Jaehyun

Same. Thought he would be a good signing at the time, but he's been bitterly disappointing for us. Still, it'll be nice to have some attacking options at least. Same, we've got Zoggy, but we can't play the lad every game and expect him to perform, he's only still young, it will be good to have Duff around for options. Also I believe Zoggy can benefit from Duff's guidance as an experienced winger.

You can never take away Shearer's natural instincts infront of goal, goals looked class.

Have him over Clarkie anyday!

Don't put too much stock in that. Tides turn after every match around here. Hmm but hopefully by the end of the season, whether people are relatively satisfied or dissappointed about our final position, they will be optimistic and happy with the progress we will make into next season under Big Sam.

I really don't get it, mate. We're a better club than we were last year and it's still not good enough. We are right where we should be in our road back to being a formidable opponent. 3pts back of 4th, FFS. Aye, same for me. I just don't get what some people are on about. It's a rebuilding job that will take time unfortunately. I have my moments regarding Allardyce when he messes about with 4-3-3 that I just don't think suits the players. He also pisses me off when he selects Smith in midfield, but we're fundamentally on the right lines. Yeah, the 4-3-3 drives me a touch up the wall, but I think it comes down to who's on the pitch. If we've got Barton or Emre as our creative CM's (not so much Barton, but I think he's got it in him, hopefully he thinks so too), and Zoggy where he should be, it could work. I think Sam just wants everyone to try and buy into that system, no matter who is on the pitch. Which is what you're alluding to, I believe. He's just sussing out whats worked in the past with his success at Bolton and I'm sure he'll adapt it to our club in a winning formula. It's tricky, because some team selections should be playing a 4-4-2, whilst I think other selections are better in a 4-3-3. Anyhoo, this is all pretty obvious stuff. The nucleus is starting to form, January could see a couple additions(not bothered if we don't do much), then we'll get a real idea where we're at by the end of the season and Sam can weave more magic in the summer transfer market. People, don't bank too much on January being an killer window full of great signings, I think you'll be sorely disappointed. I'd rather we concentrated on the team we have playing now, and better football during that time, then who's coming in. A right winger to provide competition for Milner is possibly all we need at the moment. We could also buy another fullback to eventually suss out babayaro and carr.

4-1-1-1-3 ? 4-3-3?

It'd work in a 3 man midfield as the others have said. Butt as defensive, Barton driving in with Emre playmaking from deep.

Perhaps a move to overcome Milner's lack of pace? When Milner's on the right he always cuts in, slowing the game down and making our plays predictable. With the switch, Zoggy can still beat players down the right and Milner can naturally cut in without wasting time. Maybe that was the idea...not too sure though.

I must say that our backline is much more solid than previous years, but our whole team tends to 'switch' off after scoring a goal. I think Big Sam's strategy is to slow the pace of the game down after scoring a goal before building momentum up again, however our team is yet to master this as when we try to slow the pace down, we tend to get pressured into defence and go on long periods of being dominated. We're defending much better as a team, but this all breaks down after we score a goal. We need to work on this transision between gameflow, to be honest when we're in good flow we were the better team, but our transition was the weakness and led to us being dominated for large amounts of time. Enrique had a good game I think, it's great to see that we actually have fullbacks now, okay, he should have been on Johnson faster, and he left Anichebe wide open late in the second half, but once he gets more premierleague experience he'll be a class player. He's another ballplayer, very calm on the ball as we've seen in Rozenahl.

A headless chicken who's shit fast and has a rocket shot.

Not literally as he didn't do a lot of aggressive running, but he was always calm and content on the ball, slowing the hectic pace down and controlling play.

Emre is class, he can be the creative midfielder we've been talking about. Not a lot of running today, but his playmaking was good. Gets into every play, good distribution, good technique, delicious touch. Emre won us this game in the second half.

I F**KING LOVE EMRE!

It's actually more pathetic when people put the ball through your legs and totally lose the ball (to my team or goes off the field, or I turn around and get the ball) and yet still tease you saying they "got one on you". I tell them they lost the ball, but losing the ball to me doesn't matter to them, as long as it goes through my legs.

Just incase they 'accidently' scrolled over your post.

Agree with every word Wullie said. For Maeths who said Taylor could be the next bramble, most definately, which is why we need do treat him with patience and make him realise his potential. We can't give him the fish-bowl treatment and give him stick like bramble did, but at the moment it seems the other way around, he's becoming overrated and it's getting to his head (refusing that contract). He needs 3 years of steady development, not as an automatic starter but with good competition and good first-team chances and then he'll really start to impress us. I don't think he'll turn out as bad as bramble, while he does have crap games he doesn't usually 'directly' result in us losing like Bramble so often did.

Wow I have a lot more respect for him now.

Milner is a winger. ---------------- Given Beye -- Taylor -- Rozenhal -- Enrique Milner -- Barton -- Geremi -- N'Zogbia ----------- Viduka -- Martins Yes but he's not a very good winger and horribly disrupts the balance of the team when played wide in 4-3-3, which is the system our manager prefers. But in that formation not only is Milner out of position, but Viduka can't play well by himself upfront, he prefers a 4-4-2, so does Martins, so you have a number of players playing in a position they aren't totally comfortable with.

Well you know, City's biggest problem was that they couldn't score goals, our biggest problem was our defence, each team patched up their weaknesses. Once Emre and Barton are back we'll pose a bigger attacking threat I'm sure.

I'd rather have Martins over Owen, disgraceful how Owen gets an automatic start when he's fit. Oba can fill owen's boots? F**k off, other way around. But at last a close-to decent article by Anal.

All Time :Alan Shearer Current: Obafemi Martins, followed by Zoggy, followed by Milner.

Hahahaha, how'd you spot that you horny bastard? That is gold.

I think he's being very cautious about creating the image of him being overtly involved with Newcastle United's affairs.

So how long til he comes back from retirement then?

Great!!!