Tash if you arnt American why have you spelt arses incorrectly? I hate America wannabes mate please sort yourself out and regain your identity You're a nice lad don't waste your life trying to be someone else
I reckon Rafa is under-achieving, but only slightly. I'd give him a B. On the one hand, I find his staunch use of 4-2-3-1 irrespective of opponent or available players to be fairly irksome. It's a top 6 tactic being used at a Championship club. The slow pace of our play has seen us look quite ineffective at times and it hasn't taken any great shakes to work us out This squad should not be losing 7 games in this league, and we'll lose a few more yet I'd wager. The team he has to pick from is at least on a par with the one which dismantled Spurs on the last day of last season. That said, look at Villa and Norwich. They both kept more or less the same squad and spent money too. They highlight how difficult the league is. Brighton make it look easier this year because they kept all of their best players and Hughton is a decent manager. We may lose a few more, but I guarantee Leeds and Reading will lose more games than Newcastle this side of Xmas, so we will almost certainly go up. In that respect, Rafa will have achieved what he set out to achieve. The Cup was an embarrassment, but we're far from the headlines so gloriously taken by Leeds, Brighton and Liverpool. I put it down to time of year. It's grim weather, it's a bit of a slog, we've had a rough patch and there's no glamorous signings appearing. Once January goes, we string a few wins together and the team gets its collective tail up, we'll all feel a bit more positive. I think the Summer will see a real renovation of the squad and given our overall financial stability I think we could look forward to a good 2017.
Villa get a U, its been an unmitigated disaster. They spent a small fortune also. I don't think saying look at Villa is a good yardstick. Yes they also came down but they have completely ****ed everything up. If that is the bar then yes Rafa has been pretty good. I'm all for realistic expectations, but you still have to want more than that for your team. Norwich are different, they have just balanced the books and changed very little. Unlike us they didn't spend wildly to stay up. So they did not need to have great turnover. They have just underperformed. Villa are a fair comparison. They have failed miserably. That doesn't mean we've done anything special or particularly good.
It looks like we dodged a bullet with McCormack. Repeatedly not turning up to training, unfit and Bruce dropping him.
I would think a £30 million plus profit in the market represents anything but buying your way up. The players we are using are largely bought by Rafa or (Shelvey) performing better under him and all speculation apart regarding how well other managers may or may not have done in the same place the fact is that it's Rafa who has got us into second place and fighting for the title. I have to say looking at Rafas record as a manager, the excitement he had produced here and the work he has put in at all levels of the club are all excellent and if anyone truly believes we can replace him with anyone even a fraction as good then they truly are deluded. Ffs we have lost a cup game we didn't really want to win. The overreaction to this is quite unbelievable
Most fans would like us to actually finally for once in our long suffering NUFC supporting lives see us bloody well win something and I for one am sick to the back teeth of this wanting to be lovely lovely everyone's second favourite team entertainers piling forward suicidally to win absolutely bugger all. I've yet to meet an Arsenal fan who would swap their boring years trophies for our entertaining teams of losers. I also think there is many a manager who would like very much to be "trundling along" in second place fighting for the title six points clear of third with a game in hand. However I'm sure you have a big list of world class managers waiting for their big chance to replace Rafa who must surely have the best success record of almost any manager in our history SBR apart
The two are not mutually exclusive. You can entertain and win. You can also entertain without being reckless. If we can't manage that in the championship then I'm not sure when the chance will arise.
Entitled to your opinion mate. I think personally its you that is deluded. People are buying into the name for me. I'm just judging brutally on performance. I know what I've watched and its no great shakes. This isn't off the back of a bad cup result. if you look back I've been consistent in what I've said all season. The end of last season, I thought he did a terrific job. The turnaround in performance was remarkable. This use of money is comical. He didn't buy the players that brought us the money in like Sissoko, Gini, Townsend. Hiding behind net spend is silly. You have to look at what budget Rafa had. It is massive in terms of the division, end of story. Having had that much to spend and the freedom he's had, to then be trundling along unimpressively is not anywhere near excellence. We'll never achieve anything or get close to winning anything if we believe that is excellence. I don't need a list of managers to replace him either, as I've never suggested I want him replaced. He just needs to do better in my opinion. As I've said judging someone's performance is one thing. I still fully support the club and manager come match day. Seen as you ask though I'd break the bank for Marcelo Gallardo
Very true but it's not Rafas way and if we win something his way I for one won't be complaining although we would all like to do it the Keegan way
Don't agree that we are trundling along although I agree we could and should be doing better but we are on target and in comparison to what's gone before it is excellent as is the long overdue revamp of all levels of the club. Galliardo ha ha good one. Not sure he is champing at the bit to come here tho Let's hope for a good second half to the season
The good thing is we have a deep squad compared to the rest of the division and if you combine that with the rotation, we should one of the fresher teams come April and May
Do I remember that, statistically, Rafa's teams ALWAYS excel in the second half of the season? I'm sure I read that somewhere. It may well be he's say somewhere not that bothered about new players. He has a rejuvenated Atsu returning for the wing berth, Mbemba/Diame back for depth and Shelvey surely isn't getting done for racial abuse again this season. Of our youth prospect, Barlaser has been about the safest, even if he's been bang average, so central midfield maybe isn't suffering too heavily. Gayle is back, there's no pesky cup matches to bother with - all in all if we're not promoted, no matter how unspectacular that progress is, it'll be a fairly remarkable failure. I mean, I agree that he should have shown more flexibility by now and we should have won with more flair than we've shown. That said, not sure we'll be winning ANY games 0-6 (QPR), 4-0 (Rotherham), 4-1 (Reading) or 3-0 (Birmingham)!! One point I wanted to clarify here - allegedly we played 3 at the back in the cup vs Oxford. I say allegedly because I couldn't see it, BBC Radio Newcastle are always a little short on detail/high on criticism. But I have since read Haidara was playing CB. First, that worries me because a change of tactic made us play worse than ever. And second, on which planet is Haidara a centre back? Clarification very much needed here.
