ohmelads

Given what we know of how Ashley operates, it seems reasonable to assume he's playing a game of brinkmanship and is happy to walk away and risk relegation if he doesn't get a great deal. He's done the same with countless transfer windows, and even two relegations don't seem to have taught him anything. Both times the club bounced back and he probably thinks we can just do it again. It's a risky investment for a buyer. Whoever takes over has the imminent threat of relegation and will have to reverse a decade of under-investment in facilities and players. Is Ashley factoring that into the price? I doubt it. He's getting global free TV advertising of his main business - he knows he's got a good thing going. If we stay up, he'll probably raise the asking price.

All our chances came down the left with Atsu, and I reckon Murphy would've caused far more problems than Ritchie on the other side. I'm not sure what the plan was with Ritchie, and to be fair we did piss away enough chances to win in the first half, but in the second half we needed to gamble and we didn't. Teams like Swansea at home probably represent our only realistic chance of staying up and we have to roll the dice against teams like this.

He assisted the equaliser against Liverpool. That perfectly weighted ball through their defence, which Joselu did his best to screw up. I agree with what you're saying though.

We went down with literally no fan unrest so I'm not sure it makes any difference at all I agree with you but we say that with hindsight and both relegations, as with all our relegation battles, were very close. On both occasions we went down, 1 win in any game would've saved us. Likewise in other seasons, 1 or 2 losses would've sent us down but we stayed up. Worrying about stuff like that is alien to Liverpool and Man Utd fans. If we did a Villa or a sunderland and were confirmed relegated long before the end of the season, then I could definitely see a massive effort to get Ashley out. Sadly though, with the TV money now, he isn't going to sell unless he gets an excellent deal for himself.

The thing is, relegation or survival is likely to be close either way, and many fans feel that fan unrest would only seal our relegation. Something Liverpool and Man Utd fans don't have to worry about. I've always believed we should get him out at all costs but with it always being a close thing (both times we were relegated by a point or two if memory serves, and other times we've survived by the skin of our teeth), I do understand the large number of fans who worry that we won't recover from one relegation too many and that we need to keep our heads above water until he sells up.

I think if you surround him with pace, he can be a very effective player. I get the criticism about his lack of energy, but Michael Carrick has been very effective in that role as a deep lying playmaker and he was always similarly slow. The problem is, Shelvey's in a team with almost no pace around him. When you've got people like Ritchie, Perez and Joselu, a lot of your better balls end up wasted. In fact, Murphy and Atsu are our only pacy attacking players, and I think they've never been in the same team.

I wouldn't. He's a good finisher but he disappears if he isn't given decent service. We can't afford any passengers at the minute and he doesn't do enough work or have the hold-up play for a team that's struggling. I remember Cisse was often a passenger towards the end of his time here for similar reasons, with games just passing him by. Sure you can blame the service, but we need someone who can make the ball stick up front and relieve some pressure, and/or chase down defenders and defend from the front. I'd go with Mitro and Perez, back to the 4231 that was getting us results. If you have no attacking quality, all you can do is make yourself hard to beat and hope you can nick enough games 1-0 to keep your head above water.

We weren't great today and Watford had far too many chances but we created enough to hurt them. If we had a Defoe or a Llorente, these games against the likes of Watford, Burnley, Bournemouth, Brighton, and Huddersfield could well have gone the other way. Our season will hinge on signing a striker, which obviously should have happened in summer and everyone knew that at the time. I think we can get away without any other signings if we get a half decent striker in. If we don't, survival is touch and go, as most of us expected when the transfer window closed. As usual under Ashley, we just have to hope 3 teams are sh*tter than us. I love Rafa but whatever's gone on between him and Mitro, he has to make a decision now. Either give him a chance, or give a youth player a chance. Gayle's earned the benefit of the doubt on previous form but Joselu has had far more chances than Mitrovic has ever had and shown far less.

