Rich

Absolutely horrifically written, but cannot argue with most of it. Saying that, the useless bastard isn't saying anything that the vast majority of posters on here aren't already. Fucking shite article, though, as articles go. Farrington has never been one to shy from slagging the manager/chairman, recently at least.

Martins, by a mile.

I thought he was fairly brilliant in games I saw him in towards the start of the season, when I was watching him a fair bit, but I admittedly haven't seen as much of Liverpool since then and when they've played Hyypia has barely featured. I was genuinely surprised, though, that someone his age was playing so well. He was just reading things so soon, was as imperious in the air as ever and was obviously involved in keeping 'Pool a lot of clean-sheets. He could well be too far gone and certainly doesn't seem to fit Roeder's "blueprint" for a potential signing, but I certainly wouldn't object to him coming in as a cheap option to replace one of the (hopefully) outgoing Moore & Bramble. He's still miles better than both sans-pace and would be a useful old head to have around the place, if nothing else.

Got Hannemann and Campbell in my Fantasy Football, so hope so! I was speaking more in regard to our soon-to-be fantastical charge for Europe, masterminded by Glenn Brian Roeder. Dont really want another season of us getting a higher league position cos others are shite. Things like that encourage shepherd into making wrong and deluded decisions. I'd still rather we finished 7th than 13th, personally. Don't think it will make a ha'peth of difference either way at this current juncture. Roeder won't go, Shepherd won't go, so we might as well hope, for our own sake, that we finish strongly and the club go into the summer with more money and more pulling power.

Got Hannemann and Campbell in my Fantasy Football, so hope so! I was speaking more in regard to our soon-to-be fantastical charge for Europe, masterminded by Glenn Brian Roeder.

Glad that Pearce will be staying, then? No. Just happy we're not getting relegated anymore. Not sure there was really much danger of that, mate. 6 points clear with far better goal difference AND a game in hand. 6 points from 9 games is a hefty ask from the bottom three, never mind much more than that.

I know it's a bit daft to be getting even remotely excited by this, but Reading/Portsmouth better fucking stay as it is.

Relax man BD, he's going to fix it over the "coming years". Fantastic news, IMSO.

Glad that Pearce will be staying, then?

We need experience. We've needed it for as long as I've been old enough to support this club, we have been especially crying out for it over the past few seasons. We should have bought a leading centre-back when Keegan was here (Colin Hendry is always one that comes to mind here from what I remember), we should have bought one to pair with Woodgate/bring on Bramble and O'Brien when Robson was here (Gareth Southgate was linked at the time), when Woodgate was sold we should have brought one in to fill his void, instead of wasting all that money on Boumsong under Souness and last summer we should have brought in Sol Campell under Roeder to partner with Taylor. It is an area of this modern squad that has NEVER been addressed. We've never had a leader in goal or in the heart of the defence, two areas where understanding and organisation are absolutely imperative - you surely need at least ONE of these to go places and we have never had one in either. Woodgate led more by example than anything else and he certainly wasn't overly-experienced when he was here, but he remains the closest we've come to getting the real deal. When was the last time we had a leader in the backline who was as good a footballer as he was an organiser? I certainly can't remember one throughout our entire lifetime in the Premiership. We've been fortunate enough to have the likes of Beardsley, Lee, Speed and Shearer here in more advanced roles, but the defence hasn't had anyone to lead it since Pearce was here - and he was practically finished as a footballer by then, anyway. We missed the boat on Sol Campbell, but we should be looking for someone of a similar pedigree and in a similar stage of their career, if at all possible. While hopefully getting shot of Bramble and Moore, and retaining Onyewu.

This was my reaction after reading it, as well. In fairness to the po-faced fella, his life becomes a lot more difficult when he alienates the entire squad AND the manager. We all know how much it upsets him when players fall out with him and refuse to speak with him.

Oh definitely. Dyer & Parker look delighted in comparison.

Well... that's cheered me up no end.

Is he finished here, lads? From Roeder's comments I cannot see him getting a new contract now, his words about the defence described Bramble better than anyone: "you think they've learned and then it happens again"... etc. Let's hope we finally see Taylor and Onyewu paired together in the middle - and then some good defenders brought in over the summer.

