Rich

Well spotted, I realised I didn't make this clear and quickly edited it. Hopefully this is where the debate will spring from though, as it's an important thing to consider. I suppose we could merely qualify it as meaning people who will realistically be partaking in a fair bit of first team action, whether that be as a starter or from the bench, as it's not just the first XI who wins you games.

Thought this might be an interesting idea, given the recent debates popping up in various places about the merits of our squad. The manager has had his poll, so let's now shift the focus a bit and see who the forum reckons deserves their salary and squad number at Newcastle United. Top 6 should be a fairly realistic expectation/ambition, at least for next season, I'm sure most would agree with that. We have 21 senior squad players on the books at the minute, discounting the injured Peter Ramage, and not including the younger lads like David Edgar, Andy Carroll, Kazenga Lua Lua and Tim Krul. Vote for the players who you personally think we should keep a hold of, because they're good enough to play in the first team for where you think we should be aiming to finish in the Premiership. If you think they're all shite, then don't vote and let us know with a post instead (obviously.) Given all of the fluctuating opinions about various members of our squad, it will be decent to see who we rate on the whole as our favourite/best players and who we think are good enough to take us to the infamous "next level".

That's a beauty, didn't see it at the time.

I think we'd have struggled with 30k to begin with, mate.

Fucking knew it, first two fucking teams out of the hat. As soon as Arsenal popped out I'm thinking "here we go". Can we just give Stoke a bye?

Because he'd probably still score buckets of goals if he's fit and playing in a good football team? I'm assuming that we're picking people on ability alone here and not taking fitness and sensible things like that into account. Berbatov/Owen has the potential to be an electric partnership, especially when supplied by the likes of Bentley, Elano, Barry and Petrov. Fantasy-tastic, man.

Stop crushing people's dreams man! You've just won "Most Optimistic" and you're going on like that. I feel betrayed.

Damien Duff is very good off the ball, but we usually don't have the players to find him. With the ball he's lost his pace, struggles to beat a man, and rarely puts a worthwhile ball into the penalty area. He'll not uproot any trees playing wide in a 4-4-2, but there may be legs in the idea that he could be more useful when used narrower because he certainly has the brain to be more effective there.

I must have been watching a different Damien Duff to most then, same old same old from what I could see.

LET IT GO, YOU SLAG!!

I thought Rozehnal looked really poor, shaky and uncertain most of the time, I don't know if that can be safely blamed on Taylor (who I also thought was poor), though. Hang on .... Smith 8? On a general point, I actually thought you looked pretty good in the first half. Fuck knows what he said in his half time chat, though. "Switch off" by the looks of it. Aye Brum, Jay-Jay isn't being exactly serious... he's reprising the old Andy faux-player ratings brilliance.

You're arguing on completely different wavelengths, but you've both got good points and are right in your own way. Butt is a poor player/limited player, but this is only truly highlighted because he's having to do too much in a poor team, much like Speedo had to do at times when he was let down by his midfield partners. Take a minute to sit back and see what you're both saying and this will all reach a harmonious conclusion. Hare-krishna.

It's good of you to be so modest. Not many others would. Your kindness has warmed my heart.

I'll be honest, I laughed. We could do with Jay Jay in here more often after performances like that.

You are rubbish.

Good points. As if you got rid of my quote. That's fucking favouritism. Think he meant the good points came in the areas that weren't directly pertaining to your original post, Sonny Jim.

He didn't. He was always Welsh and qualified for Wales. He played for England schoolboys because he went to an English school. ESFA being different to the FA. Well scratch that then! Erm... I agree with Jonny (tail between legs).

Giggs deciding to play for Wales rather than England?

I was also saying we needed some creativity and I said Barton wouldn't bring it, he's more like a Bowyer than creative, Emre isn't going to do it either. Allardyce has to take some of the blame because he brought both Smith and Barton in with good money which could have been spent better. I'll give him a bit of slack because he had to bring in numbers and he's done that but he's now got to go a step further and give the team some flair, I hate to say this but door openers (spit). We still need to replace Nobby Solano first and foremost.

A good question, no doubt, but we can't be sure that he wasn't. I know he's losing a lot of us at the minute because of numerous reasons, but surely a bloke with his reputation and standing as a player and manager in this game could see the same as what we see? It's stuff like this that fucks me off more than anything, not having anything truly concrete to finger the blame on people so that we can FINALLY zap the right man. We need something more set in stone than the constant scapegoats. We've gone through umpteen players, numerous managers and we got shot of the previous owners... how much more can we realistically change?

Butt was poor because he is a limited player trying to do things outside of his ability, but he had an impact on the match and tried to pull strings and drift into shooting positions. These are all things he wouldn't have to do (and fuck up) if he had a midfield partner capable of helping him out. I don't think he's a super player, but in much the same way Jenas made Speed look woeful for long periods, Smith/Geremi is doing the same thing to Butt. Butt's playing the role of the DM and the AM. He clearly does well in the first role whilst the less said about the second the better. It's not his fault that he's forced to dictate the pace of the game, forced to make through balls and shift the play from one side to another. It's not his fault Alan Smith is so fucking shite. Thumbs up from me here too. I'm annoyed with Butt's lack of ability/nouse for a bloke of his reputation/age more than anything, but he's working his ginger bollocks off trying to do everything he can for the side, which is more than we can say for certian others.

just an opinion, but I think if Cacapa had played at the back instead of Faye, we would have lost Agree entirely with this, but it wasn't the only way Allardyce could have gone. Faye has won me over in the last few games, both in midfield and at the back. I'm very happy we have him. Taylor is - and always has been despite a few flaws in his game and a few mistakes at times - a top young player for the club and will be hopefully for his whole career. He's every bit as promising as Moncur was at the same age, in different ways. It's a shame we haven't got two Fayes really, because he's looked our best centre-half and central-midfielder when he's played. Just hope that Senegal in particular do terribly at the ACN, because with our upcoming games and the lack of Beye and Faye at the back in particular, we're going to be in for some fucking hammerings.

If Allardyce has anything to spend then it should be on two creative midfielders, it doesn't matter how good your forwards are if you can't use them. Baggio will love this, but he's being proven right from what he said in the summer about us requiring mobility and creativity in the centre of the park. We've been hamstrung by Barton being an arsehole and Emre being out of favour, but if one or both of them go the distance (which Barton probably won't) then it's essential that we replace them with either a) someone with technical ability who can pass or b) someone who can stretch other teams with some off the ball movement. It's not all about pace, definitely not, but a player or two with some fucking technique would be wonderful.

just an opinion, but I think if Cacapa had played at the back instead of Faye, we would have lost Agree entirely with this, but it wasn't the only way Allardyce could have gone.

Like Yorkie said earlier, his options were severely limited with the selection today. I dread to think how Cacapa would have fared against their strikers on that pitch and it would have been a fucking massive ask for Edgar to come in and do the business after so long out. The other viable option would have been to stick Lua Lua right, Duff left and partner N'Zogbia with one of Butt or Smith in the middle of the park, but again it would have been a fair bit of a gamble. For me, tonight only highlighted how much the players are to blame for our recent failings as anybody else involved with the club, it was an embarrasment to watch at times.