I was one of those who was wary of Ashley from the very beginning, but this time it feels different. Yes, there are even bigger c*nts than Ashley around, and we don't know anything about Staveley or PCP's motives, but if Mike Ashley stays and continues to spend less than virtually all of the Premier League sides, Rafa will almost certainy walk away and relegation will likely follow. We've been relegated under Ashley twice now, and flirted with relegation in most of the other seasons, so that isn't a pessimistic forecast. We can only guess what Staveley/PCP have in mind. It's 10 years since Ashley bought the club, and it's a different league now. Anyone coming in to buy the club for 300m surely knows that investment is required to compete in the Premier League as it is now. I don't know what Staveley's football knowledge is, but the fact she tried to buy Liverpool and was involved in the Man City deal suggests that this bid for us is not an opportunistic bid on a whim. At the very least she's been following the football market for a long time, and surely knows the kind of money flying around. I think most sensible people can also see that Ashley has made huge mistakes, and is extremely fortunate to be looking at a profit. If Rafa hadn't shown up at his door wanting the manager's job, who knows where the club would be right now. Surely anyone wanting the club now would want to take it in a new direction. Ashley's making a lot of dosh out of it but that's a massive blag as opposed to a result of good decisions.

The BBC are calling it a thrashing, which on paper it is, but the scoreline flatters them. They were fortunate to go in ahead at half time, but it's true that at 3-1 we never really looked like staging a fightback. Ultimately the goal right on half time killed us and we were beaten by a more clinical team with better forwards. The game emphasised what we already know: Manquillo was targeted all game, Lascelles proved a big miss against a team willing to put constant high balls into the box, and we didn't have the strikers to punish a dodgy Man Utd defence. On a more positive note, I think Rafa has accepted that none of our forwards are good enough to play the lone front role, and that we'll probably need to score more goals than we are to avoid relegation. It's better to win 1 and lose 1 than to draw 2, so it's better to have a go more often than not. Maybe he could have parked the bus, but with some better finishing on our side, this game could have gone very differently. It was always going to be a huge ask. I hope he sticks with the 4-4-2 for Watford and West Brom.

Can understand the lineup. Was a good performance at Southampton and we were unlucky not to win in a tough away fixture. The team looked balanced. Elliott should probably save the first and the second was a gift. Lejeune was excellent bar the mistake and has a full 90 under his belt. Also add in the fact Clark's last performance wasn't great. It's harsh on Merino but Hayden's goal and performance has probably clinched it. Will be interesting to see if Mitro makes it off the bench.

Why is anyone asking Bellamy and Dyer what Newcastle fans think in 2017? They left over 10 years ago. Shall we ask Celestine Babayaro what Chelsea fans think? Or how about getting Shearer in to talk about the mood among Blackburn fans? We were in and around the top 4 for half of Dyer's time at the club (he was also injured for half of that time). We failed to invest at a key time while everyone else strengthened and we predictably slid down the league. Appointing Souness was an unmitigated disaster as well. Fans knew this at the time and were vocal about the club's direction or lack of it. Same as happens at many other clubs where fans give a sh*t. None of this means that Toon fans in 2017 think they belong in the top 4, and it certainly doesn't mean Dyer or Bellamy are qualified to talk about it.

If this is a correct suspension then fair enough - I'll look forward to seeing a dozen suspensions handed out every week for similar - and far worse - incidents. Do you disagree that the two incidents at Huddersfield were worse? I really don't think the Huddersfield stamp was a stamp at all. Yeah it's not a 'stamp', I just figured people would immediately know the incident I'm referring to. Like Shelvey it's a 'trod', and equally inexcusable. Both incidents are far worse than Mitrovic's. Mitro's reputation has got him this ban. You will see worse every week without retrospective bans.

More like I assume you were wearing those during the Huddersfield match? Point is simple. Give out a 3 match ban for that, then you have to give it out for similar and worse incidents. Which doesn't happen.

If this is a correct suspension then fair enough - I'll look forward to seeing a dozen suspensions handed out every week for similar - and far worse - incidents. Do you disagree that the two incidents at Huddersfield were worse?

Come on it's an absolute nothing incident. The ref saw it and dealt with it correctly. It isn't a red, it isn't a yellow and it shouldn't be a suspension. Watch it again, forget about Alexander Mitrovic for a second and imagine you're just watching two players. There's no way Harry Kane gets even a yellow for that. The only reason the FA suspended him is because the Sky pundits hysterically told them to. Far worse incidents at Huddersfield (a stamp and a kick to the head) went unpunished because the media didn't even bother to highlight them. That is the real issue here, and the one the club should be highlighting. Instead we just bend over and take it.

Think Shelvey will be dropped to the bench. Merino's made the decision easier for him. It's a chance to send a message to Shelvey and the rest of the squad, while rewarding Hayden and Merino for their West Ham performance.

