Theregulars

On the Dalglish front I think his major issue was that he based all his plans around Shearer and was completely tactically hamstrung when Shearer got injured, so Tomasson suddenly had to bear the burden and completely went missing. However, I totally agree that not backing Robson sufficiently after we finished 3rd and sacking him at a completely useless timei s the root of all this - Souness was a total gobshite, I think even Freddy knew that, but nobody else was available/ebverybody else turned us down. That has seen the beginning of this monumental slide. That said, even Souness had us clear of relegation.

I almost don't know why I still bother: Harper Beye Faye Cacapa/Taylor/Diatta (Taylor/Cacapa both as unreliable as the other, don't know anything about the latter) Enrique Milner Geremi Emre (if injured Barton for pure lack of other option) N'Zogbia Martins Owen/Carroll/Viduka If Milner doesn't make it, I'd say Lua Lua, not Duff, because he's been pants. Just as long as Smith is nowhere near the line-up we'll have a chance, but he'll probably be asked to play every position because he's obviously amazing and we just don't realise it. Don't want Barton to play but if Emre is injured nobody else has legs. However, fully expect to see the same disappointing, non-sensical starting 11 that has seen us fall into probable relegation.

To be fair it seems like all you are saying is he'd do better at a club with lower expectations because they wouldn't mind it so much that he's so ball-burstingly useless.

Pressue or no pressure, there's no excuse for how piss poorly the players we've invested in have performed and there's no excuse for the continuously daft team selections. Sure, the pressure is high, but it wouldn't be so high if the players and management et al hadn't dumped themselves in this situation in the first place. Also, if I got paid as much as they do, I reckon I could make a good fist of playing in front of 52,000 people a week and representing and admittedly over-bearing public fan base.

I don't care for all this excuse-making on his behalf. Great, he tries 100% - I'd rather have a player who tried 5% and actually did something once in a while. The fact that some of our other players don't give as much and run around as much as him is totally immaterial. The plain fact is that he is useless. A half'fit, unmotivated Mark Viduka, with 3 goals to his name or whatever it is, has already scored 3 goals or whatever it is more than Smith will probably ever score for us. Giving 100% isn't a solid enough basis to get in the team, everybody should do it regardless. The fact that some don't while he does speaks more about our desperate transfer policy than it does as a justification for picking him. There is no justification. He is crap. Nobody can dispute this.

We all know he's better than Smith. We all know he should start ahead of Smith. We all know he won't. End.

I don't think I could possibly be a Toon fan and say we won't win. But I have as much doubt as I possibly can, within reason.

Keegan's words are encouraging - we need to ditch the Allardyce approach and just give it a try. Every man and his dog knows that they're superior to us on every position on the park, and should get spanked if Torres and Gerrard play, but if we play like we did last week and actually convert similar chances into goals, it shouldn't be too cringeworthy to watch.

Let's be honest here, since Souness took over from Robson, have we bought anybody who has stood out in comparison to the majority of the players suggested here? Personally I'm struggling.

I'll be egging Gerrard on to take a dive from a Smith lunge and get him booked/red carded. That would be blissful.

Think Big TRon's line-up has some potential in it. It won't happen though. Keegan was brought here to play attacking, simple 4-4-2 football. Same as last week: if Smith's in, I'm not watching. Those dancing cuddly things in Dave's avatar would offer more.

Reports that Alan Oliver is restricted by the normal boundaries of time and space are wide of the mark. The word I hear is that next he's considering space travel.

Not even putting up a team because we all know who's going to play - Barton not being available = Smith and Butt in midfield and someone else up front. Same as ever: if we play the same kind of team, we lose. Be interesting to see if their big guns play with a big match against Inter no Tuesday but even their subs should cream us the way we've been playing/the poor team we offer every week. Is Emre fit? I think if he is Keegan might actually play him, which means we might stand a bit of a chance. Nonetheless, I expect the bleached gormless one to play a full 90 minutes and to contribute nothing but sideways/backwards passing, a booking and no shots on goal. Owen is just going to end the match depressed when he realises how far his career has nosedived. Good times!

While we're at it that Mourinho is pretty canny, like.

The saddest thing is no matter how much this kind of common sense complaining goes on, he's starting every game for the rest of the season.

If Emre is injured, the following: Harper Beye Faye Cacapa Enrique Milner Geremi N'Zogbia Duff Owen Martins Introduce Carroll/Viduka at some stage. However, we will see the same line up as against Man United and will likely see a similar scoreline.

