James

I trust Owen to do better than any other Newcastle player in two areas: In a goalscoring situation Helping the team keep possession when the ball is in the final third of the field And in the end of the day, isn't that all that matters. There is no reason whatsoever that Owen will suffer an injury recurrence during international duty based on the advice of the surgeon. Nothing happenned to Shearer after his trip to the same surgeon, and that was during a busy fixture schedule as well iirc.

The Alkmaar (a) match thread should be stickied as a reminder to those who have been complaining non-stop about how shit we are.

To be honest, Michael Owen could walk onto the Wembley pitch five minutes before the start of a Newcastle vs Manchester United FA Cup Final to announce his international retirement, and two hours later, celebrate his hat-trick that has won us the game 3-2 by burning an England shirt, and some Newcastle fans would still hate him.

The media are currently in overdrive relating to England stories, what with the next two fixtures pretty much deciding whether or not we qualify. We clearly have a massive striker crisis with Rooney, Owen and Crouch all fit. Scaremongering sells papers, and this is just another scare. To be honest, I can see where Allardyce is coming from. A squad made up of the collective Englishmen at Derby, Bolton, Sunderland and Birmingham should see off Estonia if well managed. A crouch-Rooney partnership should be enough for England, keeping Owen aside for the more challenging Russia game.

This is what I think we'd get from another Premiership Club: Given - £3.5m Harper - £500k Krul - £1m Forster - £200k Carr - £1m Babayaro - £0 Enrique - £6m (remember, he cost £4.2m (6m Euros)) Ramage - £500k Taylor - £5m Rozehnal - £3m Cacapa - £2m Beye - £2.5m Faye - £3m Edgar - £500K rising to £1.5m Geremi - £3m Smith - £7m Emre - £3m N'Zogbia - £11m Butt - £1m Duff - £6m Barton - £6m Patisson - £300k Milner - £4m Troisi - £100k Lua Lua - £100K Owen - £11m (unwanted by the clubs to whom the clause applies, so this is what West Ham or Man City would pay) Martins - £10m Viduka - £2m Ameobi - £3m

Been thinking it was James myself like It was Indi if you are talking about the Invicta thread start. I haven't needed to do much today.

Good win.

Is a better goal poacher than Shearer, just not a better player.

FUCKING YES!

Him and Emre.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Him and Emre.

Keeper saves a good strike by Owen.

Owen has looked really sharp.

Oh get a grip, you do this in the second half of every game. Is that really his fault? Yes, people are being too impatient.

Oh get a grip, you do this in the second half of every game.

We need the defence to get the ball back on the floor, and Rozehnal will do that.

Smith has been our second best player today after Faye.

Smith booked. Suspended vs Spurs.

Bad defending by N'Zogbia.

Fuck

Johnson has come on for Everton.

Smith has linked up with his team mates extremely well so far.

Brilliant build up by half our team.

YES!!!!!