Rich

Enrique was very, very good yesterday, considering he was up against Edwards - one of the few Mackems with any class about them. He starts off loads of attacks with that whipped ball up the line (Griffin used to play the same pass an awful lot, the best part of his game), but obviously he can still only get better. His positioning was good, he was positive, and he rarely (if ever) looked like getting beaten. Very impressed.

Jones played his role brilliantly, I thought, but got absolutely zero support when he needed it. Would be very good in Viduka's role here.

Agreed on the first point, what a fucking touch of class that was prior to kick-off, the atmosphere was built-up brilliantly. Fantastic day.

Can't agree that Mort hasn't "done anything" to fill the ground. I'm sure many wouldn't have renewed had Shepherd stayed, to begin with, and now the ground is full because of Keegan, who was obviously brought back by him and who said himself he wouldn't have come back had it not been for the new men in charge. It's a shame this thread was so utterly predictable after the title of the initial post. Well played that man.

Gilberto isn't finished by any stretch of the imagination, he'd be one I'd like us to look at.

5p, 50p, 5p, 50p, 5p 50p.

Dubious attire, mind.

Don't, man. Seriously. Duff ticks all the boxes for that lot. height=25 width=25http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/gcsere/revision/xtianity/ch2/images/Tickbox.gif[/img] Irish height=25 width=25http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/gcsere/revision/xtianity/ch2/images/Tickbox.gif[/img] Absolutely fucking shite Blimey, you're right. height=25 width=25http://re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk/gcsere/revision/xtianity/ch2/images/Tickbox.gif[/img] Name/reputation (to those who've not watched him recently) Was down in Preston with the Sunderland lot (family) the weekend gone, and they all said they wouldn't mind him at all.

He is by most if not all of their fans. Not the ones I know.

Shame it'll not mean anything, really.

Amdy Faye

Completely agree. I'd be surprised if we're not in for him this summer. I'd shoot my load if we got SWP.

I don't mind Man City, but I've found it very amusing the way the second half of the season has gone for them after the big I-am we were getting previously. Still, though, the early signs were very good and surely given more money and more time to bring in more quality and build up the squad Sven could easily expect to better their performance next season. Madness if he goes.

Dear me. That was hard enough for me to follow, being English and being fairly bright. Imagine how the likes of N'Zogbia, Enrique and the other foreign players found it man. Could go some way to explaining why Enrique "was shite in training" - he never fucking had a clue what he was meant to be doing! Surely the best way to get a point across is to be clear, concise and straight to the point. That was said in a garbled, stuttering and long-winded manner. What he was saying did actually have a purpose, but the delivery was appalling. Thing with Keegan is, he seems much more hands on (just basing this on the photos that are often on Getty/NUFC.co.uk), but he'll get in there and actually show a player what he wants from them, not just fucking explain it and expect it to be done.

At the time was it not reported that he wanted parity with his best mate Robert if he was to sign for us? And also that he didn't like playing fullback? Man City offered him more money and the promise of regular action at CB. Apologies if already mentioned.

Good. Keep him here. The football lads down at uni have started to notice him, without any prompting from me, and a few of the coaches and whatnot have mentioned him as well as being amongst the best right-backs in the league when there's been discussions of that nature. I'd be glad if he keeps under the radar though, as I hope he can maintain his level of performance and hopefully see out his career here. He looks a fit bloke and he seems fairly resilient as well, even though he's 30 he may still have a good few years left in him.

Aye but now instead of needing to beat Man Utd and then hope someone holds them to a draw in one of the other three games, they need to beat Man Utd and hope someone beats them, due to the goal differences. It's a massive blow for them. And for me, also hands the initiative, confidence wise, to Liverpool for the CL Semi Final I had Liverpool down to win that already, but you never know. Maybe Chelsea will just focus on the CL now?

I'd agree with that as well, in that case! What a lovely moment, rare in these parts.

Aye but now instead of needing to beat Man Utd and then hope someone holds them to a draw in one of the other three games, they need to beat Man Utd and hope someone beats them, due to the goal differences. It's a massive blow for them.

