling to create chances at the moment.
The vast majority of St James’ Park got involved when ‘stand up if you hate Ashley’ belted out from the Gallowgate. It was another clear message to the NUFC owner – on a day where Peter Kenyon has been linked with a takeover bid – however the problems ON the pitch should be our biggest concern right now.
After Man Utd away next weekend we have a run of VERY generous fixtures, but with confidence looking low and goals lacking, it’s hard to see where the wins will come from right now.
Today was another tough watch, with me struggling to come away with a single positive, but we must stay behind Benitez and the boys in the hope that things will take a turn for the better soon.
Depressing but predictable Olly .
kimtoon(Quote)
No doubt Ashley is completely to blame but sometimes you do wonder at rafa’s team selection and subs.
Gayle, Mitro and Armstrong all better than Joselo.
On this abject performance, Even a half decent January transfer window (don’t laugh ! ) maybe too late
Geordie exile(Quote)
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/paul-merson-mounts-extraordinary-defence-15217699
kimtoon(Quote)
It really doesn’t matter who he chooses. We’re just not good enough! It’s likw asking you to win a game of chess with only pawns.
Stuart79(Quote)
I didn’t see the game but from reading Olly’s ratings this was a typical Joselu performance. The problem is that we have no-one else because as Geordie Exile says we let our other forwards go without replacements. Most of us saw this coming even though we were hopeful that Rondon would do a job. We are even more desperate now as every other forward is either **** or out of form.
On Joselu. I don’t want to pile on but we can all see he is not good enough. I said a few weeks ago that he is supposed to be there to hold the ball up but it just bounces off him. As Icedog would say – he cannot trap a bag of cement.
The Joselu experiment has to end. We know what we have with him and we lose with it. We have to start Muto and see what we have there and we have to hope that Rondon is fit after the International Break.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We have a really tough Christmas period where we will be lucky to pick up a point. Between now and then it doesn’t look too bad on paper. The problem is that we look to be one of the 3 worst teams ON THE PITCH so I do not see us being favourite even against so called weaker teams.
To stay up we probably need 4 wins and a couple of draws before January. That would give us 15 or 16 points and it would be touch and go even with investment. At this point, I cannot see where 1 win is coming from never mind 4.
I expected this though. My prediction was 5 or 6 points from the first 8 games. I just didn’t expect us to be THIS abject. Even when we have played well and maybe were a bit unlucky we really only played for 20 minutes and it was backs against the wall for the rest of the game.
It will be a long International Break where I expect quite a few to lose interest because, frankly, the team need to do something to deserve our interest at the moment.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Perez, Diame, Manquillo, Atsu, Clark – Championship, at best.
Joselu, pub team.
Give Muto a start.
Crying out for 3 at the back, yesterday, Schar, Lascalles, Clark with Kenedy and Murphy at wing-back. Yedlin was clearly not fit, impacting on Ritchie.
There really is no point in playing The Hoss -can’t score, can’t shoot, can’t tackle, can’t control ball but he plods around like someone’s granddad has sneaked on.
Meanwhile, the fat ref in pink……………..reminds me of a bacon sarnie! 😀
Toontaff(Quote)
Agree Eric, about Joselu, he is supposed to be a hold the ball up player and he isn’t an out and out striker. He always gives 100 % as do a lot of them but in the end the quality is really lacking.
We seem to need 8 or 10 chances to get a goal and at this level those sort of stats will kill you.
Perez really should of put his chance away yesterday, he was poor again. It’s a real shame we ended up taking on a forward who has clearly been unfit since arriving in Rondon, it’s Slimani all over again isn’t it. For a club the size of Newcastle with all it’s cash flow to be resorting to a loan for the number 9 position of an unfit player is pure negligence .
It also explains Rafas limited usage of him since his arrival, an injury like that is often down to a lack of fitness and we know he didn’t play much pre season as WB were hoping to offload him.
