Mick

Get in.

Hope they don't run out of energy like they did after a good first half against us I'm not sure they ran out of anything against us, I think we upped our game and they couldn't cope. I hope I'm right and they concentrate for the full 90 minutes tonight.

That's how you round the keeper.

Get in.

Yeah but it''s awkward, Gazza had a physical strength to play that role, Beardsley had the speed of foot to do what Gazza couldn't up front, their strengths were different because their roles were different. One thing they had in comon, they could both DOMINATE a game. I'm not sure that Beardsley could control a game, he could and did definitely change games so you're right, they could both dominate a game.

I think you can highlight their strengths, even in different positions.

April is no different to February in terms of games played for us, we did OK in February and we'll go up if we replicate that in April. 7 played brought us 15 points so we managed to get more than 2 points per game and were unbeaten. Teams might start to pick up injuries like we seem to be doing now and at least we have a bigger squad than the teams we're going to be playing against.

He probably could have played as a winger, he moved all over the pitch.

Gazza could control a game in the way that Beardsley never could, Beardsley was class and was a bag of tricks. I was lucky to see both players throughout their time at Newcastle and they were both brilliant at what they did. It doesn't matter if Gazza didn't have as many tricks as Beardsley as that wasn't really what his game was about. Gazza didn't have much pace but he could walk through central midfield as if nobody could see him because they couldn't do anything with him. I remember Gazza playing away at Southampton as a kid, I'm sure it was possibly his first start and he had some really good players chasing fresh air and he did that throughout his time here.

They were totally different players in the way that they played and I can see an argument for both being the better players. Gazza was and still is the best player that I've seen at his age when he played for us. Both players were world class and would probably have been higher rater over here by most people if they were foreign.

Tony Green was a central midfielder, he was such a waste of talent like far too many players in those days who had their careers ended early for injuries which we now see players coming back from.

We gave him a knighthood.

I'm sure it was going to a public enquiry after objections by a group of people who liked to take there dogs for a s**** on the moor. The mouth piece was a woman called Dolly Potter and it was rumoured she was going all over the North East to get signatures on her petition, including to sunderland.

They did have a reputation and it might have been different if we were playing each other instead of drinking in a pub in Stayleybridge.

That's the one

I lived down there for a few years and travelled to a lot of our games by train and became really friendly with Birmingham fans and had some really good times with them. I found them all to be sound and never had any problem with any of them, that said, I never went to a game where we played each other at that time.

Who's faults that ? Yours.

I would prefer to get Hayden back rather than Yedlin, I like Yedlin but think we'll be more able to get by without him.

Good.

It isn't about Rafa can do no wrong, for me I have doubts about whether these players are equipped to the job if they were set up differently. To go more attacking would need more pace and energy in midfield, ruthless strikers and a defence which can pass the ball out and cope with playing a high line. A defensive midfielder who can cover the ground quickly to close down the spaces would also be essential. Is Colback that man? Absolutely not, and I agree I think the biggest limitation this season is the players, both ability and mentality in certain situations, I also think complacency has been a big factor across the season but lets not forget, Rafa was given 50-60 million to spend in the summer and has brought in a fair chunk of this team, hes done alright but I can't help but feel hes missed a trick by not bringing in extra or different players especially in the midfield department. It appeared early in the season that Shelvey wasn't going to be a nailed on starter, so did he really think Colback and Hayden would work for quite a large part of the season? Yes he should have been allowed to spend again in January but we shouldn't have even started the season with the limited midfield options we did IMO. Whatever people may say when challenged on here, there's a fair few who think we shouldn't criticise anything Rafa does because we've had it worse, hes one of the best managers we've had or likely to have but if he makes a mistake or does something wrong its OK to talk about it, its not like its being screamed in his face. None of us know if he wanted more or different players in the Summer and nobody could possibly know how well the players we did bring in would work out either individually or as a team. As far as criticism goes, I think a lot of what we are seeing is reactionary and a lot of it is unfair and unhelpful.

Tactics didn't lose us the game. Have you even seen it? We lost the game because we couldn't pass the ball to our own players, we couldn't win the ball back and we couldn't create space. Our movement with and without the ball was appalling and they're not tactis

Who and where are the Rafa can do no wrong crowd? Maybe people remember the absolute shite we've been trough and think nit picking is not the best thing to do and the negativity serves no purpose. The negativity is way out of proportion to where we've been and where we are.I said I'd rather go down with Rafa in charge than stay up with the crap we've been through. Not everything is perfect but we're still in a very good position and I can live with a few imperfections.

If only we could have appointed a world class manager.

I wonder who won him the two league titles in Spain with a club that wasn't one of the big 2? He didn't win it once which you could put down as a fluke but you don't usually fluke your way to two titles. I guess he could have treated the league season as a cup competition though.