TRon

Pardew talking so openly about players like Keane and Bentley seems a bit strange to me. The other two Newcastle managers who have done this in recent memory are Souness and Kinnear. Souness did it to boost his ever demanding ego, and Kinnear did it because he was deranged. Who can forget the £10m chase for M'bia and Veloso which ended with us signing Nolan? I wonder if this will go the same way?

Long been my opinion. For my money he was our best player in the second half of last season, he was so important to the tonkings we dished out. I think his struggles at this level are mental rather than entirely down to a lack of ability. One thing that a few sensible managers have said about this club is that you need players who are big enough to wear the shirt. Pardew also said the same thing when talking about Keane and Bentley and it's something I have always agreed with. For players with confidence issues I don't think this is the right club, and it looks to me like that is starting to apply to Routledge.

Didn't want the long ball bastard anyway.

He was a bit of a long ball disciple when it was all the rage. That would be a concern if it's still part of his make up.

Tbf, he is a well rated coach. No one could accuse it of being a cheap appointment if there's anything in it.

As long as he stays assistant manager. He's definitely one of those who's reputation is better at no 2 rather than manager in his own right.

You do realise that what you are doing is exactly what happens on RTG don't you? I think the irony is lost on some people on here. what...you're not a chaplin fan?

Carroll's a good example on how it can go wrong making snap judgements I don't rate Best from what I've seen but we could probably get our money back if we are going to sell.

I honestly don't know what some folk watch. er.. Would you say Harper is better at dealing with crosses? I know Krul dropped the ball a couple of times but his physique alone gives him an advantage over Harper in that respect.. Krul's thrown us into trouble quite a lot with him failing to deal with corners/crosses- coming out and dropping or missing them completely. In that respect, Harper is a lot calmer and stronger. Harper doesn't come for most of them, whereas Krul was very gung ho to start with but looks unsure since getting a few wrong. Harper was very reassuring on Sunday, it was a good decision to give Krul a rest. Hopefully he'll come back stronger for it.

That's handy since most of the population live in the fields in any case.

Which theatre was it? Let me guess - Metro centre. That's as near as most Sunderland players get to their home club when it's not match day.

Nope. He stumbled about the entire game as if he was drunk. But you'd have said that regardless tbf.

I remember a couple of instances where he delivered at least one perfect ball and there was noone on the end of it. His crossing isn't the best, but it works both ways as well. A good cross needs a crosser and a receiver. if there's no one there then why cross it? The better wingers either go for goal themselves or hold it up until someone arrives. Routledge is like Guthrie and Loven for me....this club is probably a bit too high profile for them.

He's been written off by a lot more since. He hasn't looked great it's true but I'm always a bit wary of writing anyone off after a handful of games whether it's Best or Xisco. People will say the coaches see them day in day out in training which is true. But then the coaches also saw Milner and N'Zogbia day in and day out and we didn't get the best out of either. Milner could have been used centrally like O'Neill did when we had a shit midfield, and N'Zogbia was snubbed in favour of Damien Puff.

Don't click on it then. It is a bit daft though isn't it? The idea that Victoria Beckham could be persuaded to come to the north east is a joke.

Why should we sell at the figure which has been mentioned 500k? For that much we might as well keep him here and use him for times like this and in the cup games. I'm pretty sure we paid at least a million.

The more I am hearing about Keane the more I am going cool on the idea. Spurs seem intent on asking for an excessive fee from some reports in which case they can keep him. Loan or nothing. If they can persuade other mugs to part with substantial cash good luck to them, can't see it myself though.

Still Cockney twat for me. Results wise ok but his daft comments about signing Beckham have seen him lose ground since the win. Shut it Pards

lunged in studs up. if that was cattermole this board would have melted. I dopn't particularly like Barton as a person but I think your dislike clouds your judgement a bit. Not so much on the tackle but the disparaging remasrks about Barton's crossing for example. and yet i made him MotM today and against liverpool and villa when carroll got a hat trick. fair enough then. ....(But Tiote was MOTM)

They were having a mega wank over him in the commentary box as well today. There will be serious interest in him this summer.

lunged in studs up. if that was cattermole this board would have melted. I dopn't particularly like Barton as a person but I think your dislike clouds your judgement a bit. Not so much on the tackle but the disparaging remasrks about Barton's crossing for example.

If we are bringing attitude into this debate then I hope Lovenkrands grows a pair and grabs this opportunity to show us what he's got. He's had a few golden dawns with us now but then sinks without a trace just when you think he's on his way.

33rd minute he gave the ball away in a dangerous position and 3 minutes later he cocked up again. We weren't punished but if Coloccini had done those there would have been hell on.

I think there's more to his game than that, he did quite well playing on the wing in the cup games. You wouldn't get many target men playing wide unless there's some ability there. But yeah, let Loven have a couple of games and see if he can string some performances together.

Based on what they've all done this season when playing. What has he done, that has resulted in anything? He's given the ball away a couple of times in dangerous areas which have resulted in goals for the opposition, once in the league cup against Accrington. He's got himself into some good areas, but has he scored any? Has he set up any? Ok so he hurries the defence a bit, but he's hardly set the league alight. Yeah I've heard Crumpy use that one to have a go at Tiote recently. What a prophetic insight that proved to be today.