James

It's going to be a good contest because I thought there were a number of improvements to cisse's game, notably he was knicking the ball from people's feet and feeding it out to Wijnaldum and Sissoko, allowing us to attack quite high up the pitch.

I appreciate Mitrovic wanted to make a mark with that tackle, however by getting that yellow so soon it was one of the contributory factors to our downturn in the last twenty minutes as the yellow prevented him from playing a more aggressive game, made him a much less valuable outlet for the pressure we were under. He will grow out of it.

Apparently ran 2.5km more than any other player...

yes. though he might have been saying we should buy him, not that we are trying to. Seem to recall him saying our scouts had been there and we had said that we might be in touch in the future... But not immediately. Also it's possible that the scouts were there because of the Srnicek tipoff....

Isn't Krejci the one Pavel Srnicek said we are looking at?

Tiote clearly wasn't fit. We lost control when Anita came off, fair play to Anita he did much better than anticipated!

Mbemba should have been much closer to Pelle for the goal and the other headed chance but this can be forgiven in the context of his pre season.

First half performance a breath of fresh air we are asking a lot of questions of the opposition and getting a variety of balls into the box. Big worries are them getting crosses in from the right and we have also lacked dominance in the centre.

Perhaps McClaren wants a winger and we only have Obertan and Aarons. Aarons needs a bit of protection, so McClaren plays Obertan to tell the board: I need a new one.

Completely expect Anita to go hiding. Perhaps McClaren is using Obertan as a 'get me a winger' statement to the board.

That's unfair. He doesn't melt when in contact with water.

It's a Carr signing, agreed my McClaren after a trial. Carr lives in the area and goes to Northampton games when time allows.

Whatever you say about Gouffran he is still significantly superior to Riviere

Can't believe our fans like. We don't know if Mbemba will start? Will Colo need a few weeks? Is Lascelles ready? And who is McClaren's preferred option between Williamson & Taylor? Spoiled for choice man. I think a lot of fans will be disappointed when they see Taylor and Williamson jog out this weekend.

I'm not sure where Anderlecht compare in terms of start of season but I suspect that Mbemba is a little bit off in terms of fitness, especially with the number of training sessions he has probably missed. So a wise manager will probably be resting him until he's got the preseason minutes under his belt. Whilst this is frustrating now it will be better for club and player in terms of future fitness and injuries. So unfortunately a weak defence will probably play this weekend and for the next few weeks. Which is a shame but it is the best the management can do under the timescales they were given.

He has already realised that potential with the coaching of Given, Krul, Forster, getting them all out in consistent form for 20 years. Harper coached given? Righteo. Have you never seen a keeper train? Fwiw both Given and Krul have mentioned the important role Harper played in getting them ready for match day.

He has already realised that potential with the coaching of Given, Krul, Forster, getting them all out in consistent form for 20 years.

Harper has the potential to be very good as a GK Coach so if he has his badges I'm all for it

To be fair to Harper I think GK Coach is a bit different to other coaches in that the keepers work together in twos or threes and coach each other and we developed Krul and Forster during Harper's senior period. So I think we do miss him to that regard and he will make a good GK coach.

That's true but it's also irrelevant to whether he starts or not because it's pretty obvious De Jong will start behind Mitrovic or Cisse. I think it's very relevant because the likelihood of a player starting a game depends on the position they play.

I presume someone has had the brainwave of having trial agreements while paperwork is being finalised so players have extra days to integrate. Makes a lot of sense.

Because he has mostly been used as a striker I think some forget he was an attacking midfielder before he joined. Winner of Spanish Second Div Midfielder of the year.

We won't because of the wages. Loans like Marveaux would be what happens.

I believe there would be reasonable interest in Gouffran in France but not player and club would need to be prepared to accept a financial loss for that to happen and neither are at that stage yet. At this point, managed well Goiffran is still sufficient as a 4th choice striker so I'm not anxious to get rid.

I would love to see Newcastle develop a Bobby Robson Cup. Every year or two, NUFC, one of Robson's other English clubs, and two of his European clubs. Good mix of teams and interest for the supporters.