Keeping Gayle would of been useful for squad depth and looks foolhardy letting him go now but he alone would still not of been the answer to our front line problems as he only scored 5 or 6 PL goals I believe and Perez bettered him by 2 goals getting 8 and Joselu got 4 .
We need Perez to find his form, Kenedy and the mids to start chipping in like last season and Lascelles to get on the end of a few corners like last season.
Our defence hasn’t been settled since season start which hasn’t helped either, we were incredibly lucky with injuries last year and we caught lightening in a bottle to a certain extent in that regard but we are back to normal injury wise now and what with the chronic lack of investment it is starting to tell .
We are gonna need a heap of luck and some seriously off form opposition to stay up this season, January investment will be far too late, I fear the horse has bolted.
kimtoon(Quote)
Wait until we get John Moss. He’s about 3 stone overweight. I have no idea how he passed his fitness test because he is bordering on obese. I heard he stepped on the talking scale at the PL Ref evaluation and it first said “one at a time please”. They had to get a tech in to fix it but then it said “no, cattle allowed, that weigh station is the field next door”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Last season we took 3 points off Chelsea and Arsenal and Manure. We beat the Hammers twice and took 4 points from Palace which all looks unlikely this season. Of the teams around us those two have really improved, Palace mainly because of Zaha being fit from season start.
Last season we took 4 points from Burnley, can we repeat it, doubtful but possible, we got just 1 point from Brighton and 3 from H uds and Leicester. Well our first test v Leicester has not gone well and the next will be away so..
There is no Stoke, Swans or Baggies to pick off this season where we took a combined 11 points last season either and of the 3 that came up Wolves, Fulham and Cardiff I don’t see many points coming given we only managed a draw with Cardiff and played awful .
All in all I’m thinking we are in real trouble .
kimtoon(Quote)
Seriously, has anybody seen John Moss recently? I watched him last week and it is surprising that he almost kept up with play. But you can’t be carrying that weight around all game and be a top class Ref. I know they have those tracking bras now and it would be interesting to see his heat map to see if the weight effects him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And then how does that effect Kenyon if he really is interested. If we are 6 points adrift from 17th on January 2nd, who would buy us? Fatty has been so shortsighted. He has not provided us with a team to compete in lower mid-table and instead has focused on cutting payroll and building the bank balance for possible relegation. A better squad and higher league position would be more attractive to a new owner than money in the bank.
I know Stuart and others say relegation would be good for us. I do not agree because it is getting harder and harder to bounce back. There is the other problem that Ashley would not get his money back if we are relegated. 300 million seems like an OK price for a PL team but when Stavely was sniffing around she wanted about a 100 mil relegation clause and that even sounds low and Fatty would not sell for 200 million.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is not just the results either, it is the performances. City are the exception. But we weren’t running scared of Spurs or Chelsea at the back end of last season and the don’t usually batter teams.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I can’t be the only one starting to lose faith in Rafa. It’s one win in 13 for god’s sake. That’s Pardew territory. He has been forced into low budget buys but Fernandez and Dubravka apart they’ve all been dreadful and we’re stuck with half a team of players not fit for purpose. I mean what is the point of loading long balls up to Joselu? Or bringing on the useless Murphy?
Manquillo? Or Kenedy at full back?
Despite the adulation I won’t be surprised if Ashley sacks him.
georgio(Quote)
I think the stats are ominous for a team bottom at Christmas which I think we might be. Leicester bucked the trend but I think I remember hearing at the time that that was very unusual.
I really think there is a good chance that us, Huddersfield and Cardiff will all be 6 points from safety come Jan 2. I tried to be optimistic given our schedule but I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel if Fernandez, Rondon and Dummett are out for any significant period beyond the International Break.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield
Follow Follow @pjwhitfield
More
If you really want to understand the workings of Mike Ashley and his views on #nufc then you need to look at “Project J Newco No 40”. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06836849 …
On 15 January 2010, it purchased a plot of Freehold land in Newcastle upon Tyne from one Newcastle United FC.
