Rich

One of the best games of the season to go to, but at times surprisingly subdued (even when we got back to 2-2.) Perhaps because of the day, or the lack of public transport, or the weather - the atmosphere never really stuck around for too long, but it was hair-raising when things got going. We did great to get a point because I didn't think we played very well at all for long periods, but that is to be expected against the team that we saw today - Man Utd looked terrifying on the break - I'd hate to see them in full-flow. I thought Sibierski was of immense importance today because of the amount of battling/harrying/chasing he did, combined with some fantastic football and a lot of headers won against two significantly taller/stronger defenders. He gave them a real game of it and I thought Martins got stuck in a fair bit too - although his passing remains absolutley woeful, we'll let him off because of his chasing-down and general spirit today, though. Dyer was a constant threat and ran himself into the ground, Milner scored a fantastic goal that he fully deserves and gave the best RB in the league a real headache whenever he got the ball - I thought Parker and Emre were very good in the first half but as soon as we scored they both got pushed back extremely deep and vanished from the game until the closing stages, where Emre in particular seemed to want to push on more. Solano was typically calm and classy and didn't shirk against the league's best winger and probably the league's second-best winger when they were on his side, Edgar was immense for his debut... unlike Ramage/Taylor/Hunty he actually looks as though he can play a bit on the deck as well as being a bit of a powerhouse, I was well-impressed. Taylor and Huntington battled manfully and won oodles of headers and challenges, Taylor in particular is starting to look the part although I do recall a couple of hairy moments when he lost his man (saha being the one that really sticks out.) Given did the business when he was called upon and his kicking was much-improved today. Also, I caught the ball for the first ever tiime and chucked it back to Giggs for the corner far too quickly, they scored fairly soon after that and I felt very guilty until Edgar's goal... bit daft, I know. Good result, although I think we might have been a bit bolder and if Sibierski had scored his big chance at 1-1 then I think we could have done them today. Well done Roeder and the lads... I'm off to warm my fingers up, if there's any typos then my shivering hands are to blame.

Sibierski. Was colossal. Edgar probably deserved it (he got it at the game) and Milner was good, too.

Everton and Bolton away are never nailed-on wins, certainly not for us. Can't help but feel that people are itching to find a new bandwagon to jump on. I might as easy just say that the return of Dyer has upset the team more than anything else in the past 3 games, but then I'd be speculating and looking for a scapegoat and people would say it was tosh because he's scored 2 goals. Not necessarily saying you're wrong here, but we battered Spurs in his first game back and he was instrumental in the victory, it's fairly harsh to blame him for two games against big, powerful teams where we've been unlucky to come away empty-handed from both because of 4 goals from set-pieces (where not once Parker was at fault from either giving away the set piece or losing his man). It's not as though we've started playing absolutely shite football or anything like that, we looked excellent in spells today and Parker didn't do much wrong at all. I know we're looking for reasons for the losses and people are loathe to blame luck/injuries, but both have played a massive role... away losses to Bolton and Everton are a regular thing for us, especially when we're missing so many important players.

With the number of injuries throughout the squad it was always going to be a problem when Ramage went off. My main concern is that we once again started with an unbalanced side, just as we have in other recent games. Dyer and Milner should have been the wide men with Sibierski/Martins up front and Butt/Emre in the middle. The thing that bothers me is Roeder fannying around with a team that was playing well and winning without Parker, changing the balance and shape the moment he is fit again. It reminds me of Souness being unable to select two from Kluivert, Bellamy and Shearer. Something that cost the club badly because he should have dropped The Captain at that time but didn't. I'm not happy about this at all. It is ultimately going to lead to problems, we will not make much progress if Roeder is unable to make these big decisions. That's the line-up I would have gone for as well, but I'd have put Parker in for Butt :wink: No, no - in seriousness I think you've hit the nail fairly dead-on with those comments, although it's not as though we were poor today in open play. We actually played very, very well for long periods of the match and were hit with 3 sucker punches - as you've also said elsewhere, our lack of goals is the MAIN concern. Martins/Dyer may work now and again but Roeder had them both too deep today and when they pressed on we looked a far better side - amazingly, when Butt moved to CB and started spraying it about and Parker operated as a DM we looked more threatening than at any other time - although it was also to do with pulling Dyer back to CM and hoying Sibierski on. Can't afford to miss penalties, though, especially in the fashion that Oba did today.

