The Fish

We havent the players to play a more expansive attacking game and it's naive to think that by attacking more we'd win more points. More likely we'd get hammered as teams allow us to push forward, leaving gaps between lines of midfield and defence and gaps between defence and 'keeper. It's all well and good calling to attack, but this man has won a shit load of trophies getting his team to play pragmatically, I'd rather win 1-0 than lose 3-4, dunno about you?

We do have the players to play the 4-2-3-1 formation. We won the Championship with that formation and imo, with a couple of players we'd be able to play that formation in the top flight. We weren't miles away from points against Spurs, and it was missing players+poor performances+good saves that stopped us getting points at Huddersfield. We don't have the players to play 4-4-2 at this level. Too many teams play formations that overload the midfield meaning our centre would be overrun, most teams can hurt you on the counter attack and 4-4-2 would expose us to that. 4-2-3-1 is flexible, pragmatic and plays to our players' strengths.

Think there's a problem with presenting our history. Not enough is done to celebrate our successes, or dramatic moments. Murals on buildings/ walls near the ground, videos played on the massive screen before games. Something to get the history into the eyes of the kids. Not being funny, but if you've the time and inclination, you could write a short piece about players or games from our history? I'd happily proof read them for you and I'm sure @Ant would host them on here.

tlab;dr

Rafa identified targets to build a squad to get promoted automatically at the first time of asking. The contract negotiations are Charnley and Barnes' remit.

How often do managers change up their formation? I mean sure, they'll maybe swap roles and personnel to change things around a bit, but they tend to stick with the horse what brung 'em, don't they?

Never.

Well there's rumours he's off to Cagliari, so if that happens all the critics* can breath a sigh of relief I suppose. I still think there's a decent player in there, but I literally cannot be arsed arguing the toss with people any more. They've made up their minds and given Rafa doesn't seem to rate him I can't imagine he'll get an opportunity with the first team to prove them wrong. At best he'll get chances in cup games with 2nd, 3rd or 4th string players around him, or he'll play the final 15 minutes of games. I still maintain the criticism of him is way over the top, as is some of the praise. He's a polarising figure and no mistake. *not saying they're 100% wrong, just that it's a moot point.

Scored last night.

What are these about?

Course there can.

And the team named last night; had limits on it due to injuries and suspensions could and should have progressed I can't fault Benitez's overall decision, one or two different options maybe, but choosing to heavily rotate totally makes sense to me.

Few clubs are the same as us though. We should have the ability to select from a larger pool than, say, Bournemouth. Last time we came up we were blessed with a squad that was to all intents and purposes a Premier League side. The foreign stars that hung around were not only committed to getting us back up, but were of sufficient quality to be head and shoulders over the Championship. that wasn't the case this time around. Say West Ham go down this season, but retain the majority of their good players. they'll romp the league, then return with a lower table Premier League side. If they go down and lose their stars, they'll need an overhaul to bounce straight back, they'll need the money to accomplish that, and that overhaul may leave them with a squad of Championship players like ours. but if Burnley go down, they've not got want-away stars, so could bounce straight back without an overhaul.

With every single transfer there's a gamble. Those two players were bought for the Championship, Hanley was 25 and could have proven a stalwart, Diame had shown glimpses of quality in previous campaigns. Few had high hopes for Clark and yet now he's spoken of as our 2nd choice CB behind Lejeune, same could have been true for Hanley. Diame could have proven the goal scoring midfielder he'd shown glimpses of and may have been an alternate to Shelvey. It makes no sense to offer them 1 year deals, especially when, at the beginning of the campaign we weren't guaranteed promotion. Also, those players' agents would not have accepted deals where the power lay so heavily in the clubs favour. Also, the contractual negotiations would not have been Benitez task, that's the job of Charnley and Barnes. It makes sense if you take the broader view into account and don't look at things through an outdated, narrow lens.

Pretty much. I believe players like Hanley, D.Murphy, Gamez, Diame were very much bought as Championship fodder. That squad was built for one purpose; an immediate return to the top flight. Bearing in mind the squad he inherited, the limits on what he could bring in, and the uncertainty around his and Ashley's future at the club. We should have used the January window to show ambition, show direction and show certainty. Buy Townsend, buy/loan Merino, bed them in. Agree deals for Lejeune, + whomever else. That says "We're going up automatically, and we know what our squad is going to look like come August. Then, when everybody else is spending over the odds on players, our business is all but done, the squad is accustomed to Benitez's style and we can concentrate of shifting players like; Darlow, Haidara, Saivet, De Jong, Riviere, etc.