9:34 am – 29 Sep 2018
33 Retweets
38 Likes
NUFC Now MAOC Zippy Sifter Alan sydney1892 HETHERS d white Kyru Ryan Norman
2 replies . 33 retweets 38 likes
Reply
2
Retweet
33
Like 38
New conversation
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 17h17 hours ago
More
Newco No 40 then sold the land in 2013 for £1,602,052 a profit of £1.1m, it appears that the sale was to another company in the MASH group. At that stage however #NUFC were not paid their outstanding debt, instead they were noted as being now owed £530k.
2 replies . 2 retweets 3 likes
Reply
2
Retweet
2
Like 3
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 17h17 hours ago
More
Newco No 40’s accounts still show the debt in the 2014 and 2015 years however in 2016 that stops being noted as payable to #nufc and is now shown as “Amounts due to group undertaking”. The 2017 accounts finally show the debt as satisfied (no evidence it was paid to #Newcastle)
1 reply . 0 retweets 3 likes
Reply
1
Retweet
Like 3
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 17h17 hours ago
More
There was no reason to sell that land to 40, they did nothing with it until years later when they sold it on for 3 times the purchase price. The fact #nufc still didn’t get paid the original sale money though is the biggest disgrace. This folks is how MA views this club
1 reply . 4 retweets 11 likes
Reply
1
Retweet
4
Like 11
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 16h16 hours ago
More
We are just another vehicle for the money making machine that is Michael James Wallace Ashley. He has no interest in #nufc, we’re simply an asset that can be stripped of anything worthwhile, the carcass left to rot while he gains free adverts before selling us on at a profit.
0 replies . 1 retweet 10 likes
Reply
Retweet
1
Like 10
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 3h3 hours ago
More
Its seems £500k is the price of land/property owned by #nufc, turns out Newco No 39 has also “purchased” property from the club at that price without physically paying until after they’d sold it on. It wasn’t fully repaid until 6 years later.
#AshleyOut #IfRafaGoesWeGo
2 replies . 0 retweets 5 likes
Reply
2
Retweet
Like 5
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 3h3 hours ago
More
Project J Newco No’s 39 and 40 were setup purely as a means to purchase property from #nufc. In both cases Ashley was not noted as a director until AFTER the property had been sold on.
1 reply . 1 retweet 6 likes
Reply
1
Retweet
1
Like 6
peter whitfield #IfRafaGoesWeGo @pjwhitfield · 1h1 hour ago
More
If “Project J” is #NUFC then the worrying thing is these are Companies 39 and 40 in the chain, what have the other 38 done?
1 reply . 0 retweets 3 likes
Reply
1
Retweet
Like 3
End of conversation
Steve McKenna @SteveMcKenna_ · 1h1 hour ago
More
Replying to @pjwhitfield @decka1969
Surely something illegal in all this.
You should sent your info to the bbc and channel 4 in the hope they investigate the *******
kimtoon(Quote)
You are not the only one. There was a story last week that Managers were sending their CVs to Ashley who was so far not interested. It is not just about Rafa’s contract situation. The vultures are circling and they see how badly we are playing.
I wrote on the last thread that we might end up with Warnock next season. A promotion specialist getting his last chance at a big club. And most importantly, cheap.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
georgio: I agree that Rafa has been very hit and miss in his PL transfers. The excuse is that they have often been his 3rd or 4th choice. I am not sure if I totally buy that but if you are given a budget of 5 mil a player and 30k a week you are shopping in the bargain bin in this market.
Look at yesterdays opponents, they bought Slimani for 30 mil. Last weeks spunked 30 mil on Benteke and Everton the same on Bolasie. Add all of Rafa’s “mistakes” up and they come to about that much.
I think we got about what our money would buy, no more no less. And that is probably a black mark against Rafa but also it is same old same old when they would not pay an extra 1 mil for Plea (if he would have come, which is a big if).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – Warnock will be seen as just another relegated manager among a long list. Can’t see it but there’s a hell of a lot I can’t see about NUFC these days except the team/squad is really poor. Have we really lost Arma, Gayle and Mitro for that lot up front. Is Murphy better than Cal Roberts? Diame ahead of Longstaff? Manquillo better than Sterry? The team needs freshening up and there’s no hiding places until January.
georgio(Quote)
Here geogio, I will give you some ammo (I am not turning on Rafa though).
