ohmelads

I see BBC Sport have went out of their way to mention our low attendance twice on their writeups. Funnily enough they have failed to mention our other attendances all season. I wonder why? Edit: They're now praising Liverpool for getting 30,000.

It's an easy conclusion to come to but if you live in other cities you realise we're not the only ones who target players who are struggling. I went to uni in Liverpool a few years back and they gave plenty abuse to their sh*tter players like Biscan, Salif Diao, and even in the season they won the CL, Traore was given plenty of criticism and cries of 'for f*ck sake' every time he dropped a bollock. Similarly many fans had little patience for Houllier, and prior to their winning CL run, the season they finished 5th, many fans doubted Benitez. The difference really was that they signed players that were both talented, cared and were injury-free and we didn't. Our better players like Woodgate and Dyer were never fit, while those who had talent and tried such as Bellamy were loved by most toon fans. Even Robert, who was as frustrating as they come, was appreciated for the quality he could produce. Most fans appreciate quality and desire and when we have a player with both we love them like any other club. Sadly Bellamy was utterly mishandled by Souness, Robert lost interest, Shearer retired, the crocks like Dyer and Woodgate missed too many matches, Solano became old and we were on the wane. These were the big factors that cost the club dearly, and the signing of Owen and a number of other flops at considerable expense rapidly accelerated our decline. It's easy to point to the fans but while this club has 'broken' some players it has made others. If you look at players like Les Ferdinand or Ginola, or more recently Robert or Bellamy, their careers really took off when they joined us. Milner was not given harsh treatment by our fans at all, the mistake was probably in loaning him out to a rival Premier League club where he developed as a footballer, settled in and wanted to stay. If you look at other clubs they give their struggling players a hard time. Lucas at Liverpool, or Pascal Cygan who was a joke figure at Arsenal, there are loads of examples. The difference wasn't the fans but the management of the situation. Getting the best out of your players, moving them on at the right time and bringing in the right players, is the mark of a good manager. If you look at my examples of players who exceeded at Newcastle they were brought in and managed by good managers.

I'd love to see Shearer ply his trade somewhere else first. I believe he can be a big manager here but wouldn't want him to jump into the job for obvious reasons. Let him make his mistakes elsewhere and build up a profile, contacts, methods and all the rest of it, and if he cuts it he can come to us a seasoned manager.

Spot on. You only have to look at Man City to see that good individuals don't automatically make a good defence. They have top class defenders with pace, power and experience but they let in bucketloads because they don't defend as a unit or as a team. Of course defences need a leader and it's true that they can leak goals when a key man is taken out, but I think that's often as much to do with the unit losing its balance and understanding. You rarely see one defender come in and shake up a leaky back four do you? A defence is a unit and this season Coloccini has been part of a solid unit - he deserves credit for that. We should keep mind of the level we're playing at mind. He may well get exposed in the Premiership again, but I'd give him a chance on this season's form, keeping the same back four always builds an understanding. We were once playing Champions League football with Andy O'Brien for f*ck sake - it's about building a unit which has a strong understanding and for the first time in years we might just have that. Should promotion come and the rebuilding starts then let's get some defensive cover before we go selling, and get some midfielders in.

What I like is that we'd be signing a player on the rise. We could always go with proven mediocrity, or someone on his way down from mediocrity such as a Harewood. I'd rather take a player with his best years ahead of him. You have to either take a punt on these players or sign the finished article and we are in no position to do the latter. I would rather take the punt on Beckford than land another Premiership journeyman or a big ego looking for a final payday. I think this is pretty low-risk if we can get him on the cheap. His contract is running out and Leeds know they have to sell, not to mention a player coming from league one would probably not expect astronomical wages. There's an element of risk to every signing, but I have a good feeling about this one - he's in form and very high in confidence. He showed no fear at Old Trafford which is more than can be said for a lot of our players in recent years.

I like the way Capello has handled it. Only players fit and in form will be on the plane to South Africa - those are his principles and he has by and large stuck to them. In the past we had a wealth of good centre backs and good midfielders but the first teamers knew who they were. Come the big tournaments you always felt there was a bit of complacency. We now seem to have genuine competition for places in several areas, particularly right wing and noone feels assured of their place. That's the way it should be - players should feel privileged to have earned their place among fierce competition and wear the shirt with pride. In recent years I think we have lost that. People need to stop judging Owen off what he did 5 or 10 years ago. That's a bloody long time in football. Judge him off the last two years or indeed the last two months. Look at his fitness, his goals, his playing time and his team play and who can seriously tell me he deserves to be on the plane to the world cup? It would go against what Capello is trying to create and that's why I am confident he will not be going to the world cup.

