afar

I love these cliches where people say football has "changed". I didn't realise that the goals were bigger, or teams played with more players .............. Well there something you don't see eveyday, a post from NE5 that you nod in agreement too. I also don't buy into this crap about the game changing, if we play with the same skill as the teams KK produced in the 90's we'll be a match for anyone, I have no doubt about that.

Sorry if this has already been said but since I just got home from work, I can't be arsed to read through 26 pages. Anyway about a year or two ago I would have said this was a backward step but I think it's absolutely the right appointment at the right time. I'm starting to believe there are only a few people who could manage our unique club and KK has already proved to be one of them. If he's backed in the transfer market and afforded some time then I'm sure he'll make us proud of our team once more.

We got the full game live on TV out here in Canada. The lads played their hearts out they really didn't deserve to loose. The 2nd goal wasn't even close to being onside, I don't think I have seen a worse decision. More performances like this and we'll be fine.

I voted to stick with, to give him a fair crack, lets face it this season is over, no chance of acheiving anything of note whomever is in charge, so lets just put it down to yet another transitional season. The only way I would be likely to change my mind would be if Jose said this was the only job he's interested in (very very unlikely) or that we get dragged into a relegation dogfight (I still believe that's not going to happen).

Well I'm really glad I woke up early for this one.

Lucky you. lol, I didn't feel so lucky on Sunday when I took the family out for the day, it was bloody -28 !! Today by contrast is a practically tropical -18

Born in Jesmond, lived in Mallorca then Newcastle then Florida then New York then back to Newcastle and last month emigrated to Calgary, Canada.

keep him because of what other people would think ? Agree, tbh I don't give a shit what other fans think. The main thing is we do what's best for NUFC. It'll all really depend on how much time Mike Ashley feels he should give someone else's man. I think unless we are in serious danger of going down, he'll stick with Sam through till the end of the season.

Before the season started I had us finishing 8th, I think on hindsight that was a tad optimistic.

Got to hand it to Lawro, he was spot on with his prediction

I think it's a bloody damn good idea, having lived over there for 5 years myself I know there is a geniune passion for the game amongst the hard core american 'soccer' fans. Any meaningful match would be a sell out and generate huge revenues for the league and the teams taking part. The only problem I see is picking which team gives up their home match for it.

Where the F*** has this come from, just sh*t stirring, I was really angry when I read that, people have moaned a little on internet forums from time to time but when we are winning I've not heard anyone complaining.

wow super adult slanging match. That aside got to agree in a way with Benitez, no need for Sam to get involved here, what exactly is he trying to prove ?

Great his prowess he's shown in other set pieces makes him the ideal choice......where's the ironic smilie ?

From those 5 games we've amassed 8 pts, would you have taken that at the start of the season ? If I hadn't looked at the opposition I would probably have said yes, considering 3 of the 5 were away from home and we've had so many changes over the summer. However if you take into account who we've been playing we've been playing you've got to hope things improve a hell of a lot because we've got 3 very tricky games coming up.

He's got to get his team selection right, play your best players and play everyone in the right positions, I'm pretty sure this team would have done a lot better tonight: Given (although Harps didn't do much wrong) Beye Cacapa Rozy Enrique (obviously if fit, who knows) Milner Geremi Faye Zoggy Owen Martins

On that performance, that would be an achievement !

Been a bloody awful sporting weekend: England Cricketers humilated yet again by Aussies then throw away a winning position against SA, England rugby embarrasent against SA, McLaren dumped guilty in Spygate and Hamilton totally outclassed by Alonso again and now this.... Derby fcking county FFS, it's not like we've been unlucky, we throughly deserve to loose this.

We could play until a week tomorrow and we'll never score, this is just dire against the whipping boys of the league. Wrong team, wrong tactics, got to question Big Sam here, these are the games we must win if we want to be in Europe next year.

You're spot on to not write them off this early, they've still got a lot of quality in that squad but I think they've started to believe their own hype, I wouldn't be surprised also if there are dressing room problems there that Jol hasn't been strong enough to sort out, especially as it appears he doesn't have the backing of the board. I think they do need to make a change if they want to achieve what they keep telling everyone they are good enough for.

I've yet to see anything to convince me Geremi is worthy of a first team place once everyone is fit, not convinced though that Sam thinks the same way however. Whatever happens we are going to need a vice captian for January as I'm sure he'll be of to the African Cup of Nations.

8 pts from 4 games that's an average of 2 per game if we keep that up we'll finish on 76 pts and in the champions league ! All good stuff but we've got to put things into perspective of those 4 teams we've played only Aston Villa are likely to in the top half of the table come the end of the season. The true tests of how good we are, are still to come hopefully by then we'll have picked up enough points and the team has had time to gel. I still think we are not nearly performing as well as we are capable of but if we continue picking points, like today then we can have no complaints.

As I said in the other thread, I'm more than happy but the addition of a creative force in the middle ala Deco or Riquelme would have made me as giddy as a school girl. The other concern may be the squad size, it was commonly acknowledged last year that the squad was too small and numbers wise it has gone down (although the strength in depth has undoubtably gone up). we don't have europe to put strain on the squad this time and Sam's methods should also help prevent us from witnessing the regular injury crisis we tend to get at some point in the season. We may still need to bolster in January but time will tell I guess.

Never understood the rational behind giving him a free, his wages aren't going to break the club so what would been in it for us. I suspect it'll just be a set of strips and a bag of footballs but better than nowt

He gets it right more times than people on here give him credit for. He's a gawd awful journo who's quite happy to sell out to anyone who'll feed him but you can't deny the bloke has contacts.