Imagine that we had a no name manager come in after Schteve. He failed to save us from relegation even though there were probably sufficient games left. Sure, we were immediately promoted but he was also given the resources to not only keep PL quality players like Shelvey but to buy PL players like Gayle and Ritchie. We had supposedly the best team ever assembled in The Championship and certainly the most spent by a relegated team. Compare that with Villa and this year with WBA, Swans and Stoke.
Last year was pretty dire despite finishing a lucky 10th. We probably played 5 or 6 good games and in 28 of the 38 games there was virtually no entertainment from us. Why we had so many televised games I have no idea as if I was a fan of neutral teams I would have switched off.
Still, I don’t think anybody could have done much better. Now the quality has been raised at every other club and we have stood still. Maybe even gone backwards in the Rondon/ Gayle swap. You can’t count Mitro because Rafa was never going to play him anyway and expected that money.
So from probably being 13-15 in quality we are probably now 16-19 because other teams improved, including the promoted teams, and we didn’t.
As Kimtoon said, the games where we picked up points last year are going to be that much harder to get anything from this year. Without a miracle, we are fcked.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Its so weird about valuations as well. Ayoze had a good spell towards the end of last season and people were valuing him at 15 million. They were upset we didn’t splash 20 mil on Kenedy. Now it would be a tenner for the 2 of them.
Hopefully this is just a temporary drop in form.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rafa is working with hands tied behind his back, Pardew had far better players and couldn’t get it right. Steve got thrown cash but was tactically inept.
kimtoon(Quote)
AND… In this market anything under 10 million is a crapshoot. You will probably get about a 50% success rate on those players at best. That is the pond we have been fishing in so it is no wonder we have caught a few eels and toads.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Just to show how far we have fallen behind, here are Leicester’s top transfers in the last 3 years in Euros. I know they won the league and sold Kante and Mahrez for big money, but still:
Slimani 30 mil
Iheanacho 28
Maddisson 25
Silva 25
Pereira 22
Soyunci 20
Musa 20
Ndidi 18
Mendy 16
Iborra 15
Top 8 more than our record of 17-18 ish mil Euros for Owen.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
BTW. Welcome back Kimtoon and I hope your boy gets better soon. Not sure you will get much joy from NUFC in the next 3 weeks. The only thing I can see changing the mood is if this Kenyon rumour goes somewhere. Strange that Fatty was in London and then at our game!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Luke Edwards in the Telegraph is saying there are the first rumblings against Rafa but also echoing what I have said on here that it is self defeating to rail against Ashley whilst we are in this state. I don’t care who is to blame the negativity cannot fail to be transmitted to the stands and the players. Rafa has admitted that we NEED 3 teams to be worse than us to survive. That may sound like stating the bleeding obvious but that belies a more important point that Rafa thinks we are **** and have gone backwards. He recognizes that we are the only team in the PL not to progress. Edwards thinks he should keep his mouth shut about it or at least not say it as often. I criticised Moyes for doing it at Sunderland so I don’t think Rafa should do it either. Negativity is poison and spreads. That’s why I do not agree with Matchday protests at SJP.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t say it will be good for us. I say it doesn’t really matter whether it happens or not. The division we play in is irrelevant under Jabba.
Stuart79(Quote)
It’s only irrelevant from a certain viewpoint Stuart. I don’t want another season in the championship regardless of who the bloody owner is!
georgio(Quote)
Ashley is largely at fault for our plight at the moment and I want him gone – I really hope there is truth in these Kenyon stories coming out.
But Rafa is not without fault, and the fact Ashley didn’t let him spend in the summer is what is letting him off the hook imo.
