tmonkey

We were lucky the referee played advantage in the first place. The idiotic challenge Bramble made was in a perfect position for a scoring set piece chance, and it definately should have been a booking because it was extremely late and pretty dangerous. That challenge was purely out of frustration, because leading up to it he had let the ball bounce in front of him whilst he was facing goal and an Alkmaar player just robbed him and caught him unaware. It was a series of mistakes spread over 3-4 seconds, and on any other day it would have resulted in a good goalscoring chance for AZ and a yellow card for himself - simply because hes incompetent.

Its the financial blow thats going to hurt us, the gate receipts, TV money, prize money, match day money, probably increased sponsorship deals due to the extra coverage. No doubt were going to use the increased TV money to compensate for the huge wages we pay out for a team thats not in the CL, but then well fall further behind when our competitors (the Man Citys, the Fulhams, the Blackburns and Evertons) get to use that extra income to upgrade their squads. On top of this, player ambition. Wont be suprised if at least one from the likes of Martins, NZogbia, Emre, and probably a fit Owen, decide to pack their bags (ie the few players we have who will attract a better/bigger club), and itll be less suprising when we end up with inferior players. Were going to struggle to attact good players from abroad without Eurpoean football, so well be looking at paying inflated prices for overrated players already playing in this country, unless we look to the lower leagues and take gambles on players who probably arent good enough since most of the good ones are already snatched up by the London clubs.

Just dont see it. The first goal - sure, Shay could have anticipated Taylor failing to cut the cross out, but thats different to it actually being "his fault". Taylor should have dealt with that cross, it was his to cut out, I would expect any centreback to cut that out, and because he didnt, it caught Shay out because there was only a split second in which Shay could have reacted. The second goal, bollocks. If Shay had known the ball would be whipped in to the near post and therefore positioned himself for that type of near-post headed chance as opposed to staying in the centre and covering both posts with a man on the line, he wouldnt have bothered turning up for the game. He wouldnt even be a professional footballer, because hed be the only man on this planet with the ability to forsee the future. Hed be travelling the world bleeding casino's and bingo halls dry with that kind of foresight. Shay would make Henry Sugar look like a petty thief.

I dont understand the defence of Bramble in this thread. Hes getting picked on because its the same shit weve seen from him since his Ipswich days, and he was the main culprit last night for me. Huntington was worse, but for ffs, hes a kid, a right footed centreback, who probably isnt good enough for Premiership level for all we know, being played out of position against a good attacking European side. At least theres an explanation as to why this lad was so fucking shiite, but is Bramble a kid being played out of position against a class of opposition hes never played against? Is that what lengths we are going to go to, to defend Bramble - use an out of position kid's performance as being the standard by which we measure Bramble's performance? Yes, the entire defence was shit, as was the whole team, but Bramble's mistakes were those which weve seen a million times. Hell never learn. He will never use his brain to defend. He will never mark his man first and foremost, or be aware of where his man is. He will always ball watch, he will always lunge in for the ball. He will always make sloppy, sliced, idiotic clearances that puts the players around him under pressure. He will always cost us goals. Taylor is an infinitely better centreback. He definitely has his faults, he definitely makes mistakes, but hes still young and hes got time on his side. Apart from being a bit of a thug, he doesnt suffer from the "no brain" syndrome that Titus does. His mistakes arent the same ones over and over again, game after game, season after season. At least with him, theres some hope.

I have to say this is the only post in this thread that makes any sense. Not surprisingly only a couple of other people have agreed with this so far despite it being such an obviously good point. http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=37342.msg742133#msg742133 mackems.gif mackems.gif mackems.gif With regards to the "better fullback = better Duff" arguement, theres not been any explanation as to why Duff was exactly the same player for title winning Chelsea with the likes of Del Horno, Gallas and sometimes Bridge behind him. A hard working but extremely cautious player who rarely beat his man. Only possible arguement is to deny that Duff was as bad for them as he has been for us, which is shiite imo. Maybe harder to tell in a better team as the fact that he does nothing most of the time gets covered over, but still exactly the same player that was playing for Chelsea in his last 1-2 seasons there.

