TRon

Have to agree. Even the passion of the crowd on monday didn't seem to fire him up. He always seems to look just sick of his life. That's because he is sick of his life...in Newcastle. He only wants to be here if we pay him twice what Everton or Man City will. He's still on our payroll though so we may as well make use of him in whatever role he's capable.

My only concern is he isn't strong or dominant enough for the defensive role and he hasn't got any goal threat to play in the advanced role. That said, he's technically light years ahead of Nolan and moves and passes better than both Nolan and Butt. Barton's on his way now, but I'd have liked to see him alongside Guthrie, I think they would have dove-tailed nicely.

Guthrie's never going to pull up any trees but he's filled in quite nicely on the problem right hand side. We'll need to sign a proper right winger once this car crash of a season is over.

If he couldn't score against boro I'd be surprised if he does against a much better organised side like Fulham. I doubt he'll get a sniff tbh, but he should still start IMO.

Lovenkrands is on record as saying he doesn't like playing out wide, Sottish fans and commentators have confirmed he's better played up front, and we've seen confirmation with our own eyes that he's ineffective out wide. So why keep flogging a dead horse in trying that one again?

Carried the ball forward through the middle a few times. I thought he did very well, and would agree with starting him alongside Viduka against Fulham. Lovenkrands doesn't stand out much when you watch the game, but after seeing it again on the telly he seemed to be involved quite a lot. Played better than people are giving him credit for, but I'm not convinced how much impact he'd have over 90 mins. He did well when he started against WBA I recall.

Good shout. One thing is clear though, Loven should only be considered as an out and out striker. Every attempt to play him wide has backfired and he's much more effective through the middle.

First priority we have to stay up regardless of what Sunderland do. Obviously if we do then seeing the mackem filth slither out of the division becomes a red alert imperative. Well for me anyway.

I can't see Owen scoring tomorrow, Fulham are too well organised, but Martins isn't fit enough to be effective from the start. Owen will at least keep them occupied. As an alternative I honestly think there's a case for starting Carroll alongside Viduka tomorrow, just to cause Fulham some problems.

A genuine right sided player has been a necessity all season. Since Geremi "retired" we have tried all sorts there, from left wingers to Guthrie and Ryan Taylor.

I never had a problem with Enrique before though. He's always looked competent enough to me. Especially when Keegan was in charge. It was just that halfwit Kinnear who had a problem with him. I know Keegan wanted cover but I don't remember him coming up pretty much slating Enrique in the press. Don't think he ever criticised him outright, but Allardyce didn't seem keen on him. Strange, especially since we've seen glimpes of his quality and how good he can be. Even stranger was the fact he bought the fucker in the first place and immediately didn't fancy him tbh. Allardyce has a reputation of buying players with a scattergun approach. Buy a batchload of 6-10, chances are a couple will work out. He was interested in Luque before he arrived here and actually watched him.

I don't think it's nailed on that he's leaving as it seems to imply in that article. If we stay up he'll get an improved contract and he would probably prefer to be a star here than an arsenal reserve provided we look after him.

He has a decent scoring record in Spain, if not spectacular. He has been scoring goals in the reserves and was on the verge of coming back into the first team picture before he got injured. Whether he'll be able to step up a grade is another matter but I wouldn't want to write him off without having a proper look at him. Other than Viduka, you would think all our strikers are a waste of space if you judged them on the evidence of a couple of matches.

o'brien,dabizas,bramble. we have so much to do,at least 3 midfielders and a 2 forwards before even thinking about a centre half. Not to mention a left back which should be a priority.

I don't want Owen here next season unless he changes his desire that Newcastle pay him more than Everton or Celtic will. That said, I'm pleased Shearer has given him his public backing, and will probably start him on Saturday. There are still two games to go and he's capable of scoring a crucial goal for sure.

Fuck them.......fuck them ALL!!!

Any player who can't score goals should never be considered for such an advanced position.

We have paid a heavy price for selling Faye too eagerly and then spending £10m to replace him with Coloccini. No point in looking back now though, we need competition at the back and unless we get a decent fee let him battle with Taylor for the shirt.

If he cuts inside every time defenders will work him out pretty quickly if they haven't already. Wingers need to be able to keep the full backs guessing and Jonas needs to work on whipping the ball across earlier from wide positions. It's not the hardest skill to learn and he'll look a different player if he does it.

I read somewhere that he needs surgery on his achilles which will keep him out for 9 months. If that's true it's the end of his career on Tyneside.

And pisses me off when tabloids have him on all the "Worst signings of the season" lists... Ultimately he has to be considered a terrible signing though. Nearly 6 million for a guy I'd struggle to pick out from a line-up of somewhat similiar looking guys. There's other circumstances that have effected him, of course, but you can't argue with people calling him a terrible signing at this point. Why can't you argue? How many goals have we seen from our highly paid strike force this season? Not many, and Xisco has barely seen the field despite how shite they've been. I'm not saying its his fault, and if Shearer thinks he can get something from him and wants to keep hold this summer then I'm all for it. Clearly, he didn't get a fair go under the previous regime and there must be something about him to score goals in La Liga. But when you pay 6 million for a guy and leave him to rot in the reserves, it can't be called anything other than a terrible signing. Didn't Alan Pardew bench Tevez and Mascherano? Yeah. I'm not saying Xisco isn't a good player, just so far he's been a terrible signing. The two really have nothing to do with each other. Joey Barton was a terrible signing for us, but he's a very good player. Barton has walked into the first team as soon as he is capable of standing on two legs. Did he prove himself a good player? Not really.

And pisses me off when tabloids have him on all the "Worst signings of the season" lists... Ultimately he has to be considered a terrible signing though. Nearly 6 million for a guy I'd struggle to pick out from a line-up of somewhat similiar looking guys. There's other circumstances that have effected him, of course, but you can't argue with people calling him a terrible signing at this point. Why can't you argue? How many goals have we seen from our highly paid strike force this season? Not many, and Xisco has barely seen the field despite how shite they've been. I'm not saying its his fault, and if Shearer thinks he can get something from him and wants to keep hold this summer then I'm all for it. Clearly, he didn't get a fair go under the previous regime and there must be something about him to score goals in La Liga. But when you pay 6 million for a guy and leave him to rot in the reserves, it can't be called anything other than a terrible signing. Didn't Alan Pardew bench Tevez and Mascherano?

And pisses me off when tabloids have him on all the "Worst signings of the season" lists... Ultimately he has to be considered a terrible signing though. Nearly 6 million for a guy I'd struggle to pick out from a line-up of somewhat similiar looking guys. There's other circumstances that have effected him, of course, but you can't argue with people calling him a terrible signing at this point. Why can't you argue? How many goals have we seen from our highly paid strike force this season?

Was there a case for it? Did the contract extension appear out of thin air?

Can't cross anyway. He's not alone in that regard though is he? Just seems a bit simplistic to me to say 'he can't cross, therefore he's a shit because he plays on the wing and that's what they do'. We should be working around his strengths, just like any other player we have. I harbour the insane idea he's make a good and energetic right back. I think a proper right back would do the job better.