Memphis

Absolutely incredible match. End to end, open, great goals, brilliant football, and the result is so important. I lost my mind for the second Sissoko goal, punching my chair over and over again, that has to be one of the great home debuts I can recall. Two brilliant goals, so many great touches and passes, was involved in everything. Seriously, cannot fault anyone, even Perch - just because as a spectacle that was amazing. Sissoko can't be real. And you're telling me Ben Arfa's going to be part of this midfield?

Would any of this happened without losing to Reading? Or was losing Remy the motivator? Either way, 9/10. Signing three international-class players, two of which are 23, is absurd for a club in our league position. Doing so for the better part of 13m is just remarkable. And obviously Gouffran can do a job, Haidara looks to be a real prospect. If we'd gotten Kebe, it would be a 10.

http://static.themetapicture.com/media/funny-gif-bunny-falling-asleep.gif DEADLINE DAY EXCITEMENT

Pardew's master of the self-fulfilling prophecy - he "knows" it's going to be a struggle and a "fight" in the 2nd half of these matches, and thus, invariably, it is. How Jonas played 95 minutes I will never know - he could not have been worse, particularly after the 65 minute mark. Completely spent, was on a yellow and was making bad decisions, don't know what he would have had to do to get subbed. I figured Villa would have a good 45 minutes in them, they usually have throughout the season, but why we continue to make it so simple for teams to batter us I will never know. It doesn't have to be that way. On the positive side, Sissoko was fucking brilliant. Big, strong, powerful - great touch, great vision - can definitely see the Yaya Toure comparison. He was knackered late and positionally a bit off in the second half, but that was some debut and some pass to Cisse. Gouffran very solid, good movement and appears to have a decent cross on him, that's useful. Can only hope we'll continue to play to the level of our opposition for the Chelsea match and fucking batter them out of nowhere.

Sissoko is huge!

Andy Brassell on Twitter seems to think Sissoko will be in the centre of the 3 behind Cisse, with Gouffran out right and Cabaye alongside Perch as the more attacking of the holding pair.

NUFCOfficial has them going 3-5-2... Should be a good opportunity for Gouffran to get going. Proper movement (I know, I'm skeptical, too) will have us getting quite a bit of space against their XI.

I wouldn't really understand Taylor getting the nod over Yanga-Mbiwa. If Taylor had been fully fit for the season, that's one thing, but he's not. Taylor's been out for so long, Yanga-Mbiwa's been playing. I know about the whole "bedding in" thing, and that's certainly a factor, but rushing an injury-prone centre half back into a starting role in a critical match seems riskier than playing a damn good, if unfamiliar with the PL, centre half who's completely healthy.

Yanga-Mbiwa, Debuchy, Gouffran, Haïdara, and Sissoko for a combined 18.5m. Jack Rodwell for 15m. "There's no value to be had in January." -every pundit on January 1 Just incredible.

WHY DOES THE INTERNET LIE???

The average flight time from Newcastle to Toulouse is 3h 55min. (so says the Internet, anyway)

You can see that footage at the link below - skip to the 28:50 mark for Yanga-Mbiwa's first walk out of the tunnel at SJP. He does look kind of stunned. Also, starting at about a minute before that, there's discussion of Yanga-Mbiwa including William Gallas giving his thoughts... Sadly for me, it's in French. So I'm fucked. But it's worth seeing. http://www.beinsport.fr/videos/article/nviww9x2oz3l1pf67dps2ewu1/title/le-club-2401---1ere-partie

Please - any of our lovely Francophone fans, please translate this BeinSport French video with the brilliant title "Newcastle, nouvel Eldorado des Frenchies". http://www.beinsport.fr/videos/article/431s4lsoteke16f5vlb0q5a9w/title/newcastle-nouvel-eldorado-des-frenchies A few highlights: HBA wears a lovely ensemble. Lots of Europa League action. And stick around until the end for a truly mental starting French XI (minus Krul)!

This is seriously an incredible incredible signing.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/752?cc=5901 Jack Rodwell OR Wilfried Zaha for 15m? Or Debuchy AND Sissoko AND Gouffran AND Yanga-Mbiwa AND Haidara for 18m?

WUT

From his official Twitter - @JKebe On my way to Newcastle, having medical then sign a 4 years contract. Thank you all for your support you've been outstanding !!!!

If it were truly family-related, seems to me speaking publicly would make the most sense. People would sympathise to some extent. His silence is rather telling. So, either the rumours are true or there was an extraordinary falling-out with the manager, far exceeding anything normal. I can't imagine any scenario, including health issues, that would necessitate immediate retirement from football and a move back home, all in the space of a few weeks.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2012/05/24/2012-ligue-1-team-of-the-year/ Pretty fucking great that we now have two of the back four that made up last year's consensus Ligue 1 XI of the season.

From a scouting report on Yanga-Mbiwa from about a year ago - http://www.theelastico.com/2012/02/mapou-yanga-mbiwa/

Pretty simple...to the chorus of "Werewolves of London" "Ma-POOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU Yan-ga M-bi-wa Ma-POOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU"

A Bola (POR) has a report - anyone speak Portuguese? http://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=377928

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mxG28TgwvQ0/T0e_ZMa7suI/AAAAAAAAANg/IDpfG-YoCuo/s1600/san_lorenzo_viggo_mortensen.jpg

Bringing in Anita has not made a difference and he plays the same role. If we sign Sissoko we'll have him, Tiote, Anita, Perch all cabable of playing the DM role. Too many purple players. Anita's never threatened his place. At no time did anyone expect or think a fully-fit Tiote would not start at DM even with Anita's arrival.

Tiote needs to improve but what would motivate him to do so? Bringing Sissoko in would be outstanding not just because he'd improve our general play, but presumably because we'd get a better Tiote out of the deal too.