David Kelly

No that's all fair enough. I think theres reasons both for and against, I just wasn't at all convinced that using Doumbia's stats for Roma against him was the right way to go (fwiw I seem to remember he scored a few of those Champions league goals against Man City). CT's reason for playing him seems to just be that the others have for the most part failled this season so he's worth a go. Your view seems to be more along the lines of yes they failed when McClaren was in charge but you think Benitez can get more out of them. Personally I'm of the opinion than Perez is definitely not suited as a lone striker regardless of who the manager is because he's not strong or fast enough (I think you have to be one or the other to play that role properly). Mitrovic I'm not so sure about. He's clearly not got much pace but at times (West Ham) he's looked strong enough but others (Stoke) he's looked a bit clumsy and ball just hasn't stuck up with him like it has to. I think Doumbia has the pace reqguired and looks to be a sharper player in the box than the other two (as he showed by almost scoring against Stoke when the other never had a sniff). It might all come down to who has impressed Rafa in training and going from the tales we've heard that probably wont be Doumbia. But Rafa may know what to expect from him and may be a manager who can look beyond what a player shows in training to see their worth in the game.

Performances in the reserves mean less than nothing. I'm not knocking Perez, I think he's a good player that has a very good future ahead of him. But I don't think it's ever going to be as an out and out striker.

It was just your use of stats to back your point up didn't seem to stand up given his record in worlds top club competition is excellent. Your question of why McClaren didn't go with him is more pertinent imo than his lack of success in Rome (where he clearly was given very little chance for whatever reason). Last Saturday was the time I thought he had to play but then Riviere was picked ahead of him. For whatever reason McClaren just didn't want to play him. I think it may been (much the same as with Saivet) that McClaren didn't want to sign him in the first place.

Doesn't Doumbia have a very good record in the champions league? Surely that's the highest level?

There was no need for the clarification there.

I'd be interested in seeing Doumbia get a game myself. He looked really sharp when he came on against Stoke. Ok it was only for a very short time but he looked like a natural goal scorer. Perez is never going to be that and I'm not sure Mitrovic is either. When we're trying to pinch a game then having a natural finisher might work out better. I'm also not convinced about either Perez or Mitrovic as the lone striker and I think it's inevitable that we will go that way tonight. Personally I'd like to see Tiote and Shelvey with Gini ahead and then Aarons/Perez/Townsend in the wide positions. Like Gloomy I'd prefer Sissoko was kept as far away from the team as possible but I imagine he'll be in as always so I'm just hoping that playing for a Champions League winning manager motivates him to put in the performance of a champions league player like he thinks he is.

I'm pretty certain he will start us with that formation. Hopefully Tiote is fit because he might be interested under Rafa and Anita is the other option and he's awful. The one surprise could be starting with Doumbia as the lone striker. Benitez probably has more knowledge of him than anyone at the club and he might feel like he's worth starting with and seeing what we can get out of him.

I'm not expecting anything result wise but I am quite excited to see if Rafa can just get some sort of organised performance from them to set us up for Sunday. He's had very little time to make any real impact though so I won't be getting carried away even if it's a bad as it has been. Maybe the fact that it's on Sky and we've got a new manager will be enough to wake that cunt Sissoko up though.

You're becoming obsessed with Parky.

Where the fuck is Fish when something actually positive is happening?

That lot couldn't convince me to get pissed on a weekend man!

The bounce effect of playing for a manager they have some trust in and respect for is all I'm really hoping for. There's not a great deal of time for anything else now.

Glad that the've appointed him as manager and not head coach. A little bit of a sign of a shift in power immediately. I'm genuinely surprised and happy that this is happening.

Cozy Joes in the bigg market is my go to place for them!

I know I have!

First photo next to the Sir Bobby statue. There's got to be something in the stars with this one!

Nice of you to come out of retirement for this one Jimbo. Get your telly on!

I was just going to post the exact same thing. Guaranteed that this wasn't Charnley's idea even though he was one of the first names on lips of anyone who remotely knows anything about football. He probably hadn't even thought of Moyes or Rogers until their names were in the press.

The Survivalist. I wasn't paying attention during the opening titles so I'm not sure if they explained what has happened to the planet that has led to the situation where food is very scarce and society has broken down. But the story is of a bloke who lives by himself in the woods trying grow, forage and keep a hold of what food he has. Until a mother and daughter find him and move in. If you're a lover of talky films this might not be for you but I thought it was a really interesting little film all the same, with good performances from the three main actors.

They mention that suspiscions remain that he was given certain directions who to pick. I'm not sure where this comes from or whether it makes any sense. Surely the players that he would have been most likely to be instructed to player would be ones we'd brought in like Thauvin, Saivet and Doumbia. I can't see any logical reason why he would have been instructed to play Gouffran, Obertan or Aarons at leftback.

Whoever our manager is that needs to happen.

Well he's the only champions league winning manager we've had. But Dagleish had won the league on a number of occasions and with two teams. You would have to think that they have had at least a partial rethink on the manger role if they have even bothered contacting Benitez.