James

ITV say there is a statement to be released soon.

Which team are you?

Was on the bench today wasn't he?

Thompers, can we agree to disagree?

Where did you watch the match? Stamford Bridge I know, it was a rip-off - good thing I brought binoculars.

Good point well made, although if I was picky, Zoggy started this match, so you would have Joe Cole instead of sinclair starting and coming off at 40 minutes, and I reckon it would have been Wayne Bridge coming on.

Babayaro had charged forward to play the offside trap, as did Ramage and Hunty. Taylor/communication was at fault there for him not following.

Where did you watch the match? Stamford Bridge

Obviously you didn't watch the game from your description of events. May I add a disclaimer saying that pessimists should deduct two from all my scores.

9? I thought he was f*cking horrendous tonight. Obviously you didn't watch the game then

He literally ran circles around Chelsea at times. He was feeding off long balls, yet kept the ball under control brilliantly, and cleverly waited until someone had either caught him up to offer support or fouled him. It was a very intelligent performance.

I'm dissappointed we didn't get a result. The players undoubtedly deserved it. Given - 7 - Made a couple of good saves Huntington - 7 - a good debut considering he kept Robben and Cole quiet for most of the match. Might have learnt a lesson from their goal though. Taylor - 8 - Defended excellently today Ramage - 7 - Solid shift Babayaro - 9 - Absolutely outstanding performance, tackled well and was vital in our counter attacks. Milner - 7 - Marshalled the right flank well Butt - 7 - Played an extremely intelligent and committed game which saw us boss the midfield in the first half. N'Zogbia - 7 - Helped the team move forward well on the counter-attack Rossi - 7 - Showed great enthusiasm, and passed the ball around very well. Created a good chance for himself. Sibierski - 8 - Imposed himself very well in the air, had some good touches leading up to counter-attacks and generally ran his socks off. Martins - 9 - Lacked support up front, but ran circles around the Chelsea defenders, frustrated them, and won numerous set pieces. My man of the Match Pattisson - 5 - Poor first touch and chased shadows. Him coming on allowed Chelsea to take control of the midfield. Luque - 5 - some good touches, but did not have any time to make a positive or negative impression.

WOOP! WOOP! THICKO ALERT!!! bluelaugh.gif gay.gif

Anyone remember when Duncan Ferguson bought Nobby Solano a llama for Christmas?

You are missing the fact that he plays the geordie card for the 1000th time, demonstrating that he is totally out of touch with the fans. Didn't Sir John Hall say the same ? See my post to jimmymag Whatever SJH said is irrelevent. It is the current chairman I am worried about.

You've completely missed the point! (Again!) This is another example of Shepherd voicing his small minded parochialism. Shepherd seems to believe that Geordies are a sort of super race much like Hitler believed that a pure German Aryan race would one day rule the world. He's on record saying that ideally he'd want a team of Geordies managed by a Geordie manager. It's utterly pathetic and continues to make NUFC a laughing stock! Its you that is missing the point. It is irrelevant. I don't consider we will be a laughing stock when we play in europe again soon - again. We were however a laughing stock when we spent decades struggling to even stay in the top league or the 2nd division, losing to utter shite teams that we shouldn't even be playing, selling our best players, and playing in front of sub 20,000 crowds. Oh FFS, it is you who has missed the fucking point. Answer this question - Do you agree with Shepherd's 'us and them' approach to the Geordie nation and NUFC?

You are missing the fact that he plays the geordie card for the 1000th time, demonstrating that he is totally out of touch with the fans.

Hard to single out individuals, as we'd need top players in several positions to win something, but I'll say Rio Ferdinand - excellent defender who can play football.

we are screwed.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_1771377,00.html He can't fucking help himself.

That was before Souness though. Shepherd has since gone off him.

Not off hand, but I know that Shearer and Van Nistelrooy were used as examples.

Players are something like ten times more prone to ACL injuries after a long spell on the sidelines, meaning that there majority of these injuries happen during preseason and shortly after injury comebacks. it is obvious that Owen wasn't fit enough from the step up from 5 months out injured to playing in the World Cup.

Shola would only be 50-50 by now if he had had the op in the summer - he would probably be going through some kind of preseason.

Thing is, of our current injuries: Bramble - took a knock, still in hospital with his injury. Dyer - Leg Gash Harper - Hernia Parker - back Duff - knee op, a few historical knee problems Moore - hamstring, old injury Bernard - arrived at the club as a dead horse Krul - knee op Carr - bruised toe aka cant be bothered Ameobi - long term hip problem that is brought about by a condition you are very unlikely to have at his age. Owen - Rushed back too soon by England Emre - victim of a bad tackle Butt - cold Solano - groin tweak Sibierski - cramp They are either unavoidable, caused by someone else, or really minor injuries that we are just unlucky to have had at the same time, or otherwise the player has history with said injury. Only Harper and Krul (who were both forced to play with injuries due to keeper crisis) could really be written down as avoidable