afar

Nothing changes after tonights result, but I think it makes it even more important to win tomorrow, hopefully with a good performance.

The first time I went to a game at Blackburn, I couldn't believe this town had a PL club, looked like a small Northumberland village in the middle of nowhere.

Christ, wasn't sure where that was going after the previous posts. Hehe

So are they going down or not ? 50/50 in my view right now. Think they are being saved by a poor division this year, a few clubs not performing to the level they had set previously and the bigger clubs beating the teams they should. Moyes tends to be a 2nd half of the season kind of manager too so that's in their favour. It's still very fragile for them though and they are still not out of it. All may depend onwhat they and the clubs around them do in January.

It's a pivotal window to get right for us. We will need to bring in a player or two, if we can replicate what we did the last time when we picked up Routledge, Williamson and Best (although Best didn't contribute much in that first half season with us) we'll have done well. I would like us to be out of sight come the start of the window, that way new signings would be more attracted to join a club that for sure will be in the PL next season. Right now it's a very safe bet we will be but that might not be good enough for some players.

Common sense from the FA, WTF is going on ? There was absolutely no evidence on the footage that he did anything warranting a red card, despite even people on here saying he did. Could be big for us over the next few games, if nothing else you don't want your squad stretched at this time of year with so many games.

Agreed

Good luck to him, don't begrudge any coach leaving for a manager's role. I'm sure he's an important cog in the wheel for Rafa, but he'll replace with someone just as capable.

Isn't that the opposition coaching staff in the video ? Palace are not an Addidas team.

Wrong thread ? Because nothing beats tonight's ref in recent memory at least.

It's an aspect of that whole incident that a lot of people of overlooking. Shelvey did f*** all wrong, Lansbury got him sent off and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for that. He kicked out in retaliation. It's been a red card offence for as long as I can remember - Beckham on Simeone in '98, Vieira on van Nistelrooy etc. Do find it staggering however that a penalty was given for what was essentially a foul on Shelvey in the first instance. Incredible that Lansbury went unpunished. This - absolutely. Shelvey deservedly went for retaliation but Lansbury should have been penalised initially for his trapping of Shelvey's legs before the retaliation. Poor miss by the linesman and ref in my view and had this been spotted at the time things would have been different. Show me the violent contact, show me the evidence.

Yep me too, I'm amazed at how many even on here are saying how stupid he was and how it was a certain red. It's far from it. By todays standards it is a sending off. Same should have applied to Lansbury though as he did the same thing. Normally the ref will baulk at the double sending off and warn or book both. Can someone do a gif or something of the actually offensive that merits a red, I don't see anything other than a player trying to get himself up from a tangle with another player. There is literally nothing in there, but please educate me if I missed something.

I'm still amazed how we only paid 1.5 million for this lad, 3 of him = 1 Diame ??

Yep me too, I'm amazed at how many even on here are saying how stupid he was and how it was a certain red. It's far from it.

I dunno, I think they are the real deal personally, don't think there is anything lucky about their position at the moment. I think Brighton are more likely to drop off than them, Brighton have been remarkably consistent throughout the season, they haven't had a bad patch at any stage, the law of averages says they've got to stumble at some point. Don't know how you know Reading are "the real deal" like, albeit they are on a good run of form. A lot of the teams who were expected to challenge have been massively inconsistent such as Norwich, Derby, Sheff Wed and even Villa who were expected to be right up there. 2 points a game gets you up and we are on course, loads of games left and we will pick up again You can sense they have a belief about them stemming from their manager. Personally I was not impressed with Norwich even when they were top of the league and 3-1 up at our place, they are just being found out at the moment. Derby got their managerial appointment wrong but are turning things around with the clown in charge, I wouldn't rule them out of a playoff spot. Villa are a different team under Bruce and I would back them to make at least the playoffs where Bruce has an excellent record. We are still very much the best team in the league but I sense it won't be the cakewalk we expected after the Leeds win.

I thought a lot of our players deserve a lot of credit for tonight, it was a gritty, well drilled performance in the face of adversity, we haven't seen that in a Newcastle side for a number of years. Darlow was a beast, Hayden was everywhere, they all dug deep and didn't get what they deserved from that. Hayden, Darlow and Yedlin were the standouts for me, thought apart from the goal Ritchie was wasteful especially on set pieces, Gayle once again was ineffective, he's had a pretty poor week by his standards. Perez continues to be someone you would expect more from than he's giving. Clark and Lascelles were excellent outside of the 2 goals, thought they both could have done better.

I've noticed with the highlights they always tend to focus on the team playing against us, some games you watch the highlights and wonder how we won the game and had 20 shots to their 4 or something. It's weird but seems a common trait.

He has to work out what he's going to do with our number 10 position. Perez continues to be largely unimpressive in the role, Diame has been a disappointment. He's obviously stubbornly sticking with the 1 striker for the rest of the season but in that situation your number 10 needs to be one of your best players, if not the best player. We are dominating games without getting enough goals. We should have battered both Hull and Blackburn and even before the ref intervene tonight we didn't create enough from the possession we had. It's not panic time yet but things to work on for sure, this is the period of the season I expected us to come on strong instead we are wobbling and I think it's largely down to finding a solution to the problem of the players playing in the hole. Can't help feeling that despite their obvious physical limitations, Cabella and/or Thauvin would have offered us something more in that role.

That was as bad as I can remember in recent memory, the fact it was so one sided is astonishing. Of course people like him won't be made t justify his actions, in fact at the end of the season the 2 sendings off today will help fill his "quota".

I dunno, I think they are the real deal personally, don't think there is anything lucky about their position at the moment. I think Brighton are more likely to drop off than them, Brighton have been remarkably consistent throughout the season, they haven't had a bad patch at any stage, the law of averages says they've got to stumble at some point.

It's going to force us to have to think of a way to play without Shelvey, that may in the end be a good thing, certainly will help Rafa determine what he needs in the transfer window.

I'm surprised at the BBC stats, has them with 17 shots, I don't honestly remember Darlow having a lot to do outside the penalty saves. It certainly wasn't a back to the walls defensive performance in that second half, in fact both their goals were very avoidable from our standpoint.

That's an interesting quote, rarely do you see other pros hit out against each other like this. He's obviously got a little reputation.

Back down to an 8 from 9, bad week, 2 losses against very poor teams. We need to pick up again, use the injustice of tonight's match as an incentive to push us forward. Next three games vital in our season imo. Win them all and I'll be back up to a 9.

It's not even a f***ing foul, people saying Shelvey did anything wrong here, I don't get it. He's just trying to get up Howay man, he blatantly kicks out at Lansbury with his foot. Its a blatant red for Shelvey, but its never a penalty. Was it not a foul in the box? Exactly, this thought process is weird to me, if you think it's a red then the you had to agree with the penalty call. I still think it's neither a pen or a red, if anything it was a free kick to us for the initial foul by Lansbury.