Elma

One of the great things about Merino is that he's keeping Shelvey out of the team. I was furious that Shelvey cost us at least a point in the important opening game and hopefully Merino's form is giving him further cause to reconsider his actions. We need players like Merino and Hayden who display controlled agression, and who can follow Rafa's instructions without being a liability. Same goes for Mitro as for Shelvey.

Am a big fan of Eddie Howe but Bournemouth look to have gone backwards. That goal was coming.

I was actually looking forward to this. Prefer this sort of live game to the top six all the time. Thought it would be canny with Bournemouth needing points on the board and Brighton trying to build on last week by picking them off on the break. Disappointing fare so far… 😕

Good spot. On a related note, anyone see Clark prematurely celebrating Joselu's header in the first half? He was convinced it was in. Can laugh about it now we've got the three points

Colleague over here who is a Besiktas fan just told me we've apparently offered 12.5m Euros and it looks like the deal is on. He doesn't want to lose him, as they have to publish their CL squad tomorrow and he doesn't think there is enough time to find a replacement. Mid twenties and scored 20 goas for them last season apparently. Gayle replacement? What's his play style like? That's a key question. I'm sure we'll get 100 new Turkish members once he signs, they'll be able to tell us I live in Beşiktas but still can't tell you much about him. Got the Super Lig on TV for this month as a free offer when I bought the package for the Premier League, but only seen one of their games so far. Seems well liked here and is a 20 goal a season striker, but outside of the top five teams the standard isn't great. If I see a helicopter taking off I'll let you all know....

Seriously, anyone at the match or who watched this on TV saw the referee talk to Mitro and the West Ham players about it. The incident was seen by the ref and not determined to be a foul. That is irrespective of whether it was a foul or not. If the ref saw it and took no action then the FA taking matters into their own hands sets a very difficult precident that would mean they are now prepared to re-referee games. We have a number of injustices that happened against us, namely that big nosed c*** Harry Kane for one!! Would that be refereed again - no, of course not! I know it is "only Newcastle" and we are not that significant but, the FA taking such a step opens up a minefield and undermines their referees decisions. I saw it live on TV and thought at the time that he's bound to get a ban for that. It's different to Kane who got a yellow card for a challenge that was probably a yellow in the laws/rules of the game. As the ball had gone, my guess is that Swarbrick followed the ball and didn't see it clearly. He had a word as he knew something had happened, but hadn't seen it clearly enough to act upon. I believe that now, if the referee deems the challenge worse than first thought at the time, then it can be later referred up for review. If he feels he would have given a red had he seen it clearly, then the FA can review it. If the FA ban him for three games they'll be within their rights to do so. Only Mitrovic to blame if they do, for something that was as pointless as Shelvey's two weeks previously. Both are a liability and I'd be much happier if we could replace them both with players with an ounce of common sense/self-control.

Spurs' last two away games have finished 1-6 and 1-7. To be honest, I'd take a point now. Our 5th place finish was built on an unbeaten start, beginning with a 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal. Typical opening day stalemate would suit me so as not to knock confidence and get a point on the board against a much better (on paper) side. I'm just hoping I can get my new Digiturk installation done in time - rung them yesterday when I realised the Premier League channel (S Sport) is in their basic package at under £5 a month. Would be rude not to really. Was stuck with SkyGo via a vpn on my iPad last year, so that's another benefit of promotion.

Personally I don't think he's a good one at that, especially for his size. He should be bullying centre-halves but loses more than he should in the air. If we're not going to get anyone then we need to keep him for cover, but ideally we should sell him and get someone more mobile in who is suited to Rafa's system.

Probably starting to look normal by today's standards, although Sissoko's stock is still falling.

Just seen this. Osmalispor literally translates as Ottomansport - the design is obviously a reference to Ottoman art/design and script. Horrific mind...

Yep - in those days it was really shit hitting F5 for the best part of five years, waiting for the new leak to come out.

They got slated for announcing kits too close together because 'parents couldn't afford to buy them all at the same time for their children'. Now they release them further apart, one at the end of the season, one in the middle of the summer, one towards the start of the season. Shops abroad, particularly in Asia won't care, as soon as it's made they'll see it as needing to be on sale. For the third kit it seems they were tied in to the global Puma release schedule of all the black kits simultaneously. Doubt we had much option on that one. Must kill the marketing team though when they see photos of the new kit abroad and they've still got to put a campaign together pretending everyone is seeing it for the first time.

I was thinking that with Brighton, Huddersfield and WBA to play that the away wouldn't be blue, what with the third being black. On the flip side, maybe that's why it is blue, so we've got the excuse to wear the 3rd kit a few times as it will clash the least in those games. It's basically just the Leicester kit in different colours. Meh... Definitely prefer last year's kits to this, although the home and third are OK.

Having seen that, the thing that sticks out (and annoys me) is that as they have gold sponsor lettering on the third kit and the fact Burnley had the sponsor in white a few years back, then why couldn't they have had black or white sponsor lettering on the home kit? Just drags a decent home kit down a notch for me.

Probably be enough to resolve any clash with Spurs, Swansea, Brighton, Huddersfield, Stoke, Soton perhaps even WBA. Only really Bournemouth might require a third kit. In saying that, I agree that having a markedly different kit is better. Yellow always a favourite of mine.

Mr Real Geordie forgetting that lesbians absolutely love football. There are also many male gay teams around the country and a gay football supporters network with NUFC fans as members.

Noticed that. Rafa always said April would be decisive for us. Their six in April (and maybe even the last game against Wolves if they finally get their shit together) look tough. Not sure I can see them winning close on 30 games, although a lot can change between now and the start of the season. Will be watching their first game with increased interest considering we've just been down there and know the teams/standard a little better now.

We got five from those four games last year. Should have been at least seven. Think they've got Barnsley away after that too.

That Wolves fan got his wish

That's not it - it's blue from a good source! Looks a mock-up. Why would they change the letter sizing on the sponsor between home and away? That sponsor matches the time they sponsored Burnley so probably nicked from there and photoshopped.

Great bunch of lads

They had the official home kit without sponsor in Bangkok Airport when I passed through over Xmas. Got a pic of it somewhere.

Don't think I'll ever buy another. Am in my 40's and get to about 2 games a year as I live abroad. The only time I'd wear a shirt is for the match and I've got the Brown Ale 80 Year Celebration shirt from Toffs to cover that (actually might buy another of theirs as I love the Bukta 76-77 away kit - that one I could wear more generally). The only exception might be if we got to a cup final.

Had one of his better games against Barnsley. If he stays he shouldn't play more than ten games next year, ideally most of them in the early rounds of the cups.

I don't mind a patch on the back (either black with white numbers or white with red numbers). To make it work though the patch needs to be just bigger than the number, and to come with the number rather than being part of the shirt - so people can choose whether they want a number or not. I remember cutting a black patch for my Asics home shirt in the early nineties, stitching it on, and then buying white letters and numbers for it. Had Rob Lee 7 on the back as per the below: https://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/0dc2d03fe217f8c83829496872af24a0/n/e/newcastle-93-home-mw-star-lee.jpg Red takes me back to this: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/football-1974-fa-cup-final-wembley-stadium-4th-may-news-photo/79021371?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect#football-1974-fa-cup-final-wembley-stadium-4th-may-liverpool-3-v-0-picture-id79021371