tmonkey

Absolutely this, said it all along. That makes no sense either. His primary aim is premier league exposure - he'd just keep us if successful, he just can't be arsed to do the necessary legwork. I agree he wouldn't sell it quickly as he's a stubborn arsehole but if we're down there long term is that attitude going to persist? I don't know how you can be so sure either way. So much of the motivation relies on being in the big time. Put it this way, if he wants £400m* then Mike Ashley is the kind of person that will still want £400m after a couple of years in the Championship (in fact, he will probably want more as we will get less income down there). He won't flog us on the cheap, he just won't - otherwise he would have done that by now. *for the sake of argument, not saying that he does. Im sorry but I totally disagree.The reason Mike Ashley hasn't "flogged" us is because we are extremely beneifical to Sports Direct as we are still in the Premier League, pretty much the most watched weekly sporting event in the world. The only reason Mike Ashley is here is to benefit Sports Direct, remember. As long as Sports Direct profit from their relationship with Newcastle, he will stay. Now take Premier League football away from Newcastle and you take away Sports Direct's biggest benefit of the relationship. Will he take a hit for a year or two to try and get us back, of course he will, especially with the parachute payments we will receive. However when it gets to the point we no longer benefit Sports Direct he will be gone. As far as would he sell the club for less than £250m or whatever? He certainly will. Do you think Ashley would give a s*** about 100m (this is not even considering how much he as already made from the club, so he has probably still made a profit)? He's lost nearly 1 billion pounds off the Sports Direct shares in the last year and he couldnt give a s***. £100-200m is nothing to Ashley if he deems it not worth the hassle. But if we're on Sky at least once a month whilst in the Championship (assuming the viewing figures will be around 300-500k), and a couple of thousand supporters from 23 other teams spread throughout the country are coming up to St James' every other week, isn't that still highly beneficial to Sports Direct in the grand scheme of things? His tat brand plastered everywhere may not have the international exposure once we're out of the Premiership, but I'd argue there's still a relatively strong domestic beneficial relationship in play. Otherwise big sponsors wouldn't bother with Championship teams. Hence, taking your last sentance about Ashley not caring about a couple of hundred million as a premise, if NUFC in the Championship is still of some benefit to Sports Direct, surely that means he's not going to be inclined to sell?

Ranieri.

Mitro

How is that not a foul? Mitrovic being dragged back.

Perez is playing like he's running in glue.

How the fuck did Janmaat get in the Netherlands first team?

Half our team are struggling to control the ball and maintain balance at the same time. It's as though they're not professional footballers.

Lascelles looks like bambi on ice.

It wasn't just the foul either. Just casually brushed aside by Borini as though he's a toddler up against an adult.

Colback is toxic.

"Pep Pardiola"

Really don't want him to get sacked. He'll use the Cup run as the excuse (plus injuries) and play the victim card. "I fort I did well with Palace, we wos in Wemblaay, we 'ad injarays, we had a small run of defeats but we wos turning da corner and some people antonizing me you know wot I mean, I don't play no victim so I said dats dat".

Good to see Ribery being his usual self constantly running into opposition players.

Sissoko is mediocre (at best) in the final third because he's not a natural attacking player. He's a box to box central midfielder, at least that was what he was described as being when he first arrived here and I've seen nothing to suggest he's anything other than that. Hence, he's criminally being played out of position because this club has had s***, cowardly managers unwilling to give more suitable attacking players game time on the wings out of fear/lack of faith. When he was briefly played in central midfield a couple of years ago alongside Anita (in a 4 man midfield) he was pretty much a beast of a CM because his athleticism allowed him to get up and down and essentially be everywhere. On top of that he can dribble effectively on the counter when the space is there to be exploited (as opposed to trying to force a dribble when teams are back in position as he currently does), and there really are very few CM's in this league who can pick the ball up in the middle of the pitch and really punish space like he can, hence making him something a bit different to the norm. It helped that in CM he got to play more simple passes more often to make his average technique/consistency, rather than having to produce "end product" inside the box. Chances are that like Tiote he's now broken beyond repair after years of having his head filled with "go on son, you can take 'em all on" desperate nonsense by s*** managers to supplement him playing in a role he isn't suited for because they're desperate for "magic". He'll also not get a chance in central midfield short of an injury crisis because the club is flooded with CMs who are actually seen as CMs, and combined with not having enough wingers even if Rafa did realise that Moussa isn't a winger or a number 10 he'll have no option to persist with Moussa on the flanks until next season at least, and even then it'd probably take Moussa a run of games to forget this crappy style of play he's been coached into by world renowned geniuses like Pardew, Carver and McClaren.

Wijnaldum has looked really decent in CM.

That's the type of CM pairing I want to see. A passer and an attacking goalscorer.

I've been suspicious of Janmaat for a while - thought he had given up on NUFC and so wasn't bothering to defend properly. But after that shot, I now think Janmaat has the IQ of a neanderthal, and that's what the "issue" was all along.

So bad it's funny.

Good old backing off from Saylor.

Great finish to be fair.

“Lets not get into a debate here, are you tryin to abab-antagonize me, ya-mane I’m fwustrated cos I’ve lost alright, n I think the penalty’s tough that’s wot im tryin ta say and I think u should accept that and let me go back to doin the press ere el-elsewhere.” Alan Pardew, 2016.

Substitute Guile for Pardew

Oh are the overly expectant Geordies booing poor old Pardew again?