STM

I've only seen him a coupld of times but he was always going to have great feet when his second name is Lua Lua. There is a huge question over whether he has the physicality for premierleague football. The ideal thing to do would be to give him a free role behind a striker when we are ahead in a game, the problem is that is no time soon.

Ronaldo is an amazing footballer but he's a cunt, no two ways about it. Messi is better IMO.

Rick Parry anyone?

It's because he stands in an offside position everytime and forgets to come back on side... everytime.

Happy enough with the endevour of the lads. The only stand out player for us so far has been Ryan Taylor, who's worked his socks off and caused problems from set pieces. There were signs of us getting a foot hold in this game, since the opposition lack any kind of tecnhical ability. Although i think Shola has done fairly well in holding up the ball, Viduka could win us this game in the second half. Shite game, even worse commentary.

What? Newcastle are gaining a really bad reputation now. Between Barton, Guthrie, and Nolan, we're pretty much considered a team of butchers. Scousers *Cough*

With that 20k we should be able to prise Kaka from Milan

So why did he jump at the ball with his two feet? Unless he was about to show us some sort of ball control that had never been seen in the premierleague. He was never going to get the ball with that sort of movement. Regardless whether he was to get the ball or not, it was a criminal challenge.

Nolan clearly went in to hurt Anichebe. My reasoning behind this view is that noone ever goes into a tackle like that. How is he supposed to win the ball with his studs going over the ball? However, i don't think it was a case of "i'm going to break his leg" but a moment of recklessness/madness.

I'd go as far as to say he's the best centre half of his age in the league, unless i have missed someone obvious. Personally, i think Coloccini has had a decent first season but Bassong has eclipsed him. I worry that Bassong will have second season syndrome next year, which young players sometimes do.

I couldn't seperate Bassong and Enrique yesterday, both had fine games. The only difference is that when Enrique is defending i think he will deal with it, where as with Bassong i KNOW he is going to. I just wish we had a manager that would sit down with Jose and point out where he is going wrong and where he is not. I think he overlaped (a terrible) Duff yesterday and put in a brilliant cross, which he is capable of. If someone sat him down, showed him it, and encouraged him to do more of the same he would be a better player for it.

My ratings, just got back: Harper- 7 Some good sensible stops throughout the game but some awful kicking helped by poor headers up front. Saylor- 8 Although the quality wasn't brilliant the attacking intent was tremendous. Worked his socks off at the back too. Coloccini- 6.5 Out of the back four he would have been the weakest link in my opinion but hardly a bad game and grew as it went on. Bassong- 9 The only player in black and white that won the majority of his headers. A joy at times. Enrique- 8 Barely put a foot wrong, amazingly he was by far the most composed defender we had. Raylor- 7 Worked brilliantly and should chip in with a few assists over a season with his set pieces. Butt-7 I'm his biggest critic but when we had to dig our heals he stood up. Nolan- 5 Good until he got sent off Duff- 5 Terrible, he's forgotten how to play on the left wing. Ameobi- 5 His performance has been described time and time again, game after game. Lovenkrands- 6 Worked hard in the first half, despite missing a sitter, faded in the second (probably because of fitness) Gutierrez- 6 Didn't do alot when he came on but did work hard for the cause. Martins- 6 Gave us an extra outlet but was handicapped on his own.

Our team will probably be: Harper Taylor Colo Bassong Enrique Butt Nolan Jonas Duff McLoven Ameobi

I like Viduka's style and ability to hold up the ball, he's the sort of player that you would build a team around. However, he is a crock and when you see the club making smart signings such as Guthrie, Bassong and Jonas for next to nothing it's not hard to see why we want rid.

Aye, should warm that bench nicely whilst Nicky struts his stuff. If Kinnear was in charge i'd put my life on it. But fortunately he isn't Nicky was captain against West Brom though wasn't he? I'm fairly confident that Kinnear had already picked that team and told Hughton to play it for him. Remember at that point, Kinnear thought he was going to be back doing training within a week. I still think Kinnear will be picking the side from his sick bed. Hughton won't want to do much different from Kinnear for a number of reasons.

I see this as very similar to the Villa and City games earlier on in the season. They are two good sides which we picked up points from because we really showed alot of commitment. Everton have players missing and we have key ones back, so we are in decent shape.

i think lars Jacobsen would cover for hibbert. He haven´t really played for them since he arrived in the summer! difficult to say if he is better than hibbert, thinking of his rutine! As much as i think Hibbert is a decent right back, i think Gutierrez would have given him a really hard afteroon. Therefore if Jacobson is of a similar standard, the same should apply.

Only really bothered about Arteta, we don't defend set pieces with conviction. I think we cause them problems at STP regardless of their back four.

Brilliant news, Cahill is always a thorn in our side and Nicky Butt would be the man given the responsibility to "look after" him. Hopefully Gutierrez will give there make-shift right back a torrid time.

