Sifu

An off day for everyone concerned (the players, the manager and staff) really. To Pardew's credit, he did try to change it around a bit when he decided to switch to a 3-4-3 and try to match Wigan in all areas of the pitch. But ultimately, we were outdone by a determined Wigan side who, in their traditonal March/April form, were great today so all credit to them (seriously, their football model of "being relegation candidates for most of the season and then turning into a nice footballing side in the last couple of months of the season" is very annoying!). Taking off Ben Arfa was an understandable decision btw. Just have to move on basically, we've got a massive game on Wednesday and it's up to Pardew to get the players focused and motivated for Wednesday - I'm sure Alan will do just that.

Mentioned this in the match thread but today really did remind me of the Derby game at Pride Park when we were in the Championship. As in, being on a high because of the week before, being able to field our best team available but yet, on the actual day/night of the game, nothing would happen for us.

We're still in the race for 4th. The Chelsea game is a massive one and could very well define where we finish this season. Lose that and we're out of the race tbh. But as long as people have belief and faith, we could, we just could get that 4th spot (I'm still not going to vote in this poll though, haha).

Are you willing to put a bet on that? I will be I hope your bet goes the same way as the Man U game at St. James'!

A draw would be a brilliant result like, would certainly take it if it's offered to us right now.

Are you willing to put a bet on that?

So, to summarise: Wigan were great (the best I've seen them play all season) and deserved their win if we're being brutally honest. Fair play to them. We, on the other hand, were shocking bar that great 15 minute spell we had in the second half (could have easily made it 4-2 if it weren't for the woodwork). Nothing went for us today - we weren't getting the decisions from the ref, we couldn't put our chances away and all our top players were well below par. It was not going to happen for us today, simply put. It's best to forget about it now though, the players have to move on and they now have to focus on/give their full attention to the game against Chelsea on Wednesday night. Massive, massive game.

It's just not going to happen today, is it?

What's gone on here? Some of the posts ffs :lol:

Speechless. Wigan, to their credit, have been brilliant. Absolutely shocking stuff from us.

Best chance of the game for us really.

This reminds me of the Derby game (at Pride Park) in the Championship.

That's the spirit.

Only just seen the scores, well in Southampton! Take that Allardyce, enjoy the playoffs.

Aye, that's definitely the best case scenario! ( ) Think I'll stay neutral for that game (will support England for the rest of the time though!). The fact that we'll potentially have NUFC representation in the French team is enough for me not to cheer England on - I like seeing our players on the international stage

Pub called the Friendship Inn in Fallowfield isn't a Toon pub but when there's an NUFC game on there always seems to be a healthy gaggle of Newcastle fans. Nice one, thanks! Will check it out.

Only just seen this, absolutely fantastic :lol:

Brilliant read that. Great to see some of the unsung heroes (the in-house staff, that is) being mentioned

Maybe it's a way of gauging the public opinion before they decide to put them on sale (allowing them to make some tweaks with the strip here and there). Obviously this is not the case so don't know why I mentioned this in the first place. Just a thought...

A contender for thread of the year methinks.

Definitely the way to go. For one thing, it would be great PR for Puma, what with them essentially interacting with its target market. It actually wouldn't hurt for them to listen to the fans for once...

Going to make an assertion: he will get to 19 goals before the end of the season.

Took a bit of a risk for this weekend, decided to take Van Persie out and put Tevez in. I'm hoping for him to put in a MOTM performance against Man U.

Half the defence needs fixing too id argue with Abidal's unfortunate health issues and Puyol getting on. That's true aye, they certainly need another CB in, Puyol can't keep playing games week in and week out, not at his age.