afar

Sounded pretty despondent in the interview on the beeb web site, the interviewer asked if he was expecting a busy week off the pitch and Rafa looked like he was about to throw up.

They weren't playing like one of the best teams on the league, they didn't have to. Well not in the end, because of Shelvey. But it was a very even game before that. Again, they were in second gear, was that down to us defending well or just complacency from them, I think it's the latter, they look like a team that will grow into the season rather than one that is ready to blast off from the start.

They weren't playing like one of the best teams on the league, they didn't have to.

Kane's tackle will soon be forgotten about but really think that if you are sending folks off for what Shelvey did (which you absolutely should) you need to be sending them off for scissor challenges through the back at high speed like that one, it was shocking and irrelevant that he got the ball. Cost us a good player for probably a prolonged period.

He was awful today, if he doesn't get the service he's simply a passenger, he didn't get any service. He offers nothing in terms of hold or link up play. Clearly not fit, perhaps would have been better to start Mitro and bringing Gayle on for the last 30 or something.

If they play in the naive manner they did last season at their place we should be able to get something, but have a feeling Wagner will have learned from that game and right now they have all the impetus with a great victory this weekend and what will be a tricky prospect of facing them in their first ever PL game at their stadium. I would be happy to take a point away from this one.

Someone suggested him missing 3 games could decide whether go down or stay up. As if Shelvey is a match-winner or that crucial to the team. There's only a few lads that should even be guaranteed a first team berth - that's down to a lack of quality rather than their own and Shelvey isn't one of them. He was our best player by a country mile last season. If Merino can step up though thats all for the good. He wasn't for me. Ritchie and Gayle (when fit) were. He was very good pre suspension but I thought he struggled to have an impact on games post suspension. How did we cope when he was suspended for those 5 games ? He was marked out of most games towards the end of the season, that's the main reason for the drop off, it in theory opened up more space for others.

If you looked at just the result 0-2 against last year's runner's up then absolutely true, however if you look a bit deeper, at how we played, how much effort Spuds had to expend to beat us comfortably, how the vast majority of the team performed, there is a hell of a lot to be worried about, I fear it'll get worse before it gets any better, Huddersfield is going to be extremely tough. Rafa already starting to look pissed off and who can blame him ?

How on earth can you judge Hayden and Ritiche after 1 game against a class Spurs side? Ritchie has already proven he is quality in the Premiership at Bournemouth. Total knee-jerk nonsense to doubt them in this division today. Reading comprehension ? Try it! Ritchie played the bulk of his career in the lower leagues, he's had one full season in the PL, in a Newcastle shirt he still has to prove he's got the quality. People are all too quick to write Shelvey off as not being able to make the step up, yet he's played a hell of a lot more games in the top flight than Ritchie. Ritchie today did nothing and should have been sent off for what was a shocking tackle, I think had Shelvey not gone moments before he would have been shown the red card himself.

Absolutely true

That all fair and square against the better teams, my worry is when we need to be more positive against the bulk of this division which is average at best, I'm not so sure we can adjust. We created absolutely nothing today when it was 11 v 11.

Bilic will be gone before soon and they'll be fine, too much quality in that squad to go down under a competent manager. Wouldn't be surprised if we start hearing the Rafa to West Ham crap get thrown up pretty soon.

I totally agree before his sending off he was awful today, but if you are trying to tell me the boy doesn't have any talent then you are stupider than the constant comments you make.

I'm up from a 4 to a 6 after today, I was possibly the most positive of us prior to watching what went on today. The season for me hinges on Shelvey and Gayle playing as effective as they did last season, one of those two has already proven that he could be more of a hindrance than an asset, the other hasn't really been the same since his injury last season. Too early to judge whether Merino can take over from Shelvey, and of course we have zero alternatives to Gayle. Hayden and Ritchie too were very disappointing today, putting question marks in my mind on whether they can make the step up. There were positives in Atsu, Manquillo and Lejuene, along with Merino's little cameo of course but too many negative to take out of that.

As if we are in the position to even think about doing that Completely agree, such a stupid comment, despite his idiocy we are hardly in a position to throw away the talent he has, and expect someone to be brought in to replace him.

That's a great result for them. Grayson seems like the perfect appointment they could have made in the circumstance. Grabban and McGeady look like excellent signings, think though like us last year with Shelvey and Gayle, they've little two back them two up with so if they are to push for promotion, they better hope those two stay fit and available.

He would have been off of course and widely criticized, but since it's Kane, it's just a foot note, could have changed the game that.

Up until that point we had zero efforts on target, we may well have gotten a 0-0 draw, but that was more down to Spuds not really showing up, than us stopping them.

Aye. Looking fairly comfortable at 0-0 at HT and quite a few people pissing their pants that we hadn't completely outclassed Spurs and knocked in four or five We were looking comfortable, but that was not down to us, Spuds barely bothered to turn up, they strolled through the match, yet we offered nothing against that clearly didn't feel the need to have to get out of 2nd gear, that's the most worrying thing.

I'm one of his biggest supporters, but he's been such a fucking idiot, you are never going to get away with that, in the modern game.

Ritvhie has been, incredibly in effective. The only thing of note you can recall from him in this is that stupid challenge.

At least you're not wildly swinging from one extreme to the other though. Of course I am, honestly though there is nothing positive about this performance at all, even with 11 we were struggling. Spuds, really haven't got going here, yet dismissed us with ease. WE had no yard sticks to judge anything before this game, just pre-season games where we looked on the whole pretty good. It's not just the fact that we have totally out classed by a team with superior quality than us, it's the fact that we've not turned up, other than do stupid things like Shelvey's stamp and Ritchie's tackle. Atsu has been by far our best player. Ritchie, Shelvey, Gayle and Hayden our better players from last year simply haven't turned up.

MAckems 2 up, trading places again may be a distinct possibility going off this. I was relatively optimistic at that we would be comfortably safe this season, if this is any indication, then that's way way off. We may be bottom of the league when this is over, and we may not move from there. Huddersfield is a horrible fixture up next, being their first home game and on the back of a great performance against palace, it's doubly hard now after losing 3 players here.

This could be anything they want, what a disaster of a game.

1 effort on goal, that is shit regardless of the numbers we have on the pitch.