We've four wingers, Aarons and Murphy need game time. Hayden gets injured (or is just tired) before the West Ham game and we're playing Merino and either Saivet or Diame in midfield against a Premier League side when we've zero points on the board. Our defence is threadbare at the minute. Clark's having to play LB. Joselu hasn't been here long. Other than that I agree.

D.Murphy was value for money. Brought in for what, £2-3m? sold for £2m. Scored a few important goals, consistent performer. Good signing imo. Oh aye, but that squad was bought to get us back in the top flight. We needed a root and branch overhaul of the squad because the players he inherited either wanted out (Krul, Janmaat, Tiote, Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Cisse) or weren't going to be worth a damn in the Championship. So Benitez spent £55m on 11 players, some didn't pan out, some were all right and some did very well. Job done imo. If we'd signed players in January I'd have expected them to be the kind of player that could perform in the Premier League, rather than more Championship fodder. Unlikely that we would have brought in Lejeune, but maybe players like Townsend or Merino? Maybe even just agreeing terms for Abraham? Value for Money.

Gayle isn't fit, Lejeune and Dummett aren't fit, Shelvey is suspended, so what would your team have looked like?

You've got to bear in mind that he's stuck with a squad of overpaid shite, so he has less wiggle room to bring in new players. We still have Haidara, Saivet, Riviere, De Jong. Four players in positions we've long been saying we need to strengthen. That's not Benitez' fault. Signing Lazaar and Gamez is his fault, but I'm not shocked he hasn't unearthed 16 gems in his scraping of the barrel.

I don't think people are saying he's above criticism, just that the choice to field a much weakened side in the League cup is justified, given the current situation. Gayle isn't fit so that leaves Mitrovic (who Rafa doesn't have faith in) or brand new signing Joselu. We've four wingers so it makes sense to give the two who've not featured much an opportunity in the cup Our most important midfielder got himself sent off, so that means we have to play Merino in the league, where under normal circumstances you'd expect him to have player this fixture. Didn't Hayden get a knock in the Huddersfield game? We lost two of our first choice back four, so surely, were they fit, Lejeune and Dummett would have been rested for this game, and Lascelles/Mbemba would have started instead. Add to that the fact we've no points and the League Cup is not a priority.

Benitez didn't sign Darlow Sterry Mbemba Barlaser Saivet Aarons Mitrovic

Sels Gamez Yedlin Clark Hanley Lejeune Lazaar Manquillo Diame Hayden Merino Ritchie Atsu J.Murphy Gayle D.Murphy Joselu Bad/Not VfM 3 Average 3 Good/VfM 6 Jury's Out 5 Think that's a pretty good strike rate thus far, but if his latest signings don't pan out it could go the other way very quickly.

Partly due to inheriting a legacy of weak squads, partly because a squad player for the championship isn't necessarily going to be good enough to be a Premier League squad players, even in the cups. Squad players benefit from the ability of those around them, the Championship squad players don't make up a whole other team capable of beating Championship opposition. And Rafa's made missteps in transfers, sure, but overall he's bought what he can with what he's got, and what he's got is not a lot and that's Ashley's fault. Why didn't we strengthen in January, and given we didn't strengthen in January, why didn't we already have signings lined up for the minute this window opened? Signing in Jan could have sewn up the title before the final day, given Benitez time to bed the new players in before the Premier League campaign, stolen a march on other sides, and avoided the inflated nature of this window. Instead we're rooting around the bargain bin for players who are 3rd, 4th, 5th on the list. This is down to Ashley being a cunt, Charnley being useless and Barnes being a weasel.

He's got a deep squad, he has enough of his first team to pick from that you've called them his best players, he's got points on the board, he absolutely had to field his strongest possible team to ensure qualification into the Champions League proper. Benitez has a weak squad, doesn't have his 1st 11 to pick from, (missing 1st choice centre back, left back and midfield and an unfit striker), he has no points on the board, and the League Cup is definitely not a priority this season. Had we done all our business as soon as the window opened, got a point or 2 in the league, had our best players fit and available, I've no doubt Benitez would have fielded a stronger side in the cup.