That was the main gist of my post. He didn't accept any responsibility himself and chose simply to blame the players he coaches, buys and selects.

you can't push up - you'd be exposing the youngest and most vulnerable section of our team they should be protected at this delicate time in their lives (right before they get the sack) Vic, if you're taking this so personally the least you could do is debate the points in a sensible manner. sensible debate is overrated imho :lo: like I say, the time has passed for defending the indefensible, theyre not good enough and they need to know it Roeder's practically said certain players let him down, he could mean Parker Solano Sibierski for all we know As for protecting their fragile egos for Chartlon, honeslty can't see the point meself Still only 6 points off 6th, amazingly. I know it's an incredible long-shot, but we have one of the best-looking run-ins out of all of the teams who are challenging for Europe. Even if we don't think it possible, surely Roeder/the players should? It would be just like us to scrape 7th again after last night and I hope we do it. I do agree with your general stance, btw, as in that even if Roeder does get the boot then who will we replace him with? The rot starts at the very top, but at least we seem to be in a more "stable" position these days, both financially and in other areas. So Glenn does deserve credit for that. Also, if he does get us to a respectable finish in the league, it's more ammo for your current policy of defending him - surely that's motivation enough for wanting us to beat Charlton, etc.

you can't push up - you'd be exposing the youngest and most vulnerable section of our team they should be protected at this delicate time in their lives (right before they get the sack) Vic, if you're taking this so personally the least you could do is debate the points in a sensible manner.

I'd rather he didn't single them out, Vic. Out of the entire team last night he's picked on the youngest section of it to place the blame, when the fact of the matter is that Martins, Dyer, Duff, Parker and Butt were as bad, if not worse, at doing their own "jobs" than the defenders were. It's a laugh that everyone has been saying exactly what he's come out with for seasons now regarding Bramble and since Huntington's debut a good number of people have been certain that he was never going to be good enough, especially at left-back. But now, when the pressure is really on, Roeder reverts from type and changes the record to shift the blame to the usual section of our team. Like I said, I've never been one to lambast Roeder for everything and I do realise how much of a difficult position himself/the team has put him in last night, but I just think it's exceptionally poor man-management to come out and say that your players, who you pick, are not good enough when all of them are still going to play a big part in the final 9 games of the season. I would have preferred if he'd held his hands up, on this one occasion, and say that he was tactically outclassed by one of the best managers in the world. To say that the entire team did not do their jobs properly and that it is not the sole responsibility of the defenders to stop the goals. Given wasn't exactly blameless for either of them, yet he gets praised to the hilt? It just doesn't sit right with me the route that he's taken after this game. To blame the referee, as well, after Taylor didn't even see yellow for the elbow, after Huntington's foul right on the chalk of the area wasn't even given in the first half, Nicky Butt only getting yellow for a blatant kick and after multiple other occasions in both ties of the round where the referee treat us extremely favourably is another example of nothing else but blame-shifting. We had the better of both referees in both ties from what I could see, yet Roeder is using their decisions as an excuse as to why we lost? It's extremely poor form from a man who has always gone out of his way to appear to take the moral high ground... the fact that he's now decided to pull out the injuries "excuse" is another nugget, as well. Not that he hasn't used that one before, like (in a less than direct manner, of course.) I'm not saying "Roeder Out", but I am severely questioning his tactics/selection during the second-leg and his media response after yet another low point in his reign.

Him blaming the defence makes me feel more than a bit "off" with the bloke. How low can you stoop when you're blaming two young lads, who you "coach" every day and who you select to play in your team, along with an ageing right-winger filling in at right-back and a player who has a consistent track-record of failing to turn up in the big games? Aye Glenn, it's their fault that they're not good enough to play for Newcastle United. Never mind that Huntington never had an ounce of help from Parker, Butt or Duff, never mind that Nicky Butt didn't seem to turn up and did absolutely zero to protect the back-four, never mind that your long-ball tactics were utterly futile, as usual. There are plenty of other reasons why we didn't go through tonight, it's not just because the three defenders we did play are not good enough to play at this level. I've been fairly even-handed with Roeder, but to absolve himself from the blame in the way that he has done in the media last night/today is a fucking wretched way to conduct yourself for someone who still has to pick his players up for the remaining 9 league games. "Aye lads, you're all fucking shite and you're getting replaced in the summer... now here's how I want you to play against Charlton... I don't expect anything less than 100%" Unbelievable.

Aye, KD is alright. The other fella had to go, though.

He's banned, mate.

Channel 5 proving it's newfound cult sporting status by making all of us grin after such a shit night. The fucking legends.

I did. I thought the difference in commentary from the pro-Spurs stuff last night was remarkable. And sickening. Entirely agree. Spurs were fairly mint to watch, which was sickening enough in itself.

Aye, was exasperated from the word go when the programme started 5 minutes before kick-off... then it went to adverts when I was hoping to see/hear the players walking out... then when Champion and Beglin started calling for Taylor's head... etc. etc. Channel 5 was fucking mint compared to this dross. Did anyone else find themselves doing the "whistle" tune from C5 when a break came on?

Aye, there's nowt we can do about it and tonight has set in stone for me the fact that it's a complete waste of time spilling your guts about an NUFC performance on a message board. If people feel that strongly about things then we should be taking some sort of action, no matter on what sort of level, to do something that makes a difference. It's a complete waste to whinge and moan after every single bad performance from a football team, other than to get things off your chest. I'm all for debating why things are happening and why things go wrong, but to be anything other than frustrated about it is starting to feel daft. I do appreciate that people need an outlet, though, but the apathy is starting to strangle me.