David Kelly

Tough one that, but probably yes.

Whilst it's an overreaction on their part, especially compared to the lack of outrage against their board after the nonce revelations, I do think the reporters position is pretty untenable there now. You can't call the people who you're reporting to scummy cunts and do your job (even if that's exactly what they are). It's also stupid on his part to not make sure the offending comments were deleted from his account the moment he interviewed for the job. Much the same as it's stupid that Andre Gray has been caught out with his offensive tweets.

Fancy us to learn the lesson from Saturday.

It was a truly dreadful performance, probably our worst of the season. A few of the players came out last week and said losing the first two games was the best thing that could have happened. Well I think equally, Tuesday's 6-0 was the worst thing that could have happened. I don't think their heads were right for this game at all. None of them turned up at the beginning of the game, and if you don't start with the right attitude it's difficult to change it as the game goes on. I also think Rafa deserves criticism for his team selection. I'm not concerned about rotation but I'm sure he knows that most teams are going to come here and just try to defend and hit us on the brake. He must have faced this at Madrid and other teams he's managed so he should be able to work out a way to counteract it. For me, starting with two up front would have gone a long way towards it. It would have but them more on the back front and we might have been able to get Gayle into the game more. He's going to struggle being up against two massive centrebacks (both of them seemed a good couple of inches taller than Mitro) by himself. I think he also needs to look at how he's using Diame. I still think he's finding his full fitness but I don't think where he's playing is helping him either. He's not a forward but he's playing as almost a second striker and it's not allowing him to be in the game enough. He'd be better off further back and I'm sure he'd boss the middle of the park. No need to panic at all like. Six wins on the bounce is great going and it's difficult for any team in any division to keep runs like that going. They just need to work hard and start again (oh and drop Dummett) which I sure is what Rafa will have them doing.

I think you're asking a bit hoping for stuff from the games or books to carry over on to the films. I'm a massive Star Wars fan and I've never read any of the books or played any games other than the original arcade one or the Lego ones. The films are the only thing you should look at as cannon as they are the only thing that a lot of the fans give a toss about. Personally I loved TFA and am really looking forward to the new one. Any gender bias's don't spoil anything for me and I think KCG's has got it pretty much spot on with regards to Ren. He's just being used for his name and while he's clearly pretty powerful compared to most people, he's not a massive Jedi force.

I really enjoyed Green Room.

I used to love The Next Generation but holodeck stuff was bollocks.

Maybe, how long does it take to get up to speed though, and how is he going to do it without any game time? I'm all for giving players time and not throwing them straight in and expecting them to be up to speed but I'd expect him to get minutes here and there.

Surely a 30 yr old is going to want to play? Ok he might be happy if he's not in the team every week but he's only started one game so far against Cheltenham and a few minutes in the next game. He looked fine in both of those games so I find it odd that he's not even been in the last two squads. Also if he's got eyes he must see how bad Dummett is and he's getting a game ahead of him.

Can't see him being happy with that. He's only early 30's isn't he?

I think Alex's post above gives you the context. If you haven't seen the film I can understand that Renton's post does just come across as weird though. Would have seemed for normal from MF.

Aye Westworld (they're making a tv series out of it dontcha know) is only one part of the park. I have an idea that part of it may have also been based on Rome but that might just have been a dream of mine.

Gouffran is providing much more balance to the team since he came in. Rafa didn't seem to have complete confidence in Aarons to the point that he played Anita as wide player ahead of him. Gouffran is never going to be one of the stars but he's justified his place in the squad and not just for that goal. And of course Lascelles never played for Pardew so I don't think even the kings level of incompetence could have done any damage to him. He certainly has flourished under Rafa though.