Another player leeching massive amounts of money from the club and contributing absolutely nothing. Glad to see the back of him.

Relieved it's not the f*cking mackems. Not really any tasty ties there.

Be interesting to see how the two teams line up.

So you accept it could f*ck up our season. More games often means more injuries. We have 46 games in the Championship, not 38. That means 8 more games than Premier league clubs. It means midweek fixtures all over the place. West Brom and Notts Forest would love to see us go on a cup run. I can't deny I would too, but that's because I'm a fan thinking with the heart and not the head. Thinking with the head for a second, we're taking our chances with this squad and we all know the consequences if we don't go up. Look at our squad and how our youngsters got on against Peterborough. We haven't got the squad for it - 2 centre backs and 2 wingers is not enough.

It won't do much for morlae but I'd hope it'd act as a f***ing wake up call. Half of them strut around that pitch like they're too good that they don't have to put in much effort. We have been s*** this season, and haven't even stepped out of 2nd gear. If we carry on as we are, Hughton will think he's a tactical god, Ashley will think he has a team that can win the PL, and the likes of Nolan and Butt will think they're Champions League standard players. A defeat by a decent PL side would be a slap in the face and tell them to pull their fingers out and actually put some effort in. That's one way of looking at it. Or they could just wilt under the criticism and feel sorry for themselves. We saw them do it last season - that final day against Villa was a disgrace and they'd had slaps in the face all season. I can only ever want us to win, but I would take a good look at our squad before getting excited about the prospect of a cup run. Two injuries could turn our season around - take out Taylor and Nolan and it could be the difference between 1st and 3rd. We have been fortunate with injuries so far this year - we have no cover in central defence at all and only two natural wingers. We saw what happened last time Taylor and Colo got crocked - our lead at the top is still a slender one if you ask me and I think people are forgetting that a couple of key injuries would cripple us. This season is all about the bigger picture. I will always want us to win but I wouldn't shed any tears if we bowed out the FA Cup early and won the championship.

It's pretty obvious that drawing the mackems would be horrible when you look at the two squads. No they're nothing special themselves, but they have a number of players who would walk into our team. A defeat by the mackems, espescially an embarassing one, could crumble our season, not to mention we'd never hear the end of it. You'd have to be nuts to want to play them right now.

Those Ferguson quotes confirm what we already knew - which was that Owen was only ever meant to be a bit-part player who would come off the bench now and again, in much the same way Solskjaer was used.

I disagree. From my experience (purely guts, not done the statistics) - top Championship strikers have much higher failure rate than top Championship defenders in the Premiership. A lower league striker would only succeed in the Premiership if he has an outstanding attribute. I don't see how Jermain Beckford is outstanding in any particular attribute (apart from scoring), it is simply too much an ask/expectation for him to score regularly in Premiership in my opinion. We need Beckford to replace Harewood, but I am worried that we would spend too much on him for essentially half season of productive work. All fair points but I would assume his outstanding attribute is finishing. I don't know anything about him other than today's game and what others have said, but if he is a fox in the box he might well give us something vital that we don't have already - and a key ingredient for staying up if he's good enough. Following on with your logic, we know Newcastle will not afford (or attract?) a striker who has scored that many at the top level. We can either take a punt on someone who has done it in the lower leagues with a point to prove, or take someone who has not quite done it at a higher level. OR go for a foreigner who ticks one of those boxes. Personally, I'd rather have the form player, if our past signings are anything to go by. Bellamy was an inspired signing and when you look at our other attempts, maybe we are better off going down that road, espescially when you look at the potential fees involved.

First I've seen of him today. I have heard a few people saying he lacks clever running off the ball but I thought his runs were pretty dangerous today and he was involved in every attack. Played the offside trap well to get through one on one, decent effort just flashed wide of the post. Earned the free-kick which hit the bar and made a nuisance of himself all game, not to mention the goal. This may not have been Ferguson's first XI but it was a strong team and it was at Old Trafford. I won't judge him off one game but it takes a confident striker to go to Old Trafford and put in that kind of performance. I don't believe we should be stockpiling average strikers but if there's an opportunity to get a bargain, a player who can score goals for us in the Championship, help push for promotion and gel with the team, it'll benefit him and us if we get promotion. At worse he may turn out to be backup at Premiership level but it won't have been a massive amount wasted. The thing about this signing which I would quite like is it is unlike Newcastle to buy an in-form English player from the lower leagues. Admittedly he is 26 but Bellamy, Carrick and plenty others have gone from the lower leagues to excel at a higher level.

In a nutshell.

