Shak

Any way I can be in Group A with my NFL FF enemies? I'm interested but would like to play against people I've got some sort of relationship with.

Rich back posting and Baba fighting with people about the age of Nigerian footballers. Solid nostalgia the last couple of pages.

Great news, Rafa really is becoming the glorious and powerful dictator we all longed for.

I'm choosing to believe he's just there so Ashey can sell the club and fuck off.

I'm willing to twist tbh. I get that losing Rafa would be gutting, but fuck Mike Ashley. His regime has done so much damage to the club and it's just a matter of time before he fucks it all up again. From a personal point of view I've lost so much of my passion for NUFC under this cunt, passion that I doubt I'll ever get back. I'll take whatever uncertainty would come with his departure because he's an utter cunt.

God this injury time has been so shit.

Murphy you big retard.

Surely a penalty?

Come on you cunts.

Was overcome with passion, hard to keep it down in such circumstances.

Sky saying he only has 40 caps? Fuck me, that's awful. Easily your most talented player (along with Brady) Victim of PFM bullshit. Absolute disgrace that he didn't start today, Austria were there to be hammered today and we went out there with a team built to keep it tight. So much good work undone today.

Long is first choice tbf but he's injured.

70 minutes in and Hoolahan still nowhere to be seen. Absolute joke.

Good goal tbf. O'Neill has absolutely fucked up with the team selection. Moron.

He's absolute fucking garbage, very disappointing that we're even considering this.

That was class.

He was great until a former manager tried to turn him onto something he wasn't. Aye, don't want this to be a Pardew bashing thread but he really ruined him for us. It's somewhat beautiful that THAT goal was the only one he ever scored. Club legend for that.

Doesn't seem real. 30 years old man. Fucking hell. His poor family. RIP.

A goal worthy of the awful second half this has been.

Personally reckon a quality #10 should be the top target. Perez to me just doesn't look cut out for that role and I can only imagine how much of a donkey Diame will look like at a higher level.

How realistic is that really though? Aren't we limited to a squad of 25? How many of those spots are we going to use on strikers when we're probably never going to start more than one of them in any given game? It'll be Gayle, one new big signing (or loan if it's Abraham or someone like him) and one of Murphy/Mitro. Perez can play up top in an emergency too. If we sell both Mitro and Murphy we'll probably get someone else in, but they'll likely be pretty cheap.

I honestly don't know much about Abraham so I'm not saying he's the better option by any means, surely if he's being touted as a future star he'll have some parts of his game where he'll offer us more than Gayle though? Seems to be a big lad for one thing so I'm guessing he'd offer us more in terms of playing with his back to goal than Gayle would? I do believe that a large part of the reason we struggled to take the game to teams at home last year was that Gayle couldn't really offer much in the build up play. He's excellent at getting in behind teams but you can't play that ball every time, especially not when teams are sitting back. Having a proper #10 would improve this of course but so would a striker who can offer a bit more in terms of acting as a focal point. Someone who can do some of the good things Mitro does without the considerable drawbacks ( i.e. slow and no real goal threat ) Again, I don't watch much football outside of NUFC these days so I know fuck all about Abraham. If he's got a bit more physicality about him though I'd be encouraged.

I'm a bit worried about the Brighton factor as well. Not only location wise but because looking at their strikers he will know he is more likely to be top man there. Any footballer with ambition would rather work with Rafa than Hughton. If he chooses Brighton then he's not the type we want anyway as it will be for an easier short term. On the flipside, any footballer with ambition would prefer to be the starting striker for a team than a bit part striker for another team True, but surely he's going to fancy his chances if Gayle is the competition for a starting spot. Dwight's a handy player and I don't imagine he'll be out of his depth in the Premiership but he's not a top player who'll be a gauranteed starter when fit. If we sign Abraham I expect he'll play a lot of football next year.

Sounds like a terrible game.