There must be a way to get Duff back to his old best though, because im sure noone can point a finger as to why hes so shiite compared to his old self. Hes not much slower compared to what he used to be as he wasnt really that fast in the first place, maybe hes not quite as quick off the mark and on the turn but thats hard to tell when hes not playing the game like he used to in the first place. I think its a mental thing - Mourinho has coached the flair out of Duff's game, and because of the immense competition, Duff has become scared to try things every time he gets the ball, which is what he used to do. Ive heard of a half-time team talk Mourinho had in a game (think it was against Brum) where Joe Cole was playing extremely well, but was performing all solo skills/dribbles, and Mourinho categorically told him in front of all the players that if he ever played like that again, hed sell him straight away. That type of "play badly once, give the ball away once, get dropped" type environment has probably killed much of Duff's game, and now hes something else.

The Parker Butt partnership needs to die immediately. Its like theres a large black hole for us on the pitch, bang in the middle. Absolutely nothing constructive comes from there, no possession or distribution. It feels like the team plays around that entire middle area of the pitch, if the ball goes there its as though weve lost control of it, and on top of this, the protection they provide together is pretty shit for two players who are extremely strong at tackling and closing down. Playing together is ruining both Parker's and Butt's game. Parker is playing poorly for an attacking midfielder, hes getting into decent positions once or twice in a game and failing to convert nearly all of the time, whilst he lacks any kind of forward passing. Hes not playing badly per se, but theres definately a problem with regards to his position in the team.

Duff @ Title Winning Chelsea + World Class Manager = shiite. Duff @ Mid Table Newcastle + Championship Standard Manager = shiite. Its not us, its him. But what the heck, he works hard, so lets ignore the 7mill bids and the fact that hes on 70k per week and is inferior to a 20 year old French winger we have on our books. Hes our Duffers, hes world class, and hes not a Spaniard with first name Albert !! Ive got the suspicion that Roeder and Shepherd knew hes been shiite for a long time when we signed him. I can understand why so many of our fans still thought him to be a top class player, because they wont have seen Chelsea much and wont have paid much attention to Duff's individual form when playing in a top side. But its baffled me how our management wouldnt know he was badly off the boil when signing him - imo they did, but made the signing anyway because: 1) To appease the fans who were getting pissed off at the lack of signings. Nothing easier for our club to do then to throw big wages at a Chelsea reject. No scrap-metal, cash on the table, "its good money", derogatory bargaining methods required by our chairman. At the time, we had noone lined up at all, and were just merely scouting the likes of Maritns and Kuyt. 2) To appease Shay Given. Stopped moaning about wanting to win things as soon as we made this signing, when all summer he was clearly getting pissed off at the situation. Bit strange how hes now changed his tune, saying he doesnt want anything to do with a big club and wants to stay here till he retires. Totally different tune to before Duff's signings, when he was talking about moving if he had to to win trophies. 3) Something to do with NZogbia. Maybe he wants more money, or his agent is drumming up interest via links with Arsenal etc, but it was extremely odd for us to spend so much in transfer fees and wages on a second left winger when the team needed reinforcements badly in other positions. A message of intent to Zog from the management it could well have been. No different to us offering Bernard a "fair deal" on the one hand, and signing Babayaro on the other in a "we arent going to bend to your demands so feck off" type statement. Conspiracy theories, but thats all we'll have as no doubt when Freddy sacks Roeder hell force him to sign some privacy agreement before handing over the compo.

All we want is a good managerial appointment. Get someone in with a continental CV. Of course, Shepherd cant do that if there arent any Geordie ones, which is why were going to be stuck with shit managers that the likes of West Ham and other lower level Premiership clubs would only consider, managers that will never get close to managing clubs like our "competitors", eg Liverpool.

Looked a bit slow and sluggish to me. Emre isnt an Aaron Lennon, but when hes been fully fit, hes shown a fair bit of acceleration packed within his midget frame.

