Howay

The Forest game was that for me as we deserved to win just got fucked over by the ref. I'm not sure why Rafa is so confused mind, they set up the same way Sheffield Wednesday did. It reminded me a lot of Swansea a few seasons back when we beat them 2-0 (or 2-1), they had all the ball but didn't really create an awful lot of clear cut chances and we clipped them on the break. For all our possession we only really created 2 proper chances for Gayle, and one for Ritchie (iirc), the Diame chance was out of nothing and would have been a spectacular goal if it had went in.. The Blackburn defence generally looked calm under pressure as we never stretched them with our passing or overloaded a flank or did anything through the middle, meanwhile anytime Blackburn went forward our lot looked panicky, Colback gave away a corner when he should have put it out for a throw and then conceded a free kick in a ridiculous position. Both in similar fashion to Anita gifting the Wednesday winger 30 yards which led to a corner, them getting 3 headers in our box before putting it in.

I think there's definitely a degree of complacency that has crept in recently, we had a decent gap at the top but now we're looking like we'll be 5 points behind. Carrying a load of players that are either too shit to do anything or are putting in pedestrian performances, like Quiff said there's no one in the side that is stepping up and taking the game by the scruff of the neck when we need it. Teams are just looking to sit back and catch us on the break and our lot are often playing like we're 3-0 up at 0-0 just calmly passing back and forth across the midfield which suits the opposition all day, then when the ball breaks and they attack you can put your money on a foul being committed in a dangerous area as our panicking back line struggle to stop 2 attackers between the 4 or 5 of them.

In 14 appearances in the league this season Colback has managed 0 goals, 0 assists, 2 shots, 1 on target, committed 21 fouls, 6 yellow cards, 87% pass completion rate from an average of 37 passes per game. SHITE.

That's always a positive.

Aye if the right player is available we could buy but I'm sure we could get a loan for a decent CM. I'd like to see us get Loftus-Cheek and another one from the bunch mentioned on loan, I really think we need a winger now as well, if Rafa doesn't think Atsu is a starter (plus we lose him to AFCoN anyway) we need a creative winger asap as Gouffran is dropping off his early season spell of being a football player.

Aye, the cup counts as well right? so at least it's only 1 more League game.

It's hard to disagree mind, for all the money we've spent we're generally seeing the worst players from the last few seasons still playing. I absolutely refuse to believe that Gamez, Lazaar, and Yedlin (100% know in the latters case) are worse than Dummett and Anita and if they're not 'match fit' or 'adjusted' 6 months into being here (again the latter played a full Premier League season last season) what the fuck is going on? If there is absolutely nothing in our reserves or youth better than Jack Colback we may as well scrap the academy. I don't understand the Murphy signing now at all, I first thought he was going to play Mitro and had Murphy as a backup big man but he clearly doesn't like that type of forward at all. Hayden could turn out to be okay, Clark is looking as bad as we feared recently (he seems as terrified as Lascelles and is just as big a tart in the air) and there's no way he'd make the step up to the PL.

That's about the best reasoning I've heard on the matter, but I still come back to the fact that surely it would be the first place you'd look to improve I mean even in those struggling sides all the fans picked him out as either the worst or one of the worst performers, it's not like one of those things where he was one of the better performers on shite sides so looked better than he was. Like we got that Saivet lad, identified he was dogshit in about 4 games and had him out the door yet we're still seeing Jack Colback feature in the first team for coming up on 80 appearances now.

Agreed, we need to focus on automatic promotion and our lot looked toothless enough (with Shelvey) against one of the worst PL sides so I struggle to imagine they'd do much against one of the higher sides that will be taking the FA cup seriously.

Agreed, we're carrying far too many players in this side. Honestly the only ones worth owt that play regularly are Shelvey, Ritchie and Gayle, the rest are either looking around hoping someone else does something, benefiting from those three doing something or being a liability. I don't include Hayden as he looks raw and really only seems to perform alongside Shelvey, although I'm sure most would find playing alongside Colback challenging. I can't stomach watching Anita anymore either, we've seen him for years and he's another one that isn't good at anything, after him helping Sheff Wed out massively the other week I think Yedlin is better than him defensively as well.

It's staggering to think he's a millionaire from playing football, he's not even decent at anything. As I said before the game all he does is pass 5 yards but his pass completion % isn't even good considering he doesn't attempt passes over that, he must give away more fouls than I've seen from anyone which shows he can't tackle at all, he doesn't get assists and he doesn't get goals. He's not even a physical presence or particularly athletic, genuinely no idea what people think he brings to a team. Whenever I watch even lower half Championship sides they have CM's that seem to do a ton more than Colback yet they'll never earn as much or play at as high a level as Colback, it's genuinely confusing. If someone that knows as little as me about football can watch Colback and think he has no right to be near a pitch (something we've all been saying for 3 years now) how the fuck can countless scouts, coaches and managers who see thousands of hours of players playing think aye that lad brings something to the team enough to pay him 20k+ a week. I don't think I remember him touching the ball today really as all he does is give it back to whoever gave him the ball, all I remember is him conceding a soft corner and then that stupid foul for the free kick.