If Ashley had released £40m in the summer, the only difference to the squad would be that we would OWN Kenedy and Rondon rather than be loaning them – and neither are good enough.
The buying of players is largely down to Ashley to put the money up to be spent. But the selling of players is on Rafa and Charnley – Rafa to say he doesn’t want them and Charnley to sell them.
I look at the players he’s brought in versus those he’s allowed to leave, and I don’t believe he has made improvements. If you can’t bring better in, don’t allow those already at the club to leave – was Murphy or Mitro worse than Joselu. Was Anita worse than Manquillo. Is Rondon better than Gayle or Mitro?.
Then there is his tactical approach to games – which I hate. We won 12 games last season and 8 draws for 47pts – that was a huge achievement and largely down to a good run of 4-5 games near the end of the season and capped off with a good win in the final game of the season against Chelsea.
I get that away to City or Lpool, you don’t want to attack and allow them space in behind. But I don’t see a team looking to win games in us. I see a team playing out the first 60mins then see from there – and plenty of games where we only start playing when we go 1 down. I don’t enjoy watching us under Rafa and don’t understand a lot of his substitutions.
Would things be better if Rafa had money to spend – possibly (but I am certain a large chunk of it would have been spent on Kenedy and Rondon). I’m just not convinced that this is solely down to the money Rafa has or hasn’t been allowed to spend and he’s getting a bit of a free pass because of it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Why? What difference does it make? Apart from the fact we win more games it really doesn’t matter.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy – the players just aren’t good enough. Gayle isn’t good enough so it’s irrelevant if he’s here or if it’s Rondon or Murphy. Anita can’t even get a game in the Championship so he’s also not good enough. As for Mitro – we’ll elwe don’t really know yet.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy – Would we have been better off if we hadn’t bought or sold anybody this summer? I was trying to tell anybody that would listen that we just haven’t improved at all this summer. Every other teams have which basically mean we’ve got worse. It’s not rocket science. Yes Rafa will make mistakes but I really have no idea what he’s suppose to do with these players. The strikers he had yesterday were Muto and Joselu! Let that sink in.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy: only 44 points last year, not that it makes that much difference.
Stuart, mate: I didn’t see anybody get too excited on here about any of our signings. Most were wondering like Sharpy of what the point was of letting players go without better replacements.
There is also the thing that I try to avoid about being too negative after trashing Pards and Ugly John so much on here. I wanted to give Rafa the benefit of the doubt but I would say his transfer business was probably a B+ in the Championship and a D+ in the PL. We survived last year because there were 3 teams in a bigger mess – Stoke with Hughes, WBA with Pards and Swans with a **** team and revolving door for managers for a couple of years (they were following the Sunderland blueprint). If there had been a bit more pressure I think we might have folded. We are folding this year with pretty much the same team.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – it was obvious that Rondon was Rafas first choice CF this summer – he pursued throughout the window and allowed Gayle to leave to secure his recruitment (along with a £2m loan fee).
Would I be happier with Gayle, Mitrovic and Joselu over Rondon, Joselu and Muto – yeah I would actually. In fact, I’d be even happier with Mitrovic, Gayle and Murphy in place on Joselu.
I’m assuming we are obviously basing this on the transfer restrictions – obviously I would rather Ashley sanction the funds to make proper improvements.
I also maintain that if Ashley had handed £40m – it would have been spent on Kenedy and Rondon. Would you be happier with them as permanent players rather than loanees?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Even our “BIG” signing, Rondon, was a doubt. I remember Olly doing a Q&A with WBA fans to see what he was like and they said he was a great guy, gave all he had but missed too many chances. So, nobody got carried away and I hope you are not saying that. You were probably the most doubtful but I don’t remember seeing any cheerleaders.
I will repeat what my prediction was – finish 16, 5 or 6 points after the 1st 8 games. I was being optimistic as well because you have to be to an extent, or else why bother.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rondon clearly wasn’t Rafa’s first choice. We made a bid for Plea didn’t we?
