afar

Fucking hell they do this all the time not sure why ? But if you look at the teams they pick most if not all have more Mackem players than ours, that's strange considering practically everyone in the country would say we have easily the strongest first eleven and squad and even their own fans think they have a bunch of crap players because that mag bastard Bruce brought them in. I literally wouldn't take any of their first choice players in place of ours. Mignolet from their pov seems to be their best player, admittedly he's having a good season but I take Krul over him any day of the week. Fletcher for Cisse is the closest decision in my book.

I don't really care who goes up tbh. But Cardiff are just about there, we'll have two welsh clubs in the PL next season, will they be wanting to call it the English and Welsh Premier league now

...and I bet you didn't know any of the words to the songs in the pre-match Lindsafarne gig! I was right in front of Lindsfarne that day, packed in like sardines in the Leazes end, it was a hot day and felt close to collapsing in that throng of people, after each goal we moved further and further down, almost on the pitch by half time LOL. Still one of my favourite ever games, at the time we didn't know it but a great way for a true NUFC great David Kelly to say goodbye.

I really don't remember, it was way back in the late 70's, Wrexham or Bristol City I think but could be totally wrong I was a young 9 or 10 year old, in the old west stand paddock. The team the ground, everything was totally different back then.

If they lose to Norwich and the gap between them and the bottom 3 closes then I will dare to dream, but as the guys above have pointed out they still have plenty of chances to pick up the points they need with their run in.

Stoke have taken just 4 points from the last 9 games, Sunderland are next worse with 8 points. Even if we went on a slump now that was similar to these two teams we would finish up with a points total between 37 and 41 points, I think we are safe. Stoke's form is spectactularily (is that even a word if it is I'm sure I've spelled it wrong) bad.

Why not? They are bottom of the form table with an absolute stinker of a run-in. Norwich is such a huge game (as been stated so many times) it's going to be a poor game, full on tension and nerves. If I were them that game would be taking up my every thought until it was played, if I were in the stands I'd probably be watching too much to support, it really is their last chance of 3pts for 4 games, leaving a relegation escape to the very last minute. Anything can and will happen in football, something like them going 1-0 down and their keeper being sent off would just about see them down, the knock on effects would be huge. Just as the same happening at the other end, the margins are very fine. They certainly aren't safe, don't win at the weekend and they are right in it. However, I think they will, MoNg is lucky when he needs to be. Unfortunately I can't see Norwich beating the Mackems at their place

Predicting a safe number is tough this year, a few weeks back you could have easily said 34 or 35 would be fine, it might still be but the form of the teams at the bottom of the table has been pretty good in general and lifted the points total required to I would say high 30's. We haven't really got to the point in the season where the mid table teams stop playing, because there is nothing for them to play for, so that could also push the points required up. Reading IMO are the only team I would put considerable money on going down right now.

tbh i have no friggin clue right now. Reading's loss at home to Villa was a big one for them, following on from losing at home to Wigan, I don't see enough quality in them to pull themselves out of it. Southampton, have hit a bad patch of form at the wrong time and again I don't see enough quality there to escape. The last spot is completely up for grabs though, assuming QPR continue their upward trajectory. Villa starting to get the results their play has deserved lately, Wigan showing signs of doing a Wigan but woefully inconsistent at the minute. Sunderland and Stoke's form utterly in the toilet right now, but surely both those teams will be able to pick up the two wins or so they need to stay up somewhere. We could play a major part in this with our games against Wigan and the dirty mackems coming up. I don't think we have a lot to worry ourselves unless we go on a run of form like in November again.

Just finished watching it. My dear god (imaginary person I know but wth) that was a simply awful game of football. Reasons for that are two fold, I think the trip to Moscow really effected our play, our two most creative players, Sissoko and Cabaye, pretty much played full games out there on a plastic pitch, even those that were rested or didn't play a great deal, still had to make the trip 5 hours each way, time difference, all in three days, you could just tell in our play we lacked that little spark in or play. The other reason was Stoke, they came to our place intent on one thing, not to lose, they showed no ambition to get forward throughout that game sat back invited us on and routinely had 8 or more players behind the ball. My boss is a big Stoke fan and he's always moaning that the media always piant them as a long ball team and tbh I didn't see that much of that style from them but what I did see was a brand of anti football that has no place in the PL really. Playing in the manner that stoke played and have played for much of the season, will turn fans off the game it really will, it just sucks the life out of the game. I don't understand Pardew's post match comments about Stoke not deserving to lose, because from what I saw they made zero attempt to win the game and got exactly what they deserved out of it, nothing. Not that we were exactly scintillating but at least we showed a desire to get forward and win the game, they didn't have a single moment in the game outside the penalty where they even remotely threatened, that's criminal really. Hugely important win at the end of the day though, we can now give the Europa League a real go imo.

Cisse should have been sent off according to pulis, still haven't seen the game, does he have a case ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21646451

I haven't watched the game yet, it'll be on TV a little later here today. But sounds like Stoke think they were unlucky http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Potters&action=display&thread=209965 TBF the majority of them are calling the op a clown

Brian little is Co commentator he is a big newcastle fan, lol, you wouldn't know it.

Now you done it, he's blatantly going to go on a run of scoring now. To be honest I think he'll probably prosper once they get a manager who has them playing better and picks him over Torres consistently. That's true but I think in the Summer, they will want to bring in a big name striker who will have to play virtually every game and Ba will be back to the bench again. They'll also have Lukaku back who I think will have a big season fro them next year. Demba is gonna have to fight for his place, they have Moses too of course.

