Dickie

Ritchie has been quality so far, definitely a key player for us this season and a good buy. For me Ritchie is a long way off Robert at the moment in terms of quality but you never know how a player is going to develop. Rafa sees himself as an improver of players in the same way KK did: I hope Rafas message to the players is that we're going to get better year on year and it's up to them to keep up, otherwise they'll be out. For the likes of Ritchie, Shelvey, Lascelles, Hayden, and actually the majority of our squad, you'd really hope they can improve along with the team and stamp their authority on the premier league if we can get back up there, in the way that lee, Cole, Howey, even older ones like venison, sellars and Bez did under KK. Most of the current squad are all young enough that they should still have plenty of time to improve their individual games, and they won't get a better manager than Rafa to help them do it. As with Keegan though, rafas going to have to be ruthless if we go up cos some of them just aren't going to be up to it

Haha class photo that

What a win this was. On the radio it sounded like we murdered them first half. It's been a long old time since we were playing teams off the park and really peppering their goal. You might even have to go back to KK days. I've got no problems with the selection or the missed chances - churlish to criticise the team selection, and missed chances are going to happen. Gayle has done great 7 from 8 starts or whatever, you can't ask more than that at any level. Hopefully we can keep up the work rate for the rest of the season. If we can and we're not unlucky with injuries we'll be laughing. Looking at the highlights, Shelvey is different class in this league, I really hope this season is the making of him as a player as I think he's got the ability to be just as influential in the Premier League.

It's truly horrifying

Redknapps got to be one of them hasn't he?

I sincerely hope Allardyce gets done for this, the horrible wanker

Of course there is, they get away with murder in some Eastern European countries, Italy, Spain, compared to what you see here. I remember watching Betis vs Malaga in Seville 10 years ago, a good quarter of the crowd were making monkey noises at Malaga's black centre forward. The crowd was probably 25k - 30k, so you're talking a good 6 thousand people getting involved. Never seen anything remotely on that scale over here, and a lad I got talking to in a cafe after the game told me it happens everytime there's a black player on the opposition team. It was one of the worst things I've seen in football but I couldn't find any mention of the chants in the media in the days after the game. I'd be interested to know if this task force has managed to stamp out that level of racism in the last 10 years.

Absolutely. A good 10,000 of our regular home crowd are clueless tarts who can't wait to whinge on at our own players, it became markedly more noticeable when the ground got extended. It seems to be getting worse year on year, and clearly there is a sizeable contingent of similarly minded buffoons who manage to make their presence felt online. Undoubtedly the majority are virgins. It's depressing - who's to say Selz won't come good eventually?

Frustrating and typical nufc in a lot of ways but no reason to panic. I think what threw the players was how easy it was for the first 15 mins of the second half and they got conplacent. Then when villa belatedly had a go it took them by surprise, they panicked and never managed to regain control. Although I agree that diame doesn't seem very convincing so far I've not got too many problems with the selection cos it worked so well for an hour - if one of those sitters had been taken we'd have had a comfortable win, and you just can't legislate for misses like that. It's a long old season and we've got a good return from this potentiallt tricky run of early fixtures with a lot of new players - I still think we'll be fine

It's always going to be a bit from Column A and a bit from Column B with the likes of Ben Arfa. They need to be lucky enough to come across the right club and the right manager. He's obviously an awkward character, but as the cliche goes that often comes with the more talented players. As Ant says, if you want Tevez don't sign Berbatov, if you want Milner don't sign Ben Arfa etc. Somebody a few pages back asked if Ben Arfa would have got into a Ferguson team. Well you could have probably asked the same question about Cantona before he signed for Leeds, as he'd fallen out with pretty much everyone he'd ever played for and even quit the game at one point. Riquelme was similar to Ben Arfa as well - basically written off as a lazy luxury player - until he ended up at Villareal under Pellegrini, and he spent a good two seasons as probably one of the top five players in Europe. It's just a shame with Ben Arfa cos he's the most exciting talent we've had for ages and he's definitely got the ability to be a genuine world class player. I'd love to see him playing in big champs league games.