I agree on Solano for captain, said it after the Spurs game. Solano shouldn't just be taking pens, he should be taking the majority of our set-pieces. Bob Moncur on Century has been raging about Emre's deliveries. When they were talking about the prospect of a consolation goal, he said he'd go home happy if we could deliver one set-piece that didn't hit the first man. Emre put in a few good balls but did regularly hit the first man in the early second half, but I definitely remember Nobby's corner kicks being of a similar nature for the vast majority of his days here. Milner's set-plays were decent, again.

Good side tbh. Average side in a poor, wide open league. People expecting us to win every game with the amount of injuries we have beggars belief. We've been competitive in every fixture lately and we might have taken points from Goodison/Reebok, but we're asking a hell of a lot of Roeder and the same players every game to keep winning. Everton aren't a good side, but they're not particularly bad, they're your archetypal Premiership team these days and beat teams from set-plays and with sheer brute force - complimented with the class of Arteta and, today, the surprising class of Neville who showed us how a "proper" RB should play.

Watched it on delay on ART Sport 1, well the first 62 minutes of it anyway... 3-fucking-0? Unreal scoreline for the way the match went. We didn't deal with 3 set plays (fair play to Neville, mind) and Martins' penalty is one of the worst I have ever seen, the dumpling. Typical scenario for our annual trip to Goodison Park - I have believed since the Gravesen/Bernard incident that it's our new bogey ground after the Dell went and it never ceases to amaze me how blindingly lucky they are on their home turf. It's like some gypsy martyr has put a blessing on the place - it's not just against us, either, I see game after game of Everton on ART Sport and it always seems to be the same story. All 3 goals were extremely lucky, IMO, whereas nothing went for us. You make your luck, I suppose, and we didn't deserve anything from the game with the way we defended at times and because our lack of finishing ability. I thought Milner looked exceptionally bright, but he still flatters to deceive - don't think he's ever going to make a "top" player as he isn't particularly great at anything and seriously lacks a football brain, although he's always lively. Happy with our passing/movement and from what I'd seen so far Butt looked very composed at centre-half when Ramage had to go off... as for Emre... well this has been boiling over for a long time now, he's a right contemptuous little bugger and he certainly doesn't like playing on the wing and Everton wound him up, as they are entitled to do. He was a complete arse asking for Osman to go and he should be ashamed of himself for it. Didn't expect a win because of our still-increasing sicklist but the way we battered them from open play made me proud - I can only hope that we someday get to see an almost first-eleven from Roeder because at times he has us playing some delightful football and surely that can only improve once we sort out the fullback slots and get one of our proper left-wingers back. Emre must play in the middle against Man Utd and Sibierski HAS to play. That game there further convinced me that we'll never do a fucking thing playing such a small team, we looked miles better in the spell after half-time when Sibierski was playing as a link-man. Whoever said Martins is a "playmaking forward" was again proven to be full of shit, his touch/passing/vision needs serious work. We need to get some players in with a bit of height and power about them because the likes of Yobo, Lescott and Anichebe bullied us out of 3 points today.

YOU BEAUTY!!!!!!!! Stoppage time winners are the best things going when they go your way, Charlton deserve it after midweek.

Aaron Hughes was fairly gash and remains to be fairly gash for Aston Villa, another rabbit in the headlights.

Did fairly well in a shite team for the majority of his Toon career and was outstanding with a better team around him.

Sorry for not seeing your question sooner HTL mate, but I agree with the sentiments of HTT, ohmelads, etc. and I haven't got the time to do you a proper reply. Would love to debate it properly with you at some juncture, though I reckon we're never going to agree. Quickly, my main gripes with Butt are his lack of pace, his inability in the tackle and the amount of times he "attempts" to win the ball and gets nowhere near it - not to mention his atrocious passing (I might even do a Grimbo and count the misplaced passes), his silence/lack of presence on the pitch and his antics in the past. If Parker was told to play the role Butt plays by Roeder, then I'm almost sure he would prove me right. As others have said: he is in limbo at the minute and doesn't really have a set role, although he has scored a good share of goals in this "new" role he's been given, which has surprised me no end as I thought his finishing was pap. As for favouritism, I thought Parker was a right cunt for what he did to the East Stand and I'm staunchly against Cockneys (sorry Jon :winking:), I also think he looks like he has some sort of mental disorder and when he speaks he has the intensity of an apple and I usually turn over the channel/stop listening. I certainly don't jizz over him like some tend to, I tend to think the majority of our players are wankers.

totally agree Seconded, exactly my thoughts on the centre of midfield... bar that Parker still does a better job than Butt in a defensive midfield roll.