If we had £40m to spend we’d have met their asking price for Plea I would have thought? I’m also pretty sure Rafa would have made a number 10 a priority. £40m really isn’t a lot of money these days either.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – Rafa clearly wanted Rondon, so much so he swapped him with his main CF and £2m to get him in. He also made the decision to bring Slimani in and allow Mitrovic to go out on loan – another example of a poor decision.
I don’t expect all to agree with me, and I’m sure you don’t.
But if you don’t see that our squad is weaker not only because of Ashley’s lack of spending but also coz of some of Rafas decisions, then I think you’re letting him off the hook mate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
aye and the bit is Plea is knocking them in in Germany 😥 😥
icedog(Quote)
For what it’s worth, when fit I think Rondon will be a huge improvement on gayle. Also lets not forget Gayle has had his fair share of injuries, that bloody hammy of his that he constantly thought was still iffy.
kimtoon(Quote)
If true we lost him for sake of £1m then that’s a very dumb move by us.
kimtoon(Quote)
Sharpy – If we’d have kept Gayle and not got Muto we wouldn’t be any better off. If we’d have kept Mitro and not got Rondon we wouldn’t be any better off. So no, I don’t think the squad is weaker in itself, but it certainly isn’t better either. We replaced like for like in my opinion. We’re only worse because others have strengthened and we didn’t.
So all in all, Sharpy I don’t hold Rafa responsible at all. Maybe he just thought a change of personnel would be better than just doing no business whatsoever.
What would you have done, Sharpy?
Stuart79(Quote)
Oh and this Kenyon talk is bollocks , for Kenyon this season see PCP and Mandy last. Both before jan window when the club were looking dodgy and unrest growing with fans. The PCP talk stifled much of the unrest and meant no outlay on jan transfers. Window shuts and PCP are branded time wasters. This window rinse and repeat but with Kenyon &co, they must think we’re all thick.
Ashley out.
kimtoon(Quote)
When was the last time we won at Old Trafford? We probably have another 3 weeks of this with the international break. There will be plenty of p!ssing and moaning on Eds and The Chronic comments page to go around.
We really have no choice but to stick behind Rafa but maybe he is not the Messiah the Gallowgate think he is. Not on this budget anyway.
You only have to look at the team we are playing next week where Jose went from winning the league to being railroaded out of town in 1 year to see how fickle football fans can be. This from the same Chelsea fans who adored him first time around. Now some Man U fans are saying he is a dinosaur. That his tactics are stale.
Rafa is not used to running a club on a shoestring. Even at Valencia he had a really good team when he got the job and some were sold for a lot of money when he left.
Maybe NUFC under Ashley are a step too far.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1046335103788625920
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric, I think under Ashley we are a step too far for most managers .
kimtoon(Quote)
aye saw that mate,good on you Stelling 😆
icedog(Quote)
god watching Cardiff and Burnley is as bad as watching the toon
icedog(Quote)
Cardiff the better team though Ice. Makes you worry even more, as I was banking on them being bottom 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I clicked on it and the thing I noticed is that they had Pogba as the face of the Premier League. I don’t even think he is in the top 10, just an Instagram fad. Same with Rooney when the press would push him as a superstar.
Without even breaking sweat Salah, De Bruyne, Hazard, Silva, Kane and Aguero are better.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
they will be mate
icedog(Quote)
Unfortunately I think you’re right about Kenyon, Kim. He’s clearly credible but the amount of times we’ve heard stories like this when protests are happening. Jabba really is see through these days.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, no manager can make Ashley’s NUFC a success. We can have the odd bright spot but in the end we always end up in the same place. Usually the Championship.
Stuart79(Quote)
They are running out of ideas now Stu, **** poor using the same cheap tricks to try and hoodwink fans. Doubtless many will believe it though, probably in desperate hope more than anything.
IF a takeover ever happened I’m pretty sure first we’d know is once it was done and dusted like with Ashley buying us.
He is a reluctant seller, his will to do a deal isn’t there.
