Theregulars

Did anyone actually expect him to take the blame for anything? The man has such an over-inflated opinion of himself. He believed he was too good for Bolton as he'd done pretty well on a low budget. Many managers before and after him have done it, yes they were a prety good side but they weren't world beaters. Did they qualify for Europe once or twice? Fact is we just weren't compatible, his style and our needs. I don't buy into this stuff about lack of money, we spent plenty and he chose idiots like Smith and Barton, has beens like Geremi and players just plain not up to it like Rozehnal. He refused to adapt tactics and backroom staff that served him well at Bolton (where, let's remember, there were no expectations or history of good football, or seeming direction - we are not a club just happy to stay up and to see how we'll go from there) when it was plainly obvious for all to see that they just weren't really working as he is too stubborn and up himself. Good riddance and I hope the fat nonce learns some humility.

It wouldn't get asked but I'd love to ask him just what he thinks Alan Smith is actually capable of contributing to the first team. A more inane question would be to ask what areas of the squad he believes need strengthening the most. And something about how likely we are to be able to keep N'Zogbia.

If you honestly start believing that refs are corrupted then surely there's not much point in following football right now? That said, the mistakes are so grievous and frequent at the minute that they could do with an investigation as to why. Not necessarily accusing them of taking bribes etc., but actually sitting down the British refs in front of a large video screen and explaining why hundreds of decisions in the last few years have been simply appaulling. Right now luck is not on our side ref wise, but it really has been in the past so it's a "what goes around, comes around" situation for me. I don't think they're corrupt, just really, really shit and unaware of how football is actually played.

Football already looks far better/players look far more comfortable than under Allardyce. I think against Boro for the first time in a long while we looked capable of scoring goals, and scored two fair goals (thanks Mike Dean) as well as squandering a number of chances (Barton missed two good ones). Under Alladyce four chances in a game was an absolute rarity. Still think it's a very risky appointment, especially with a squad that he only inherited and, for whatever reason, was unable to add to, but more content with him thus far than I have been with anybody since Robson. Still worried that if it doesn't work out we'll be in complete turmoil as our so-called Messiah would have failed, but no need to contemplate that just now. At least I hope not.

Emre is hands down a better option than Geremi. The reason Emre seems like a '45er' (yuck) is that his fitness record has been poor in his time here and he's very rarely been truly match fit. Emre has had much less time on the pitch than Geremi this year and has been much, much more effective. Think Emre really should be one of the focal points of our attacking game, a partnership with him and Jailbait Barton sounds exciting (and scary to be fair). Geremi's legs are gone, he's lazy and hogs all set pieces despite not being particularly good at them. Making him captain was one of the most laughable decisions in recent NUFC history to be honest. Nonetheless, his ability to play a pass/create occasionally mean he can be a handy, ageing squad player. Nothing more.

Wouldn't be a bad idea for new young blood etc., but how many young Italian players have made it over here? Definitely think he would be better suited to a coaching role as he could teach our players a few things about qualities they lack in abundance, like creativity, skill and finishing. But let's follow the media and appoint him as our new manager + 1 and watch the situation inevitably implode. Ridiculous.

Think the bottom line has to be that if you give him enough chances he will score you a goal. His barren patch recently has been due, as Keegan highlighted, to us not creating enough for him. Agree with all the stuff about him not seeming bothered, not putting maximum effort in, not having the pace or finishing ability of old, but let's see him in a side that's creating shedloads of chances and then judge him, because he's never had a real run or an actually decent side behind him to crate the kind of chances he thrived on at Liverpool and Real. Man's ability is proven, but faded, but there phrase class is permanent, form is temporary comes to mind. I don't like him all that much but this is probably his longest run in a Toon shirt and I think he's starting to pick up a bit.

