Unbelievable

Well, I've maintained both Smith and Owen are not good enough for us (anymore) for a good while now.. With Owen my main criticism has been the fact that he creates nothing himself and needs chances put on a plate. If he stops putting such chances away effectively costing us the match he deserves some stick don't you think?

You don't like Owen, we get it. And you do, we get it.. I noticed how you said "Owen is not scoring, but at least we're creating chances for him" today, which is a change from "Owen will score, we're just not setting up chances for him to do anything with" many have been trotting around these past couple of months.. A change for the worse if you asked me. Fact is Martins gets stick for his unmissable misses, so should Owen.. That's not what I said... I said he's getting himself into positions where he's got chances... he's finding chances and getting the shots in. Blackburn's keeper kept them in the game. There's no doubt there's a couple of other opportunities Owen should have scored and will have to take the blame for the misses. That's a confidence issue. He'll start banging them in again soon enough. I hope you're right.. Can't say I'm as confident you. When was the last time he was banging them in for us btw (referring to your use of "again" in the last sentence)? You might have missed it, but he's been injured a bit The arguments against Owen recently has been "he's got no legs, he can't play to his old strengths." Today he proved that that doesn't matter. There's more to his game than speed, he's got the shots in, and with any luck he'll get the break he needs. All set up for him to go to Anfield and knock in a hattrick. If we give him a new contract and he breaks down again, will you defend him (and the decision to renew his contract) saying he's (and we are) unlucky? Can you not see he's no longer the player he once was? He's supposedly fit, gets into goalscoring positions created by his teammates, yet doesn't deliver. It's apparently a confidence issue this time around. Wonder what the next excuse will be..

You don't like Owen, we get it. And you do, we get it.. I noticed how you said "Owen is not scoring, but at least we're creating chances for him" today, which is a change from "Owen will score, we're just not setting up chances for him to do anything with" many have been trotting around these past couple of months.. A change for the worse if you asked me. Fact is Martins gets stick for his unmissable misses, so should Owen.. That's not what I said... I said he's getting himself into positions where he's got chances... he's finding chances and getting the shots in. Blackburn's keeper kept them in the game. There's no doubt there's a couple of other opportunities Owen should have scored and will have to take the blame for the misses. That's a confidence issue. He'll start banging them in again soon enough. I hope you're right.. Can't say I'm as confident you. When was the last time he was banging them in for us btw (referring to your use of "again" in the last sentence)?

You don't like Owen, we get it. And you do, we get it.. I noticed how you said "Owen is not scoring, but at least we're creating chances for him" today, which is a change from "Owen will score, we're just not setting up chances for him to do anything with" many have been trotting around these past couple of months.. A change for the worse if you asked me. Fact is Martins gets stick for his unmissable misses, so should Owen..

Oh shit..

there will be some criticism for not playing Zog and Martins from the start, even though we played well apparently..

Good chance?

Owen has the right to be talking about a confidence crisis it seems. If only he would be the one providing the breakthrough, what with being the captain and all..

Our strikers can't score..

BBC: "1533: Newcastle have been all over Blackburn. Damien Duff is running amok against his former club and has had one shot bundled away and skimmed another just wide. Alan Smith also had a good chance but saw his header dink over the bar. Blackburn are holding firm for now."

We'll sell him to them if we get our money back..

Fuck me.. Already?

howay the lads!

He's scored more than Smith this season Not just this season either..

I despair, I really do..

Zoggy benched and Butt and Smith in the first team. Can't help but feel Keegan is digging his own grave, just like his predecessor(s) by placing his trust in such mediocre players..

I think I would. Still believe any new manager needed time to implement changes (as people are now advocating in favour of Keegan; they are right of course). I believe we would not have been relegated and results would have either improved (setting us up for next season) or remained the same (shit), meaning we would have still sacked Allardyce and possibly still replaced him with Keegan, but this time with a full summer of feel good atmosphere and squad rebuilding. I was happy to see Keegan come because I hoped the feel good factor would reverse the spiral of shit that our season was up till that point, but at this point I am not convinced of this effect at all. Keegan desperately needs to get the squad to play better, winning football, or the fans will turn on him and we will be back to where we started (again!). In hindsight we are playing a very risky strategy here, and I remember being shocked when Allardyce was let go, so I think it's fair to say given the opportunity I would have tried to convince Ashley to keep his hand off the trigger a wee bit longer. I was mainly unhappy with Allardyce's tactics and preference for certain underperforming individuals, but not much seems to have changed for now unfortunately. The money we spent on buying out Allardyce's contract (and his following) would have been better spent on a player of some ability on the pitch if we wanted to avoid the drop. Failing that, sacking Allardyce and replacing him with a top class manager whose signature was all but secured would obviously have been an even better scenario..

You would play Smith if Martins was fit to play?! My user name somehow seems appropriate..

Any new acquisitions in our lineup? Who looks the business?

If this is indeed the case, breach the contract and let him take us to the courts. Might be the quickest and cheapest way to get rid..

and he will do well in Wigan just like Bramble does Oh aye, because he's been CLASS this season. Scored more goals than Smith this season, and possibly caused fewer opposition goals..

If I'm not mistaken Michael Owen's contract will run out at the end of next season. In essence he is still a very good player, but there is no denying he hasn't provided us with a good return of investment so far (be it lately or over the whole of his time with us). Personally I think I would only consider renewing his contract if he is prepared to take a (massive) pay cut (seeing as he will not get a similar deal elsewhere to the one he currently has here). I also think we need to offer this deal before the summer, so that if he doesn't take it we can start looking for a replacement and see if we can shift him on in the summer. Curious what other Newcastle fans think about this..

The fact that he works hard is obviously the reason he keeps getting picked. If others took a leaf out of his book effort wise, we'd be in a much better position. Unfortunately for Smith, he can try as hard as he likes, he's still not very good. I'd say it's more unfortunate for us..

Which will happen first: * He gets booked * He has a shot * He tells the linesman to f*** off 3, resulting in 1. 2 never in a zillion years.. I stand corrected.. He did have a shot on goal, and a good one too. Pity he was his usual self in every other respect..

lol...