The Fish

That's the crux of the matter.

Partly watching his movement when he's on screen but not necessarily involved, partly hearing 1st hand accounts, partly looking at data, partly guesswork based on the role.

I think I'm more interested in it than the average fan, for sure.

Maybe, he's entirely capable of turning a narrow loss into a draw, or a score draw into a win.

Forster is better than anyone we've got between the sticks.

Calm down, I fully appreciate that Perez hasn't been playing particularly well and he is guilty of surrendering possession. But the criticism of him is way over the top, he certainly had a better game than Ritchie. Also, the position he plays means that a lot of the work he does goes unnoticed. His movement pulls defenders out of their position, and creates pockets of space for Gayle or whomever to exploit. He also occupies the opposition midfielders which gives Shelvey more time on the bal (or Colback last game). But because the camera follows the ball, people notice him giving the ball away. And because he tends to be receiving the ball under pressure he's more likely to give the ball away than not.

He certainly hasn't impressed, but then neither has Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, Hanley, or Diame.

Well, Rafa seems to share my view, but if you hate Rafa and think he's an idiot, you can continue thinking the wrong things that you're thinking.

I'd agree with that, maybe add Anita and Gouffran too. Though both of them have been reborn under Rafa and he might want to keep them as players he trusts to go out there and do the job he's asked? Is there a clause for Ajax to buy Krul, if not we'll be very heavy in the least rotated position on the team.

Very much so, it seems some people just hate creative players.

He's one of the players I'd expect us to unload before the Premier League

I think Rafa would drop him if he wasn't doing the job that Rafa wanted.

"Which one of you is Walter Cronkite? You're a cunt."

There must be a channel through the brickwork downstairs where the wind can whistle through, because for most of last night it sounded like there was some arsehole playing experimental jazz on a fucking kazoo.

Hush now Captain Snark.

Ritchie created 0 chances, made 1 dribble which was unsuccessful, had 3 shots, none of which were on target, but he's got a good song so... Gouffran had a better game than Ritchie, but didn't do much either.. The trouble with Perez is two fold; the Ben Arfa/Robert/fancy foreigner clause, and everyone likes an escape goat. Not saying Perez was good against Leeds, but he was much better than the internetters would have you believe.

Shouldn't you be doing some so-called accountings?

Usurped?

Moussa Sissoko is the Mornington Crescent of all "He's not worth that, even in this market" conversations.

This must be how Blackburn fans felt when we took Souness off their hands.

Fwiw I think a lot of what Perez does for the team goes unnoticed. He drags opposition out of position, dropping between the lines and moving into channels. And yes, he gives the ball away a fair amount it's because he's trying the killer pass. Made the most tackles on our team and only 3 players touched the ball more. Certainly was better than Ritchie and Gouffran yesterday.

Mind you, we didn't have a single freekick in what I'd consider a dangerous area yesterday. Only had 6 corners too.

Remember Steve McClaren sitting up in the stands for the first half, then calling the bench to make changes. By comparison, Rafa is constantly shaping the team to react to what he's seeing, constantly directing players, seeing us go 2-0 up away from home and instead of punching the air and trying to find a camera to gurn for, he's scribbling a note, working out what the opposition is likely to do after going 2-0 down. Fucking love him me

Turn up at matches where you're not officiating to "give commentary", then when shits going down you get up and stand at pitchside to distract the ref.