Kanji

West Ham going to feild a team of ex toon players? Solano - Bowyer - Parker - Zog ---------------Dyer------------------ -------------Bellamy?--------------- Jesus me.

Remember when our first choice was Carr & Babayaro?....

a bit random...but you all notice players these days put loads of tape on their socks? arsenal wear red socks...adebayor has enough tape to make it look like they are wearing white socks. I remember Roz was the same way, I saw him and thought he had trhe wrong socks on one time...

I agree with alot of you here. owen looked excellent playing more withdrawn. He has much better vision than many give him credit for. Down to his brain, he was picking out geremi/martins out wide all match to keep the ball moving. I quite like him there and once he gets more comfortable there I'd be happy to see him continue in that roll, if that means he is still in the side and still getting in on the goals. he looked like a different player out there today, much happier, much more more confident and i loved seeing him track back as the last man in defense. Oh and everyone talking about his shot - he had a scorcher of one today from distance.

Y Bit like a teacher who doesn't actually teach. "Life is the best lesson". Sorry, but I don't agree with you. If you were coaching under 8's I'd agree though. If you want kids to improve at the game, you coach them. Natural ability and love for the game only gets you so far. This is the whole point though, now if I were trying to develop footballers then yes they would need coached at some point I dare say, but I'm not. I don't look at these kids as a future Wayne Rooney or a potential star in the making I just see them as kids enjoying football for what it is - a game of fun. That's the problem with society today, we can't leave things alone. We see kids mucking about playing football for the sheer hell of it and think they somehow need our help when in reality they don't. In fact adult rule, especially in kids' football, is proving quite damaging to kids and our sport. Kids have a right to play football freely without any form of adult involvement or our outlook on the sport being imposed on what is essentially their play time. So what do you actually do? Nothing other than joining in or watching. Sometimes I'll fetch the goal out and a few balls if the kids themselves haven't sorted these things out for themselves and the odd time you will, as an adult, have to step in to sort a few skirmishes and to remind the elder kids that there are bairns about. The West End's very own Terry Mac Coach, you throw in the odds and bets with the bookies on the upcoming sporting events when you have a talk-about with the youngins?

I think you need to lower your expectations. We'll be lucky to come away with a point. Its called hope mate. Its called being optimistic. Maybe unrealistic as well - make fun of me if you will, but if you ask me...I'm gunning for 3 points every match, no matter who it is. Its the way I've always believed sport should be played.

i rushed home early from school to watch it on espn. I went nuts during those goals. Shearer's 2nd was a bone chilling feeling. Nearly brought to tears on how passionate that goal and performance was. You lot should check it out on youtube, the sea of toon fans rushing forward and jumping is brilliant. bit of an empty feeling now, will we ever get back to the CL? :-[

I'm praying we go in there and batter them. 3 or 4 nil. But i'll be jumping for joy with a 1-0 victory mind you. I think a battering would do the lads a LOAD of confidence, psychologically that is the best way to get the team spirit up is a straight up, powerful convincing victory. I'm not even sure we are capable of doing so...But heres to hoping, and praying. HOWAY the lads.

mackems.gif God thats hilarious. What are you on about mate? Thats such a terribly thought out comment. Milner and Tayls were there trying to pull him out. Our lads know better to get involved in a scuffle...

his interviews crack me up. sign him up - hes def one of my fav players at the club.

We have been crying for a striker of this type since Big Al left...maybe even before. Pace, Strength, etc. Hopefully he can continue to grow and build upon what hes already improved on. Love the comment earlier about Adebayor's development, would love to see this to this guy if we could sign him.

I'd love Carrick to join. Who knows who Man Utd will sign in the summer, it may just push Carrick out. With the right display of ambition by the club, some top players come in, you'd have to think it would tempt the boy. It's his hometown club, hes still a Geordie, he would relish it I'd hope. Any top striker from the ANC we could look at? A Drogba style striker? For the first time, I haven't a clue of who we could sign - b/c quite frankly I thought the lads we signed last summer would be excellent players. 1 Drogba Style Striker 1 Attacking Creative Midfielder - Van Der Vaart mold. 1 Right Winger with blistering pace - Hell i'd even take Routledge, at least he can beat a man. 1 Defensive Midfielder OR play Faye there. 1 Commanding Center Back - Van Buyten perhaps? 2-4 BETTER Squad players. Hell the more i think of it, we do need a 7-10 new players...is that even possible? Oh and we needa hitman, to take out the only player in the EPL who thinks a Mohawk/Bleaching part of his hair is still the cool thing to do....Alan Useless Smith.

