James

The Telegraph have this amazing incredible stat machine on their match report this season. It truely is the best I've ever seen, a mini-prozone as it were. Anyway, from that, Geremi received the most passes from defence in particular from Cacapa, and then passed the ball around pretty evenly to other players. This certainly indicates a contribution given the way the defence continuosly got the ball intothe midfield area on Saturday.

Following on from the TV internet debate, if you read the Newcastle World prizes for subscribers article on the official site, it seems that Newcastle World will cease to exist soon, to be replaced by new internet service NUFC TV. Whether that is just a rebranding of World, or we've decided to breakaway is unknown, but hopefully it means that it can expand the possibilities of live and on demand streaming. Dont think existing subscribers will be affected though.

The problem is I'd rather pay what people pay for Newcastle-World for a Digital TV channel to get them on there at a quality that isn't determined by my internet speed. I've got Broadband 2mb but I still have major problems with streams and suchforth that nufc.co.uk have. Something along the lines of NUFC-TV would be something that would take a while to plan, but it is definitely something I'd like the club to think about expanding into in the coming years. The government don't want you to have a 2mb connection, they want everyone in the UK on reliable 20mb connections at the existing affordable prices like you are getting in other countries. Unfortunately though, we currently have a private company in charge of the installation of broadband technology, and BT are being real cheapskates. Things will change soon though as the government and OFCOM want people to be able to instantaneously stream programmes at the same quality you'd get on a widescreen TV some time in the near future. BT will have to eventually fall in line. A TV channel incurs large initial costs that aren't viable for us in the long term. Internet dodges these costs and will be following the long term route.

I completely agree with the first point,as i come from Coventry,i would like to see more Toon news and reserve games.We have a good national fan base and im certain it would be a cost effective exercise. More cost effective and accessible to do it on demand over the internet in the long term though. Not saying we shouldn't have a TV channel, but it musn't be at the expense of internet streaming services.

But they can influence what he writes by banning him completely from NUFC. That could easily backfire though.

No offence guys, but Oliver has absolutely nothing to do with the club and can't influence whether he is in employment or not. There are so many little things that can be changed for the better that it is not worth wasting time on a local hack who has very little to do with the future of our club.

Agree with both of them. A Newcastle TV channel would be brilliant, especially if it was able to show reserve games live, interviews with players, staff, classic matches etc. Having done a dissertation on the changing demand for particular television channels with the changing technology, I'd say that this would be a very bad idea. Internet streaming live and on demand is going to phase out many programmes and channels in the next decade, and will allow us to reach an international audience at a lower cost. I'd stick to what we do on Newcastle World, only we significantly improve the service including ways suggested by my earlier post.

I'd also like to see a change of the questions streamed out by Craig Hope. Currently he seems to put out questions that have been approved by both Alan Oliver and Freddy Shepherd as questions the Geordie public want to hear, but to be honest, they aren't really the questions I want to see asked to the player over and over again. For instance, he keeps asking Owen if he's confident and match fit yet, and Owen must be pretty tired of that. New signings are getting asked weekly if they are settling in, and giving the same answer. On many occasions, its Allardyce or the player who is keeping the interview going, and to be fair to our staff, they are quite an eloquent bunch at the moment, but we just hear the same things we'd read in the papers, the only difference is that you'll get to talk to people who normally aren't put in front of the microphone nationally. Get some banter going. Lets get to know the person rather than the player, for instance Chelsea had a feature on the best looking player where Drogba admitted he had the hots for Carvalho. Mix things up a bit, instead of interviewing Owen, Viduka, Shola, Taylor, Martins and Rozehnal all the time, lets interview the tea lady. Have a feature on what Russell Cushing or Lee Clark get up to on their average day at work. Hope apparently has unrivalled access, and there are so many uncontroversial possibilities, he should start making the most of them.

I would like to see the club push the Premier League into following the line of UEFA competitions and other European competitions in increasing the number of named substitutes to at least seven. That is certainly something that would help the club, and help English football in general (and improved English football equals better sales of football merchandise in Mike Ashley's stores)

Who are you, and what have you done to Wullie?

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At least Cacapa and Rozehnal are both good short options.

Barton misses loads apparently. Give it to the skipper or Martins.

I think Harper communicates with his defence a bit more than Given. Otherwise Given has the advantage. However, by increasing Harper's chances, you'd hope that it would provide Given with an incentive to tone down some of his prima donna attributes.

With the score at 0-0 we made the only substitution that could sensibly be made, ie swapping a midfielder for a quick striker. We had no other sensible substitutions available, but you could have hardly called N'Zogbia a left back, with him occupying an attacking midfield position whenever off the ball. What people are stupidly failing to appreciate is that the game became more difficult for us when Wigan went down to ten men. In the first half, we were creating chances because Wigan were creating spaces through their own play by trying to win the game themselves (but with little joy due to our defenders being a step ahead). However, in the second half, Wigan packed every player in their defensive third, stopping us playing the short ball, while their physical presense was always going to make us lose out on the long ball. It is an effective tactic that can win invaluable points for a smaller team just hoping to avoid relegation. Man Utd and Chelsea would have struggled to win this game. Only an excellent playmaker could have broken the deadlock, but a playmaker who is good enough to make a consistent impact in the every day 11 vs 11 hustle and bustle in the Premiership is rare. In England, we have Alonso, Arteta and Scholes, and that is about it.

Faye is back at Bolton sorting out his affairs. I guess he's been holed up in a Newcastle hotel for quite a few days now.

Obafemi Martins would have cartwheeled over them tbh

Don't encourage HTT, he's one of the biggest jinxes on the forum.

I've watched World Interviews with Harper and Owen, and it is clear that Cacapa has already commanded incredible respect from his team mates - they all clearly rate him, and they all clearly want him in the team. For two players to come out after a game and without any prompting from the interviewer single the player out for real genuine praise is unprecedented for a Newcastle defender.

I'm concerned that certain people on here are already talking about making us a top 4 squad. Raising the pressure and expectations a bit quickly aren't we?

.com are accusing Heskey of two assaults worthy of jail on both Taylor and Harper.

Don't worry, he can't answer back. We've got them next. Play 424 I reckon.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2007400908,00.html Good slideshow of photos here, cant post them directly due to the protection technology used.

Pretty much had a 3 yard run up, a two yard jump to headbutt Smith on the back of his head. I'll still say that it was a bit harsh. I was really suprised when the red card was shown! Did expect a yellow not a red. But if you look at the motion of his header, I think he was trying to go for Smith. It was a second yellow.

I think the new manager/owners and players have probably raised expectations too highly in recent weeks. Newcastle fans for the three seasons prior would have been absolutely delighted to see the team apply constant pressure without ever looking in defensive difficulty.