toptoon

Yes the kid looks class, brave as they come, good in the air, makes good decisions and plays it out from he back very well too smilar to Terry!

Agree 100% to sell Shambles, Car and Luque. Don't dislike Moore and Baba as much but if we can get some better players i.e. Sol Campbell in i'd definately sell them too! After Jan? New Rb Moore Hunty Baba Nobby Taylor Ramage Edgar/New LB Really like the look of the lads who are coming through our system i.e. taylor, Ramage, Hunty and now Edgar and think they've shown enough to be given a real chance.

Given 7.5 - Some great saves and good distribution today too! Nobby 7 - We need him as our RB, gets beaten sometimes, but makes up for that with his passing out of defence and his great reading of the game. Taylor - 7.5 Very good today against some awesome players. Hunty 7 - Looks like a very promising defender, his inexperience shows at times but stick with him and who knows how good he'll be? Edgar 9 - Filled in out of position at LB, defended well and scored against man u and all this on his home debut!! Dyer 8 - Not as good as he can be going forward today but tracked back a hell of alot and played well (tired late on). Parker 6.5 - didn't really stand out today at all. Emre 7 - Some good moves came through him and his brilliant ability to hold the ball up did well for us! Milner 8.5 - Awesome goal capped an energetic display got the better of Neville who was lucky not to get two yellows. Le Sib - gutted when he didn't score a free header from 6 yards but he played very well otherwise, very involved! Martins 6.5 - he had no service really and as a result didn't do as much as we know he can.

First-half diagnosis? Great Football end to end fantastic edge of the seat stuff. Second-half diagnosis? They scored after 25 secs and started turning the screw and i feared the worst till our goal then we perked up again. Full-time diagnosis? Draw a fair result for all our efforts. Star man for United? Edgar - he filled in admirably at LB, he defended well, scored the equalizer against Man u and all on his home debut!! Worst United player? Tough one! Really disappointed with Sib when he didn't score a free header from 6 yards out, but in fairness he really got stuck in and was a busy player. I'd have to say Martins was our worst, he was very frustrated in all fairness as as he got so little service. Just not his game but fully expect him to bounce back. Opposition comment? they are the best team in the prem and missed a few chances which cost them. Toon-pros? Edgars Debut! A point against the odds! A good performance! Toon-cons? Emre and Sib injury worries + where was Butt?? Post-match feelings? Delighted with a point, as thought we could be in for a thumping!!

Agree 100%about Solano we missed him badly, but your wrong with Ramage, he has been awesome lately and he wasn't even at fault for the goal today Pav was, as he also had a number of nervy moments. If Given's not fit i'd definately start with Krul next game.

Pav had a shocker today and he was at fault for the own goal, not Ramage. Why didn't Nobby start? Is he injured? Frustrating giving goals away the way we do!! We didn't play badly and arguably deserved a draw, but it won't stop some of the knee jerk idiots panicking and wanting to replace everyone.

Parker's quality!!! No way do we sell him!!

Very brave attacking team!! We need to win the midfield though so butt and Emre have to play imo

If your seriously suggesting putting shambles back into the team/our defence then its very hard to take you seriously and i'm very glad your not picking the team!! Our defence at the moment is as solid as its been for a very very long time largely because (amongst other factors) Shambles has not been in it! Criminal to break up the defence at the moment. ramage and taylor are as brave as they come with headers and tackles and Hunty at 6'3 looks pretty good too. Whilst Shambles is good in the air, he often goes missing lets the player he's supposed to be marking get away from him and has very poor positional sense/any sense, this would be a horendous decision. Duff is a quality player no doubts in my mind at all about this, although its true we haven't seen his best form so far, but like Martins he's quality and WILL come good, its very very nice to have the luxuary choice of playing him or Milner. Milners played well lately and i'd start with him and look to bring on Duff from the bench at some point. Great sub to have!!

yep! Yep!

I rate Bent, but we have better players in Martins, Dyer and Owen. We don't need him. Once Owen and Zoggy are fit we are going to have big Job keeping everyone happy as it is: Given Nobby Taylor Ramage New LB? Dyer Butt Parker Emre Owen Martins Harper/Krul Hunty Duff Zoggy Milner ******** Le Sib pattison O'brien Moore Troisi Luque and Shambles we sell. Car and baba are not goingto be to happy not playing either.

K son, for the 3rd time, we have more than 3 or 4 talented mids, and less than 4 suitable defs. First of all we have the 8th best defensive record in the league at the moment. Second of all, NO NO NO. If you had seen any premiership football you would have realised that 3 5 2 just doesn't work. IT DOESN'T WORK AND NEVER WILL (at least for newcastle) . Roeder won't be able to make it work and the players won't know how to play in the system. It's been tried before and we got thumped. It's a silly suggestion anyway because Roeder would never use it. There's a reason that other premiership clubs only have four at the back you know...it works! Agree with gonufc. Our defence looks great at the moment with Nobby, Taylor, Ramage and Hunty. We do need a specialist LB, but i like Hunty and the extra height he gives us when playing. I bet we have an even better defensive record with our current defensive personal too i.e. if we start playing Shambles Moore Car and Baba again, we'll start looking shite again. Credit to Pearson too!

