Benwell Lad

This is the cue for him to score a fucking raker tomorrow night and confound his many critics.

The two home fixtures over the holiday period which are normally easy sell outs both had huge gaps in the stands despite the free tickets and "kids for a quid" give aways. It seems there is only one team who can excite the locals enough to turn out and fill their stadium nowadays and it certainly isn't Sunderland.

cos they're often s*** scred to give anything bar throw-ins and offsides. Definitely. Sadly their ambition to become referees means that they're better off not making decisions thereby not making mistakes, than being a bit bolder and risk making an error. Do nowt and you can't do nowt wrong.

I think they should only be used in exceptional circumstances to get through a crisis and for as short a term as possible. I can see the attraction of loan deals for smaller clubs and for managers who think short term. Not wishing to have a direct go at Sunderland but they allowed loan players to become an integral and important part of their team last season. It must however be much more difficult to try and bring in players who will blend together for the longer term when you do this and then there is the inevitable negative impact when the loan periods end. I think we're looking longer term in squad and player investment and it's probably best to resist the short term impact a loan player could have.

Unlike some on here I thought they were awful yesterday, just put 10 men behind the ball, rode their luck and got a flukey last kick offside winner. Still thats the beauty of football, I can think of no other sport where one side can be so outplayed and outclassed yet still win the contest. Perhaps a sudden death golf play off is the only sporting analogy. One player hits the green in two,putts from 20 feet leaves it three feet short and then lips it for a 5. The other player takes three 70 yard hacks then tops his 4th shot from 150 yards. It flies through a bunker runs across the green at speed, hits the flag spins up in the air and drops for a 4.

MOTD commentator said he couldn't miss Superb finish - adjusted his body and hit a high ball in a way very few players can.

Carroll's OTT celebrations when a team mate scores are quite embarrassing. Looks like a sad kid who wants to be liked.

Disgraceful that O'Niell continues to select all their sex pest and car vandal bail boys. He's even been bigging them up in the press recently thereby condoning their behaviour just as their fans did. Scummy club.

Happens about once every 30 years. They'll be sure to let you know when it does. FTM.

I get the feeling that Pardew will always play him against the big teams. He seems to approach those games with a nothing to lose attitude as opposed to games against lesser teams where he shows more fear of losing.

Very important win and I think we all realise that. Ironically we probably played worse than in any of the recent games but did keep it tight in midfield. Williamson, surprisingly, covered second most distance in the game which is encouraging and also showed what a decent no frills defender he is.

Osman took a shot, kicked the ground. Got a penalty. At least they can console themselves that it was a genuine mistake. Unlike the one Larsson conned for them recently which was blatant unashamed cheating.

Moments like that separate him from mere mortal footballers. He is capable of Messi/Beardsley esque moments and we must find a way to accomodate him.

I can't understand anyone complaining about the quality of the game last night, the pace of it was breathtaking at times and must have been a superb game for a neutral (or WBA fan) to watch. Unfortunately from our point of view it resulted in a very open game which suited them perfectly as over the last few years they have become a very accomplished "away" side. Vukic looked excellent at times but Cabaye's absence did result in a a lot of space being conceded in the middle. An earlier post described Demba Ba as "world class", while superlatives can be thrown around far too easily on here, that is probably no exaggeration. Can anyone remember the Leazes woodwork being hit so many times in 3 consecutive games ? Also surprised to hear people saying how bad the atmosphere was, there were the usual groaners around who moan win lose or draw but generally I thought the atmosphere was very upbeat, a lot more noise and singing than usual and an absolutely superb crowd for a midweek match at this time of year. The recent run of results is draining confidence and Pardew needs to try and juggle things to put some freshness into their play and attitude.

I think tonight we will find out just how instrumental Cabaye is to our team. Good luck to Vukic if he steps up he is a very capable player but I hope there is some involvement for HBA to compensate for the quality we will lose by not having Cabaye.

It's becoming quite obvious that our entire squad is either shite or leaving.

£35M would be a lot for someone with a tendency to give the ball away in bad positions and who has only had one shot on target since arriving. £20M tops.

Chatted to him and Ketsi on Saturday, Nikos looked really fit - he'd have probably got a game a week ago.

Must say I've generally found Danes to be top notch people, but what a prick this guy is. Looks like a shyte player too. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/breaking-news/2011/12/17/bendtner-issues-apology-after-newcastle-arrest-72703-29969680/

Billy Bullshit's boys beaten because Brown blunders badly.

I realise he naked eye often misses a lot of what Jonas does but have to say I thought he was poor yesterday. Santon however was a huge plus and looked quality.

Played well yesterday and made a couple of very timely tackles. Will have a tougher test on Wednesday.

We are still playing well and dominated yesterday without scoring. Time to worry is when we stop playing and despite recent results that is not the case. Yes he should have introduced HBA and with hindsight I reckon he'll know that. I think at the time he was still concerned about losing the game, which is a reasonable concern at 0-0, and didn't want to change the shape. Disappointing points return of late, a bit unfortunate but still playing decent stuff. Still doing a fine job overall, club going in the right direction but will really miss Cabaye on Wednesday and I will be very,very happy if we're still in top 7 at end of January.

Looks like a very good player. Although Swansea were toothless their wing play was decent and he'll have no problem stepping it up against more attack minded opponents.

A Colo in defence and another in midfield would be wonderful.