What I will say is sides aren't dumping 9 behind the ball against them two like they are against us, it's not an excuse for our lot mind as with the money we've spent they should be finding a way through. As I said earlier if Colback and Gouffran line up against Brentford I've no idea of what logic our lot are using, we need to go out and get creative players ASAP as all we're seeing is 5 yard passes back and forth across midfield without Shelvey. I expect Anita in the line up mind as for some worrying reason Rafa seems to genuinely rate the useless bloke, no clue what he brings to the side, even defensively he consistently loses his man and does nothing but give the ball away in attack.

Spot on Billy, it's as if our lot are just waiting for the window as they're not trying new things or making new plans it's just the same line ups and formation every single game despite it getting worse and worse. I understand Dummett playing to a degree because we've not seen anyone else play there (although surely we should be trying Lazaar ffs) but Atsu has been far better than Gouffran recently and Yedlin has been head and shoulders above Anita, so it makes no sense that Anita and Gouffran appear favorites. Colback simply shouldn't even be on the bench he somehow looks more out of his depth than he did in the Premier League, opposing teams CM's must be buzzing when they see that soft little twat is in the line up.

The daft part is I'm barely even frustrated with Colback, I expect that sort of utter self destructive performance from him, he should be nowhere near the fucking team man. What on Earth has he done that makes Rafa keep selecting him? At the very very least Rafa could play Perez in AMC and drop Diame to CM to keep his precious shit formation and group of top choices playing. If Colback is anywhere near the side that plays Brentford I'm seriously questioning what the fuck Rafa is thinking, today should be a rocket up his arse to get people in.

We just have nothing without Shelvey. Ritchie has been poor recently, hasn't stepped up at all when we needed him. Hayden doesn't have enough ability on the ball to be a creative force, Gouffran is, well, Gouffran, and we all know about Colback. Diame flatters to deceive usually and we're playing two full backs that look like they're playing pinball anytime they touch the ball. For a squad that has the highest wage in the league by far it's simply not good enough, hearing a manager as shit as Owen Coyle say "we knew what to do we've beaten Newcastle before" is galling, Rafa has to shoulder a good amount of blame in recent weeks as he's not even trying to do anything man he's just chucking the same players on in the same places every week.

I don't get what Rafa has against Mitrovic, why do we have what should really be Mitrovic's injury replacement on the bench over him? Mitro has looked handy in most of the games he has come on or started yet we have to watch utter shite like Dummett, Anita, and Colback start week in week out. The midfield and defence need sorted out massively, we look soft as fuck and it's been all too easy for sides to just sit deep and wait for a chance in the game, our midfield creates fucking nothing and the defence crumbles the second they're called upon.

Honestly man they're League Two standard. There is no excuse for Anita to start either, we have Yedlin who has looked better everytime he has played. It's simply not good enough this man we're tripping up the same way every time recently, with the same tactics and the same set of players that are playing shit yet seem undroppable at the moment.

Rafa is far from being criticism proof imo, he has been making some shite decisions recently especially in regards to player selection. I like the bloke but as Ant says it's like he has learnt absolutely nothing from the Wednesday loss, he just keeps putting out the same shit formation and same players expecting different results, at least try something different man. Play Diame at CM next to Hayden, switch Ritchie to the AM role and play Atsu and Gouff on the wings, I don't know but playing Colback, Anita, and Dummett, leaving Gayle isolated up top against one of the worst teams in the league is fucking stupidity.

If we reach mid January and we're still playing Colback then I'm seriously questioning everyone at the club, the bloke is utterly fucking hopeless and has toiled to see us lose this match. Can that please be the last time he plays for us? There is literally not a single reason he should be near the team again after this window.

This was fucking coming mind, we need players in ASAP and Rafa seriously has to be a bit more aggressive in his player selections. Starting games with Colback, Anita and Dummett playing is a total fucking waste of time.

Our defence look utter terrified under any pressure. We need to make some changes man, having nearly 3 quarters of the ball for 70 mins yet all we have to show for it is 4 chances is shite. Colback trying his best to hand Blackburn a goal here the USELESS FUCKING CUNT. Can we please never see this bloke play for NUFC again after this season ffs.

Longest a team have went without having a shot on target this season in the Championship by Blackburn here, would be fucking typical of us to draw 0-0 or lose this shit show.

Load of fucking shite that man what else could he do? It's funny that these refs are eagle eyed when the decision goes against us but they turn into Mr Magoo when it should be in our favour.

Aye there's been 2 real chances, Diame's that struck the crossbar and Gayle's that was saved, other than that we haven't really been creating proper chances.

It's a good thing we played Anita for his desire to stay back over Yedlin.