merlin

They will NEVER be as big a club in a million years, but as a football team , they are not much worse, if at all, than we are right now ; the difference is that we have massive potential(and resources) to improve out of sight of them - takes time... Portsmouth , although not as big a club as Newcastle, are potentially bigger than Boro.

As others have said - he did a good job in turning up and wearing the strip ; it was obviously designed to calm fans fears about him selling and to shut the media up - something they badly need ! I reckon the guy will really start to get involved in the whole thing now - as soon as we put on a decent performance at home, he'll be hooked...

A very disappointing result and performance, barring the fact that we scored 2 great individual goals and didn't lose. They had more possession than we did, and we gave the ball away alarmingly - Geremi seems to be having a problem with being captain - his slack use of the ball was uncharacteristic, and Zoggy desperately needs to be further upfield and is NOT a fullback. Would definitely prefer to have Anelka up front than Martins - he is a far more intelligent player and his control is streets ahead ; at 22, Martins should have the basic skills NOW.. VERY slack defending for both goals against - Taylor was caught out by Mido, who is far from the quickest forward around and the midfield were to blame for giving Arca so much time to shoot for the second - there was no-one challenging him at all. However - was impressed by Capaca in the short time he was on - looked quick, strong & confident, but hope he wasn't badly injured - it didn't look good... Smith had his most anonymous game yet, but still worked hard. Overall, we have to be disappointed by the result AND the performance - they had quite a lot of injuries so we should have been able to win, even in a hard-fought 'local' game. The most damning thing about the performance to me was that Portsmouth looked a far better side against Chelsea - they caused Chelsea more trouble than Liverpool did the previous week and were very unlucky to lose ... We desperately need a midfield player with vision , and to avoid giving the ball away so much - the fullback positions are now critical in view of the injuries we seeem to have picked up, so if anyone is signed this week, I expect it to be defenders , unfortunately. As I said - at least we didn't lose, but there remains a massive job still to be done. In my opinion, it will be next season before we see any major improvement and as long as we continue to strengthen in Jan, the fans will just have to be patient. Not easy or pleasant, but there it is.

This game is like playing a lower Div side in the FA Cup - on paper, you expect to win as they have so many injury problems in defence, but in reality, the replacements come in & try like hell to justify their place - not to mention the pressure from the locals(in this case) to turn us over, which would make their season. If last Saturday is anything to go by, we will compete well physically, and if we score first will win - if it goes well into the game without us scoring I can see them getting a draw and even sneaking a win. Against Villa, you got the impression that if Villa had scored, we would not have been able to get an equaliser- hope Owen is a bit sharper now, if so I go for 1-0 to us.

I have to admit that I have changed my mind about Butt, and am full of admiration for the way he has battled back into most supporters' favour after that dreadful semi-final with his former employers. He looked for all intents & purposes finished at SJP when he went to Brum, but he has shown a lot of character to re-establish himself and win fans over - it can't have been easy, but he does seem to be basically an honest player; exactly what we now need in the Dressing Room. I'm sure his comments about Allardyce are genuine.

Agreed - Banks was superb and Shilton was also very good although he had a weakness with ground shots. We have never had a better keeper than Banks and the last couple have been dreadful. Seaman was good, but not in Banks'class.

Unless & until we get into CL, we will NOT be able to compete for top players with Chelsea,Man U, Arsenal or Liverpool - no other comment necessary.

Ashley may not be a fool, but you are if you think the ref was biased against us Vs Villa based on some premier league/Sky conspiracy theory. Just wait until the end of the season and then make your judgment. If you think everything in Football(like Politics) is whiter than white, then YOU are the fool.. In the case of Saturday's ref, were you there back in 1999 when Shearer was sent off in the same fixture? Even the Villa defenders were gobsmacked. There may be no comparison between the two refs, but who knows whether he had previously had a bust-up with Viduka ? All these things enter the issue. There is an old saying which goes along the lines that ' Good men should believe that anything is possible of evil men'.... And - money talks...

This question can not be answered by a straight yes or no. Do I trust Ashley if he hangs on to the club ? Yes. Do I think he would sell IF he has found the club to be in a MUCH worse state than he thought? Possibly - he's a businessman. What I fear most is that he sells and the people buying the club do not intend to(or cannot because of the huge price they will pay)invest in it, and just want to toddle along like, say, Southampton used to and take advantage of the fans like FF did...also, we do NOT need amy more upheaval at this point. In fact, I think Ashley will probably be MORE concerned about the difficulty we face in getting into the Top 4. I know it sounds crazy, but I believe that the Premier League bosses(and Scudamore confirmed this) are quite happy with the staus quo in England - they want more competitiveness in the Prem, but they don't want upstarts like NUFC breaking the mould. Personally, I think the whole thing is dictated to by Sky - and they have shares in Man U and, don't forget, the Mackems.....it was this fact that decided me to stop Sky when I was in the UK. The NOTW bent over backwards to stitch up DSH & FS(although they were stupid enough to walk into the trap), and I reckon Murdoch's henchmen feared us as a rival to Man U at that time. Look how the Sun constantly tries to unsettle players at NUFC & publishes anything negative about the Club they can dig up...... Ashley is no fool - he will know that Refs will give us a hard time(regardless of Viduka's performance on Saturday, it was obvious he got no change whatsoever from the Ref - watch for more of that...)and as a person who shuns publicity, he will get fed up of the media's constant prying & sniping,even though he should have expected it. If someone offered him enough in the circumstances I described, you can imagine that he might be tempted to take it... I hope he hangs on out of cussedness, and decides to take all the b-------ds on by making the club into what we all know it could be.

