chicago_shearer

Alan Smith and Nicky Butt. Now Wes Brown and Louis Saha. Why don't we just go and sift through their wheelie bins while we're at it? I could watch Man U tv for £6 a month if I wanted to watch their reserves. Good point. I'd prefer players who view joining the club as a step up rather than the only way to maintain an enormous salary outside of the top 4. Players like Bridge, Brown, Saha...what is the incentive to come to Newcastle and succeed? Surely the whole point of getting Jimenez/Vetere/Wise is so we have a more competitive transfer policy; not the same old overpriced, motivationally challenged cast-offs.

Yep. Work rate always helps, but some of them just aren't up for this level. You can't polish a turd.

Are Troisi & Lua Lua any good? Any chance throwing them in might give us a spark?

Fuck the top half. I'll take the top 17. Rivalries excepted, some good results for us. Derby are down basically, and we are still 9 points clear of Fulham.

He can drop who he likes - I've got no affection from any of them really. But if he did drop all the underperformers I don't know what sort of a team we'd have left.

Confidence and attitude is probably 40-50% of the problem. We also have to recognize that this is a shockingly poor team - when we eventually get rid of half our players you won't see them again at this level. Hysterics don't do anyone any good, but if we manage to survive this season, drastic, expensive action has to be taken. In the mean time, I think we need about 9 points. Anywhere will do.

Why sad? Fulham and Birminham both losing is excellent news.

Don't really need to be losing coaches when the season is still in the balance. This should have been taken care of two weeks ago instead of distracting from the important business of not getting sucked into the relegation battle.

A crafty bit of political opportunism from the prime minister. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/7235912.stm

Fair point really. It is a slap in the face to the leagues in Asia and America, although I hadn't really thought of it like that.

Why does Newcastle still have a horrible PremiumTV website like lower league clubs when most of the top Premiership teams have their own format?

Well personally I think it's a grand idea.

The man is a true legend, but was Sir Bobby a bad judge of character or what? Bellamy, Zoggy, Jenas, Bowyer....some good players (with the possible exception of Bowyer) but he assembled quite a set of moody, disloyal and/or unlikeable players.

To be fair to Sam, we don't have anyone capable of playing right wing effectively so you can't blame him for trying it. Oba, Geremi, Duff, Barton and Milner have all been tried there with no success.

Did you like the way he jumped like a fat leprechaun's grandmother for Boro's goal? He is an old, useless player who has no business in this league. We are the only ones daft enough to employee him. I have my doubts about whether he'd even end up at a Championship club if we cut him loose.

Definitely Retain: Enrique and N'Zogbia have the pedigree to be very good players. Definitely retain. Cacapa is on a bad patch, but put him behind a set of good midfielders and I think he will come good. Beye is exceptional IMO and should be our captain. Faye is exactly what this team lacks; Premiership ready professionals who don't panic and act like children. On the fence: Taylor and Milner are sub-par at the moment, but should probably be retained as squad players unless massive offers come in. Martins is a good player, but not a great one. Emre hasn't done enough to convince me, but may stay unless we make a profit. Given is not as irreplaceable as he once was, but is still valuable. Owen, Duff, Viduka may be past it. Sell if possible. Smith I don't particularly care about or see the point of. But I wouldn't cut him loose for less than 3 or 4 mil. Out now: Barton is a nasty thug, I don't have the patience to put up with him. Butt, Carr & Ramage should be taken into a large field and shot like the poor, lame mules they are, by a teary eyed Farmer Keegan. Bottom line: We need 8 or 9 new players at a minimum, 5 or 6 of whom should be able to walk into the first team. A tall order, but a necessary one.

Faye, midfield, Martins up front with Owen. The little/large combo only works when you have people playing accurate long balls to players capable of bringing them down. Since we can't pass accurately anyway it shouldn't matter and we might as well try them together for a run.

Yes if KK would play our best player in their best positions and that they would stay fit, and pot a good system in play. If Keegan bought good players to play in those positions, then maybe. As it stands, we don't have enough quality for the top half, never mind the top 6 or 7. Ask your City, Pompey, Villa supporting mates how many of our squad they would have instead of their own. Not many I would wager (if any at all).

I'm quite looking forward to Euro 2008. Didn't think I would be, but it will be nice to enjoy nice football without the cruel blow of bitter, soul sucking, weekend destroying disappointment for a change.

Just curious - has anyone found an online newspaper that isn't written by Alan Oliver and doesn't hate us? Times & Guardian are clearly out. Independent or Telegraph?

I wonder where all the positivity comes from. These misfits keep kicking us in the balls, and yet some people keep telling me they are almost ready to turn the corner. As my grandfather used to say, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Which I think is a nice way of saying you can't make a top 6 team out of dogshit fizzy pop players.

The big mystery to me is how, after all the money spent in recent years, we ended up with a team no better than relegation fodder.

Keegan is irrelevant. The blame falls on our bad players. I'll form my opinion of Keegan Mk 2 based on what he does this summer (provided we stay up). I want to see some careers ended. I want to see some of these players find themselves playing for Swindon or Norwich or Stoke, suddenly realizing that they also have to pay the price for underachievement. Although it may be harsh on two of our new players, there isn't a player in this squad that I would be upset to see the back of. And that is the first time I can ever remember thinking that. I have no respect for them.

Can the sunshine "not the bad" brigade please just stop with the laughing emoticons and annoying, unwarranted positivity? It is a defence mechanism against more disappointment dished out by this hopeless excuse for a football team, and it isn't fooling anyone.

They are going down.