afar

If we get battered because we played crap, we also need to remember that these aren't the games we have to get points from to survive, and if we think the world is falling in because we lost to Liverpool we are wrong. I got chewed out on here for inferring that after the Spuds loss, which I now admit was wrong, what I didn't see in the Spuds game however even when 11 v 11 was a will to win and a belief that we could get something other than a 0-0 out of the game, I also let the folks on here convince me we had a champo squad, which before the game I thought was underselling us. And people are getting their knickers in a twist, how many times has my original post been quoted and derided, it's a pretty innocuous comment really.

You said we need to just 'write off' at least 12 games which is obviously completely insane. As has been pointed out we picked up 13 points from the top 6 last year. Rafa's record against the ones he played was W1 D2 L1. In total out of 12 games "the most likely result" only happened 5 times and we were managed for most of them by Steve McClaren.. Last year we were in the champo, but I'll assume you mean last time in the PL. You highlighted though the main reason we went down that year, Although we did well against the top teams, we couldn't beat the ones around us, failing to beat Norwich, Sunderland and Villa in the run in put the nail in the coffin. All I said is that these games are bonus games and they won't define our season and we need to remember that if we do lose, not sure why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist, I guess it's cool to follow what Dave thinks here ?

How many of these "hardy souls" made that trip because after watching the highlights, it's like a library when they scored their two goals ?

You got me, you're fantastic dude.

Ridiculous comment, it's almost like you have completely forgotten that we won 3 in a row before Brighton. Pardew was right about one thing with regards to Newcastle, the fanbase can be absolutely bipolar at times. Not really, just a realisation that we shouldn't wet the bed if we get beat, which is still the most likely result. We are picking up enough points right now in the games that matter for us to make these games against the top 6 bonus ones. Hardly a bi polar comment, not sure where that's coming from regarding this seemingly harnless comment.

Thankfully Rafa doesn't think like that. Imagine just "writing off" a third of your season. We are that far away though, everyone on here said our squad was terrible and ill equipped before the start of the season. Compare our players with them and all the experts on here and in the media will tell you we don't have a chance. But it is also the battlefield for us to make an impression if we really believe we are better than that, I don't think we really believed that in the first of these "impossible" games, even when it was 11 v 11 we were way too timid, we can't be that way against Liverpool and expect a result. We've also got to remember should we lose, which is likely, that this isn't going to define our season and not to get too down about it. We need to put away the teams that'll be close to us come the end of the season, we've failed with the only two teams we'll play that finished lower than us last year so far but beaten three teams most neutrals had us behind at the start of the season. The positive is we get them after a long midweek trip, think this extra prep time for us is an advantage.

A migraine is not a headache. It sickens me how people don't know the difference. When you have a proper migraine you can't even see properly, you have the worst pain imaginable in your head which leads to vomiting and you're weak as f*** all the time. Taking pain killers does absolutely nothing unless you're in a very dark environment for a period of time and you may need to go to sleep for a while as well. Then you've pain in your head any time you move your head for about two days afterwards. I had these for years and it's genuinely no joke. I'm not a sufferer so I don't know. Not trying to diminish it but it's the perfect excuse for someone to miss a day's work, as it's undetectable, he's calling it in, clearly Grayson is not buying it as he made mention of it knowing what kind of reaction us ignorant folks would have, he could of just said he took ill.

I'm not sure you need much more, he makes terrible decision for all the chances against Stoke he had time on the first one to take a touch instead he tries to hit it first time, the second is just a weak back pass straight to the keeper, the third chance, there's no excuse not to hit the target there. Against Brighton the turn is good the shot is terrible, PL strikers score those every day of the week. He very nearly f***ed up the goal he did score when Atsu put it on a plate for him, look at the highlights: https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/highlights/west-ham-h-highlights-17-18, I am still not convinced he knew much of what was going on, looks like the defender makes contact with the ball and it bounces off Joselu's shins into the goal. He's not a finisher, we won't create too many chances this season we can't afford our one striker to miss the gilt edge ones that come around.

That can't be true surely: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/i-would-honestly-take-reid-back.1393346/

If the lad genuinely had a migraine then he'd have been in no fit state to play. Sure he did, it's the perfect excuse, no way of proving either way, midweek trip to the least accessible place in the country against a form team playing on loan at one of the worst teams in the division, wasn't much to gain for him, other than to further diminish his reputation. You can tell the way Grayson talks, he's constantly saying how the players don't put his plans into action, he's lost the dressing room there it's clear as day, that'll take a lot of fixing.

