James

He's the best passer in our midfield when playing CM, and is good at coming short to help the defence keep the ball on the deck. Until he got shifted out on to the right, he was also involved in the majority of the goals we had scored.

Only Greece could have been preferred to Croatia in Pot A, but Andorra aside, we've got some of the worst teams from each pot we could possibly have.

From the Enrique thread: So how do you explain the fact that we've stopped winning since Geremi was moved away from his preferred central midfield role? The statistics show that he was the player responsible for: A lot of the goals we scored The possession football we played. How can you explain that we are scoring less, and have been much worse in possession since Geremi has been shoved out of his CM role?

He did have a poor second half. But I stand by my comment, which was made at half time about his first half performance. Considering he was playing out of position in the centre, and yet was trying to do all the wide left stuff defensively and offensively because N'Zogbia was back in 06/07 mode, and because of his hard work we were rarely troubled down his side of the pitch. Yes he did misplace passes, but that was because N'Zogbia never wanted to have the ball given to him. He wasn't outstanding in the Zambrotta sense, but he was outstanding taking into account of the situation he found himself in.

There is only one person I perceive as a realistic option who I could see coming here and doing better than Allardyce, and that is Gerard Houllier.

People are going to have to accept that we'll spend no more than £10m in January, as clubs dont like to sell.

Keep him until the end of the season at least.

To be fair, the three defenders were probably our best players over the 90. The scoreline begs to differ. Beye was the only defensive stand-out for me. When playing three at the back, the other 8 players need to perform, and they were the bigger let down for me, in particular N'Zogbia and Martins who were both completely woeful for their entire duration on the field. I thought Enrique actually played very well in the first half seeing as he was playing CB, LB and LW due to N'Zogbia's performance, though Beye shades it over 90 minutes.

To be fair, the three defenders were probably our best players over the 90.

I take it all back. I was completely wrong (again)

Turned down Brum because he wasn't ready.

Maybe they would rather a club than a national side? In which case they are better off at the club they are already at. England is turning into a choice between Capello, Klinnsman and Shearer. I can only see one of those being in the frame for us. For Newcastle, it would be a choice between Shearer, McClaren and Jewell.

Can't see people turning down England and then joining Newcastle. Like it or not, we must stick with Sam for now.

Positives: The back three have all been very good. Enrique has been outstanding, playing three roles at once. Butt and Viduka are playing their roles well. Negatives: Smith isn't doing anything on or off the ball. N'Zogbia has been shocking, giving the ball away almost every time. Ditto for Martins Emre is trying, but is spending too much time on the ball, and is giving away too many free kicks. As I see it, those four players are totally sabotaging the efforts of the other outfield players.

If we play 433, that team is very good, as Zog would be a better wide striker than Milner at this time.

Beye is a CB that was converted to a RB.

Newcastle United: Given; Geremi, Beye, Rozehnal, Enrique; Smith, Butt, Emre; Martins, Viduka, N'Zogbia. Subs: Harper, Carr, Edgar, Barton, Milner. Liverpool: Reina; Finnan, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia; Gerrard, Kewell, Sissoko, Lucas; Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Itandje, Riise, Crouch, Babel, Mascherano DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REQUEST OR PROVIDE LINKS TO STREAMS. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE BANNED* *See http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=19161.0 for more information

That would really be miraculous

There is some hope for the future, Wenger believes that many of our under-17s are of an extremely high standard. Hopefully he counts Ryan Donaldson as one of those players.

With the news that Beye is at CB, people seem to be forgetting that Carr is now fit when picking Geremi on the right. I'd say the team could be: Given Carr Beye Rozehnal Enrique Smith Butt Emre Martins Viduka N'Zogbia

The only player actually wearing an orange bib in yesterdays pictures was Emre. Barton was seen holding one, but he may just have been passing it on to someone else if Crumpy is right.

I'm suprised Allardyce hasn't tried to wind him up today.

Capello will be on Football Focus tomorrow practically begging to be given the England job apparently.

Orange bibs suggest that Barton and Emre both start tommorrow.

I can easily envisage either Shearer or Stuart Pearce becoming an interim manager until the end of Euro 2008. In such an instance, I can imagine a Roeder like situation where the FA Committee kneejerk and appoint Shearer/Pearce on the back of some good results. This good Roeder spell may also be the best case for Shearer, as it is clear that he pulled a lot of the strings during Roeder's caretakership.