Howay

They're going to fucking stay up again aren't they. Worst team in the league for at least the last 4 year but manage to cling on.

Agreed, all 11 players have had a good half.

Mitro having an unspectacular but good game, his hold up play is giving good opportunities to those running off him.

This ref is giving us nowt. Need to keep concentration up as this is when we give away daft goals after controlling the half.

Shelveys passing is brilliant to watch. Diame is having a good game, just needs to carry on making use of his options rather than just shooting any time he sees goal.

Great play, great shot by Diame, sadly a good stop by Carson.

Shit bit of refereeing there. Derby all over Diame and we get nowt then Hayden wins the ball and they get a free kick.

Diame finally opting to pass rather than shoot in a canny build up.

Geet in Ritchie!

Need to pack it in with all these long rangers. There are often far better options on

Complete fucking suicide ball there by Ritchie. Good defending by Clark to save it.

Diame is in full on blast it anytime he touches it mode. Not even troubling row Z with his shots so far.

Steve McClaren's so-called hair clearly glued to his head. Sad! Looks like Russell will have to go off after Yedlins knee went into his head. Or it was nowt and they're just so nervous after Masons injury.

Agreed, the wife fell asleep towards the end and is saying we should watch it again. Not happening. I've been pushing to watch I,Daniel Blake for 2 weeks so she's not getting a second viewing of Ryan Gosling singing worse than me.

Agreed. Glad Sels isn't even making the bench now.

Could be being harsh aye, I was just expecting a bit more from him as we dropped down a level. Thought he'd have his confidence up a bit by now and look a bit more settled, but honestly he looks shaky as soon as the ball nears the box. I agree the rest are bollocks, I was more just expecting them to have found their level but sadly we're not at it yet.

True.

Aye I think that is more fair and accurate than my post. It's easy to forget he started with essentially a midfield pairing of Colback and Anita, we're really seeing just how inept they are this season as honestly both look out of their depth even at this level (Anita is arguably doing fine at RB but I'm talking as a CM). You're spot on about Rafa in all, the Villa situation really does put the job he's doing into perspective. He's also doing it with a squad that the bulk of isn't up to snuff. I expected a lot more from players like Anita, Lascelles, Dummett, and Colback, as although they're not PL level I expected them to be effective in the Championship but honestly they still look crap. With this in mind I agree completely that without Rafa we'd not be seeing promotion as likely by this point, I think we'd more likely be in the play-off scrap.

I'm still shocked at how utterly fucking shite he was.

It was taking the piss to a degree but they had us over a barrel. Our lot once again fucked about for the majority of the window before giving it a token go in the last few days, at that point it's always going to be hard to convince a team to sell. It's also worth noting what ewerk said, although they got him for 13m off us 6 months ago that was only due to a clause it's not his real market worth. Palace made it fairly clear early on in the window they had no desire to loan him out, our bunch carried on offering a loan deal. Palace's final offer was always bound to be a bit of a piss take as they didn't need to sell and didn't want to loan him out. No fucking clue whatsoever why we didn't just buy him when it become clear they didn't want to loan him out. I get what you're saying about others not being interested but we don't know if other teams weren't, it's also the case that decent deals are often made (or are put on the table) without other clubs moving for it for whatever reason. If utter shite like Schlupp go for 12m just pay the 15m and be fucking done with it. Now we're in a position where we have one proper winger at the club past the end of the season, I don't count Sammy, Gouffran's contract expires (iirc), and Atsu's loan finishes, this again puts us in an absolute fucking nightmare of a position to negotiate with clubs.

Spot on.

Aye, what a fucking joke man. I mean we all pretty much said this about Ashley but could we not have got a couple of years ffs, at the very least wait until we're back in the PL and safe before he starts to fuck about like last time. Instead he has decided to try and burst the wheels early. The bloke is a monumental cunt like and I actually hope to one day read he has lost everything. Just give Rafa enough money to spend to allow the squad to improve, at least what the club is generating. Sit back and then reap the rewards of a club in the PL that isn't overspending. What is hard about doing that? Instead he decides to penny pinch which has only seen debt increase due to relegations, the thick fucking tosser.

Looks like they're getting completely fucking battered. Hopefully this is the start of a rough patch for them. I understand what some were saying about not wanting to get promoted to teach Ashley a lesson. I must admit I'd love for us to win the league but I'm a little torn on it as it means Ashley will be confident that his (possible) putting off of purchases was right in this instance, when in all honesty it would be down to the manager and the more expensive players in the team dragging the team along.

Don't speak ill of Fabrice!