Benwell Lad

Sounds like a canny lad ! http://www.true-faith.co.uk/tf/features.nsf/0/B7FECE45D49881D38025792F0061AFAA?OpenDocument

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-vs-Wigan-team-news-Toon-close-to-full-strength-and-Hugo-Rodallega-to-return-for-Latics-article817230.html Coloccini potentially out and Rodallega back, would be bad news if so. Who would actually play CB if Coloccini was out? I presume we'd move play Santon there? Colo will play even if he is in a wheelchair.

I think Pardew will be torn between giving fringe players something to keep them interested and wanting a good cup run as Wembley gets closer. Fortunately most of our fringe players are pretty decent choices anyway. I expect to see a strong side out but with a few of the recent subs bench featuring.

Lets face it apart from the mistakes highlighted Ashley made quite a few when he first entered the world of football ownership. Drinking pints in the away end wasn't smart and the biggest mistake of all (and most expensive) was bringing Keegan back. There was a lot of naivety in his early decisions possibly motivated by a desire to be popular in his new role. But anyone who has built a £2bn business from nothing will have taken risks and made fuck ups along the way, he will however have learned quickly to become as successful as he has. Likewise in his maturing role of football owner he will have learned from those early errors and while not every decision from now on will be the right one I don't think we'll be seeing any more stupid ones. Thats not to say they'll all be popular either.

Thought that was brilliant when I saw it. That heed man ! HV - it was in the Spurs programme.

That's a great post, but a couple of small points, we had more than 46k against Spurs (away support does count) but yes still a bit disappointing. And I'm not sure that spending freely would have meant better players or improved playing performance. We've been there and I'm sure most would now admit that a structured transfer policy has brought better players to the club in the last couple of years than the mega deal trophy signings like Luque,Owen,Kluivert,Boumsong,Viduka,Smith etc etc. I do however take your point that big signings tend to get bums on seats and increased media attention.

In fairness he was pretty good when he came on in the Arsenal 4-4 too. Full credit to Pardew and Co for letting him know that without the right attitude he's got no chance, but the kid has got talent.

Joking apart, quality squad players who are versatile and uncomplaining when not playing are pretty rare and will carry value in today's "squad" game.

Straight swap for Carroll maybe.

As if. Factoring in the Carroll/Henderson factor then £10M is an insult. Should hold out for 15.

Sure, there have been a lot of positive articles, almost like a bandwagon going in the opposite direction to the one they were all on a couple of months ago. The OP was about most mentioning the so called "easy start", but our relative success so far has been a result of skill,hard work and excellent organisation and has very little to do with the fixture list.

Please don't sack him, derbies just won't be the same without him.

Anything at all will be an unlikely bonus in those games but Chelsea at home could be interesting. The way we dealt with the quality of Adebayor, VdV, Modric, Bale etc on Sunday quite heartens me. With our CM pairing and Colo behind them we shouldn't be lambs to the slaughter for anyone.

Seems to be mentioned in almost every article relating to us at present. Total horseshyte in my opinion, there is not one easy game in the Premier League, every side has top quality internationals who will hurt you if you let them. Saturday's match at home to second bottom Wigan will not be easy and if any of our players were daft enough to think that they'll get a nasty shock. Thankfully Pardew and his staff would never allow such complacency. Wolves,Villa,mackems and QPR away were not easy and nor were Fulham and Blackburn at home - so called easy games we've lost all too frequently in recent seasons. OK, Man Utd and Artificial City will be sterner tests than anyone else season and anything would be a bonus, but we have 38 difficult games this season and so far we've done quite well.

Didn't Howard Wilkinson say something like "we're not really in a relegation battle" shortly before they were relegated with 15 or 19 points ?

'Arry has said that before signing Adebayor, Rio Ferdinand reckoned he was the best in the game and virtually unplayable. I reckon Colo played him as well as anyone ever has yesterday.

I noticed that straight away as well, top notch. Particular credit to the forwards who tracked back excellently and hassled their defenders a lot. :thup:

Interesting point the first one mind. How many times in the past have we seen Jonas maybe hold the ball up waiting for Enrique to make the overlapping run and giving it to him? Now though, he seems to be more prepared to have a go himself. Aye, good point. I've given him a lot of stick, and have on several occasions called the "Jonas-Enrique partnership" bollocks, because it was mostly Jonas waiting for Jose to help him out. Now, as you say, he'll run at players higher up the pitch more, and is certainly not afraid to shoot either. His shooting is about as hit and miss as it gets, it's like he closes his eyes and just hopes for the best, but even at that, it's a massive improvement. He's been very good this year, second only to Colo as our best player this season. He definitely looks better without Enrique which has surprised me.

He's top quality, when he controls a ball and turns at the opposition he looks superb, he can use either foot and is a decent header too. I never doubted it - he was class at Hoffenheim and West Ham.

One of the most frequently heard criticisms is that the club are not communicating with the supporters. Credit where due, this statement is an intelligent appraisal of what is going on at the club.

Sshh. Bruce is doing a great job man, finished tenth etc etc.

Chelsea are as well, Spurs are probably the 4th best team, which will likely be reflected in their final position this season. It's opinions, and like you say final positions will be the proof but I think that Spurs team today had more quality than Chelsea.

Only two teams better than Spurs in this league imo and they both begin with M.

Must make them very bitter to think they were presented with a golden opportunity to be the north east's top club but thanks to Messrs Quinn and Bruce they royally fucked it up. Quinn has gone but Bruce continues to turn out what looks like an overpaid shambles of a team.

There have been quite a few outstanding performers, Krul,Colo,Raylor,Cabaye,Ba to name a few,but your point would be very difficult to argue against.