morpeth mag

That's the spirit if only we still had Kenny as manager still then we too could change a club's mind with endless money

More like it took a year for him to get a game because our managers couldn't see he was a class player when others spotted it much earlier. Good old Sam - but initally he made mistakes even if we all saw the promise that he later fulfilled

Least points / goals by a team dominating possesstion Sunderland (2011/12)

Thats almost a 50/50 split SAFC have dominated games with less than 30% possession so Bruce might be happy with 6 out of 20

He wants out so they may be forced to lower their value tomorrow or have a very unhappy player. Prepare for a late night.

The player wants out and they want £13m so there is a deal to be made if we flash a bit more cash - and lets face it the first bid is always a sighter.

Probably pick Pieters up in January

Don't forget that it took Enrique at least a year to become the player he is so don't judge too early.

Get PVA in and play Santon on the right. We need full backs who can attack.

Kinda liked Joey but can't help but feel he had to go as soon as the club didn't offer him a contract extension. As regards him as a player I don't think he is as good as he thinks or as good as the player we originally signed. He will be missed but I'm happy to try Gosling or a genuine winger in RM. I hope this enables us to get the LB and striker we need.

We are one of a few clubs with money to spend - so we will play hardball to the wire to save a few squid because that's what we do. Think we will get two players but whether they are the ones we need who knows

yebohah was canny

looks a winning formation to me

if we bid much higher we'll get the whole club

turnstiles

When Joey was stamped on by Song the officials didn't see it. When Gervinho slapped Joey who can blame him if he helps the officials run the game properly. A decent set of officials would have sent of Song and booked Gervinho for diving and then Joey wouldn't have had to help them officiate the game.

Krul ? Saylor Colo ? ? Tiote Cabaye ? HBA ? Happy that between Barton / Marveaux / Jonas Obertan / HBA we can cover the wide slots. Ba / Best / Shola are OK for the central striker role but we need the option of a prolific pacey striker. Simo is OK at RB but I'd like an upgrade. We need a LB. After that it is about squad depth and the difference in quality between finishing 7th and finishing highr. Being kind to Saylor I think the five I've highlighted are on the basis of a team that could compete with the top 6.

Back from the game and would echo the view that it was a good point. Defended well with good shape but passing was generally poor and we were toothless, as were Arsenal really. Colo was the star whilst Saylor also played well. Krul looked like a No 1 keeper. Shola and Ba won't work. Oberton had a decent cameo. It's hard to benchmark the team against Arsenal.

Good game today despite the odd blip.

he missed Jose for sure but it was Raylor playing down the flank with him so he did as well as could be expected. Great covering of Colo near the end.

Just as Arsenal can't play Fabrecas and Nasri tomorrow we couldn't have played Enrique due to frame of mind and risk of injury. So we sell as soon as we have a decent offer. It may have been sensible to sign the replacement ahead of Liverpool bidding but I'm guessing we didn't want to take the risk that nobody came in for Enrique or that we might not have been able to get the £6m if Liverpool knew we had to sell. The club's strategy is the same as for AC last Jan; take the money and muddle through. The only thing I'd say in defence of the club is that unless you're a CL team re-building is a messy business.

joy division

As good as we can expect right now and better than we have (jury out on Ba). When I've seen him he has patches of real quality and then patches where it all goes wrong. I think he'd benefit from being No 9 here.

Like the idea that everything has to go through him. The back to front football we played for the last two seasons can be effective but I agree with AP that you lose control if you cannot play through the midfield and retain possession. From my East Stand seat against fiore it was noticable that the players were screaming at enrique a couple ot times to play the ball inside to Yohan rathen than knock the ball long.

on a more serious note we haven't seen or heard much of Tamas Kadar recently when I've always thought he's done OK in the past.