Think the focus should be squarely on the FA here. Two blatant red card incidents at Huddersfield have gone completely ignored and yet this, THIS, gets flagged up for a ban? The club need to call them out on it - stand up for ourselves. Bring up these massive discrepancies in press conferences. Ferguson never took any sh*t off them and we need a bit of that. The stats (which someone put up recently) speak for themselves - no one sent off against us since 2013 and we've had 15 in that time. You can't have different rules for different clubs. You can be sure we're not the only club that doesn't trust them. Why not make it public every time and point out the even more blatant incidents they turn a blind eye to? As it stands we're acting like a small club - whenever the FA turn up we bend over.

Surely the club will point to the two Huddersfield incidents which were far worse. The FA/Prem have a history of shafting us though.

Players are getting away with this stuff week in, week out all over the league. Look at Huddersfield last week; a dangerous high boot to Mbemba's head that drew blood and the ref did nothing, then another standing on Hayden's stomach which was worse than Shelvey's bizarre and stupid trod on Alli - we didn't even get a free kick. Diego Costa for example is a much bigger c*nt than Mitrovic. The league is full of c*nts who the media make excuses for - let's at least the boy a chance. There are far dirtier players but Sky Sports etc. just go after easy targets to create a narrative. His record stands up to anyone in our squad and is as good as Gayle's. Which is why I have said he needs to make sure the ref has no reason to reach for the red. He's marked and won't get away with playing like that. I like Mitrovic and I agree that he should be allowed to develop but he's not special enough to look the other way regarding his indiscipline like Suarez was for Liverpool for example. He needs to play with a calmer head. I don't see how that outrages people so much? Yeah I see your point - he's a marked man much like Shelvey and needs to be more careful than most. I guess I'm venting at that fact as well as the media influence on referees and fans which is massive. He's no angel but there are far worse players in this league than Mitro. Other teams seem to support their own 'dirty' players, but I just don't understand NUFC fans who want Mitro to fail based on on a couple of reds which he might have got away with on another day.

In fairness, one was against Forest and another was a sub goal against an already defeated West Ham, fair play to him as he's done well with what he's been given so far this season. But i don't particularly see signs of improvement yet. Fair enough but he hasn't really had a serious run of games since he joined the club. His goal return in spite of that is pretty decent and let's not forget he is 22 right now. Target men tend to mature slower than quick youngsters and let's not forget we have let go of plenty of young players only to regret it. As far as I'm concerned he simply hasn't had enough of a run in the side, but has certainly done enough to keep him. I worry about two things if we get rid - the first is obviously that Ashley will not replace or will do it on the cheap, and the second is that someone else will give him a proper run as he hits his peak years and we go on to regret it.

Players are getting away with this stuff week in, week out all over the league. Look at Huddersfield last week; a dangerous high boot to Mbemba's head that drew blood and the ref did nothing, then another standing on Hayden's stomach which was worse than Shelvey's bizarre and stupid trod on Alli - we didn't even get a free kick. Diego Costa for example is a much bigger c*nt than Mitrovic. The league is full of c*nts who the media make excuses for - let's at least the boy a chance. There are far dirtier players but Sky Sports etc. just go after easy targets to create a narrative. His record stands up to anyone in our squad and is as good as Gayle's.

If he gets a ban for that then the two Huddersfield players are looking at worse.

He's got at least as good a Prem record as anyone else in our squad. He has 10 goals in 22 Prem starts (plus 13 sub appearances). For comparison, Gayle has 15 in 29 Prem starts (plus 37 sub appearances), if you count his Palace days. Ridiculous that people here want him sent off considering the two Huddersfield players who got nothing last week (or since) for much worse. From the evidence of Joselu and Mitro today, and our performance at Huddersfield once Gayle came off for Joselu, it's clear we play better with a big man up top. Not surprising given we are now a small fish in a big pond and can't afford any passengers. Gayle to me is a penalty box player who will take good chances and could be a good impact sub for us, but in our current situation where we're gonna be up against it more often than not, we need the ball to stick up front in order to take the pressure off the rest of the team. Gayle is fairly quick but he's not quick enough to make teams at this level really fear us on the counter. They just push up and squeeze our midfield.

We haven't improved our first XI since the Championship and Huddersfield have. Gayle was especially anonymous. When Joselu came on for him, it felt like we were back to 11 men. Gayle needs to be dropped next game because we can't afford any passengers.