The Fish

You've got to bear in mind that he's stuck with a squad of overpaid shite, so he has less wiggle room to bring in new players. We still have Haidara, Saivet, Riviere, De Jong. Four players in positions we've long been saying we need to strengthen. That's not Benitez' fault. Signing Lazaar and Gamez is his fault, but I'm not shocked he hasn't unearthed 16 gems in his scraping of the barrel.

I don't think people are saying he's above criticism, just that the choice to field a much weakened side in the League cup is justified, given the current situation. Gayle isn't fit so that leaves Mitrovic (who Rafa doesn't have faith in) or brand new signing Joselu. We've four wingers so it makes sense to give the two who've not featured much an opportunity in the cup Our most important midfielder got himself sent off, so that means we have to play Merino in the league, where under normal circumstances you'd expect him to have player this fixture. Didn't Hayden get a knock in the Huddersfield game? We lost two of our first choice back four, so surely, were they fit, Lejeune and Dummett would have been rested for this game, and Lascelles/Mbemba would have started instead. Add to that the fact we've no points and the League Cup is not a priority.

Benitez didn't sign Darlow Sterry Mbemba Barlaser Saivet Aarons Mitrovic

Sels Gamez Yedlin Clark Hanley Lejeune Lazaar Manquillo Diame Hayden Merino Ritchie Atsu J.Murphy Gayle D.Murphy Joselu Bad/Not VfM 3 Average 3 Good/VfM 6 Jury's Out 5 Think that's a pretty good strike rate thus far, but if his latest signings don't pan out it could go the other way very quickly.

Partly due to inheriting a legacy of weak squads, partly because a squad player for the championship isn't necessarily going to be good enough to be a Premier League squad players, even in the cups. Squad players benefit from the ability of those around them, the Championship squad players don't make up a whole other team capable of beating Championship opposition. And Rafa's made missteps in transfers, sure, but overall he's bought what he can with what he's got, and what he's got is not a lot and that's Ashley's fault. Why didn't we strengthen in January, and given we didn't strengthen in January, why didn't we already have signings lined up for the minute this window opened? Signing in Jan could have sewn up the title before the final day, given Benitez time to bed the new players in before the Premier League campaign, stolen a march on other sides, and avoided the inflated nature of this window. Instead we're rooting around the bargain bin for players who are 3rd, 4th, 5th on the list. This is down to Ashley being a cunt, Charnley being useless and Barnes being a weasel.

He's got a deep squad, he has enough of his first team to pick from that you've called them his best players, he's got points on the board, he absolutely had to field his strongest possible team to ensure qualification into the Champions League proper. Benitez has a weak squad, doesn't have his 1st 11 to pick from, (missing 1st choice centre back, left back and midfield and an unfit striker), he has no points on the board, and the League Cup is definitely not a priority this season. Had we done all our business as soon as the window opened, got a point or 2 in the league, had our best players fit and available, I've no doubt Benitez would have fielded a stronger side in the cup.

Of course he's going to play his strongest side against Hoffenheim man. Win that and they're in the Champions League Group Stages, and all the difference that can mean to a side. Also, Liverpool's squad is of sufficient quality to challenge on several fronts, ours is patently not.

The side picked could and possibly should have won last night. No great shock that the team selected weren't a unit comfortable with each other's game. We have an average to poor squad, so it's no great shock a team doing well in the Championship defeated our 2nd/3rd string, is it? It's also hardly surprising Benitez named an overhauled first 11, he can keep the 1st team drilling for the league games to get the first win and get that ball rolling. If we had the stronger squad he wanted he could have named a few changes for this game, and a few changes for the West Ham match without sacrificing the amount of quality he did. But we don't have the quality in the squad because he's not been allowed to spend. Also the injury/suspension situation means that instead of players around the first team like Merino, Lascelles & Clark/Mbemba we were playing Saivet, Hanley and the kids. Make no mistake, the fault for this Cup exit lies squarely at Ashley's feet.

I can't put a poll in a thread that's already started. That's the responsibility of the person starting the thread. fwiw I predicted a Nottingham win

Apparently he's going to be rested.

To be fair, Wolfy's career in professional football coaching eclipses that of Rafa Benitez.

I hope so. One of those, plus a 40 goal a season striker, a marauding Left Back and an imperious 'keeper.

Cue. Sorry.

Ferreyra?

Ahh, Marquee, He's a false demi-regista who also plays an inverted libero role. Good signing if true. Loads of rumours this morning about Riviere and De Jong heading out the door. Happy if this means we're bringing in more players, but De Jong was actually the only #10 on our books I had faith in. Based on little more than cameos and hope.

Dark Tower has been panned by fans of the books so it's not something I'm going to make a massive effort to watch.

No, he doesn't, not in a typical 4-4-2 fashion. But he has played with slight variations to the #10 role. Sometimes Perez has played right up beside Gayle or Murphy or Mitrovic. Diame tends to play a deeper lying role than that. I honestly think the problem is with the one finishing the chances, it's the lads tasked with creating the chances. We're not keeping the ball, let alone controlling it. Had we a real replacement/improvement for Shelvey and a quality #10 I think we'd be in a much better state. Doesn't help we're missing 3 of our first choice defensive unit.

I think if we had stronger options in the squad we could play a different formation from time to time. That said, we needn't change our formation often. We can tweak the system that usual formation uses. E.G. a 4-2-3-1 with Mitrovic up front would lessen the reliance on a creative #10 as the wide men would be able to cross from deeper, or higher balls from defence would be for the wide men to run onto beyond the striker, or he could bring the #10 into the play with knock downs. If we had attacking fullbacks on both flanks the wingers could sit in a narrower 3 and overload the centre of the pitch, looking for overlapping fullbacks, or through balls for Gayle etc. the defensive cover coming from two deeper lying midfielders. 4-2-3-1 can easily morph into 4-1-4-1 or 4-4-2. Perez (for the lack of an actual #10) could get closer to the other striker and look to find pockets of space in the box.

The absence of Shelvey, Lejeune and Dummett made the lack of depth in the squad apparent against Huddersfield. Rafa's "negative" tactics won us the league last season and are our best shot of staying up. Anyone crying out for a more attacking setup dramatically overestimate our players.

Chez's system made the most sense to me. 1pt for correct For 1pt for correct Against 1pt bonus if you're correct with For & Against.

No chance. If it was HF's opinion, or mine, I'd give it a read.

Totally agree, without Shelvey we've little or no creativity or control. I'd hoped that Merino was going to reveal himself to be Alonso, but he may be closer to Acuna. Not writing him off mind, but he's not looking like the string-puller we need. Praet may be in that mould, I've no idea. But a proper #10 would be a huge weight off Shelvey (or whomever's) shoulders and Perez is not that kind of player. He doesn't bring players in, he might work as a forward, but not a #10.

I'll try and keep on top of it, but I've just started a new job, so may have to do it in blocks of 2-3 fixtures. Dunno how busy I'll be yet.

Almost.