Aye that's it. And when you also factor in the money that's been spunked on the likes of Thauvin and Cabella, there's no doubt he would have spent far more wisely over the last few years. Nevermind, no point looking back I suppose, we just have to hope they're going to honour the commitment they've apparently given to Rafa. TIme will tell

Totally Gloom - there'll always be the nagging suspicion that they're going to do something brainless and Rafa will walk, we've just been burnt too many times now haven't we

Aye Keegan going was the gutter for me because it was the point when we all started to suspect they were really going to fuck it all up. That was the watershed moment - everything that followed was pretty much continuous farce until Rafa arrived, with a little interlude when we went down and came back up, but even that period wasn't without significant discontent. A thought that has crossed my mind a few times over the last few months is how frustrating it is that Ashley didn't give KK the level of control he's giving Rafa. With how poor the league has been for the last 7 or so years we would surely have won something by now. Unfortunately it's taken all that time, and 2 relegations, for the penny to drop (hopefully).

I'd be happy with a draw in this one

I don't mind Barton and I usually find myself sticking up for him when something like this happens. I might be biased because, as someone who has been stigmatised for losing my temper a few times in and outside the workplace myself, I tend to be a fairly sympathetic to the likes of Barton, Keane etc. I think he's a very easy target for the papers and also for the largely polite, middle class demographic that follow football these days. He's obviously got anger issues but from what I've seen of him in interviews I wouldn't be surprised if he's good company in person - I dare say I'd rather have a pint with him than 90% of other high profile modern players. That sending off against Liverpool was really the only time I really found it hard to give him the benefit of the doubt, and as for this latest thing at Rangers we don't know any of the details yet. He's also a better footballer than most people give him credit for.

That's a good analogy. 1996-1998 period Ronaldo was better to watch than Messi imo.

Gouffran has to be the obvious one so far. How much of it is down to being a division lower (maybe he's just found his level) and how much is down to Rafa is difficult to say, but I do seem to remember him looking half decent in the Premier League when he first arrived, so maybe he was just Pardewed. Looks like he will be a useful player for us this season anyway. Rafa obviously rates Anita and Lascelles as players he can rely on and they haven't let him down at all yet. I'm glad he's seems to understand that Anita isn't a centre mid mind.

Sorry to hear about your lad's troubles Trooper. Straightedge's advice is sensible - it's important for you to make sure he knows he's supported at home and can tell you and/or his brothers when he's feeling down about it. Try to keep his confidence up and his mind of it whenever possible. I'd be very wary of letting the older brothers get directly involved, that could end very badly. I just hope the other kid loses interest soon - good luck with it.

Me neither really, but that might be because we're flying again. It's easier to be bitter when we're shite Having said that I think we could win the Champions League three times in a row and I'd still find myself looking for Palace's results, hoping Pardew has lost again

It's hard to admit it but the fact that he was involved in a Champions League match in front of 85,000 will definitely justify his bleating and whingeing in his own mind. It's hard to argue that he hasn't made a big step up in his career. Personally I dislike the bloke intensely and don't particularly rate him as a player, certainly not as a Champions League quality player anyway, and I'm happy Rafa managed to get rid of him and Wijnaldum, especially for such good fees. For what it's worth I think Wijnaldum has world class potential - I think he could be as good as Griezmann - but Sissoko no chance.

I think Barton will come good for Rangers, I've got a lot of time for him as a player. I understand why he's not everyone's cup of tea personality-wise but I don't think I've ever watched him and thought he's not giving 100%. One of the better passers England have had in the last 10-15 years imo as well, something he doesn't seem to get credit for. I think he'll do well for them this season, not sure about the other recruits.

Classic stuff Parky. By coincidence I've just stumbled across this band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart this morning thanks, of all things, to Pat Nevin's wikipedia page. It's unashamedly derivative from Bloody Valentine, Mary Chain, Belle and Sebastian, possibly a bit of Cocteaus in there as well. No doubt some people wrote it off as rip off but I don't mind that - so far it sounds like quality tune after quality tune. First album seems better than the second so far

Cheers Tooj, I had a listen to that in the afternoon. Good listen and he comes out with some interesting stuff, even if he does sound like Jerry St Clair

Just watching the highlights on channel 5, what the fuck does Michael Gray look like with those geps ?

Well we did enough there, not a great performance but they did what they had to. Really starting to show similarities to rafas Liverpool side, albeit a poor mans version and without a Gerard - very few bodies committed beyond the ball, wingers grafting like bastards and centre defence looking better and better organised each game. Not scintillating stuff but worlds better than what we were served up by pards. Derby second half played like a team trying to get their manager sacked. Wouldn't blame them, Pearson has always been one of the more odious pricks in football