Spot on. If Keegan wants to play this attacking, creative and entertainers-of-old football, he is shooting himself in the foot by picking the wrong players every week. What he wants is clearly not feesible with Barton, Smith and Butt. I'm reserving judgement until Viduka, Emre and Martins are fully fit and have a good run in the side - although a large part of me is concerned this won't happen, either due to persistent injury/a teeth-grindingly frustrating belief among club officials that the 3 aforementioned players are worthy of the shirt.

If I see any of Smith, Butt or Barton in starting line-up I'm not watching, simple as.

The most frustrating thing about this whole situation is that it means that N'Zogbia is being played at LB, seen as second choice to Duff, which is only going to increase his resolve to disappear to a good team in the summer. We always seem to pick players on reputation, not form. Duff has not had any hint of form since he signed for us, Zoggy has been immense this season. It seems so simple to anybody with a brain cell or two therefore he plays ahead of Duff. But not at Newcastle, where Alan "he was great at Leeds" Smith, Michael "He used to be mint" Owen, Nicky "He's won things with United" Butt and Joey "the real star for City" all feature on a weekly basis. If KK started picking players on form I think he might be pleasantly surprised.

Even if he is the only fit striker he still shouldn't play. I just can't see how somebody who contributes absolutely nothing except negative attributes makes it into the team week in, week out and plays the full 90 minutes each go. The only thing that I hear in his favour is that "he gives 100%". I've given up hoping he won't play for us, he's just like an annoying floater that won't be flushed down the toilet, no matter how many attempts. You know what I'm talking about.

In a vat of acid? On a weak rope bridge over a live volcano? JUST GET HIM AWAY FROM MY TEAM FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. When I saw his ugly face in the starting line-up for Saturday I turned off the TV. We are never going to win a match with him on the pitch, he's just shit. End of.

The fact that you'd rather replace Given and Owen than replace Geremi or Barton provides ample enough evidence of a totally different understanding of the problem at Newcastle that I nearly didn't bother replying. My more argumentative personality won out. The simple fact is, the strikers and keepers are not the problem. The horrific clusterf*** that is the midfield is the glaring problem. That is where money needs spent and quality needs to be brought in. Replacing Given and/or Harper won't help the defence nearly so much as getting them some protection and assistance from a decent midfield. Nor would replacing a striker of Owen's quality (or of Martins' or even Viduka's quality) alleviate the problem of a midfield that can not retain possession nor deliver a consistently decent ball in to the forwards. Keegan's hardest task? That would be sorting out the central issue first -- the midfield -- without having brought in any new players in January (not that that is precisely his fault, imo). Only when the midfield is sorted can or should a decent assessment of the other positions be undertaken. A talented midfield can make a whole team look fairly good, whilst a very poor midfield makes the rest of the team look sh*** as well. Also -- if you grant them nothing else, at least neither Shay Given nor Michael Owen are half-likely to end up in prison in the next few months. Rather have players like Given and Owen than players like Barton. Hell, even Nicky Butt at least doesn't miss training and matches because he's in gaol/up on charges of assault. I'd even rather have Butt than Barton -- but maybe I'm just a bit bias against a lad who can't seem to keep out of any sort of trouble for more than a fortnight. One time is a bad mistake. Twice is troubling. This many problems is evidence of a character flaw that no club wants or needs and especially not a club with more than enough troubles ON the pitch. For now, Newcastle are stuck with Barton (as the CM position is the weakest) but he needs replacing over the summer. Assuming there is anyone buying, of course, but personally, the sooner NUFC are shot of his problems the better. *cough* Emre *cough*. Top post, spot on in my opinion. Our midfield offers insufficient/inadequate defensive protection and just as little going forward. Don't think the wingers are too bad, Zoggy is mint, Milner is consistently one of our better players and Duff's looking decent, just think Butt/Barton/Smith/Geremi deployed in central midfield this season have been woeful. Faye and Emre vs. Man U please.

Surprised Alan Smith wasn't nominated for being a "fantastic leader", "100% committed" or "courageous". He'd certainly get my vote.

I'd be a tad peeved if I was a good young defender and saw us shipping goals galore and getting beaten every week and I wasn't even really being considered. It's the same thing with Andy Carroll, he must be thinking if Smith gets picked week in week out despite contributing nothing, what do I have to do? Think youngsters can always be a good option as they are an unknown quantity, fight and are hungry, unlike most of our first team players. Would give Edgar a go at left-back/centre-back in place of Cacapa for one or two games, just to see how he does.

What's wrong with having other teams you're interested in? I support Newcastle, but I also follow Barcelona as I have a house there and spend months there every year, andf follow Charlton as they are the team nearest where I live, and Crystal Palace as they were my school's team and helped us out with coaching and stuff. Nothing wrong with hoping teams for which you have an affinity do well. I also hope the teams that my family support do well etc... doesn't mean I'm a defector.