I agree 100% mate. If Viduka is ahead of Owen then football and Allardyce should f*** off. I honestly see us as being a slightly better side than Bolton, better players but no flair. THAT IS NOT THE NEWCASTLE UNITED WAY. Probably only a matter of time till both Martins and Owen leave if we carry on where we left of on Saturday. The last couple of seasons I've been downhearted because we've under acheived. Sunday morning I was still in a bad mood after 90 minutes of a high punt into the box. Newcastle United should be above this. You are clearly under 50 years of age - high balls 'NOT THE NEWCASTLE WAY'.. In 1969, we won the club's ONLY Trophy worth talking about in 40 years using a version of that strategy - most of the Foreign sides we faced simply couldn't handle Wyn Davies' ability to jump higher than their defenders, and Pop Robson picked up the pieces to blast in some memorable goals..... It wasn't ALL about that, but gradually, the side tended to resort to that weapon, with a tough defence(Moncur, Burton/McNamee, Craig & Clark to back it up. It was only when Davies went in 1971 that we started to try to play - Supermac was good in the air, but not like Davies, and we used his pace on the deck. Don't get me wrong - I like to see football played the Brazilian way, but not many can get away with that ; KK's team won nowt, despite some of the best football played at SJP in 40 years... I personally couldn't care less if we win every game 1-0 by boring people to death - Football today is about money & success - if you don't have the latter, you won't get the former and the better players you can buy with it.. NUFC fans are going to have to live on a sparse diet for a while and become, like the team, more professional.

Anelka - Martins has not got his sulky tendency, but neither has he got Anelka's talent. If we had Anelka in this side, we would be far more dangerous - his ball control is far superior and his runs far more intelligent. The only advantage Martins has is his age - if indeed this IS his age ; in every other respect, Anelka would be a more effective forward at this time.

Further to above posting, I reckon(controversy here) that the Football authorities have been against this for so long as it allows them to 'dictate' results in important games to a degree - remember the dodgy decisions in the 2002 WC, when S Korea were given benefit of Pens not given against Italy or Spain !?? They don't want a host nation going out of a tournament too soon or the revenue would dry up... As it is, the Hawkeye will only cut out goal controversy - pens , offsides etc still remain the Refs decision and open to mistakes....

Should have been done years ago - too much at stake now if the ref/officials make a serious mistake with pens/goals that weren't etc(Schwartzer's thing against Fulham was a case in point - he clearly had the ball over the line when he caught it..). It only takes a few secs for an official in the stands to see the vid replay & tell the ref over headphone that its a goal or not etc. Can be replayed on stadium screens so fans KNOW that correct decision has been made - imagine if we were on the verge of winning FA Cup, and a similar incident to Schwartzers took place, and we ended up losing as Fulham did to Boro in the last few minutes..would you STILL say technology has no place in Football...!!??

He's doing what any DECENT Chairman should do - working quietly in the background, supporting the manager, and concentrating on the club's future development as well as presenting a well-moderated and coherent face to the fans & media - who wants anything else ? Shepherd back anyone ? Or the likes of Ellis perhaps....!!?

The voice of reason from an outsiders perspective, Ive been expecting that. Totally agree brummie Yes, me too Brummie - I have been a Newcastle supporter for over 40 years and I have never been so disgusted with some of the immature reaction from other fans on this site. I saw us win our last trophy in 1969, and I felt as hurt as any when we lost to Hereford in 1972, but the reactions of some fans today is unbelievable. There were justifiable complaints about the previous set-up for a couple of years and the club was going nowhere with it - we get what everyone has been praying for, and suddenly, the team is expected to play like Brazil 1970 as soon as the season starts - incredible !! We've got 4 points from 2 games, Man Utd have not won 1 game from 3, and the top 4 are still below us. Incidentally, you've got the makings of a good side, Brummie..!

Just wanted to add to my earlier comment about Shorey - I had temporarily forgotten about Enrique and we can only hope he is the business, but he IS young and has no Prem experience. Only time will tell if he IS the answer.

