Benwell Lad

If, as it appears, last night was his last appearance from us then he has bookended his time with a brilliant debut and an amazing spell to finish. In between a bit mixed but I really think we are fortunate to have had a keeper as good as him as the back up.

Wyn Davies was the first great centre forward I saw in the flesh, after him Supermac and of course Shearer were the stand outs. Mentions for Goddard, Demba Ba, Cisse and Rondon too, amongst others. All great strikers. Of course Shearer was the best but I am now going to say that, in my opinion, Izak is the best No.9/striker I have watched in a Newcastle shirt.

Toughest footballer I have ever seen and there's been a few to choose from. He dished it out but was also regularly on the receiving and never complained to a referee or asked for a free kick etc. Just got up and got on with it.

That lack of atmosphere in that oversized, often half empty, arena must make it a soul destroying place to play in. Bournemouth and Brentford play in stadiums a quarter or half the size and create great atmospheres.

The athleticism and mobility of a top level professional footballer allows him to adjust and not take out Gordon. It was intentional in a sly way. Same with Virgil van Dijk. We got done twice in those incidents. Same referee.

One season when Sunderland were doing the same thing in the PL, i.e declaring blatantly false attendances, at the end of the season it may have been QPR or Watford (can't really remember) but they had a higher matchday revenue than Sunderland who were declaring over twice their gates. One of the oldest and wisest sayings in business "turnover for vanity profit for sanity" sort of applies to the way they behave.

I used to quite like watching 2nd tier football. It was honest, more direct and more error strewn which usually made for quite an entertaining watch. Now it's awful to watch. They've decided en masse to play from the back/press like the PL. Problem is they're not very good at it and it's a dreadful watch. They were two poor teams last night, both a million miles away from PL level and Sunderland's goals both came from defensive howlers. They created nothing.

What a pathetic turn out for a Christmas holiday game against promotion rivals. Looked half empty. Sunderland til it rains.

One of four cracking local matches along with York against the Heed, Shields vs Darlo and Consett vs the Stan.

Tax avoiding Brexit Jim your boys took a hell of a beating.

That's a pretty impressive compilation, especially as most of it was as a 17 year old and against top class, and even world class, opponents. The probable reason some still aren't wowed by the kid is that he hasn't really played for the first team with the "shackles" off yet. With our current midfield he is going to have to be patient but when the shackles do come off his real capabilities will become evident.

Must have the highest ever ratio of games/minutes played against hitting the goal frame

The kid has had quite a tough introduction to his professional career and first team football. Last season, due to the injury crisis, he played far more than was ever intended. 15-20 minutes in relatively comfortable games would have been the ideal development path. Due to his own injuries (both quite freak) and our incredibly strong midfield department he's played less than he should have since then. It will be frustrating for him. Getting those minutes at the weekend will have given him a huge boost. It's crazy to debate how far a player so young can go. Anything can happen, but he's a very level headed kid, never cocky or brash, and everyone who has been involved in his development over the years at NUFC and the England set up would tell you that he has everything in place to be a top, top player.

Either that or they just don't bother going when it's raining. S.T.I.R.

You're being very reasonable there, and that's fair enough, but situations reversed he plays it to a conclusion.

Madley denied us our opportunity for a 4-3 classic and someone possibly achieving Tiote versus Arsenal type legendary status. Can you imagine the Carragher and other pundit wrath he'd be facing if it had been the other way round ?

Liverpool make that break he plays it to a conclusion without doubt.

Liverpool make that break at the end he lets it go on to a conclusion for sure. Madleys should be nowhere near Newcastle matches anyway, so many strange decisions against us, the worst of all probably the Colo sending off and penalty by the elder one.

Winnable tie for the Heed if they see off Hednesford, though they are past masters of screwing up when expected to win. Watched Morpeth vs Whitby on Saturday and got to say, having watched every NUFC game this season except Everton, and quite a few non league games, it was the best game I've watched so far. Non stop end to end, loads of chances and goalmouth action, always on a knife edge and great energy from both sets of players. Decent crowd too considering Craik's out of the way location.

Was it really eleven years? That is amazing, and all it took to end that total domination was Harry Kane

Crazy to think a club from a village of about 3,000 people have become an established Liga 1 club while Dusseldorf, HSV, Koln, Hertha, Nurnberg, Kaiserslautem and Schalke are all in Liga 2.

Hoffenheim are definitely the most despised club in Germany due to their rise from village club to Bundesliga and they do get a lot of stick for it.

You make some decent points from an interesting perspective but they have to be replied to. It's far from a bastion of perfection but generally a lot less sanitised than the PL and, whatever the ownership model may be, fans definitely feel more a part of and closer to their clubs. Truth is a lot of football fans prefer "sanitised" so it depends on what you like. Yes Bayern dominate, but not entirely, Leverkusen won the league last season with a 30K stadium. Yeah, total fan ownership could never happen nowadays, though they have a degree of power in decision making. A lot of season tickets are very affordable to all, one off tickets maybe not so much. I'm fortunate that the ground I have been to most is right in the city centre and as close to the SJP matchday atmosphere as you'll find anywhere.

The quality of the Bundesliga, the stadiums, atmosphere and general fan experience never cease to amaze. Drink beer, smoke tabs and plastic season tickets which can be freely passed on still the norm. Couple of interesting (or maybe not) snippets. Jonas Wind Wolfburg's Danish player has now scored 3 consecutive penalties by getting the rebound after the keeper parried and some weeks the second division attendances aggregate higher than then the top league. Just about everything still sells out but the 2 Liga now has some of Germany's biggest clubs in it, regularly selling out with crowds of 50+ and even 60+K attendances while a few smaller, traditionally second or third tier clubs, have been promoted to 1 Liga.

I'd struggle to remember a PL game where we we made more individual errors or more bad decisions on the ball than today. Shame because parts of our game weren't bad and we certainly had chances.