rogerbarton

Cabaye used to have the same vision. Would put Shelvey at least on par with him if he can become consistent and cut out his 'smelly Arab' moments.

Yeah, we had Given and Harper, then when Given left Krul came through with Forster. And when Krul was out last season both Elliot and Darlow were superb. Thinking back to Srnicek and Hislop we were fairly well equipped then too. Rafa will just have to swallow this one and get shot in the summer.

I remember we brought in Harewood and Leon Best this window last time we were down. I see Ulloa doing a good job at this level, but I hear a couple of Spanish clubs are interested. As for Krul, still reckon he's the best 'keeper on our books to be honest. Do take the point about distribution though. How has Darlow's distribution been this season? Haven't seen a lot of the matches. Sooner we get rid of Sels the better, though. Elliot should be starting vs Oxford.

Rotherham picked up their first win in ages last weekend against Norwich. Who, by the way, are now 8 points off the play-offs. Still don't see them offering much threat, with Shelvs back I can see us getting an early goal and putting them to the sword. 5-0, Murphy hat-trick.

The thing that makes this so implausible is that we haven't been consistently good in the transfer market since 2013 if we're being generous. Since then we've actually spunked a lot of money on seriously bad players. What's more, the policy nearly got us relegated twice (both times preceding Ashley spending way more than he wanted to) & did get us relegated once. He really would have to be stupid to be interfering with what Benitez is doing. On the other hand, what owner doesn't want the club to be buying promising young players with potential resale value?

Job done. Handy 4th round draw & then you're in the last 16. Anything can happen from there. Really is incredible the difference Shelvs makes.

Honestly I'd rather Big Vurn were in the middle than Colback. But both of them are players I only really see being effective as a facilitator in a midfield three.

The typo half way through suggests you actually typed that whole thing up rather than c + v...

Yeah, you'd imagine Palace will turn it around, and then there's only really Hull, Swansea and the mackems I can see being in the fight other than Boro. Still think they've looked solid enough at home to grind out results. though bringing in Gestede and Bamford to cure their goalscoring woes doesn't fill me with confidence.

Might be missing something, but he played three days ago against SVB Excelsior. He also scored twice in the previous two games. Yes, he's injury prone but he's made 14 appearances so far this season.

I would recall de Jong, wasn't sure why we didn't give him a chance to get fit and play at this level. He would definitely have got his chances given the form of Diame and Ayoze too. As for Townsend, no idea why people are even bothering to say they wouldn't want him back. He's the best we've seen on the wings since Robert, with the exception of Ben Arfa of course.

Would definitely want to see Elliot start. Was just wondering myself if there were any youngsters ready to step up that aren't on loan somewhere. Presuming we'll see Tiote and Shelvey in the middle. Is there any real alternative to Ritchie, Gouff, Ayoze & Murph?

I think it's about time refs stopped giving 'keepers a free kick any time someone else wins a ball they go for.

They're definitely the form team at the moment.

Hope he sticks around beyond this season to bring it back. BTW, what was he saying about the rules in England in that ridiculous interview? Can't really understand him...

Thank fook for that. Sounds like the ref helped us out for once today

9 mins of added time! Not sure I can handle this... We are overdue a lucky win, like.

I've been fairly patient with Tiote since he put in some committed performances last season after his January move fell through. But does anyone know why he is so desperate to leave and join someone like Gijon? A final payday in China or the Middle East I can understand, this not so much. It rankles a little that he's been picking up his wages all season while actively looking for a move.

To be fair, I don't think you read it with as much attention as you should.

There's nothing I hate more than the Julia Hartley-Brewer types who get up in arms about people being offended easily. Hey, it's almost like they're offended by people being offended. But it's going a bit far when heat of the moment colloquialisms are scrutinised in so much detail. The guy's been sacked now, though I reckon that's more to do with their dreadful form than anything else. I felt the same about the Shelvey case. When do you draw the line? "Smelly Arab" is denigrating mainly because he allegedly used the term "smelly". If he called him a "smelly puff" would that have gone unpunished?

I think we're going to come back in this one with a scruffy 2-0 win. We'll then get a run going and win all of what could be four consecutive home games.

So what about the Rafa quotes on West Ham link? Leaving the door open? “I don’t see any big change now at the club as a whole. I am giving you my answer – I don’t see any big changes at the club in January. I have a lot of respect for West Ham because when I was in contact with them, they were really good and professional. But I am really happy here and then we carry on trying to win games. It’s not easy for me. They were really nice and really good with me. At the moment, I’m really pleased here. I’m not thinking about anything like that – just winning against Wigan and getting promoted at the end of the season.” Source is NUFC Blog, but attributed to Chronicle.

Superb all round. Thanks, folks.

Enjoyed this. Particularly the summary tab with NUFC finishes. Can I ask why there isn't a column for points per game? That would seem to be best measure. Might also be nice to have a final position column.

I'd rate him worse than Kinnear given the circumstances. Was Carver ever more than 'interim manager'? If so, I'd probably put Carver below, yes.