Beren

Haven't read it - good info, that.

[/ ] Seriously though, lots of questionable and peculiar things to take from that match. Jonas really seemed to have a lot more appetite after another anonymous first opening half hour. Main point to come from the point, IMO: Colo was immense. Taylor was a passenger/fairly dire. Taylor's style of defending is very peculiar. He seems to want to be on the ball as little as possible, and will often try to shield a player from the ball rather than going after the ball - which usually results in the opponent bolting past him, and him having to make a sloppy recovery tackle. That's reflected in every part of his play - the ball is a hotcake to him. Desperately want Williamson back in, tbh. Clean sheet or not, it's clear to me. Really happy with 3 points though. Colo MOTM. With Shola a close second.

Colo was immense.

3 points.

I really want to get behind the Pardew and Taylor - they have been given 5.5 year deals, but it's so difficult when you know Williamson is better and going unused.

Can't get over that Lovenkrand's chance. I understand trying to come back on to your strong foot if you're on the edge of the box - but from that distance? You don't even have to swing your foot - just hook your foot into the right shape and it's in.

Simpson needs to get much tighter to Diame on the right. Way too much space/time on the ball.

Love Joey's low-floated corners.

Haven't heard/seen Nolan in a while. Nolan goal, coming up.

Apart from the dreadful miss, I agree. Oh, no doubt. Terrible miss, but Carroll's missed sitters tbf. Anyway, onwards!

Really poor quality in this match so far, though. Excellent we've got the goal, but I would have taken the draw (before it went in ). Pardew's suit isn't very good. Ameobi has actually played really well so far. It will be ignored by most, obviously, but worth saying.

SHOLA!!!

It's understandable we might struggle offensively today, but looking at our respective line-ups we ought to get a draw from this. A clean sheet isn't an unrealistic expectation from this fixture. Just for the love of god, don't gift them any goals. Prediction: Wigan 0 - 1 Toon

Did none of you mugs have money on 3-3 in the Chelsea game? Pffft.

No idea why he isn't a regular starter ahead of that clown Ferreira.

Not surprised about Ranger's omission, but still feel like Pardew has shown poor man-management and/or team selection here (given the problems we've seen Ranger give defences lately).

Hope Gosling gets a place on the bench.

Harper Simpson Colo Williamson Enrique Barton Nolan Tiote Gutierrez Ameobi Ranger Xisco/Best/Routledge/Gosling on bench.

Tevez balls'd up Yaya's assist for a penalty and the open goal chance!

Bound to miss a few games this season. Not ideal, but missing two games is better than a great big fuck-off injury. Shame they're such winnable games, mind.

Insomnia suspended then?

x 100

How does this still bother you so much, man? It's been almost 20 years now!

Berbatov is the ultimate confidence player.

His comments on Ranger were pretty disgraceful IMO. What did he say? http://www.nufcblog.com/2010/12/24/pardew-not-satisfied-with-nile-ranger-application/ Nothing heinous, but to say that to the press in the way he did means that Pardew would have to swallow his pride to start him. You just know Ranger won't get a game now, even if it's the best thing for the club. Nice to see he's making enemies already. nothing wrong in those comments, imo. For me, it's indicative of the classlessness of the guy. There's a way to manage players, especially young players and making thinly veiled swipes at Ranger isn't the best way to deal with it. It's the reason why, I reckon, Pardew will begin to erode the team spirit and harmony which people loved under Hughton and which had a material effect on getting a partnership of Nolan, Barton and Carroll to be so potent against Sunderland etc. and encouraged fantastic shifts from players who aren't perhaps the most talented (Williamson, Simpson, Nolan etc). Hughton's "spirited group of players", "there will be ups and downs" etc speeches may have been repetitive but it was the right way to handle matters, and he dealt with issues internally as it should be and kept the squad happy. Even his replacement of Perch with Simpson was seamless and painless. Those set of comments alone are a small thing in the big scheme of things really, but I'm certain that the way Hughton got the squad to play for the team compensated for a lack of numbers/talent in the squad... and Pardew will take that away, and all we'll have are a few brilliant individuals (Carroll, Enrique, Tiote) and a dogshit team full of passengers/unmotivated/unhappy wantaways. [/iMO]