TRon

I think Downing just signed a new contract with boro.

Looks like he's on his way in the summer. He seems a difficult character if you look at from a certain perspective, but if he hadn't played second fiddle to Duff would he have been happy here? I am of the opinion all he wanted was to be first choice for the left wing spot and if he didn't get it, tended to get in a strop. It could be argued that he's not that great, but if he had left because there was a genuine class player blocking his route to the first team fair enough. The fact it was probably Damien the Duff pisses me off tbh.

Hate to say it, but it's true. Reyes is exactly the type of player Keegan would target, and IMO is quality, but if he couldn't settle in London, there's no chance here, unless we do a Liverpool and buy half a dozen Spaniards so he'll feel at home.

That's what I thought too. The whole reason he fucked off from Arsenal in the first place was because he missed Spain so much, wasn't it? Or a meringue? It might be a case of the grass isn't always greener on the other side, similar to Anelka coming back to England with his tail between his legs. Reyes is a quality player but I still think this is the wrong club for him.

Spurs did get hammered by Birmingham recently and leak goals like a drain. Just another side to the argument. I think this game is up for the points either way.

A couple of half decent results and Keegan is already badgering the board in public about giving Michael Owen a new contract. I'd say the spark is back and itching to ignite come the summer. Keegan's looking more and more like his old self and as always, his team is starting to reflect it.

Drogba misses a few, but I'd say the other two were fairly clinical. More to the point, all three are capable of making their own chances, and of creating things for team mates, to a far higher degree than Owen. If a striker is gaining his place up front as a specialist finisher, then his conversion rate is more important. Isn't that argument redundant now seeing as Owen is playing deeper and playing as a link man?

The only drawback to his game is that he doesn't get beyond the winger so far, but he's a good defender, which is after all the first priority. He's got good skill as well so if he's still first choice next season I think we'll see him really come on.

I'd agree with this. Against the weaker teams this formation has worked great because they will give us the ball back quite regulary so no need to press all over the pitch. The better teams have fast competitive midfielders which will probably over-run us if we have only three midfielders in there. What I would say is that Owen has shown just what a clever footballer he is and there's definitely a role for him in a Beardsley role, i.e. a striker who plays off the main front man. Could see him working with Viduka obviously, but also I'm now convinced an Owen/Martins strike partnership could work.

Harsh imo, after a shaky first few minutes looked pretty good in general play yesterday showing some nice skill and neat touches, Fulham had no answer for him. I thought he did ok. Nowt special. He did well when he latched onto the excellent long pass from Enrique in the first half but other than that he didn't do a lot. Summed it up pretty well. Provided a possible threat with his pace but never actually did much with it, although his team play was better than it can be. Didn't giver the ball away, and stuck out wide quite dutifully.

I was amazed how many started filing out before the whistle as well. Such an important win and for some reason I expected everyone would stay to applaud the team off.

We're only getting showers so no problems. One minute it's blizzard conditions, next bright sunshine.

I guess it could be argued but the debate would end once the men in white coats arrived to take you away. Also what is with the '' around local hero? It like your having a dig becasue he was from Newcastle. I think you are mentally fatigued after your long board wars with NE5, take a week or 2 off & regroup your thoughts TRon. I don't really want to take this into a different direction and turn it into a Shearer debate, I just don't rate Shearer types as highly as I rate Players with the ability to make things happen, which is why I mentioned Waddle, Beardsley and Gascoigne. I was gutted when all three of those left, whereas Shearer for me was at his peak just before he arrived at Newcastle. At Southampton and Blackburn before his injuries he seemed to have an explosiveness which wasn't there once he signed for us. He seemed far easier to mark in free play which limited our options a bit.

While Shearer is in the lead for this honour, it could also be argued that he was our worst signing. We were a team heading for the stars, from the 2nd division to challenging for the title. Once our 'local hero' arrived it pretty much went downhill. In my lifetime, I've seen a few good local players, Beardsley, Waddle and Gascoigne. All three wee much better for Newcastle than Shearer ever was.

Keegan had been hinting at including Viduka for a week before the game which sort of blows that theory out of the water. The fact he included Martins as well probably took a few people by surprise, but it was a resounding success in the end. Keegan dropped two players with no end product and replaced them with goal-scorers. Butt, Barton and Geremi were used as a fairly defensive midfield to allow us to do this. If Keegan was as impulsive and careless as some would think, he would probably have included N'Zogbia in that line up.

I'd like KK to set a target for Barton to score a certain number of goals. The guys got it in him he just seems to have lost all his confidence in his attacking play. At home against a piss poor fulham side should be perfect. For a player who is competing with Alan Smith for the record of least attempts on goal during an entire season, setting a goals target might be asking a bit much. How about setting a target for entering the opposition penalty area X amount of times?

Yeah, don't knock Glen Roeder. He successfully scouted and poached Matty Pisshead Pattison under everyone's noses during his time here.

I think Fulham have to go for the win though, even if that's a bit out of character for the cautious Hodgson. A draw is a worse result for them than it is for us. I still think they'll play defensively knowing Hodgson. Maybe not as defensively as Bolton but looking to catch us on the break.

Too right. As far as I'm concerned I feel much more confident we'll get goals with both starting. I'll bet not that many Premier defences are all that confident at the prospect of facing them. Martins is a handful, and Owen's so hard to track.

There's a danger this could turn into another Bolton type game, where we go in on the back of a decent performance and then get frustrated by an ultra defensive line up. The difference this time hopefully, is the triple strike force might provide the firepower that Duff and Smith couldn't. 2-1 for me and that'll do nicely.

Agree with this tbh. He's not that great to start with, when you add that to the fact the twat is never available, I'd say he's highly expendable.

In other words, whatever happens, appointing him was the right thing to do. If he succeeds, he's a genius, if he fails, it's someone else's fault. Easy fodder this for NE5. Like you say, if Keegan succeeds, he's right. If Keegan fails, he'll claim he's right about our new board. Aye, as a general rule of thumb on Planet NE5, if The Magnificent Shepherd is in charge, anything that goes wrong is someone else's fault. But if someone else is in charge, everything is their fault.

Nail on the head. If we are going to buy another LB then he has to be exceptional as far as I'm concerned, or an outstanding prospect, although Ben Tozer would probably fall into that category. There's no point in buying an 'ok' left back when we have one who looks like he might be better than that already here.

It sounds daft but people keep going on about Owen offers nothing apart from goals, yet against Birmingham he was almost linking the midfield to the attack when he dropped deeper, while still providing a goal threat. Just what we've been missing recently.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. What a fucking knob.