TRon

Yes we will.

Not sure I buy all of that HTT. It's one thing having a preferred method, but you have to work with what you've got as well. Neither Amoebi or Viduka are particularly good in the air so I don't really see how Allardyce plans to use them as big target men, at least while the ball is being lauched high from the back. Yes we need to have a long term view, in the meantime though, are we using what assets we have to their best abilities right now? I don't think so.

HTT is right in, in context of the display in general he wasn't the worst player in a Newcastle shirt on the night. The problem is, he looks like a player who will never grab the bull by the horns and win the shirt as his own. I don't think he lacks ability like some here, but he lacks passion and ambition. Each time the opportunity comes along he fails to take it savew for a golden run under Roeder's caretaker spell when everyone was in Oscar-winning form.

Utter shite. And I'm an Allardyce supporter.

Agreed. I'm not sure that's the case, more he can't accommodate him and Owen in the same team as it fucks up his long ball style of football. I think that's spot on tbh. Mind, most teams prefer a big man-little man combo, just not all of them launch the ball 50yds long towards the strikers unless they've got someone good in the air. West Ham will have a similar front pair, but the way they are playing is like chalk and cheese compared to us at the moment.

It seems incredible that we are leaving out the likes of Martins to play Shola. Big man-little man is all very well but seeing as Ameobi has never been very good in the air it makes the argument redundant.

What bollocks. I'd never heard of most of the Derby players, if our squad players can't cope with the likes of Howard and Pearson they shouldn't be here. Nowt wrong with the players but they clearly aren't relishing the long ball style we are trying to play.

Despite being a big advocate of Allardyce, I find his negative tactics against shit sides worrying. This reminds me of the Dalglish days with too many workhorses, and while one result can be described as a blip, our attacking play and football in general has been poor all season. We should have beat boro and we should have beat Derby, we have had a relatively easy start as well. Errikson has also put together a new team but his players at least look like they are working in tandem.

If Derby go out with exactly the same attitude against tghe likes of Arsenal they will still get stuffed. We have enough battlers in the team now so the least we should expect is to match the effort, then quality, in theory should count.

Injuries can hardly be used as an excuse, we have a much stronger squad to cope with just these situatons. We could easily have played Smith alongside Owen with Milner, Butt, Geremi and Zog across the middle. That's hardly a bad side considering they were up against Derby not Man U.

Derby were so shite it would have been embarassing to have won 1-0. From a managerial point of view this was an absolute disaster.

That must be why we lumped the ball long and hard then. As usual.

While it's comforting to dump our frustrations on Ameobi, I am more concerned at how poor we looked collectively tonight. Why were we playing long ball football against a championship side?

fine.

We are going to drop a lot of points against shit teams if we play them at their own game.

So many people are instantly-prepared to believe the worst of people and to believe all the bad news instantly. Nothing will change that automatic negativity, I suppose, sadly. This whole thing is 95% fabricated press rubbish. Steven Taylor will agree a slightly different (better) contract soon - all part of the negotiation process - none of the "deadline" drivel is true - he will become an excellent defender with us for years to come. Well his dad, acting on his behalf was quoted by Alan Oliver, so if it was press rubbish it was entirely his own fault.

On Taylor being a promising talent: yes he is, but we aren't the only clubs who can't keep promising talent because they want to play first team football and earn big wages. Lots of youngsters have moved from Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool for those reasons. On Taylor being a proud geordie: if he is he'll stay and the bleating through the local press will stop. Does anyone seriously think he isn't going to be offered a decent deal here? He's not going to walk into Chelsea or Liverpool's 1st team because he's a geordie either. On the other hand, if he's not such a proud geordie he'll look for a better deal eslewhere and he'll run for the money come January.

I don't think anyone doubted Owen's class, but obviously there were doubts about his fitness record and commitment. If he stays fit, I would think a few CL clubs ( who obviously had their own doubts) might start sniffing again, and that will be the real test of Owen's desire to stay here. It could well be that we will be challenging up there ourselves and in that case I wouldn't see Owen leaving. That would be the best case scenario.

It's a bit unfair to describe Milner as average. He's not top drawer due to the fact he isn't lightning quick, but he's got two good feet, crosses early and can get a yard on a player just by shifting the ball unexpectedly - not to mention he's very comfortable playing wide right and will defend when required. There aren't many English right wingers who have every attribute in any case. If anything, for me his biggest weakness is probably lack of self-belief. For someone with his attributes he should be scoring a lot more goals. Or at least attempting to score a lot more goals.

Taylor is great at show-boating and playing up to the cameras. He really does need to concentrate on polishing his actual defending though rather than handling the ball on the line then pretending he's been shot in the gut. If I have to read one more time, Alan Oliver trumpeting " Indeed when Steve Taylor rung me in the early hours of this morning..." I'll start a wage recommendation campaign called "Ten Grand for Taylor" to force the bugger out.

Here's a key point you have missed. He's only going to warm the bench at Anfield assuming the story is true which is debateable. I doubt he's going to be paid much more than we will considering his rank, and the fact that he's going to be on the bench alongside Hyppia who will be preferred as primary back up. 4th choice then - still, no harm in using a bit of speculation to try and get a better deal here.

because they were poor reasons.

Those were good appointments based on sound reasoning, which is why to this day I haven't knocked them. My criteria is sound reasoning, which is why I ask how Freddie as Chairman, arrived to the conclusion, Bruce, Souness or Roeder were the right appointments for a club aiming for CL football? To have approached one of those three would raise an eyebrow, but all three would make any neutral think either Freddie's thick as pig-shit, or someone's on the make in all this. you're right you are talking a load of bollocks there.

Presumably why he's been offered a new contract on a lot more. how do you know he's been offered more? There wouldn't be much point in offering a new 5 year contract otherwise would there?

I think it's nailed on that N'Zogbia will be picked ahead of Emre knowing Sam's mentality, but that's just my opinion.