James

We only drew. We beat Bolton, not to mention all those others last season.

JEFF STELLING!

Left to right good, right to left bad.

CCFC: Marshall; Hall, Fox, Ward, Dann, Beuzelin, Gunnarsson, McKenzie, Mifsud, Morrisson, Tabb. Subs: Ireland, Doyle, Gray, Turner, Simpson, Thornton, Clarke. NUFC: Given; Enrique, Bassong, Coloccini, Beye; N'Zogbia, Butt, Guthrie, Geremi; Gutierrez, Milner. Subs: Harper, Taylor, Tozer, Donaldson, Edgar, [shadow=red,left]Ranger[/shadow], Owen. Referee: A Bates Post match reaction can be found from here: http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=55398.msg1454513#msg1454513 PLEASE DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REQUEST OR PROVIDE LINKS TO ILLEGAL MATCH STREAMS. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE BANNED* *See http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=19161.0 for more information

More advisable to have him on the bench, toy with Coventry in the first half, and then bring him on against more lethargic legs in the second half.

I have an unusual bad feeling too.

He won't mind eating that then.

There aren't ever any named squads, these are always just guesses.

*checks for personal embarassing comments* *breathes huge sigh of relief*

Deadline is Midnight on the 1st.

How are they worse in defence, yes Mellberg left but they have brought in Cueller, Young and Shory as well as bringing in a better keeper in Friedel... In my opinion, Young and Shorey are worse defenders than what they had before.

It is between us and Villa in my opinion (unless something happens in the transfer market)

Now the transfer window is coming to a close, and we've seen each team play two games, what are people's initial impressions on the other clubs? Here are my impressions: Arsenal: Nasri looks a good replacement for Hleb, but they haven't found a replacement for Flamini, and they could struggle in the centre of the park, especially when Fabregas is out. Can't see them improving this season, and there is too much reliance on Adebayor and Fabregas that has the potential to be a disaster. Of course, Wenger might be able to bring in a fantastic new kid, so you can never write off Arsenal. Aston Villa: Just as good in attack, worse in defence. Will win plenty of games and score plenty of goals albeit with inconsistent results. Look to be better than Everton, but have they done enough to hold off other clubs? Blackburn: When the chips are down, Blackburn will miss Bentley's ability to make something out of nothing. Otherwise, they've got a reasonable squad and so far look able to churn out reasonable results. As long as Ince doesn't turn out to be dreadful, they'll have another comfortably mediocre season. Bolton: Elmander could fill half of the gap left by Anelka. Signs would suggest the same old anti-football Bolton who will grind out results and finish between 12th and 16th. Chelsea: Look very good, and have the best strength in depth. Will have an outstanding season, as much as I hope they don't. Everton: Lost their best player (Fernandes), lost Johnson, and lost Carsley. Have failed to make any inroads in the transfer market. Likely to have fallen behind other clubs right now. A couple of injuries could be catastrophic. Fulham: Team has had a nice upgrade, and Hodgson seems to have a good eye for a good player. Won't pull up trees, but I fancy a return of their good home record, and that will keep them safe. Hull: Seem to have a good attitude compared to other promoted clubs. I fancy some of their players to become as revered as some of the Wigan players. Might just stay up, especially if they can keep Geovanni motivated. Liverpool: Looking good, and seem to have made some nice tweaks to their squad. Keane should prove to be a very good purchase. If they don't finish closer to the top of the table, Benitez should be shown the door. Man City: Can't say I was convinced by Jo at the Olympics, and did they really need two new center backs? They've got a good squad, but boardroom uncertainty breeds inconsistency. Man Utd: Showing right now that they struggle to score without Ronaldo. Giggs and Scholes are fading forces, but so far there are no adequate replacements. Their defence is more important than ever, with Vidic and Ferdinand now the two most vital players after Ronaldo. They need Berbatov, but will they get him? If they don't they'll be fighting with Liverpool, not Chelsea. Middlesbrough: Look alright at the moment, but how long will Mido's form last? Another safe but inconsistent team. Portsmouth: Nightmare opening fixtures makes the Portsmouth team hard to judge. Crouch-Defoe makes an interesting combination, but Muntari is a huge loss. Last season's peak will be difficult to maintain, I'd expect a slightly worse season. Stoke: Not the joke the bookies made out about after Bolton, but I still think they'll go down albeit after a scrap and a couple months of early optimism. Sunderland: New signings will keep them safe, and help them get the occasional big result, but I think the top half is a glass ceiling for the Mackems that will take Keane a couple years of stability to break. Tottenham: Set for another disappointment if they don't sign at least one good striker and solidify their midfield (even if it is just replacing Jenas with Huddlestone). Very much a case of wait and see. West Brom: Look poor. This is the same old West Brom team that alternates between promotion certainties and relegation certainties. West Ham: Do not underestimate the importance of Ljungberg and Solano to West Ham's points haul last season. Continued injury problems, and a squad littered with average players breeds averageness, and eventually starts going backwards. Wigan: No better or worse last season. Form will depend on keeping their small squad fit. I reckon they'll start OK, but fade badly, possibly after selling Palacios. Predicted League Table: 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Newcastle 6. Aston Villa 7. Portsmouth 8. Blackburn 9. Manchester City 10. Tottenham 11. Middlesbrough 12. Everton 13. Sunderland 14. West Ham 15. Fulham 16. Bolton 17. Hull 18. Wigan 19. West Brom 20. Stoke