Maybe, but it looked like he hadnt anticipated Taylor failing to cut it out.

Nobby's distribution was shocking, but defensively he was OK for me. Butt had a poor game, but he regularly has had a poor game when playing alonside Parker. No idea why. Huntington was worse than Bramble in a way, yes, but hes a kid being played out of position and hes probably shiite in the first place now that hes had a fair few games. Taylor had one thuggish moment, and another where he let the ball go over his head and was lucky to get away with it. His third shiite moment was the first goal where he didnt cut the cross out. Poor game from him, but the rest of the time he was average. Bramble was awful the entire game. Time and time again he was ball watching. What kind of a defender watches a man IN FRONT OF HIM, about a yard onside when the ball is passed, run through on goal, and stop entirely with his hand raised? Simple answer, a defender like Bramble, who only sees the ball. Arvaldaze probably didnt even register in Bramble's brain till he recieved the pass. He did this the entire game, ball watch, and hes done it his entire career. Hes ALWAYS failed to pick his man up, hes always watching the ball, because thats the type of defender he is - he sees the ball, he goes for it. On top of this, his clearances were shiite the entire game. Sliced, panicked, whacked, no methodology, no technique, no consistency or control. His passing was also abysmal the entire game - he could have cost us 3 goals on another day purely from playing us into trouble. Particularly the pass to Butt where he played it into the path of 2 AZ players who would have been through, and Butt somehow managed to get a last ditch touch in and get it between one of the players' legs. Shocking player who costs us far too often when its mattered. He should be playing for a club like Fulham, with all due respect, although I doubt theyd take him after he gifted them a few goals and the win earlier on in the season by - you guessed it - ball watching.

Cant blame Roeder for not starting Emre, doesnt look match fit - well, nowhere near as fast/sharp compared to when he was playing regularly a while ago. But why start Sibierski ahead of Milner? Milner on the right, Dyer behind Martins, Zog on the left, counter attacking football on the ground, and we're sorted.

What did Butt have to do with Bramble stopping entirely and raising his hand whilst the 34 year old man hes supposed to be marking just jogs through on goal? Or failing to mark his man for the corner, with his man scoring? Throughout the game there were instances of him not picking his man up and just ball watching. Hes just a shiite defender. Physically great, but as soon as we come across a player or team with a hint of movement, hes left for dead time and time again. And the terrible passing. The number of times he got away with shockingly bad passes in extremely dangerous situations... Get rid.

Theres a dinstinct lack of criticism for him based on tonights performance. He was nearly as bad as Huntington, shiite ball watching lump of a defender with no brains or reading of the game.

All Roeder has to do: "Emre, dont take any set pieces. I want you on the edge of the box looking to shoot at anything that drops out." But he cant even do that. Everyone knows Emre's corners suck 9 times out of 10, although Milner can be just as poor at times. I simply dont understand why Nobby doesnt take corners.

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=360232&CPID=8&CLID=4&lid=&title=I'll+get+it+right+says+Fred&channel= His time must be up. How many more s*** deicisions can he make?

Same with Benitez and Mourinho too. Top managers of this calibre will be good wherever they go.

The Spurs wankfest is really getting annoying. Yesterday was just unbearable. "Theres no better threader of a pass than Robbie Keane"

N'Zogbia wont get a callup to the French squad as long as he fails to improve his general play. Like with Robert not getting picked ahead of that shiite Cheyrou, and Ginola before him, and Cantona too, the French national side want consistent performers as opposed to hit and miss flair players. Zog's basic play is often shiite, and it was last season too - there were plenty of games where if he hadnt produced some magic, his contribution was nil and he had a piss poor game overall. Hes a great talent, but he needs to learn to play a passing game, which is required at international level. Pick the ball up, control it with technique, pass it around accurately, and then once in a while drive/dribble explosively like he can, when the opportunity to do so is there. In the Premiership, its great that hes so direct and willing to drive with the ball every time he gets it, but do that in a crunch game against a top international side with 10 technically excellent outfield players, and hed be a major liability when he finds he cant play the passing game because hes not developed it, and just loses the ball every time because hes looking to drive past players, which even the likes of Ronaldinho, Messi and Rooney cant do consistently at international level. Theres also that arguement with Le Harve, or whichever club we signed him from, and the French FA holding a grudge against us/him because of it. But still, even if it werent in the equation, I still think the best hed get is a callup to the U21's at this point in time.

