Rebellious

Phil Dowd is the referee for Newcastle United vs Mackems. We usually win with him, but he does like to give out the reds. 12:45 Newcastle v Sunderland Phil Dowd M Mullarkey D Bryan L Mason MATCHES 275 RED CARDS 50 YELLOW CARDS 781

I think Cabaye is more important to the team than Ben Arfa, so I would be ok with it too. I think maybe we are getting Cabella so we can use Gouff up front instead of the left wing.

My main concern is less about the skill/talent factor we will loose with Cabaye, but the combination of leadership and determination we lack in our team. We have all seen how badly we play without Cabaye and Colo in the team. Pardew could play Ben arfa, Marveux and Cabella every week and we would probably still go backwards. We need to buy a leader like Cabaye, preferably with talent also.

Draw, win the replay then draw Man City away.

One of his better non stand out performances yesterday. He definitely crosses better from the right.

With a better a Referee we would have got a 0-0 or 1-1.

I blame the ref as Anita was fouled 30 seconds before that.

Nothing I have seen suggests he`s better than Haidara at LB. If he doesn`t deserve to be left out then surely one of our CBs needs to make way for him ? As for Santon I like him for his loyalty, his steady 7/10 performances and his potential but he never plays a 10/10. Yesterdays pass was just just plain stupid that led to there goal.

Away From Home or top 4/5 Krul Debuchy Williamson Colo Haidara Sissoko Tiote Cabaye Anita Gouffran Remy At Home Krul Debuchy Colo Mbiwa Haidara Ben Arfa Sissoko Cabaye Gouffran Remy Cisse

The battle between Remy and Vidic. The head clash etc. Remy going for a header with Vidic, elbowing him. Seconds later he was wiping it better for him. That's the only one I can think of that hasn`t been mentioned. Also the Man Utd players appealing for things all match that were not even normal fouls, then realising as we played on that as red nose wasn`t there manager anymore they didn`t get "special treatment free kicks".

Alaba I think his name is. LB.

Never, I still hold my breath when he is passed the ball and he still 98% of the time clears it to the other team. He was out jumped by smaller players a few times yesterday too. He does give 100% and he is clever but he is still too slow and nervous on the ball. 4th choice is fine. I think he is looking better because the other 3 recently are not playing as good as they have done, Taylor especially.

Still no excuse for him to watch a knackered Remy run back past him to defend from further up the pitch than him. Forget when he has possession, we were defending a 1 goal lead and he can`t even be bothered to chase or be near a Chelsea player.

I hate him. He stood and watched us defend again before our second.

weak

done alright deserves to keep his place. He seemed to be the only one that gave a shit last night. Tiote and Anita tried but had no one to release the ball to as Gouffy was doing Santons job.

Give over. About what? Coloccini was the worst player on the pitch in the first half. He wasnt, Santon and Mbiwa were both worse than Coloccini. To be fair all 3 failed to tackle header or close down. This week only Debuchy could claim to have attempted to defend. I think the only reason Pardew put HBA on the left was to give Debuchy a break but that failed massively as it appeared Sissoko had a strop on about being wide right or had the flu as he seemed completely disinterested all game.

Sissoko seemed disinterested tonight.

Picked them on an Amiga game, I think it was Sensible soccer, I`m not sure. Was back in 91. Before that when I was at school I used to support players more than teams, sounds ridiculous now. Randomly some years later when my mum was researching the family tree, we had family up there in the 1800`s or something.

Chris Smalling

What did Santon do wrong today? He seemed slower today, slowed our attacking down by coming inside, poor crosses, not one of his best games. Debuchy gave up playing after Cabaye went off. 2 of the goals I thought were down to HBA not tracking back.

first XI and half a bench. Hence good enough, not brilliant. We could in Ashley`s mind fluke a good finish again.

My thoughts are - We went for a few players but didn`t want to get ripped off on price or wages. We have a good enough squad of players, if we had a better manager. Ashley believes Pardew that the poor season was all down to Europe and now we are not in it our squad will finish 5th again.

Yeah this will be quite interesting. For some reason it feels like we are doing worse already but we aren`t. Maybe its because I read this board far too much.

I was impressed with him, seems to have that calmness about him. A bit short though or just not good in the air.