I would say Europa League qualification, is good, top ten acceptable, anything less then that is not good enough with what's available. Assuming there are no major outgoings in your scenario. Just Colo as expected. 10th place acceptable with that squad really? I guess I rate our players a lot higher than some... I do too but I don't think any manager that guides us to a top 10 has done a good job that season. We need to be consistenly challenging for Europa before we can raise our expectations IMO.

I would say Europa League qualification, is good, top ten acceptable, anything less then that is not good enough with what's available. Assuming there are no major outgoings in your scenario.

But if we won the Europa Cup, Pardew would be up there with Joe Harvey as the most sucessful NUFC manager. Says a lot for how bad our recent history has been in terms of actually winning stuff.

Yep that was ridiculous, clearest straight red all season for me. I don't know if you saw Huth elbow not seen by the ref too (rightly he's gonna get punished retrospectively for that) but Stoke doing nothing to stop people calling them what they call them.

Two ways you can look at Everton under Moyes. You could rightly point out that he took over a club that was in a bit of a state, narrowly avoiding relegation a couple of times. He took them consistently to challenge for Europe. He's bought well with limited finances and got the best out of the players at the club. But, does he have a level where his effectiveness as a manager wears off ? There are a lot of managers out there, that are hugely successful in the championship but get found out when moving into the prem. Perhaps Moyes's level is slightly higher than that and he plateaus at around the 6th or 7th spot. I don't think though that you can argue that he is getting the best out of the squad, if you look at the squads of the five teams above Everton, Manure, Man Shitty, Spuds, Chelsea and Arsenal, they are all stronger than Everton's. It's debatebale whether Liverpool and Newcastle have stronger squads too and Everton are well ahead of both those teams. So he's doing all he can imo with what he has, I think the big question regarding Moyes would come up if or when he gets big money to spend or inherts a team capable of winning the PL, would his style achieve what is expected ?

More certain Reading than QPR. Reading lack quality. QPR lack heart. Effort is easier to find than skill. That's a good point, but the gap is huge (in relegation terms) for QPR now and they do lack quality themselves up front. They haven't scored in their last 4 home games apparently, to have any hope they have to start putting the ball in the back of the net, I'm not sure where Zamora is in terms of fitness but he could be key for them.

It's gonna be a whole lot more exciting at the bottom, come the end of the season, than at the top that's for sure. QPR have just got too much to do now and their lack of a goalscorer is gonna send them down I think, the Remy signing is even more strange now, what they needed was a short term fix, a player in the mould of Beattie for Stoke in their first season in the PL, someone who had an eye for a goal but was never going to be the long term answer. Remy is full of potential but woefully out of form this season, injury prone and needed time to settle. Crazy really. They really needed Odemwinge. Reading, I think their luck is almost used up now, they are woeful and their points total flatters them, thanks to supersub appearance and clinical finishing. The loss at home to Wigan was huge, both in terms of points and psychology. The third and final spot is where the battle really heats up and I believe it could be anyone of a number of teams who join QPR and Reading, I think Wigan will do what they do at this time in the season yet again but they are still in the mix. Villa are a strange team to call at the minute, there are lots of positive signs in their performances of late and they have a real good goalscorer which is essential if you want to pull away, but they keep dropping points at an alarming rate. 6 points from the last 30 is a horrendous run of form. Southampton have beaten the champions lately played very well at SJP for about 20 mins in the 2nd half on Sunday, but there is just something I think that would be worrying me if I were a saints fan, their next game is crucial, win it and they could well start to pull away, lose and the doubts will kick in against the new manager. The most worrying aspect for the dirty stinking mackems fans must be that after a run of good form where they pulled away from the relegation battle they have hit another bad patch with 3 defeats on the bounce. If I were a fan of one of the bottom three, of all the teams in the league I would want to play the mackems more then any other side in the PL right now. They do have two players that can nick a goal now, in Fletcher and Graham, and a couple of players who can create something out of nothing in Johnson and Sessiwhatever and coupled with the 5 point cushion they currently enjoy, will probably unfortunately mean they'll sneak to safety. West Ham have progressively gotten worse as the season has worn on 2 wins and 7 defeats in the last 10 is relegation form but they have a 6 point gap and thats probably enough for them to not worry overly, but they need a win or two real soon to not get sucked into it. For ourselves, I think we'll be just fine, in great form, six point gap now and we have to much quality in the squad to worry, like West Ham though, the sooner we get another couple of wins the better. Norwich's win against Everton was huge for them and probably ensures they'll have a less stressful end to the season than most predicted, Stoke's form is dreadful really but having already got 33 in the bag they will surely bully themselves another win or two to guarantee survival. And Fulham are picking up points at home and have too many good players to get dragged into it. After that long winded analysis my 3 to go are: QPR, Reading and Southampton.

3 for me, you can never say never but unlikely now, looking up now instead of down, only three points of 10th.

It's getting really tough to predict this now, the form seems to be all over the place, actually on current form you could add Stoke and West Ham to the possibilities. My three right now would be: QPR: Just too much for them to make up and don't have a goalscorer to help them take wins when they dominate games like Saturday. Wigan: No signs yet of the annual pick up of form, there's still time but this could be one season too much for them Villa: This really could have been anyone of 3 or 4 teams, and Benteke or whatever could save them with his goals but they may have forgotten how to win games, that mentally is tough to overcome.

Just happy to have hope again really, no idea where we will finish, first target is to ensure we are safe, then take it from there.

We bought the most players and spent the most money in England. We're like Real Madrid. seriously it isn't supposed to go to plan like this!! Wheres the f*** you from fate we always get?! Didn't QPR beat us with 21 million for Remy and Samba ?