Really really pleased with oba, wasn't quite going for him to start with despite his brilliant workrate, his confidence and luck were down, but i thought he'd come good and its proved to be the case. He has confidence now too and is a nightmare for defenders with his pace and strength. Would anyone seriously swap him for Bellers? No way i would! Bellers was very good for us and formed a very good partnership with our master craftsman Shearer, they complemented each other well. But i love the way we trying to keep the all on the floor and pass it more at the moment, rather than hoof it up to a big man and hope that bellamy may get a flick on, its better to watch and better technically too. I really like the look of Martins with Dyer and of course we will have Owen back in a few months whom Martins could play behind. Martins also seems non injury prone and a robust kind of player.

I'd go with what we had yesterday and its up to Talents like Duff and zoggy (when back) to play there way back into the team when given the chance. Given Nobby Taylor Ramage Huntingdon Milner Parker Butt Emre Dyer Martins Subs Krul Baba Duff - Great Sub to have!! Doesn't deserve the stick he's getting from some and will prove doubters wrong soon. Le Sib - unlucky to be on the bench really. Zoggy (when back) - Pattison/O'brien

I agree... I said i think Taylor and Ramage should be given a run in the team back in Octobar before the Charlton match thread. not sure Roeder would of given Taylor and Ramage a chance tougher if Moore and Bramble had not got both injured at the same time however i am glad he is now recognising the talents of both Taylor and Ramage as a partnership and given it a good run. the dabate now is either does Roeder go for a big name/expensive partner for Steven Taylor in Janury or does he give this partnership the thumbs up and just buy somebody who could challenge either Taylor or Ramage position say somebody like Curtis Davies and spend the big money on another Striker? It would be criminal to see the Taylor - Ramage pairing broken up as anyone who has seen them lately can't possibly fail to be impressed! Hunty looks very promising too and as i understand it we have Moore till the summer too. I would definately sell Shambles (while we can) and start planning a move for another CB, but only as a decent back up.

Why do we need another DM? Butt and Parker can handle that job surely?

I hope that there's something in that! Mind you Shambles will probably want to stay in the Prem if possible so may not want to go

He certainly could deliver some great long ball passes! Bolton may well be interested but i'd be shocked if Becks went there. Good player no doubts, but we don't really need him plus he's getting on a bit (probably better played in the center now and we have Butt, Emre and Parker excelling there as it is at the moment. Although woulden't be completely gutted if we signed him we definately have other priorities i.e. a really good LB and a decent striker!

With our current squad imo we only really need a LB and a 'big man' striker to get us through to the summer. Luque and Bramble to be off loaded with any luck. Car and Baba may not be too happy not playing so maybe get rid of them and get some up and coming fullbacks in if we don't have any already in the reserves. Criminal not to carry on playing Nobby, Taylor and Ramage as first choice at the back, hunty's looking promising but still not 100% sure yet so a very good LB with a bit of height is what we need the most. GIVEN HARPER KRUL PAV NOBBY CAR? NEW LB BABA/BERNARD TAYLOR RAMAGE HUNTY MOORE MILNER TROISI PARKER BUTT EMRE PATTISON ZOGGY DUFF O'BRIEN MARTINS DYER LE SIB NEW STRIKER Team then for Jan: GIVEN NOBBY TAYLOR RAMAGE NEW LB MILNER BUTT PARKER EMRE DYER MARTINS SUBS HARPER HUNTINGDON DUFF ZOGGY LE SIB/NEW STRIKER

100 % Agree if he's had no reaction etc to the Spurs game! Only if his hammies are tight ect and its a bit of a risk we shoulden't risk him, we all know how fragile he is!

Good post Knightrider! Agree with pretty much all you said. Long may the current results continue.

Agreed i'd go same again, as long as Dyer can hack it (we can't take any risks with him), but i'd definately have Duff on the bench if fit, he's better than people are making out.

Nail on head!! Very good thread btw as they deserve alot of praise, they have been imense lately, long may it continue they also are geordie's and love the club which is a real bonus. Gutted if this pairing is broken up for any reason!! We need a LB and a possibly a 'Big man' striker now and that should do us till the end of the season.

Nail on head! Emre's class, as is Parker! I swear there are some mackem WUM's on here slagging our best players.

Scotty Parker was awesome yet again today 100% commited as always, winning tackles, passing well, creating goals and scoring them. Showing some of the divs on here that they are totally and utterly full of shite!!