Agree that Carr hasn't done much to be dropped, but don't think many will argue he is a better player than Beye. Maybe a Beye-Faye CB partnership could be immense - I think Sunday Monday Habib Beye (I'm so sorry) played there once and looked good, and I don't have too much confidence in either Taylor or Cacapa. It's nice having all these options again. Owen-Martins combination for me is best way forward, and a no-brainer seeing as Viduka is injured/lazy and Smith is crap. Get the ball on the deck and pass it into feet/space for those two to run onto, making use of Emre's creative ability. Happy with Faye in midfield or CB, but think CB better as a DM still needs to have some creative ability/drive etc., especially passing. Look at Hamann's passing ability, or that of Carrick. Don't see Faye as having enough of a creative spark and thus will waste a potential attack launching spot on midfield. Think try Barton and Emre, neither are that defensively minded but both can tackle hard enough to take a risk. If it's going to pot, bring in Butt/Faye and reorganise from there. In conclusion, all of our African returnees bar Geremi should really be automatic starters.

- sorry I hit the send button way to early. At least we're trying something proven to work elsewhere, and we're not talking years and years- it's not uncommon anymore 16/17 year-olds playing in first team sides. It's a low-priced investment and the likelihood is surely that at least one of them will become a first-team player.

I think it's for the best-

posts like this make me laugh, loudly. Are you seriously saying you advocate when buying a player, you don't look at his record of performance at his current/previous clubs ? And even funnier, think that we should be the only club that gets it right every time ? haha. What utter tripe. Anyway, now the fat b****** has gone and took all the pies with him, how come we are still signing players that don't perform when it was all supposed to be his fault ? ONce again, I don't expect to get an intelligent and thoughtful reply to a question like this ? One day I might, you never know. People like you make me laugh, louder. Yes, when buying a player of course you look at his record. However, the point that I made that you so clearly missed is that although his record at Leeds was good, he has done nothing for us. To be fair, if you're going to start cracking on about siging a player based on a record, what did he ever do at Man United that would make him stand out. Same goes with his England performances. When did I say anything about us being the club that gets it right every time? I'm not talking about us a buying club, or our siging policy. I am talking about the undeniable fact that Smith has done nothing since he's been here. If you care to present me with any evidence to the contrary I'll be happy to listen to you. I said nothing about whether we should have signed him or not and didn't talk about our transfer policy. This thread is about Smith as an NUFC player. If you want me to answer your half-arsed, unrelated question, I see why somebody would buy him baed on his Leeds days but nothing else. I don't think we are the club to get it right every time, I think we are a club he gets it wrong most of the time, hence our woeful season thus far. Next time read the post more carefully.

Smith is wank. Total and utter wank. I don't care if he looked good for Leeds or Fergie liked him, I only want to know him as an NUFC player and he's done absolutely nothing for us. He had a good game when we drew against Arsenal. So what? He should have a good game consistently for the amount we paid for him/pay him/people hype him up. He's crap in midfield and woefully average up front. His hold up play isn't even that good-Adebayor's goal on Tuesday came from Smith losing the ball. In fact, that is one of the main attributes to his game: losing the ball, falling over, fouling people (especially in dangerous positions), getting suspended, mouthing off to the referee and a shocking inability to pass the ball forwards. I hate all this tripe about him giving 100% and being a committed team player. He's a disgrace, a let-down and a downright moron. You can see his stupidity just by looking at him. And his hair is naff. Honestly. He really, really is my least favourite player to ever represent NUFC. He doesn't seem to get injured for us so I just pray for the one in every 5/6 games he gets suspended as he picks up his inevitable booking per game. For every position on the field we have somebody better than Smith. There's no need for him to play/be near the squad when everyone is fit, even with our depleted squad now I'd seriously debate having him around. He is just plain gash. I don't care if we sell him, let him play in the reserves, cover him in steak and feed him to Alan Shearer's dogs... whatever, just get him away from the team. Mind-numbingly awful.

Agee with the post earlier saying you don't necessarily need a DM the whole time- Emre and Barton in the middle would put in enough tackles. No disrespect to Butt as he's been one of our better players this season (not hard to be fair), but I think he drags the team down a little with his total lack of speed and inability to pass the ball to someone on the same team. Also agree with the idea of trying Milner in the middle, seems to have the attributes (likes taking players on, decent shot on him, actually not bad in the tackle, good with both feet, tireless) but don't think it's even crossed the mind of any of our management/coaching staff. I think Emre has really suffered due to the lack of good managers here. I agree that he's been inconsistent at best, but just think if a manager gives him a fair crack and he can stay injury free (he hasn't been injured for a while to be fair) and lets him play to his strenghts, i.e. focusing almost entirely on his creative duty, he could be a real asset. Problem is the total lack of pace, but if he can get some through balls into Owen/get the ball to Viduka's feet, it could help. I think he's our only truly talented attacking midfield player and hopefully KK can bring the very best out of him. Better than Smith, anyway.