We could do without this cup, espescially if we end up meeting a Premier League side and getting spanked. Drawing the mackems with this team just doesn't bear thinking about. I find it impossible not to want us to win but we should put a weakened team out for the replay. Promotion is what this season is all about - we're not going to win this cup so it's just going to give us fatigue and injuries. I was surprised how strong today's lineup was to be honest - wasn't it the league cup where Ameobi got crocked?

N'Zogbia definitely has an attitude problem but I think a lot of people underrate him. I might be wrong but I can see his career panning out a bit like Benayoun at Liverpool, who showed flashes of raw talent without setting the world alight, before eventually finding his feet at Liverpool in his late 20s. Zog's not the best positionally but he has a lot of raw talent. He needs to find a club that can accommodate and play to his strengths and minimise his weaknesses. He has a very good touch, balance, pace and dribbling and has shown he can strike a football well. To top it all off he rarely ever gets injured. Like Benayoun, I can see him getting a bigger move further down the line, I really can. He needs to sort out his attitude but he has the ability.

Spot on. If you're going to get rid of someone and replace him, why sack him and then mess around for ages with a caretaker, losing a transfer window while you try and repair the situation? How is that more professional? They have acted quickly and decisively and brought in a manager with pedigree who has his best years ahead of him, with a transfer window to bring his men in and time to acclimatise them for next season. Sure there might be a transition period, but they hardly looked a well drilled outfit under Hughes did they? I seem to remember Chelsea were criticised after they pulled a similar stunt with Ranieri. They only went and won the league for the following two seasons - a young manager with pedigree, one with his best years ahead of him. Mark's mates in the press keep pointing at the two defeats thing but we're not daft - drawing against weaker teams is not good. Failing to beat teams like Hull is not good, whatever way you spin it. I don't think Man City's form has improved much since he took over at the club. He's been there 15 months, spent a quarter of a billion and I don't see any significant signs of progress. He's got to admit he's just not done a very good job.

We're best off getting rid for whatever we can. He's easily the most overrated player in our squad and besides, he is never fit. If he's on, say, 50 grand a week, that's over 2 million a year in wages we'd be saving. Not to mention the intangible benefits, like removing another leech from the club and a problem player from the dressing room. Not sure who'll have him, though.

I think the rebuilding job over summer, if we got promoted, would be so big that any players we can tie down on the cheap will free up money for other areas of the squad. If we can get him cheap, or even free, it's one less problem. Not just from the financial point of view, but he's settled at the club and if we buy someone else they're a gamble, need time to settle in etc etc. If we went up we would simply have to invest in a striker, a creative midfielder, a winger, we basically need a bigger goal threat and those players don't come cheap. Adding a right back to that list is an unwelcome headache. Simpson is pretty limited and the Premier League would be a big step up, but I think it's a case of beggars can't be choosers.

And this is my point. Of course at the moment he shouldn't be going, but say he was scoring regularly in the next 20-25 games. Surely he must be at the very least a serious consideration? Well let's have that debate when he actually starts playing and scoring regularly. It's a long time since he did that.

We can only go off his track record. In a relegation battle he quipped we could reach the top 6, and sold first team players. So I imagine he is feeling pretty complacent with our league position and will look to sell if any half-decent offers come in for his players. Hughton won't complain - how can he? He just feels privileged to have the job and won't ask awkward questions. The gaps in the squad will be filled by more loan signings, in the hope we can limp our way to promotion on the cheap. I'd love to be proven wrong, but he's been at the helm long enough, failed to learn his lesson time and time again, that I think we know what to expect.

You only have to look at how the England squad has done without him. His only hope of going to the world cup is an injury to Berbatov and then maybe he can forge a partnership with Rooney in the league. At the moment he's not even getting league games let alone goals. He has a lot of convincing to do, he has to be playing and scoring regularly. A few goals against Wolfsburg and this debate has opened up again, it's absurd. It's years since he proved his form and fitness. Going to the world cup with excuses ready about match fitness is not something I imagine Capello will accept. He's looking to build a winning team and to date has not considered Owen a part of that. It'll take regular football and regular goals to convince him otherwise, not cameo appearances and a few goals in Europe.

All teams who go up have momentum, because they have just pissed on their own league. And most of them go straight back down. There is a big gulf in class between the Premier League and the Championship. Nolan and Ameobi looked piss poor in the Premier League and dominate here, that tells its own story. We may be top and winning plenty of games but we are scraping a lot of wins against poor opposition. We were relegated with the same squad plus 40m of players. We haven't signed anyone bar Pancrate and loans so it's a much weaker squad than the one which went down. Take out the loan signings and the squad is threadbare again. We need to improve the first team and we need backup - in short we need to invest to stay up. We would struggle to beat the likes of Hull and Wolves with this squad, we'd certainly struggle to rack up 40 points.