Extremely tough choice. Both managers have developed plenty of unknown players into top class ones. Hitzfeld has achieved more imo, and is the better manager tactically and when it comes to winning games, especially big ones, so overall hes the better manager, but my vote goes to Wenger with regards to our club, purely because hes consistently developed world class players from scratch. Hes the best manager when it comes to signing unknown for small fees and watching their value rise to the 20mills within a few years.

Was never, ever, ever, going to happen. Ever. unlikely, agreed, but that wasn't really my point - anyhow a 20m bid is a 20m bid, is it not? rooney himself said he turned us down so there was something there but once a professionally run club like man u came along obviously not I never bought the bid thing. It stank, for me. it did to me too 'til i read an interview with rooney admitting he would have gone to SJP if ferguson hadn't come in....the bid was on the table and he wanted out of everton so would have come, therefore must have existed? Personally think it was completely genuine. I remember reading the papers a few days, or a week or so, before we made the first bid, when ManU's [vice]chairman at the time, Gil, stated categorically that ManU did not have the money to buy Rooney that summer. Shepherd moved pretty soon after that, and ManU ended up using the following season's transfer budget to sign Rooney, which Shepherd was probably hoping they wouldnt do (or didnt think about it as a possibility).

I completely agree with the Nut here. I thought they were fairly f****** terrible at SJP and incredibly boring to watch, aye we know you can pass the ball between the defenders and the goalkeeper, well done. Their lack of a right-back was something else I picked up on, one of their centre-halves was always yelling for somebody to track back and cover Duff. They do seem to have pace either side of Arveladze and Dembelele starting will probably make a difference to them, but I'm still confident we'll go through. 2-2 draw or something along those lines, but I favour us to win over them. Hope this doesn't come back to bite me on the tukkus. They still managed to pass through us with ease when they did push forward, dominated the game, and had superior movement and linkup play compared to us. Both teams' defences were utter shiite, we had the better individual attacking players and it showed on the night. They certainly are overrated, which is no suprise given that most of their players probably wouldnt be wanted by relegation candidate Premiership sides, but they work well as a team and are able to pass and move, which is more than we can do. Hope its a cracking game tonight, this past month the football has been immense, so many high scoring games with open, attacking football.

Hes a key player for us without a doubt, changes the way we play, but ultimately he has no position. Hes not a striker as he rarely gets into goalscoring positions and in the Premiership has often looked lost up front, hes not a central midfielder as he has zero distribution and only comes into the game when we're on the counter (2% of the time?), and hes not a right winger because firstly we know he doesnt want to play there, but also because he lacks the required crossing ability. He also seems himself as a playmaker, and wants to constantly be "involved" in the play, which isnt ideal for a winger. Certainly a problem with him. In truth, if he avoids injury till the summer, we'd ideally look to sell. Hes playing well for us, hes in the England squad - now is the time to cash in on an injury prone 28 year old who's game is reliant on pace.

I cant help but think the lad is a perfect partner for Drogba, and the one striker Chelsea are crying out for. The likes of Villa, Rooney, Eto'o, etc, may be on another level to Martins, but his attributes, physique, blistering pace, power, and sheer unpredictability, make him ideal for Chelsea's style of play as well as making him an ideal partner for Drogba. Drogba is Chelsea's workhorse up front, hes the player who Chelsea can rely on to hold the ball up, his general play is as consistent as it is unspectacular, so all they need is someone explosive alongside him with the ability to smack the ball into the back of the net, a forward who doesnt patrol the same areas as Drogba, and theyre sorted. That spells Martins to me - it wouldnt matter for them that Martins can be pretty shiite at times when it comes to his general play.