If we only had an Anelka/Drogba style striker to scare the bollocks off of the defenders...a tall, pacy lad with strength, eye for goal. but I digress - The thing is, we notice all the bad that Martins does without the simple fact that every single defender in the land, despite knowing Martins has a terribly weak footballing mind and a donkey's first touch - can with a drop of a dime, rip them to shreds with his pace, or his rifle shot. If hes back in the lineup, hell bag a few goals, its very simple. Defenders may know whath is weaknesses are, but they are scared to death of those strengths - Oba, makes me laugh. Burning a defender 1 minute, deciding to not beat one the next, losing the ball after that. Then that silly little grin comes on his face, cracks me up. But jesus me, do you lot not remember what he did to attack when in the lineup, and this was with Sibierski supporting him. Oba has so much to his game that he never uses. I pray that KK can get it out of him. The fact of the matter is, we NEED him to play. We NEED him on the field, if anything - like whats been said before he causes defences to worry about him in addition to Micky Owen. Viduka is managable, Smith bloody useless, Ameobi is a clumsy bambi - Martins is the only who can consisently cause a problem (for us too) whilst still having a shiter.

that def made me happy reading that. hearing about that injury and seeing the pics and reading all of the reactions, i was worried for him and felt absolutly terrible for him. For him, he's going to have a long, tough recovery and hopefully can be the player he was prior to the injury - its gong to be one helluva mountain to climb. But good luck to him...

i never commented about alan smith - but officially today. i go on record for saying... alan smith, get lost. you are a useless footballer. go back to leeds.

He played on the left in the first half if i recall correctly...had a stinging shot saved well too... He looked very good to be honest, and I thoguht taylor played very well too... on a side note, huddlestone has a nice array of passes...

was going to say the same as well...that was one of the most painful misses...what a tourney though. wow.

I'd welcome Geremi in the holding role....think he would actually be quite good there behind Barton or Emre playing the more advanced role... Anybody think he could possibly play at left back? Moving Zogs up field and rotating Milner/Duff/Zog as our widemen?

played the sport my whole life and studied the game. lived in the usa my whole life and fell in love with team - despite each season that ends in dissapointment i still look forward to every single match, every single news snippet, every single moment the team is mentioned I get excited. call me a plastic fan if you want, but i've supported the team best i can from florida every season and will continue to no matter what happens. i may not be a geordie, but i love the black and white...shoot me if you want, but i'll never leave and never lose hope and faith that a trophy can be brought to this club one day... and one day i'll have enough personal money to make a trip to newcastle and watch a match in the stands and live a dream i've had since i fell in love with the club.

Aye, I think you all were mentioning the person who speculated about Emre and an injury...I was the one who wrote it and I heard it on Setanta by the match commentator if I am correct..."..and we are being told Emre may have been withdrawn b/c of an injury to his hamstring..." or something like that. It was early in the morning after a night out but I'm sorry if I confused anyone! My bad all...hope I'm wrong and my mind played a trick on me...

Carr and Butt were repeatedly wasteful with time and space. Beye will solve that issue with RB and Barton needs to play for Butt, full stop. Emre was breath of fresh air. He kept the ball moving, passed it about, and will hopefully stay out of trouble and (injury - proving all is right, heard he had a hamstring problem? can anyone confirm?) Owen looked to have a major bounce in his step after he scored. He had one chance where he muffed it wide, signs of an extremely rusty finisher, but no doubt will put that away when given a similar chance. His leap for the header was amazing - his positioning in those situations are immense. Would love Martins to come back and add a bit of pace and fire to our front line, with Keegan, he will only get better. I've kept quiet about these parts for long enough, and I'm looking forward to joining the banter.

Since when Shearer signed...He was my fav. player since his title season at Blackburn and his England success...didn't care much for any clubs until he signed for Newcastle. I fell in love with the club and it hasn't died or faltered since. Born and raised in the states, used to catch the odd match on the backyard satellite that was HUGE. The matches started coming on ESPN during the week nights so I was lucky enough to see quite a decent amount. I've visited England and wasn't able to make it up to Newcastle, but I plan on it very soon - esp now since I have a great job and some $$$ for a trip and a match.

pretty good read about Martinez. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/raiseyourgame/pages/roberto_martinez.shtml

i worked front desk at a ritz-carlton in the states 2 years ago- Mind you, this interaction with him was AFTER he was sacked.. he came in with his family. lovely family, wife was class and he was, not going to lie, one of hte nicest people i;d ever met while working therte. He asked me If i watched the world cup at all, told him I watch the sport more than anyone I know over here and he laughed, asked who I supported, club wise. I told him to guess, he smiled and said "MAN United" and I laughed and so No - and then I told him, "Mr Souness, I know who you are- my uncle used to travel to Liverpool to watch you play." So then he said, Liverpool? I said No....NEWCASTLE United. Kid you not, the man was smiling, lost his smile, and his head sunk. Looked down, almost embarresed, as he knew I knew who he was and what he did to the club. He then said, You know, the Chairman wasn't a football chairman, he was a businessman. He got involved too much, and made too many rash decisions. Said Mickey was a fantastic player, but was hurt. Said Shearer was a great man as well, but closer to ending his career. Said you lot were the greatest supporters, but things didn't work out right for him. But he continued to mouth off about Shepherd for a good 3-4 minutes. Basically saying the same stuff. I sensed he was throwing excuses at me...but hey, at least I know my sudden encounter with GS was priceless, I right told him i was a Newcastle Supporter and he looked as embarressed as hell.

Perfect Opportunity for Harry to have Big Al as an assistant and learn the ropes. that would be something i'd like- but highly doubt it. To be honest, I don't even know if I care who it is anymore, just want it resolved and want transfers in.