rogerbarton

Very little you saw last night has any relevance to our match at the weekend. They made 9 changes FFS. I think they actually could've given Citeh a good game had they bothered. As it was, their defence was being split open at will. Hopefully it'll have given the team a collective knocking, but I honestly doubt it will have made much difference.

Spoke to another fan yesterday who told me, straight faced, that he "has a mate" at the training ground. Mike Ashley turned up, allegedly, to give Rafa a few ideas on how to run his training sessions. Rafa told him where to stick it, and since then Ashley has completely ceded control of all affairs to Benitez. He said that it was Rafa's choice not to make any signings in January and he'll be in it for the long-term as he's now in charge of accounting

We'll shut these guys down. 2-0. Though a draw would be fine.

I kind of hope they sack Steve Bruce tbh. He's a decent bet to get them in shape in the summer and have them gunning for promotion next year. I just think they've built up such a culture of losing there - over many years, as referenced in the article - that it needs a total overhaul from top to bottom.

Agent Provocateur or Wonga?

Other things I'd say - Diame looks a lot better to me when he's playing deeper. In that number 10 role he was disappointing tonight. Murphy I thought changed the game when he came on.

Genuinely thought it was very interesting. Just about every other Championship game of ours that has been televised has been pretty dour, but this one was decent and high in quality for this level. Great drama at the end too.

Will happily admit I was seriously questioning Rafa at 70 mins and no subs. Great having a manager who knows a fuck ton more than you do

Absolutely fucking brilliant. We responded superbly to that fucking crock of shite penalty. Really pleased. Couldn't believe how quickly the fuckers emptied out the stadium either.

Yep, the kick on Colback on the rebound on Atsu's shot was more a penalty than the fucking shite six of one shirt-tugging sock of wank.

Draw would be a decent result here. But I do sense if we take the lead, the fuckers will crumble. They looked under the cosh towards the end of the half.

I've heard that co-commentator a few times and he's fucking wank. I think he used to play for the mackems which explains why he agrees with every decision against us. Thank fuck Rob Lee, and even fucking Keith Andrews, talked a bit of sense.

Refereeing has been a fucking joke, but that's no surprise. My issue with those types of penalties is that, in a game quite fucking intelligibly important, you don't go fucking it all off by giving the home team a headstart. How many of those has this fucker Bobby not given this season? We should at least be level - good response to falling behind - and I hope the players will be motivated to fuck these cheating bastards up in the second half.

The two good results they got this season were against teams that came there and stubbornly kept a high line (Man City and Liverpool). It was madness - just playing into their hands. But I did see the match and have to say the players were clearly trying a lot harder than they have been. Real test comes in the next game against Hull, who definitely won't go there and push the backline up to the halfway line.

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Did he actually shout for it? Haven't seen the replays. Like Haydnator says, he's been prone to rushing off his line way too often. Rotherham, QPR, Norwich, Bristol City. I do rate him, and have been pleasantly surprised this season, but it seems like a recurring problem. When a keeper is short on confidence, keeping him in the team is actually detrimental to his own development.

Or if he'd played well in any important game for England since 2004

Conceded 18 goals in first 6 games for Alkmaar. Including a howler in the last minute in one of their games, plus seven from nine shots in the Europa League. On his day he definitely looks like the best pick from our keepers, but it looks worrying that this injury might have knackered him.

1-0 to the toon. It's going to be a cagey affair - the biggest game of the season for both sides. I think we'll nick it, though we'll have to raise our game significantly (and I think we will). I do hope Gayle's in better shape - sounds like he's mentally a bit out of it at the moment.

Just a note on this - since Gayle got injured we're unbeaten in the league. In his last 8 full league games we lost 3. Since Gayle's injury: P6 W4 D2 L0 --> 2.33 points per game Before Gayle's injury: P8 W5 D0 L3 --> 1.9 points per game So, while I'm not doubting he's a great player at this level, we've done okay without him. It's the record without Shelvey that's far more worrying.

The last time we rotated heavily we lost at home to Blackburn. Tough games ahead in a short space of time, but I wouldn't want to mess with the foundations of the team. EDIT: Surely this it the time to see Atsu on the left, though? If we're worried about Gouffran shielding Dummett, a game against these without their top scorer seems a good time.

Gayle out is a big blow obviously, but I feel like Mitro can do a job up there in his absence. In a way he actually offers something a bit different in the way he holds the ball up so well. I've noticed how unselfish he's been in his last few appearances as well. I do think Reading beating Brighton would do us a massive favour at the weekend. We could go 4 clear of them (and remain 9 ahead of Reading w/ game in hand) heading into the match at the Falmer.

Yeah, I've just been taking a look. If we all win at the weekend, then we draw at Brighton, Huddersfield can move within 2 points of them and 3 points of us with a win against us! With a game in hand! That said, their form this season has been a bit mental. They had 25 points after 11 games (2.27 points per game in that period), 30 points after 19 games (1 ppg in that period), and now 64 points after 32 games (2.62 ppg in that period). They've won 11 of the last 13, with one defeat in that time. But their dropped points have actually come against some of the lower teams. Like us, they failed to beat f*cking Blackburn (two draws), lost at home to Wigan, and at Preston and Cardiff when they weren't in such good form.

The Citeh game was outstanding. Thought Monaco were probably a bit unlucky in the end. As for Huddersfield, they really are putting ourselves and Brighton under pressure. In any other season they'd have enough points for top two right now. Think that's just about Reading out of it now, and should be assured if they lose to Brighton at the weekend.