The West Ham chairman had already said at the start of the summer that they'd need to offload upto 15 players to sort out the club's wage bill. Curbishley has been prepared to sacrifice high earners in order to keep hold of others. Meanwhile, what's going on at Everton? Apart from making Pienaar permanent, they haven't signed anyone, they've lost and failed to replace their best player last season (Fernandes), they've lost Johnson, and they are about to sign a 28 year old right back who has been released by Nurenberg. Unless they sign people quick, they'll be bottom half. Could even get relegated if two or three players suffer injuries.

He's good on the left but better when he comes infield in my opinion, we look stronger centrally when he does that. This is when Bolton started to lose their compactness at the weekend, I thought they contained him well out wide, although it allowed N'Zogbia more freedom, but whenever he came centrally he caused them problems. He was through before he got cut down and towards the end of the game he carried the ball infield and towards their right flank, before slipping Geremi in with a peach of a weighted pass between the centre-back and full-back and to top it off he didn't stop there, after passing he made his way to the edge of their box. I see that and again think, we could be missing a trick here. Of course this is all theoretical but its nice to be able to ask such questions of our players and indeed manager as we know KK is one for such things, rather than Owen vs Martins round 102 Keep it as it is. If he's having joy from coming inside from his left wing position, why change it?

Might be like that for Petrov, but Jonas has shown that he can use both feet equally well and can cut inside effectively if his route down the wing is blocked up. He can attack through the middle as you describe without having him positionally assigned there.

I do vaguely recall it being said that the player has a verbal agreement that he could move abroad when he wanted, and that the contract was merely to strengthen the club's financial position.

All irrelevant as we are signing Robinho, Villa and Saviola.

fair enough that like, wouldn't argue much with the placings, a little but not much...however the key part is in bold for me as it means the placings of owen, viduka & ferguson are somewhat vulnerable, and you could argue the same for tino & bellamy to a degree include fitness in the scenario, which you really have to do, and i'd probably go for the following (left the origingal numbers in for reference): 1. Shearer 2. Ferdinand 3. Beardsley 5. Cole 7. Bellamy 9. Martins 4. Owen 6. Asprilla 8. Viduka 10. Ferguson Viduka and Ferguson aside, these players have all been capable of playing at least 20 games a season, and I'd rather have an Owen Viduka pairing when everyone is fit, with Martins being an able deputy making numerous appearances either as an injury replacement, a substitute, or as an additional striker.

I was 8 or 9 for the likes of Cole and Beardsley, so my recollections are likely to be a little skewed when it comes to the likes of those.

Would be hilarious if got a runout.

Wading into the Martins vs Owen debate, if I could rank all the NUFC strikers I've seen in terms of ability while at Newcastle when fit, it would be: 1. Shearer 2. Ferdinand 3. Beardsley 4. Owen 5. Cole 6. Asprilla 7. Bellamy 8. Viduka 9. Martins 10. Ferguson In short, I think Martins is good, but Owen is very good. When we are playing well with Owen in the team, I sometimes get filled with a genuine feeling pride because a player like Owen is playing for Newcastle. I don't get that for Martins, who is more of a cult hero than anything else. He's a nice player to have, but I can think of players who bring much more substance to the team.

I think Beckham will be one of the players, basically because clubs are going to have more power as to who does and doesn't go. A lot of nations are going to struggle to field good teams in my opinion.

It occured to me last night, is Michael Owen going to be able to go to World Cup 2010? He needs vaccinations for yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis and diphtheria. Given that the mumps were caused by the combination of a mumps jab, and the anti-rejection tablets he takes for his knee, he can't guarantee the same wont happen again. Certainly, in the case of hepatitis it would damage his career, and with the timing some of the jabs require, he could miss the end of the 2010 domestic season if he had a reaction.

It's like the Wizard of Oz. N'Zogbia has no brains Duff has no heart Milner has no technical ability and Geremi has no legs.