Rich

No footy videos please sausage (copyright rules), although it was a beauty.

It was Sunday like, it really was. Sat right up next to them in the corner, so nervous before the game, expecting a draw at best... and then that happened. There have been other fantastic/more important games (Feyenoord in particular sticks out), but my word. 5-1, even Shola scored (twice!)

We stopped playing after the 5th, with 20 minutes left to play or whatever it was.

We raped them man, if they are denying that they're dafter than I thought. They have to look at their own shocking gameplan/tactics before they comment on anything else.

I can't even comprehend the level that lad is currently playing at. I cannot remember seeing one player be so dominant in his position as he was tonight. One of the best wing performances I can honestly recall. Quite disgusted he plays for Spurs.

Is Bale worth £10m yet, then? I remember all the bollocks when Spurs paid that for him. Not looking a bad deal now.

Yep. He's not bad like, is he?

He just seems to be in the right place over and over again to win second balls. Invaluable in the constant pressure we put on the Mackems at the weekend, they just couldn't get a hold of the midfield. Didn't help that they just kept playing hopeful punts up for Darren "Offside" Bent.

Jealous of an eight year old. I've heard it all now.

yup, could have easily sent off mensah and cattermole too Turner and Onuoha as well...

If the people at the very top keep their heads and let it slide off their backs (as they claim to do and pride themselves on doing), then these stories appear to be nothing other than good for us if that performance yesterday is anything to go by. It tends to be just absolute bollocks to fill column inches and the relentless hours of television coverage. Obviously a stopped watch is right twice a day and all that, but for the most part you just have to laugh at this rubbish. It's got to the point now where it's absolutely ridiculous. Fair to play to Fred for clearing the air relatively quickly.

Aye, NE5's had a shocking couple of days like, must be sick as a parrot. Great win over Sunderland and now this. Feel sorry for the bloke. And no, thread doesn't need locking. Not doing any harm at the minute.

Just been on SSN acting the little bugger on Grey's Monument. Cheeky little scamp. How can you be that much of a cock at 8, man?

Denied by Shepherd, officials say club not for sale, thank you and fuck off.

Don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment, but it's not the way to do it, nor the time (probably). We may still need Lovenkrands, Smith AND Perch (although hopefully not) between now and January (or the summer, depending on how we do things.)

I would play both, although fitting them in effectively might be troublesome. Drop Lovenkrands for this and you're basically telling him he has no future. Same goes for Xisco, who I'd like to see given a final crack of the whip after his cameo appearances. A lot of Hughton's thinking will also be about keeping his squad happy.

You're jeopardising the fitness of the players, which is the key. We have very little strength in depth and our first XI isn't even that good. It's just how much of a risk Hughton is willing to take, with Sunderland having a free midweek. What happens if we play our strongest XI on Wednesday and lose, say Enrique and Jonas to injury? Unlikely, of course, but he would be fucking pilloried if we then went and got turned over by the Mackems as well. It's not as simple as saying "let's just go for it and hope for the best". If we go out to Arsenal having fielded a weakened team and then go on to beat Sunderland, it's a fantastic week, if we beat Arsenal with a strong team and then lose to Sunderland it's not quite the same (although it's still canny to be so far on in the Carling Cup). My ideal would be to show a strong piece of faith in the team that beat a decent Chelsea side 4-3 away (4-3 was generous to them, as well) and hope they respond in kind with another surprising win, then go and beat the Mackems with our usual league team. Might not happen, but that's the ideal scenario.

For the record, as well, I would absolutely take 17th place at this moment in time.

Also, we literally have two fit senior centre-backs. Even if he just gives them a half each (which could turn into 75 minutes+ for one of them given extra time) that's a hell of a risk to take ahead of the weekend. Perch/Kadar looks terrible by comparison, but needs must.

It's not *just* the league though, it's the fact that it's Sunderland next - in the league. Which one does Hughton come under more pressure for losing?

The coaching staff/physios will know who really needs to be rested and who is carrying knocks, that's the main thing to remember. They'll have all of the fitness data and the reports to allow them to pick the strongest possible team to try and get through, without compromising any of our key players. Personally, I'd stick with a second XI, and I do think that's what we will see - but it's incredibly difficult to predict what Hughton will play and how willing he is to risk some of our regulars. Like others have said, it's just a total fucker that we've got the derby game immediately afterwards, otherwise I could see him being more inclined to go for it. You have to think that R. Taylor, Perch, Smith, Guthrie, Routledge, Ranger and Lovenkrands will be starting, though, it just depends what he does around that.

This. Epic song, is it available on iTunes? Vinyl or nada.

Didn't think I could be any prouder to be a Geordie. I was wrong.

Sorry, yes he is. Total oversight (here I was wondering where he was today as well). Suppose they might put Song/Denilson in there to hold things together a bit, if that was a team they were thinking of playing, or just bring a youngster in. Still, not a bad option as a second XI eh?

If Wenger is having us on over this "strongest XI" thing, here is a team he could put out if he was looking to rest almost everybody that played today: Szczesny Eboue Koscielny Djourou/Squillaci Gibbs Rosicky Diaby Wilshere Walcott Vela Bendtner I would honestly be surprised to see him go too strong again, with a game more-or-less every 3 days for them until the middle of November (6 in 18 days), but who knows? I still think that team up there would see them have enough to get by our lot, especially if they put a few of their best players on the bench just in case, based on what we'll probably field.