Rich

I'm buying you a "shift" key for Christmas mate!

Masterstroke.

I'm sorry, but all I can say is this... SHEARER, SHEARER, SHEARER, SHEARER, SHEARER!!!

If I can make it I'll play RB so that Greg can move into CB with Ash.

Essien is superb. Best CM in the premiership last season. Utterly world class. Agreed. Very underrated footballer (always described as an athlete first and foremost). Two-footed, explosive, great passing/shooting, the archetypal modern central midfielder.

There's something about proper wingers like. Fantastic to watch with pace and dribbling ability. Too rare these days like.

Guess you're wanting a lift then. Hey I'd be able to pay you back for once. You could stop at mine.

Ah go on man Without sounding pompous or patronising (which probably means I will), would doing more revision beforehand not be the solution? I say that, I'll no doubt be doing stuff last-minute, as per usual. I don't roll that way, homeslice. I only work on a last-minute basis and it seems to pay off.

Aye, could be a massive one too as I need 70%+ this year to secure some lovely free money by way of an academic bursary. As it stands I'm right on 70% with 4 assignments and 2 exams to come. I'll see how my assignment scores do and make my decision from there.

The closer this gets the more likely I am to be itching to play in it, so I'd better not rule myself out completely. Been playing centre-half the past few weeks for our intramural team at university and so getting used to the position a bit more, would play there again. Especially with Ash being up and the Fulham game being that weekend. Major sticking point is an exam on the Monday morning like

Injured, aren't I. That was brilliant, by the way.

Howay the Blues. Me and my ringers won't be making an appearance this time, but you will all be in my thoughts come May 17th.

Beye, Taylor, Bassong, Enrique. Not a knee-jerk either, Colo is on a bad, bad run.

Anyone know what the craic was here? Just scanned the thread and couldn't find anything.

http://www.bluelinecomics.com/New%20Blue%20Lines/Captain%20Obvious%207%20splash%20finished.jpg

The booing should never have happened, but he should never have been brought on. Another example of Hughton and Co. flying in the face of logic/sound reasoning. Game over... no width... Jonas on the bench... let's bring on Shola to frustrate the crowd for 15 minutes. Horrendous decision from that point of view. People are never going to change their minds about him, I think KK in particular seemed clued-in on this. For that reason alone he should have been sacked off. Should still be sacked off.

On a rare plus: Arsene Wenger loves the Toon. Nice comments about us in the press and caught him looking around SJP in wonder prior to the kick-off. Head in the clouds time, but I'd love that man managing our club... even if he doesn't "see" half of what goes on in every game he watches. It might happen someday... His attitude towards us shows that we still have standing, impact in the national game. That, more than anything, is why it is imperative that we don't go down and become another Leeds or Nottingham Forest. As we stand, the potential is still there at the forefront, ready to be unlocked. Relegation all but extinguishes that. It's basically all we have left as a club (along with the support, which will also go if we go) as well because the money is gone, the owner is crap, the management "team" is an aberration and the players are perennial let-downs. Terrifying situation at the moment and absolutely gut-wrenching to lose that game after the quickfire equaliser from Martins. Positives on the playing side come from Harper (in regards to shot-stopping, not much else), S. Taylor (in regards to attitude and leading by example with his blocks, but not in regards to assaulting Arshavin), Enrique (who still put in a decent performance when all around him lost their heads), Duff (who still lacks pace but looked pretty good considering he hasn't played for weeks), Lovenkrands (who I've called "average" but again who has the pace and invention at times to trouble the best defenders), Butt (who wasn't too bad at all, generally, and who seemed to be trying to drive us forwards in the first half particularly) and Martins (who was still frustrating, especially with the penalty, but who still represents our best chance of survival). The less said about the performance of Coloccini the better... and the lack of Jonas... and Ameobi getting on the pitch AGAIN... and Hughton's general dallying when S. Taylor was off the pitch... and how a professional football team can totally implode with the loss of two players in their early twenties. Bah.

He was truly terrible yesterday - in terms of performance and attitude unfortunately. At this point in time looks another expensive central defender unsuited to the Premier League and with the weight of a massive price tag making him look even worse than he is. Hopefully he can sort it out and turn it around because he's not the first foreign import to look appalling in his debut campaign. Hangelaand is the immediate current example I can pluck. Looked a right carthorse when I saw him in his opening season at Fulham but seems to have got to grips with the league now and has adapted his performances to suit. He's been outstanding for Fulham this campaign. Suppose it helps that he's about 7 inches taller than Fabricio like...

Christ almighty. I was worried he'd leave Jonas out to be honest, but wouldn't have expected such big changes with Smith going out as well. Looks like he's going with the Man Utd (h) set-up... only without the pace from the left-flank. Off to watch it now, not impressed with that team. Urgh.

Everton appalling again, yet still only 4 points off the CL places... 7 I suppose after tonight like. Fucking horror of a team, as always.

After reading that I'm going to assume: Harper S. Taylor Coloccini Bassong Enrique Lovenkrands Nolan Butt Smith Jonas Martins Bench: Krul, Beye, R. Taylor, Geremi/Guthrie, Duff, Owen, Ameobi. Can't see Beye getting straight back in after Taylor scored last weekend and aside from that I'd expect Hughton's major dilemma will be whether to go with Lovenkrands or Duff on the opposite side to Jonas (or in the hole behind Oba with Smith pulling wide.)

Caulkin reporting it in The Times, too, usually fairly reliable when it comes to NUFC - despite the fact the title reads "Hughton drops Owen for trip to Arsenal" Reckons we're going 4-5-1 with Nolan, Smith and Butt in the centre of the park... Lovenkrands and Jonas either side with Martins up top for a similar set-up to Man Utd (h)?

His interview (and Oba's) are brilliant watches/listens: Butt: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/football_focus/7943614.stm Oba: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/7948411.stm As much as they both frustrate me at times I'm delighted they're both in our colours. Could do with a few more like them (certainly as pertains attitudes.)

He reminds me of me when I play centre midfield in 11-a-side. Huff and puff, put a few tackles in, get amongst them, with the very occasional bit of football thrown in. Not good enough, basically.

Basically, brain tells me we are in the shit in a big, big way - but blind faith/heart tells me that the likes of Martins and Owen will stay fit and fire us to safety. 60% chance of relegation in the current situation with our fixture list sounds about right, albeit a little on the pessimistic side.