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m with Sharpy. I think we have got rid of reasonable players and replaced them with lesser players. And why go for so many CBS when apart from the poor Manquillo we have no real cover at LB or RB. Mbemba who Rafa got rid of at a loss showed he could successfully cover RB CB and LB. in fact I would have got rid of Manquillo and Clarke before Mbemba. I also think Roberts could have been tried before buying either Murphy or Atsu.
Groucho(Quote)
I personally think that when Rafa realised he had no money he thought the only way to get some improvement would be to replace some players with similar quality and hope it was to be better. The alternative was to buy nobody and sell nobody. Either way it’s 100% down to the owner withholding money from the manager.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: it was stupid to loan Gayle though. He brings something we don’t have and he was very unlucky last year. He has pace which opens things up for Shelvey. He should also have had 3 penalties last year. I would take him back whichever division we are in. Maybe not as first choice but as an option.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Gayle is injury prone Eric and only got us 6 goals, a fully fit Rondon will do better, trouble is time isn’t on our side.
kimtoon(Quote)
Also Stuart: I understand your point that if Rafa had 35 million he may have bought Rondon and Kenedy instead of loaning them. But that would have meant we kept Gayle and also would have freed up 2 loan spots. Our squad is so thin that would have made a big difference even if we only loaned 2 fullbacks. Obviously I would have preferred to loan a playmaker to spell Shelvey and give us an option.
Then again. Why the hell did we not loan any players from the European Leagues. A loan with an option to buy?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Shouldn’t have been an either/or. Gayle is a good option and I really believe he was very unlucky last year.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Not time for a post mortem YET. We can leave that until after the Man U game 🙂
BTW the rumours are that Jose is getting sacked this week.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Muto will do the same job as Gayle. Very little.
Stuart79(Quote)
Problem for Man Utd is that all the best managers are in good roles at the minute so who would they replace him with? I’d like them to keep him as looks like the players have downed tools for him.
Stuart79(Quote)
How many games has Joselu played? Would you rather have Gayle start? I am not saying Gayle is the answer but I would have played him yesterday ahead of both Joselu and Perez and that is not hindsight because they were so bad.
These are sort of minor points in the scheme of things because there is so much wrong.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, I doubt Gayle, Muto or Joselu will make any difference at all. None of them are prolific. Joselu probably holds the ball up better bit non of them are goal scorers in this league.
Stuart79(Quote)
Kimtoon: guess who is MCing the closing ceremony of the Ryder Cup – DAVID GINOLA!!!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Jabba is taking the squad and Rafa our for a meal next week. That will help. Jabba buying a steak. Can it score goals?
Stuart79(Quote)
Is it possible for a team as bad as ours to recover from such a poor start? Palace did it but they have much better players than us. We could well be so far behind come January it won’t be worth even spending any money.
Stuart79(Quote)
Not sure. Give me a few days and I will apply my mystic powers. Look at the West Ham miracle I predicted – as soon as Wilshere was injured the go W-D-W against Everton, Chelsea and Man U.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
West Ham spent a fortune and their players are starting to gel.
Wonder where the team will get taken by Jabba for their meal? Also will Rafa have to sell his main to have a dessert?
Stuart79(Quote)
Ashley will tell him he can have every bit of food on the plate but then will have a word with the Chef to tell him he only gets scraps unless he comes back for the next 5 years.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: I know WHam spent but I have watched them and Wilshere was holding them back. I watched Wilshere in a lot in games to see if I was wrong about him being vastly overrated. I had said it ages before Roy Keane but wanted to make sure I am right. It is not a coincidence that they are playing better without him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Could be right about Wiltshire, Eric.
It looks to me that relegation will be between 14th down already.
Stuart79(Quote)
******, I missed that.
kimtoon(Quote)
😆 sorry, but that is funny mate
kimtoon(Quote)
Well week 6 and the lad is still at home, another 2 nights respite cancelled cause he’s too ill to go, it never ends. Poor Lew, been ill for yonks now.
kimtoon(Quote)