If he looks like anyone it's Voldemort from the Harry Potter films. I don't think he's bad but he does have a knack for poor mistakes- the clanger against Kenny Miller at SJP sticks out in particular. That said, I think he's got a fair point saying he hasn't really done worse than anyone, and if Smith gets a regular game, Rozehnal might as well be made captain for that kind of sense. I think Fat Sam had him down as a scapegoat for a mistake earlier in the season, I can't remember who it was against, but he hasn't got back since. Think all our centre backs are just entirely average and quite error prone, especially seeing as our midfield never keeps the ball and the pressure on them is relentless compared to what most Premiership defences have to cope with.

Scored more in his one season here than Smith probably will in his NUFC career to be honest. His link-up play with Martins was really good to watch at times. Think 2-year contract would have been excessive, but the wages situation was downright insulting considering we were still pumping funds into the accounts of people like Albert Luque and considering the wages we likely pay to Smith, Barton, Owen et al. Don't think he ever looked out of his depth, just wasn't anything spectacular.

I'd take him. He's got an attitude problem but still seems to perform pretty well. Better than Carr and means Beye could play in the centre. Don't see why people are complaining about something that would just give us another option and more squad depth.

I'm so apathetic about a choice between Smith and Ameobi it's untrue, couldn't care less which one starts, both will let us down in their own fashion. Although would love to see Lehmann play and Smith barge into him on a few set pieces, just for the fireworks. Don't think we'll get battered, just a drab 1 or 2-0 defeat.

Way Carr's played in the last few games perhaps worth a crack at Beye and Faye central partnership with Carr and Enrique left back. Can't do much worse than Rozehnal or Cacapa on some of his bad days.

As long as Smith gets shipped out I'll be happy. What a mong. Don't think Rozehnal has a glittering future here to be honest. Want Barton gone just to get shot of the embarrassment factor, also think Ameobi is pointless. Keep everyone else as football is a SQAUD GAME nowadays and they're all, at least, competent players. Except Smith. Sell sell sell sell sell sell.........

Swap him for Shola anyday like....

Toughie, but the pragmatic answer is both because Iwen's always injured. You can't deny he'll pop up to score and is a way better finisher than Martins, but I think Martins is far more of a threat by himself and Owen relies on us giving him service, which we haven't been doing of recently (and here's hoping KK will solve that). Would like to answer this question when I've seen if KK can sort out the supply line to Owen, but until then I'd have to pick Martins because he's not horribly injury prone, scores from nothing quite often and can improve his finishing I reckon. I don't think Owen is necessarily going to get any better, although it will be intersting to see if he stays fit for the reast of the season how he'll do.

Joey Barton would have been done for doing the same thing.

Ran out of toilet roll so will request at work that we get Peterborough-based local papers in. What a douchebag. Jimmy and Timmy from South Park have chatted more sense between them. All this media hatred just increases my desire to will us to win, so I can sit back and laugh as they all proclaim "Keegan returns Newcastle to glory, as we predicted" or something along those lines.

On another note, the most annoying thing is that if Keegan's return works out and we become the Entertainers again, they'll once again adore us as everybody's second favourite team again. Problem with having a London-based media. Why don't they ever get onto Ferguson who doesn't even speak to the papers?

Personally think Martin Samuel's broadsheet pieces are very good. Frustrating journalist as seems to dumb down his evident intellect and pander to the masses in his tabloid pieces. What he said about us being a circus and all that isn't a ridiculous criticism from an outsider's point of view, although can't agree about us believing we are due some glory imminently. Obviously more that we know the potential of our club and just want to see a sign it is being achieved. However, one disagreement doesn't take away from the fact that he's normally pretty accurate in the broadsheets. Would like to drop a piano on Louise Taylor's head.