Andy

City are obviously miles ahead of us, but I still think people are getting carried away by them and that teams in our league are giving them too much respect and showing too much fear. Napoli and Bayern Munich showed in the Champions League that they're far from invincible if you pass the ball well and get at them. We caused them problems in the second half today when we actually started doing the same thing.

Hard for the midfield to be anything other than anonymous when we're bypassing it completely.

Gutsy line-up, that. We'll probably get raped but it's good to see Pardew having the balls to name such an attacking XI.

Lack of options? No matter who we put there, it's going to be a case of square peg/round hole since we have no natural right wingers fit. Pardew will look for maximum defensive-protection, so it will be between Santon, Guthrie and Gosling I think - can't see Ben Arfa getting a look in as he doesn't have the work-rate to play that role. Out of the three, Santon would be the most sensible option since he's a natural wide player.

Aye. I think we'll line up like that, assuming Obertan/Tiote aren't available and Best is. Would certainly rather see Santon played in his proper position and Raylor in what is (supposedly) his proper position in right midfield. Raylor is fucking terrible in right midfield. He was supposed to be pretty fucking terrible at left back too. No point in playing two players out of position. So you'd break up a back-line that is statistically the best in the league, in order to move the left back from that defence - who is currently playing the best football of his career - into a position where in the past he has consistently failed to perform? Santon has shown in the past that he's more than capable of playing as an attacking right wing-back, so I doubt it would be too hard a task for him to play on the wing against City, given that we're probably going to need both of our wingers to act as secondary full-backs for the majority of the match anyway.

Aye. I think we'll line up like that, assuming Obertan/Tiote aren't available and Best is. Would certainly rather see Santon played in his proper position and Raylor in what is (supposedly) his proper position in right midfield. There's no way Pardew will unsettle the defence, and rightly so in my opinion.

Aye. I think we'll line up like that, assuming Obertan/Tiote aren't available and Best is.

It's a total myth that you need a "Bellamy type forward" in modern football, and Edinc isn't really a Bellamy type forward anyway tbh. Unless "Bellamy-type forward" is now simply a generic term that refers to "under 6ft and not black".

If the club are smart they'll get this sorted now to pacify people somewhat.

Lads, man, keep it on topic instead of trying to score points over each other. The "true fan" argument is embarrassing and certainly not relevant.

I tend to believe this is true. We're essentially a massive advertising board for his company at the moment, and the one grain of blind optimism I can take from that is the notion that the better we do, the more global advertising Sports Direct will receive. Therefore Ashley will probably see it as being in his best interests to maximize the club's exposure (and therefore his company's exposure) by competing in continental competitions, which may actually mean that he'll start investing to get us there.

Howay man, get a grip FFS. Fuck off Otter you utter cretin. You have absolutely no idea about passion and love for NUFC. If you can't understand him saying he's hearbroken then you really need to fuck off from 'supporting' NUFC. Sorry lads...he's just wound me right up there. I know this news has ignited passions somewhat, but can we direct all vitriol at the appropriate people, and not each other please?

I could definitely see them advertising the shirt colour as being a saleable asset to any wannabe-sponsors in the near future. As you say, they're completely out-of-touch with (or - more likely - apathetic towards) the sentimental value of these things that it just seems inevitable. Everything is for sale, the whole lot.

'Understands the need for the club to find new ways of improving the playing squad' apparently. Seriously doubt that's the case - not fully at least. I'm sure he'll be at least somewhat angered by the potential disruption this will cause.

Really don't understand how some people can approach this with such apathy. They might as well change our home strip to red and blue stripes next season as well. Cunts.

It's easy if you hold in L1 + Triangle, man. Easy.

We'll come through these games unbeaten, then lose heavily against Norwich.

I love how the thread title specifically states the subject of the thread, yet people still make the effort to click on it and then say "who cares". Ferdinand, for me, was the better of the two at their respective peaks.

The cynical side of me is slightly concerned that the press are "leaking" the details of the contract offer; it's very reminiscent of the way the Barton/Nolan/Enrique contract negotiations were reported... (Whereas the deals for Jonas/Tiote/etc seemed to just "happen".)

You only ended up bossing it because Cabaye went off, and we also had Tiote out injured. These players are vital to our team and not having them makes a massive difference. We can barely see you all the way down in 16th. And we had no Fellaini who is just as vital to us. And with that in mind, you lost. It speaks volumes of the mentality of each set of players - the contrasting ways they handled the dilema of key men being unavailable... We're second because of our defence, our ability to score goals, and a bit of luck btw. Simple as that, really.

He didn't need to do that at all today. He was brought on to slow the game down and he did it brilliantly.

He didn't console him, he pointed him towards the fans who were singing his name.

Has Chris created another account to go along with HTT, knightrider, etc? Because it would explain a lot...

Because your post count is lower than 100.

Man management at its best tbh, if you throw in his constant talking to the players and his spending entire games on the touchline. Aye. It's a small touch but Best probably felt on top of the world at that moment.