LOL, this is pretty shocking, I know head aches can be pretty serious but come on, tells you what you need to know about that set of players, they don't want to play for that club or that manager: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/migrain.1393336/

WTF is he doing? It's not just the keeper, hilarious as it is look at the 3 defenders in the picture, only one of them even tries to get back to help the other two are walking, you never know what could happen there, the ball could hit the post or anything, lack of effort is shocking.

Think there are 12 games possibly 14 if you count the Everton ones, that you need to just write off, anything out of them is a bonus. Absolutely the case here, if we can keep them out, think we'll win as they can't seem to keep a clean sheet. We'll need to play a lot better than we did at Brighton though to get anything.

Yeah, it's a "must not lose" game for Bilic I think, can't see him surviving a home loss to that lot on top of the start they've made.

After the way they've goaded us since they started the 6 in a row, and how dismissive they were of our achievement to bounce back up last season. I'm not having that, I honestly don't care if the drop out of the league altogether, football would be absolutely fine without them.

If they get to the point where they are highly unlikely to survive, they absolutely should consider this option, take the 12 point deduction this season, they should in theory come straight back up the following with the parachute payment that will be due (or would that money and the following years payment go directly to those they defaulted on ?).

Spare a thought for the Preston North End fans, who lost the inspirational Simon Grayson as their manager, they are 4th in the Champo right now

65%, 14 shots, 7 on target for Ipswich so far, Sunderland 35%, 8 shots, 4 on, would suggest it's more Ipswich dominance than 50/50 like.

yep credit to Bruce, he's really turned them around.

Looking at the Champo table, best not be a club that begin with the letter "B" unless you are Bristol City, Sunderland messing up with their dominance at the bottom of the table.

I wouldn't be adverse to this either, we need a striker who can put chances away though, because clearly this Liverpool team give you chances.

I remember when it happened, to be honest Bobby should have been moved upstairs to a directors role in the summer, I know we finished 5th that previous season, but there were clear signs that he was losing the influence on the team. The overwhelming sentiment at the time from the ownership was that he couldn't control the likes of Dyer and Bellamy, so the simplistic response after they sacked him was to bring in a strong disciplinarian in Souness with the remit to sort out the dressing room, it was the wrong knee jerk reaction and totally the wrong appointment based on his awful track record, he was on the verge of being sacked at Blackburn, we just saved them a bundle in compensation and gave them some money too take rid themselves of the problem. I don't think many of us could believe it at the time, perhaps the options were limited, but one of Shephard and the Halls biggest failings since the Keegan appointment (which was of course a master stroke) was they rarely went away and did a thorough job in terms of research on who to appoint, after KK you hire Dalgliesh as an out of work Manager with a recent league title on his CV, from boring football of Kenny to sexy football of Ruud. Bobby was then a great appointment but it was also their only real option at the time, after him I think they wanted Bruce, local lad, couldn't get him so went after Souness because he was a hard man and won a cup with little Blackburn. Compare that kind of approach to the one that Southampton have applied in their appointments since getting to the PL, or Arsenal's appointment of Wenger.

My team would be: Blobby(actually played well last couple of weeks - outside of not getting down fast enough for Stoke's goal) Yedlin Clark LeJuene (assuming fit) Mbemba Ritchie Merino Shelvey Hayden Atsu Mitro Would go for Lejuene over Lascelles not becase of the latter giving away that cheap free kick that lead to the goal, but more because Lejuene is a better CB at this point in his career and I think will be a better fit against Liverpool than the Capt is. Sticking with the wingers because neither Murphy nor Aarons are pushing them hard enough, both starters need to improve on the Brighton game though for us to stand a chance. Going with a flat 3 in the middle because of the quality of Liverpool, seems like the ideal chance to try it. Mitro is IMO anyway for what that's worth our best Striking option, the weak point of the Liverpool team is the defence and to be frank Joselu isn't going to frighten anyone back there. Mitro will put himself about (hopefully within the laws of the game) and if he gets a chance similar to any of the last four from Joselu, pretty confident he'll take it.

Bilic is obviously the next one to go, if they lose this weekend he's probably gone, no idea who they are playing but after the way they were last season to start this with one win in seven, that's sacking material.

Having watched most of the reserves game last night, there were some good signs, he was running onto chances trying to get in behind, taking pop shots at goal, and even scored a goal that was disallowed for a questionable offside. There was little quality in the reserve side to find him, unlike what he had with Shelvey last seaons, and the game did highlight how little he offers to the team when he's not scoring.