Thing is, it could have so easily have gone the other way for me as the vast majority of my family are Sunderland. The ones that would have influenced me had either died or moved away by the time I was getting into football, though, so the only real choice that I had was to go with my mates, my Granddad and my area (Wallsend) and be black and white. The Newcastle side of my family really wasn't football daft though, like the Sunderland lot were (and are - cousin still lives away but gets to about 30 of their games a season in whatever league they're in). The thought of being a Sunderland fan since I was 5 or 6 is a fucking disgusting one, to be brutally honest, and I only hope I can say the same in 10, 20, 30, 40 years time! Thing is, it's mad really, because come derby day I can't stand them at all, I want us to absolutely muller them, I want to beat them so badly that I won't hear from my family in Lancashire for weeks, months even. Aside from that though, respect for family history and all that means Sunderland are more like my 2nd team, although an absolute country mile behind Newcastle, of course. I know that will be hard for many to understand, but I can't be the only one can I? My Granddad, who I never met, was a Sunderland fan from Jarrow, but he'd go to both grounds on alternate weekends and liked to see all the North-East teams doing well. I'd imagine he felt fairly similarly to what I do now, to be honest. If they beat us on Sunday, the decent thing is that I won't get any texts at the final whistle gloating or rubbing it in or acting the prick from anyone, and likewise them from me. At the end of the day it's just football, innit? I do hope we smash them though - there's a big wedding in the family this summer, and I've been perfecting my smug face for it... if we finish above Spurs as well (got them lot in the bloodlines too) then I may well be unbearable (moreso than usual, even)

The one from the miss cleared corner not much to do with his new deeper role that. Big credit Keegan for changing the system but I think the side would benefit from Owen playing higher up the pitch and Viduka deeper seems obvious to me considering what both are best at. I agree with Redknapp comments regarding Michael Owen role completely. Fair enough. I personally don't think he's quick enough to play "on the shoulder" these days, because most Premiership centre halves aren't the cumbering giants of old. He has struggled when playing up front this season, from what I've seen, looking absolutely toothless at times. Obviously his rehabilitation from injury and lack of match sharpness at times comes into it, but he's certainly lost a fair bit of his pace and a good chunk of his initial acceleration over a few yards. He barely got a touch of the ball during his games up front in a 4-4-2 either, did he? He was more detrimental to the team at times, in my opinion, because he wasn't involved and he wasn't a threat over the top. Everyone sees a different game though, as they say, 4 goals in 4 games says a lot though - and he's been playing very, very well at times too. "don't think he's quick enough to play "on the shoulder" these days." . Plus, to be fair, in that 4-4-2 under kk: 1. Midfielders were creating nothing 2. His partner was Smith 3. Recovering from long time injury 4. Whole team were playing crap If you change the formation now, it'd be totally different picture. (Not that I think formation should be changed) I realise all of that 1-4 stuff as well, but like I said, everyone sees a different game. Owen is looking as good as he ever has done for us at the minute, whether it be because he's simply match fit after a run of games or because he's motivated, or because he's more involved in the game... could be a number of reasons, or a combination of all of them. I suppose we'll see, though, somewhere down the line. Can he still do the business at the very top of the pitch, where he'll need to score goals and be involved in the play as well? We're not good enough to accomodate a striker who can only play in the box and score scrappy goals, which is what he was doing before the formation change, but like you said it could be because of a number of reasons there as well. The fact of the matter as pertains to the player himself is that he's lost a load of pace and acceleration due to the injuries and is having to model his game accordingly, much like Shearer did after 1997 and particularly after Robson arrived, I'm amused that people are trying to pick holes in the current gameplan, when we're yet to lose since it came into effect. We're not playing like the Entertainers of old, but the improvement has been massive, and I'd bet if you asked which player was the #1 reason for that, the people that matter would say Michael Owen, playing in the role that he is now. Everyone's a fucking manager these days, aren't they? All we can really do is support the bloke who actually makes the decisions and be happy when things are going well - which they definitely are at the moment. For the record, as well, if we went back to a 4-4-2 with the players currently available, I think we'd be nowhere near the team we have been since Birmingham. Absolutely nowhere near.

Small club syndrome man, I'd fucking hate to be a Sunderland fan living in our shadow. We don't even like all the coverage ourselves, imagine how those lot feel when we're on SSN 24/7 and in the papers every day.

Gallowgate End: You're not looking into it enough, I'd say. There's more to the current players and their recent successes than just what you personally perceive their strengths to be. Owen has been running more than anyone else, apparently, do you really think Viduka could do that? He's up and down the pitch for the entire game and is helping out in defence as well as in attack, closing down, harrying, cutting off angles for opposing midfielders. Viduka has been more mobile as well since the tactics have changed, but he surely couldn't do the job that Owen's doing to the same degree? Even Viduka himself has said he needs Martins and Owen to do his running for him, that's why he's a more stationary fulcrum, that's why it's made all three look much better. Even Martins and Owen have agreed with this in interviews I've watched on Newcastle World. The whole attacking dimension is based around Martins and Owen being Viduka's legs... but you want that to change? So Viduka does the running and Owen stays up front!? And even discounting all of this evidence from primary sources (harks back to A-Level history, that!), if we do switch to having Viduka in behind the two smaller "pacier" strikers, who holds the ball up front? Who wins the headers from goal kicks and all that? I could go on here, as well... it's just madness man. I've been trying not to be rude or condescending, I haven't even declared your opinion "bizarre", but howay! Why change a formula that's working?

There were no need for any more posts after the initial one, surely? The Premiership Title, people, as big as it gets really.