CaliMag

Absolutely this. A couple of bad (but ultimately harmless) decisions from the ref would also help to get the crowd really riled up.

Great photo... I had no idea there were so many supporters of Nigeria in Portland...

Hopefully the club sent a take down notice from their solicitors.

As is usual for this fixture I care less about the scoreline and more about the attitude and effort of our team. For this game I want them all to play like Clarence Acuna on crack - intensity and committment that will frighten the opposition.

Why is no one marking Perlaza properly? His gift is his acceleration in the first five yards. Poor defending.

Timbers having there way with the FIRE here. It should end 5-0 at this rate.

Plus there is the precendence of having played DC United back in 2000. A return seems likely. Still hoping for a West Coast visit though.

Fingers crossed for Vancouver or LA. Vancounver has a Beardsley and (a weak) SBR connection so I suppose that would be nice. Have Pedro receive some award or conrtibution to the SBR Foundation... or something similar.

That was waaaay too easy for wolves. I did not like that at all. They are going to get another one soon if we don't sort it out.

I hope they play other places besides KC. I am not going out there, but would love a west coast appearance. FAO Cubaricho and any other Pacific North-West based supporters (ToonCanuck?). A few friends and I will be at the Timbers v Seattle game on July 10th if anyone is interested in a Toon Army west coast piss up in Portland before the game. Should be a good atmosphere.

happy that Ketsy did well. I hope he totally shows me up and becomes a sucessful club manager (Speed as well).

I can't help but think that taking over Cymru was a mistake for him. I really want him to do well, but his few results at Sheffield United were mixed (at best) and I would have liked to see him do more at club level before taking over Wales. I recognise that Wales is not as much of a minnow as Georgia, but I also felt like Ketsy chucked away his very promising management career when he took over his national team.

...AND his name is QUAKESmag FFS. IP ban from admins?

The last time we played Stoke we lacked some cohesion and they got very lucky. During the second half, the players (especially our back four) became more and more disorganised. In response to Stoke gaining confidence and getting into this game CH took off Ben Arfa for Jonas, thinking that by adding fresh legs we could press on for a second... 5 minutes later Stoke scores from a set piece (after a long break in play Fuller was injured and took his time). Then CH takes off Tiote for Shola ~10 minutes later another set piece goal (an OG from Perch). Just going by our team sheets we should have murdered them last time, but there was no team in that game or any fluidity. That is what Stoke does - they try to stop play as often as possible with massive breaks in an effort to disrupt any sort of rhythm. Their practices must be like watching paint dry: set piece, pause, set piece, pause, long throw-in, pause, long throw-in, pause... etc. And let's take a moment to criticise our right side during that game. We had Routeledge giving no cover to a nervous Perch. Hopefully Stoke will be facing (a fit) Barton and Simpson which are a totally different prospect. Wilicini should play better. They have now partnered most of the games this year. They just played sub-par and should have something to prove. Finally I would say it is unlikely that Pardew would sub Tiote for a striker if we are tied up in the second half. We are not a very good team, but we don't need to be great for this game, just capable. Stoke are poor and their luck against us has to run out. Stoke 0 - NUFC 2

Spray paint the mask black Shola!

That was back in the 90s. Nike has cleaned up their act significantly.

I don't even know what this means. *...also Tina Turner was in Mad Max 3 IIRC.

One thing we have to do about it in the summer is find someone that isnt Perch or Smith to fill in for him when he is unavailable. ... you mean like when he is sold to a "bigger" club.

I am amazed by the bolded bit above. I rarely run into makems over here. Maybe they don't come out to the west coast, but I have seen a makem supporter watching a game at a pub only ONCE in the last 15 years... and he was there supporting ManU against us in the '99 FA Cup final.

Nah theyve only stuck 7 past us in their last two games here. Forgot about those, it was just my general feeling! Can definitely remember us putting in some good performances against them in recent years. Should learn to research these things. Smith had probably his best game for us as a striker against Arsenal at SJP. That Scott Parker performance also stands out. The only good Souness era perfomance Solano strike 1-0. Those games just remind me that when have beaten Arsenal it has been due to the supporters and the team showing real passion.

I don't really care about the result. I just want the players to show passion and hard work. If we are robbed and lose, fine. I just want some spirit and the Fulham game to be shown as an aberration and that team spirit hasn't been lost.

Yes. Strikers in the 2 to 4 m range from the Americas or lesser Euro countries.

I desperately hope that we finish above Liverpool. This is more important to me than finishing above Sunderland right now. We must do this. I want Dalglish to be proven wrong, Carroll to be shown he left us for a club going nowhere and my own sad desperate desire for revenge. The game at Anfield is now the most important one for me on the fixture list for the remainder of the season. We must win that one. Best of luck Parky... don't f*cking jinx it.

Pardew's interview was pretty much exactly as we all predicted it would be. Now unfortunately, we have to wait until the summer to see if any of it is remotely true. For our sake I hope it is.

I don't blame pardew on this. I don't like him but I doubt he had much to say. Once the bid went into the silly amount catagory (above 20m) I doubt Llambias, the agents, club reps, barristers etc gave a fuck what he thought. Llambias probably said "this is now club business son." Pardew has probably been wrangling a committment for transfer funds in the summer and planning what exactly he is going to say when he faces the media and has to placate the fans. I am certain what he says will be well reasoned and vastly more thoughtful than any of the usual bullshit we expect from the club. Hopefully he'll be truthful, but irregardless it will be something I want to hear. Something like: "It was a phenominal amount of money... one of the highest transfer fees ever... Andy submitted a transfer request... I won't force players to stay here... we will be able to add quality to the side with more funding in the summer due to this transfer... I understand the pain the supporters feel, believe me, I feel it too... I am disappointed that this happened so fast and so late... Transfer dealings are complex and like games sometimes you end up with a poor result... I am confident we will move on from here and be stronger... Hatem Ben Arfa is getting fit... Gosling is just coming back... we have quality and will be able to attract more in the future..." There that pretty much covers his next press conference. How much of it will be true is the real issue.