More and more keepers are punching these days because of the way the balls move in the air. There's a fear if you try and catch the ball and it moves, then you just tap it out to the onrushing forward. The save he made against Derby last week is a perfect example of this. I don't think there's anything wrong with it and it's just something we, as fans, need to get used to. I do have a bit of a worry with some of the crosses he's come out and flapped at though. There's nothing wrong with punching but flapping is never a good technique. I suspect this is just down to confidence though after the first couple of games and I think you can certainly see improvement. Of the others, Ritchie looks far and away our best player now. He's been an excellent replacement for Townsend. I do think Hayden could be the real future star though. He's looked solid from his first game and just seems to be getting better and better. By the sounds of it he was starting to spray balls all around the park on Tuesday. Along with Ritchie he'd be one of the first names on my team sheet now. Gayle looks like a quality finisher and I think he will flourish if he gets the opportunity to play with Mitro (or Murphy). I don't think he will ever shine as a lone forward though, especially not if we go up. Diame has looked so far like he's trying to get up to full fitness. But he's looking better and better every game and I think he'll provide a lot of drive from midfield. I'd like to see him play a little deeper though. I remember him playing for West Ham there and he was a monster. Either way though, I think he will do a very good job this season and beyond. I don't really think we've seen enough of the rest of them to make a real decision. And Clarke in particular can't have been full of confidence when he arrived. That goal on Tuesday will probably have done him the world of good. I really want to see more of Gamez. It seems a little strange how little he has been used so far. At the moment he seems happy enough with things (he's very positive on Twitter towards the team) but you can't imagine that will continue indefinitely. And exactly how Rafa will use him is a bit of a mystery to me. Rafa seems to love Anita and he is doing really well as a defensive rightback and we now have Yedlin to play the attacking role. On the left the situation is mirrored with Dummett and Lazaar. Obviously I'd love to see the back of Dummett but it doesn't look likely so far. So when and where does Gamez play?

Anita has really only been a useful rightback since Rafa arrived. He barely ever played there prior to that. He still looks like a shite midfielder. Gouffran is clearly the answer to this question. He'd been rendered worse than useless by Pardew and had contributed anything positive for a good couple of seasons. This was despite him being a decent squad member before that. Obviously he's playing against weaker opposition now but I don't think anyone can argue against Rafa's influence. I think if we were playing in the premier league tomorrow he'd still be a useful squad player. I'm glad no one has voted for Dummett. He was shit under Pardew, shit under Carver, shit under McClaren and he's shit now. He's just shit and no coach will be able to change that.

Looks like one too.

I hear there's a series of it starting soon. Can't believe anyone of a reasonable age hadn't seen the film let alone heard of it. It used to be on the telly all the time. I watched a film called Coherence the other night. Not sure if I saw it recommended on here but it was pretty good. It's a really low budget film about some friends having a dinner party while a comet passes close overhead and kicks off some strange happenings. It's pretty interesting and much more intelligent than most Hollywood sci fi.

Aye he's qualified now apparently. I know this has been his first season where he's really exploded but seven centuries, two double centuries (including carrying his bat the other day) and over 1500 runs in division 1 at nearly 70 is unreal. No one can touch what he done this season tbh. Both Duckett and Hameed have scored less at a lower average and Duckett has been playing in division 2. They both look like they could potentially be very good players given their age and what they've done but it seems incredibly harsh on Jennings. I wonder what the chances are of losing him back to South Africa. I listened to the Durham match the last few days and it was an outstanding game. It swung back and forth so many times. It really was a great advert for longer form cricket. Stokes and Onions were absolutely superb yesterday afternoon. Stokes went five and a half overs without conceding a run at one point which really upped the pressure and lead to the wickets. Great for them to survive and I think they could still even finish forth if they beat Hampshire next week. It'll be a hard season for them next year though without Stoneman and Borthwick. They need to do some work to replace them two because without them they really only have Jennings scoring.

Duckett, Ansari, Batty & Hameed in the Test squad for Bangladesh. Think I would have given Roy and Jennings ago. Roy's seems to have the temperament for international cricket so I think I would have given him the chance to come in for Vince. And I don't know what a Durham batsman has to do to get a game. Not sure there's much point in taking Batty at his age too.

I also like that all the blame for the their shit pre season and transfer window is being completely laid at the door of the FA. Yes it's the FA that are withholding transfer funds and persuading transfer targets that Sunderland his a shit hole and they are a club that knowingly allowed a nonce to play.

I love their belief that they relegated us. They were the worst of the 17 teams that finished above us but it was them that relegated us. Their complete lack of any logic keeps on going year after year.

I wonder if they have spent more time in the bottom three than any other club.

Anyone (Happy Face I'm looking at you here) know the last time we managed that?

Shelvey's second was fantastic