midds

Aye, as shit as we undoubtedly are, I think we'll match or better the points tally of the current bottom 3. We've got a 6 point cushion on Villa, 4 on Sunderland and we're a couple ahead of Bournemouth. Villa could pass us if Garde gets off to a flier but we could just as easily reel in Norwich, West Brom etc. Not trying to spin this as a successful season at all but I don't think we'll finish in the bottom 3.

Absolutely shit performance. It's a win but we still look awful.

Utter shite. We've had 1 opportunity in the whole game, thankfully we scored from it, but as a whole it's been fucking wank. The goal masks an(other) awful performance.

Got to go looking for the second one now. Can't sit back and just absorb it.

OMG! Jacky Lynchpin is out how can we poss...oh, just play Anita instead. Job done.

Dave Bennett was the catalyst behind that Cup season. Should've received a call from Bobby that year. Remains the last final won by a team wearing stripes iirc.

I thought I'd heard the story before. Amazing how folk still w*** off wanting him back at NUFC. Fucking hell. This is the mindset of a lot of our fans Lad doesn't graft, Pardew was right about him and dealt with him as best he could, despite everything we know about Pardew. It's incredible. Pardew played a blinder iirc mate.

Wonder what he'd say if say Neville and Savage both criticised the same aspect of Terry's game. Both of them say 'his legs have gone' is he going to accept criticism from one but not the other?

Garde is a superb appointment imo. Was wishing we got him in January but we went with Carver instead...

Must be the semi-final I assume?

RTGs gone a bit haywire tonight mind. Some are still in 'frenzy mode' after the derby and the adrenaline is still pumping through their thick fucking skulls to the extent that today's result still hasn't registered yet.

You can guarantee Howe will have had this game circled with a big red pen as soon as the fixtures came out in June. Newcastle (H) - the fixture every other club looks forward to. They'll have had it down as a banker win and I've seen little to think it won't happen tbh. I think we'll play reasonably well and lose 2-1.

Made it to "in the 80's" and had to switch it off.

its more than that though, matic and fabregas have gone from the best midfield pairing to almost useless, hazard is hugely less effective, costa seems to have forgotten he's there to score goals in his pursuit of trying to piss off every single centre back in the league and ivanovic has forgotten how to play football. Terry needed replacing sure but its not as if Zouma or Cahill are bad defenders (also why the hell is zouma playing rb, they spent 20m or so on a left back so play him and put azpilicueta in his natural rb slot or does that just make sense). Absolutley, everything you say is correct but it was more to do with the fact he's lost the players and they're clearly not playing for him any more.

Not getting Stones to replace Terry played a part too imo. Everything I've read about Terry emphasises how influential he is in that club, the power he has is ridiculous - bit like Gerrard at Liverpool. He had a replacement to bring in and it never happened, he's left with a pissed-off John Terry in obvious decline.

Unbelievable. Fucking unbelievable.

Reminds me of Viana a bit. Very talented but totally unsuited to the physicality and pace of the league.

Yeah picking a keeper baffled me aswell. You know what I mean.

Still far too conservative with his team selection imo. at home to Stoke, we're desperate for a win and he picks 7 players purely designed to stop Stoke. Keeper, back 4 and Anita and Tiote, all there to, largely, defend and/or protect. We're neck deep in the shit and he's only brave enough to pick 4 players to break Stoke down and score enough to win it. It's just not good enough. Trying to play a bit of football is admirable but it's utterly futile when it's left to 4 or 5 men to break down an entire team. We're a sheep in wolf's clothing, utterly toothless and unless he has the bottle to go for weaker opposition at home then we'll go down playing nice football.

Dropping £100m+ on De Bruyne and Sterling was the only statement that was needed tbh.

Exactly. It's one less body McClaren can call upon but he offers so little when he appears the effect is negligible. Can pretty much guarantee his replacement won't be worse.

Yeah, fair to say the rot is starting to set in now. The only games he's won since August are WBA, Watford and Charlton with Man U and Liverpool up next.

Good. Problem being that he'll struggle at that level which will put a lot of clubs off.

Genuinely surprised they've over-turned the decision but in reality it doesn't change anything.

Anita Sissoko Wijnaldum as a midfield 3. Mitrovic central then you've got options of playing a combination of Perez, De Jong, Thauvin, Aarons. Cisse on the bench etc. Absolutley no need to see Gouffran in there at all unless we pick up more injuries.