TRon

So how many of these centre back partnerships is Taylor good enough to get into? About the same amount as Faye. The thing about Faye is he is at least a big strong physical b******, so he could handle the tougher centre forwards. Taylor quite often gets out-muscled, is average in the air, and his anticipation is s**** as was witnessed during his 360 degree turn when Ronaldo ran right past him in a straight line. He can do a job in the same way Aaron Hughes used to, that's about it. Faye is not a world beater, nor is Taylor but they are our best centre half's. I am sure Faye has made errors over the season & maybe the odd one against Man Utd (H) game. All of our defenders have been shit in general over the course of the season, you dont concede that many if everyone was world class would you. How can you know they are our best centre halfs? We kept a clean sheet against Reading without Taylor last week, who's to say Edgar won't be ahead of Taylor by the time this season finishes never mind next?

Considering there are now third generation muslims living in Newcastle, with parents born here, don't you think it's a good idea to encourage them to support Newcastle as their local football team? Alternatively they could be advised to fuck off and support Baghdad by tell-it-straight tabloid readers...

Really you want the dooks with all the motivation you can get. The man is prone to prolonged and severe descents into pie binges, which blunt his effectiveness for months on end. In fact, in about 10 years of being a #1 dooks fan, the only time I can remember him being truly fit was in the lead up to the last world cup, and in the season afterwards where he piled on about 15 goals or so for boro. I hope Kev replayed the classic Hiddink introduction of taking a handful of the big man's love handles and proclaiming "too fat" in front of everyone. Trust me, last summer he wasn't fit for Australia, he wasn't fit for NUFC, he wasn't fit for anyone. He went close to creating a small bathing pond in the centre circle at the start of each Asian Cup game just waiting for kick-off. But Australia and NUFC both had fat jokes of managers back then, and dooks wasn't coming up to the end of his contract. Before I'd heard these latest rumblings I'd assumed he was going to sit about on the bench next season, regularly trotting out the back for a few more chips and some extra tomato sauce. If he wants to play on though, that means he's going to want another contract and that's good news for everyone. If he wants to play on that's fine but I wouldn't want to rely on him as our only target man. Class player without a doubt (are you there Northern Monkey ) but I can't see him being fit on a regular basis. He might be fat on a regular basis, that's quite close, only one letter difference in there...

Portsmouth's record at home isn't great, they are more effective away from home. A 2-1 win for us I reckon.

The Pedro goal I always remember was the final goal in a 5-1 thrashing of Man City where he went round about 4 players and the keeper before rolling it in the net. Typical Beardsley close control magic

That sounds like Supermac alright

So how many of these centre back partnerships is Taylor good enough to get into? About the same amount as Faye. The thing about Faye is he is at least a big strong physical bastard, so he could handle the tougher centre forwards. Taylor quite often gets out-muscled, is average in the air, and his anticipation is shite as was witnessed during his 360 degree turn when Ronaldo ran right past him in a straight line. He can do a job in the same way Aaron Hughes used to, that's about it.

He's decidied to continue his international career which he's entitled to, but considering how shagged he was after playing for Australia last summer, we should definitely be looking to bring in a top target man for next season. That way Viduka can be used more sparingly and his fitness issues won't have such an impact.

So Oba's agent has told "Arsenal" to fuck off with their £15m, because he isn't interested in a cut. Riiight...

Since Taylor is better than Senderos, we should be able to sell him Arsenal for a decent fee. If Senderos is worth £2m then Taylor has to be worth at least £2.1m. I vote we insist Arsenal buy him as his value is clearly higher in this well reasoned scenario.

Beye and Feye would make an awesome tag team with the prospect of a catchy rhyming moniker.

Exactly. If he wasn't happy in London, I can't imagine a stuck up prick like that being happy here. Still with KK's persuasive powers nowt would surprise me.

There's no need to offload anyone unless we get a decent fee. If we can get our £4m back then great, otherwise Keegan will probably want to use him. I can imagine him looking pretty tasty in the 4-3-3 with us playing passing football now.

Except Lennon can't cross, shoot, or tackle. He is quick and tricky though, but Zog can score goals and put in great crosses. Don't get me wrong, if he's set on leaving, N'Zogbia can fuck off, but Lennon will need a hell of a lot of other attributes to compensate for his weaknesses to be considered a good value swap.

I was too pessimistic about the Reading match. I thought we'd only win 3-1 but we actually won 3-0.

Players leave clubs while under contract, I doubt that we'll try to keep him if he really wants to leave. Fine if we get a nice fat sum to which we are entitled. Considering Smith was worth £6m and Chopra £5m where would you ,or Willie Mckay for that matter , like to start?

No it won't, it'll be Keegan's, he's already made that clear. Zog signed a new contract, he won't leave unless we get a very good fee IMO.

Well the fat con merchant was wheeled out regularly to comment on us on live matches when we were losing. I doubt we'll see much of him from now on so there's a plus.

So KK wants to bu 4-5 new players and he keeps reminding us just how small his squad is Why not keep N'Zogbia? Why not keep Emre? Why not keep Taylor even? They will be useful squad players at least next season, and probably more. Or sell them when the price is right, on OUR terms? This was Keegan's legacy in the past and it will be our future. Amen.

Agree with you from the defensive point of view. He really is very, very good. His less effective attacking play (well, it tends to be) is more than compensated by the fact that he takes very good centre-back qualities, to right-back. If you catch my drift. Such a good player. Enrique aswell, no doubt. He also put in a very good shift today. Comfortable on the ball, quick, strong. Still can't believe people say he hasn't got much pace. He's not Oba-like but he's pretty nippy across the turf. I can't remember us having this good a wing-back pairing in a long while. And just look what a consistent backline is doing for us. Two goals conceded in four games. We're one quality centre-back away from a consistently very good backline. I've maintained from day one that we've got good personnel back there. It only hasn't worked cos Allardyce either: played players out of position, or didn't have continuity. And it was more a confidence thing under Keegan until now.

Defensively, Beye pisses on most RB's in the premier league by a country mile. The fact he could probably do just as good a job at centre back speaks volumes in this regard. The fact he got two assists today is a bonus for me. The guy is a fucking Collossus, if there are better right backs their clubs can fucking well keep them.

In terms of our team Beye shits all over the lot of them. None of them could play as wholeheartedly or consistently well in the North east which makes them a bunch of puffs in comparison.

Talk in a couple of the papers today that we have targeted Wayne Bridge and John Arne Riise. Can't see either coming to sit on the bench so if there's any truth in it, obviously Keegan feels that full backs are a priority. Can't say I agree but then he's paid to be the manager, not me.

You could say "it's only two games" but that's a shallow way of looking at it. I think even some of us who were here last time Keegan was in charge had forgotten how good he is. Owen's deeper role has been a fantastic success reminding me of Steve Howey being converted from a striker to a centre half who was then picked for England by 'master tactician' Terry Venables. Switching to 4-3-3 has suddenly transformed a midfield which resembled a clapped out banger into a rolls royce. All of this under the relentless barrage of scorn and criticism from a relentless media. Keegan hasn't allowed the spirit to be dampened and the players are now starting to reflect their manager which all teams do in the end. I think Keegan's quote after the game says it all:

Not to mention we all have two eyes and can see us playing a far more effective and enjoyable brand of football.