How arsey can you get? BLATANT leading title to get unsuspecting morons to read something that is a complete let-down to what you expected... oh...

What a crock he is, he's been canny for us but he makes Woodgate look like he's made of steel.

I'd prefer Ashton as well - just think the chances of us signing him are slim-to-none with Curbishley and West Ham's new owners around. He'd certainly set us back over the £12m mark and is arguably less proven than Crouch at this point in time, while coming off a severe injury to boot. As for Darren Bent, I still maintain that he's too similar a player to what we already have to be bought now. Might be a better bet to wait for Charlton to go down before making our move, and again I'm fairly sure he'd cost more than £10m. Not sure if waiting until summer is a great idea, also, as we still have 3 competitions on the go. I probably would be delighted with any of the three, though, hypothetically.

If we get a striker and a left-back I'd be happy enough with our work in the transfer window. Unless we're beset by another avalanche of injuries then I think we'd be just about covered for the rest of the season, a centre-half on top of that would obviously be ideal but it all depends on what kind of money is available. I can't see us buying 5 players, though, as a lot of people seem to have been suggesting.

I hate to be overly optimistic, really I do, but I genuinely believe that at this exact point in time a prospective (and fit!) forward squad of Owen, Martins and Crouch is potentially as good as anything else in the league when you have a look around. When Larsson goes to Man Utd they look fairly formidable and Arsenal obviously have Henry, while Chelsea have Drogba and Shevchenko and Liverpool will be left with Kuyt, Fowler and Bellamy - until Crouch is replaced. Maybe I'm mental, but on paper and not taking Owen's injuries into account then a pool including the three aforementioned as well as Dyer, Ameobi and Sibierski gives us a mass of options in the striking positions. In an ideal world we'd soon see Ameobi and Sibierski replaced by another quality striker (hopefully one with a bit of youth about him), but for where we are right now then I think the Beanpole could be a fantastic addition. Aye, he's a freakshow and he hasn't scored enough goals for Liverpool, but he's one hell of an option to have in certain games where things aren't quite going our way. I can see why we'd be interested, but I'm not sure whether he'd fancy it because surely he won't be getting picked ahead of Owen/Martins if they're ever fit together. He's proven he can do it at the top level in a shoddy Southampton team and put into a direct, attacking lineup (which is what we are and have been/aiming to be since the Keegan days - width, crosses and goals) I think he could thrive again. Obviously I wouldn't break the bank for him, but the bloke's an England international and is only going to get better, anything less than £7m would be great business. We're crying out for some aerial presence of some description (although I'm not advocating we play route one football), but that would be my worry: if Crouch comes does it automatically keep us on the same arsey lines of whacking it up front at every given opportunity?

Krul isn't match fit - he got called back from having time off because of Given's injury, (remember that Krul hasn't played since he got injured.) Bet he was still fucked off mind. How? Clueless, tbh.

Krul isn't match fit - he got called back from having time off because of Given's injury, (remember that Krul hasn't played since he got injured.)

We absolutely bossed the game for the opening half hour playing the way Roeder set us up, the inexperience of the back four and Pav's lack of match practice/eccentricity seems to have been our undoing. I wouldn't have had us down to even score here, let alone make a game of it. We did seem awful second half, admittedly, but once Bolton got given that lifeline it was always going to be very hard - it would have taken a very brave man to go 4-4-2 at 1-1. I don't think his tactics can be knocked too much here as it seemed like we still created a fair few chances. If people were expecting to win here with the team we fielded then their expectations are far too high, we've been beaten by far worse Bolton teams with far better Newcastle teams at the Reebok.

A draw would have been a good result here and we somehow bossed them for the opening periods, until the defensive mistakes (which were always going to be an issue when you play such a makeshift back 5.) I'm not too disheartened at all, let's just hope we've got some players back for Everton otherwise we might be looking at much of the same. Also, Radio Newcastle is fucking shit, pair of gobshites.

Personally, I think we'll win 3-1.

Those Getty bastards, ruining my exclusive. Literally 5 feet away, though... and not on TV. Mongy cameramen. (Would have probably looked a reet spacker anyway.)

Thought he was outstanding today, scored one, set one up and made about a dozen immense challenges. Not saying he's brilliant all the time, but today he was excellent and probably deserved the MOM award. Saying that, I thought Dyer and Martins were mint as well. I might just be a bit delirious because we absolute spanked the most heinous bastards in the league (world?)

How the fuck was I not on telly? Dyer's shirt off celebration was right fucking in front of me. It said "Merry Xmas Newcastle Supporters", if anyone's arsed.