Jonas isn't a central midfielder and the position you have him is centre midfield. Although, i like the idea of the front three.

nowt to say then ? Just joking man, I'm pretty bored, we all know spending money improves your chances of doing well, but it's not a given, you need the right manager, the right scouts and the right amount of money but you can do well without spending massive amount if you have the right manager e.g. Moyes and Everton. on the other hand, if you are lucky enough to get a decent manager, and it IS a lottery, and don't back him, he'll be off. Like Moyes, unless Everton are taken over or it all suddenly goes tits up for him. When you say "do well", how well do YOU want to do ? It's a lottery getting a good manager? No it's a skill, not an easy one but it is definately a skill. is it now ? We'll see how easily Arsenal replace Wenger and ManU replace Ferguson. Or Everton replace Moyes .......... Even a "good manager" isn't necessarily the "right manager", which I suppose adds credence to NE5's "lottery" theory. Bit simplistic on the whole though, as usual. you mean "realistic", as usual. Which also, as usual, too many people fail to grasp. were you happy with the kinnear appointment ? hey getting a good manager is a lottery right,surely theres as much chance getting a s*** one to turn out good results as there is a good one turning out bad to your thinking or maybe you are piffling again in anattempt to detect any criticism from the your beloved fred ? (conversly it must work with players aswell...shevchenko,veron,woodgate at real,keane at liverpool......good players who didn't do it so surely it means it's pointless spending big as these players prove it works) i'll stop you in your tracks........."back your manager"............what with ? where was the money going to come from......at this point you mention the debt of others and as always i mention the debt of the top 4 is different to ours as they are making money aside from those with sugar daddies where as we have consistently made losses (not a good scenario when begging to the banks with few assets left to hock). look at the other clubs who,like us have lived beyond their means,they are all cutting right back and ask yourself what liverpools or arsenals spending would be like if they missed out on the champs league for 3 or 4 years ? often on here you have alluded to others having thir heads in the sand but it is clear the one one doing an ostrich is yourself in relation to the position fred left us in. silly. Especially when there are still people hell bent on defending Ashley to the bitter end, and I mean bitter end = relegation and with little chance of coming back. Pleased for you that you still appear to write off all those european qualifications and champions league appearances and the manner in which they were achieved. Still, nobody is "embarrassing us" any more, right ? BORING ! we've covered the euro qualifications to death as that has little to do with the position we were in spring 2007. defending ashley to the bitter end......like you defending fred ? i never mentioned being embarassed by fred's utterences. nice to see you keep your head in the sand re our position when fred left. you mentioned Shepherd, not me, with a silly childish comment. Yep, I will "defend" anybody who gave me the only 15 years out of 45 that tried to compete at the levels this club should always compete at, and thus gave me the best most consistent and highest league positions as a result. As I've said before. Freddy was not in charge for 15 years

nowt to say then ? Just joking man, I'm pretty bored, we all know spending money improves your chances of doing well, but it's not a given, you need the right manager, the right scouts and the right amount of money but you can do well without spending massive amount if you have the right manager e.g. Moyes and Everton. on the other hand, if you are lucky enough to get a decent manager, and it IS a lottery, and don't back him, he'll be off. Like Moyes, unless Everton are taken over or it all suddenly goes tits up for him. When you say "do well", how well do YOU want to do ? It's a lottery getting a good manager? No it's a skill, not an easy one but it is definately a skill. is it now ? We'll see how easily Arsenal replace Wenger and ManU replace Ferguson. Or Everton replace Moyes .......... Even a "good manager" isn't necessarily the "right manager", which I suppose adds credence to NE5's "lottery" theory. Bit simplistic on the whole though, as usual. you mean "realistic", as usual. Which also, as usual, too many people fail to grasp. were you happy with the kinnear appointment ? hey getting a good manager is a lottery right,surely theres as much chance getting a s*** one to turn out good results as there is a good one turning out bad to your thinking or maybe you are piffling again in anattempt to detect any criticism from the your beloved fred ? (conversly it must work with players aswell...shevchenko,veron,woodgate at real,keane at liverpool......good players who didn't do it so surely it means it's pointless spending big as these players prove it works) i'll stop you in your tracks........."back your manager"............what with ? where was the money going to come from......at this point you mention the debt of others and as always i mention the debt of the top 4 is different to ours as they are making money aside from those with sugar daddies where as we have consistently made losses (not a good scenario when begging to the banks with few assets left to hock). look at the other clubs who,like us have lived beyond their means,they are all cutting right back and ask yourself what liverpools or arsenals spending would be like if they missed out on the champs league for 3 or 4 years ? often on here you have alluded to others having thir heads in the sand but it is clear the one one doing an ostrich is yourself in relation to the position fred left us in. silly. Especially when there are still people hell bent on defending Ashley to the bitter end, and I mean bitter end = relegation and with little chance of coming back. Pleased for you that you still appear to write off all those european qualifications and champions league appearances and the manner in which they were achieved. Still, nobody is "embarrassing us" any more, right ? Why have you ignored every question he has asked, yet still replied to his post? That's just rude.

It's through sponsorship. That's ok then. I can imagine it would go above the gallowgate TBH.

I have no moral objections but it does seem like we could spend that money elsewhere.

BTW Martinez would be a great move. The sort of move we could only dream of.