I agree with this post - i watched the whole game on Foxtel until 2.15 am our time, and make the following observations ;- I expected this to be a tough match and I wasn't wrong - those who have knocked O'Neill in the past should eat humble pie as he had Villa really well organized ; they defended excellently and we hardly got a sniff. The closest we came to scoring was Rozehnal's shot(well-saved)and Viduka's header(deflected over). They could also have scored twice through Laursen & Carew, and should have scored through Agbonhalor, so a draw was a fair result athough we did shade the possession. Our Positives - the high tempo of play and work-rate - last years' team would have lost this match. Smith & Butt were instrumental in keeping us going & Milner's work rate is exceptional ; he must have been knackered at the end as he was the only man taking defenders on . Also, we ARE keeping shape as a unit which is good for the long-term- no-one gave up. The negatives - as I said last week, we lack a midfielder with vision & passing ability. We lack pace up front which will probably not be solved with Owen as he will have lost some of his acceleration off the mark ; we could do with signing Anelka who would give us a whole new look up front. For those criticizing Viduka - get real ; he was virtually isolated among 3 defenders for much of the match as Martins & the midfielders were slow to support him on breakaways.he got very little help from the ref either, who gave Laursen the benefit 8 times out of 10. It was noticeable that the best forward pass of the game was from Viduka in the first half and should have opened them up. Martins does not, in my view, possess the vision to be a really top forward - athleticism yes, frightens defenders when running at them, yes, but control is not good and he doesn't see the quick forward pass when a team-mate is making a run. N'Zogbia needs to be further forward in order to use his pace against the full=back - he is playing out of position, and we need a good L/B asap - I thought Shorey was excellent again yesterday against Everton and he would be a good buy.. Neither side wanted to lose, and it was noticeable that the 2 managers had a long and friendly chat at the end - there is obviously mutual respect,and so there should be as both men are building decent sides from a low base. I agree with those demanding patience - we have fallen far from the heights of 1996, and even from 2002 but I believe that SA WILL get it right - but probably not this season.

The only two things we really lack are pace and vision in the form of a dominating midfielder who can see a great pass on in an instant - these 2 things are vital, esp in away games if you are trying to catch a team on the break - that is why I think this Saturday's game will be a good guide as to how we deal with a team with these qualities.

There is no doubt that he has tons of experience and seems a very steady defender - however, he WILL find that the Prem is quicker & more physical than the French league and the fact that he hasn't played competitive football regularly over the past year may have taken his edge off - only Sam will be able to judge that, but if he comes in and does as well as Rozenhal did at Bolton, we can have no complaints - my concerns in this match are mainly over the fullbacks against their speedy wingers, but if we control midfield - and I believe we can - then we should have a good chance of 3 points.

I have a whippet, ironically he's called Merlin. Good post though. I'm honoured - on both counts....!!

What?! We don't?! Weeeellll - don't tell 'em...!!

His signings are OK for now - we need to get some tangible success in League or Cups so that we can start to compete for younger , top class players as they have more clubs after them - we just have to trust Sam's judgment until the end of the Season.

Lets wait until at least November before speculating whether we can get into the Top 4 or not ; we need to take things on a game-by-game basis - there will be all sorts of wingeing if the wheels happen to fall off against Villa on Sat ; if we beat them, THEN think about the next game... Lets face it - all the disappointments of the past should have taught us all that, and Football can be a strange game... how many on here would have tipped Spurs to be pointless after the 2 opening games they had.!!

If this is about Keane's rant against the so-called WAGS of English football, then this is one thing that i DO agree with him about. Its not just Sunderland who would have a problem getting certain players to sign for them - we also would have the same difficulty, despite Newcastle being one of the most lively & progressive cities in the UK . People like Beckham's wife are a pain in the butt, and have far too much influence over the players - as Keane says, the players & wives that come into that category are weak and also thick - they probably still think the North East has stacks of coal-mines, chimneys with thick smoke, and all the fans wear cloth caps & have whippets/pigeons etc. etc. This is a common phenomenum when the women are from London/S.east - most of them have never been north of Watford anyway, and foreign players , esp Southern Europeans, think that London is the centre of everything - even if the lifestyle is crap. At least when Hamman & his wife were based in the North East, he did say that he really enjoyed all the lovely countryside around the area and they both used to drive into Northumberland etc at weekends or days off. That is why it is SO important that NUFC has a really good Academy system, not just in the UK, but eventually overseas in order to dispel these myths and get in players who REALLY want to play for the club and not just pick up their oversized wages so their particular WAG can go shopping in London...... I believe that these WAGS were partly to blame for England's pathetic showing at last year's WC - too much concentration on pleasing the girls instead of total concentration on the games.

This will be a hard-fought game - it would have been better for us if they had managed to sneak something from Liverpool, as they will now be desperate to get at least a point on the board. O'Neill will have them well organised & wound up for this one - expect them to defend in depth & hit us on the break if they can. If we win 2-1 in a tough game I will be well-pleased & consider we are making the right sort of progress - success is all about confidence and we need to learn to grind out results when teams try to snuff the game out. I too expect a defender to be one of our scorers, most probs from a set-piece.