merlin

After reading that hilarious garbage that passes for a declaration of loyalty from a so-called 'supafan', I despair for what was once a famous football club. It seems that now it is followed by people who should be either in a straitjacket or in need of a brain transplant...still, there is a certain amount of amusement to be derived from it.. Keep it coming...MATE..we need some light entertainment in these dark times - there is a village in your area that has a vacancy for someone with your unique qualities.....!

It's a 6, verging on a 7...wait until October then revise..

You are right, but its difficult to compare Aarons & Perez with Carroll - Andy Carroll was a big, physical player who could use his size & strength to combat defenders even when his skill level was not as great as the two we are talking about now...defenders in the PL will have noticed what Aarons did in his sub appearance last Saturday and they will start doubling up on him.Neither he nor Perez are big guys and defenders will also try to intimidate them. How they handle this will determine how they turn out as players...the ideal would have been to gradually bed them into the PL by sub appearances when the team was winning games...as it is, they are likely to be either first choice from the off, or put on when we are losing so they are under pressure immediately. Aarons came up trumps on Sat but he will find it tougher against better teams than Palace until he fills out - likewise Perez. Our buying(or lack of)policy places a big responsibility on young players like this and could ruin them.

Some real giants among those names - surely you don't expect a club like Newcastle to compete for honours with some of the Titans named here..? I mean, Luton, Coventry etc...we should remember our place and not get too uppity by thinking we can challenge teams like this ! Thankfully, we have always had, as we do right now, a Board who has ensured we steer clear of unnecessary diversions like the FA Cup, what was formerly the League Cup, and playing those dreadful European games. The Directors of Newcastle United are being followed in their fine tradition of maintaining a tranquil and unexciting atmosphere at St James Park by one Mike Ashley, a fitting inheritor of a great footballing tradition, notably illustrated by the ease at which the club's mugs - I mean, fans - can be conned. This proud record looks likely to stand unchallenged for the foreseeable future..

Stagnant - and getting worse. Antediluvian is another word....because it has connotations with Ancient History...

Wrong - Rangers worldwide profile is far higher than ours due to the massive Scottish diaspora around the world. They will also be far more profitable once they get regular CL football, something NUFC can only dream about.

Too many go to the match out of habit - an excuse to get away from the wife and kids, or meet up with friends. The football is secondary. People should be grateful - they are keeping the NE divorce rate down..!

The window has proved a predictable disaster for NUFC fans - 2 players out, none in despite the weaknesses in the side being obvious to a blind man. Either Ashley is trying to force the pressure on to Pardew in a (vain in my view) effort to get him out, or he is preparing to jump ship to Rangers and spending the bare minimum on NUFC...he couldn't give 2 stuffs if we go down because it will be someone else's problem. Likely scenario is that Pardew is fired around Christmas, maybe in early Feb so the Jan window is closed to a new manager and we face a desperate scrap to stay up once again. Another wasted season and those who decided to boycott STs must be sighing with relief.

Its a decent move for Ben Arfa and he will be better off playing at a club which, although not as high profile as NUFC, currently is going in a better direction and seems to possess more ambition. I wish him well, exciting player on his day, but was never going to be happy or successful under the management of the dumb-cluck NUFC are lumbered with. As people have said, at least this might hasten Pardew's exit although I wouldn't be surprised that Hull agreed to 'go easy' at SJP as part of the deal....don't want the King exposed in his new clothes by HBA's new club. do we..!?

This - totally agree. Remy does warrant a better club than NUFC and Chelsea ARE a better club. They will remain so unless and until we are sold to a more ambitious and less greedy owner.

Anderson is the archetypal ex-player commentator that you would expect a station like Radio Newcastle to employ...he reflects them - old hat, second-rate and perfectly willing to accept mediocrity as long as he keeps picking up his regular beer money by passing 'follow-the-party-line' comments . He arrived on a free transfer from Preston in the days when free transfers were NOT the value you can get now because there was no Bosman then ; free transfer players were what other teams wanted rid of..... Some of the people on BBC Newcastle have been there since before KK was our manager the FIRST time and they are all on a comfy little number...so is Anderson. Anyone holding any credence with his comments wants to take a serious look at themselves - I wouldn't listen to him if you paid me. Probably bitter that he was too old to be involved with KKs team when Keegan first took over despite the fact that he wouldn't have got a million miles within selection and thinks NUFC should always be second rate as they were when he was playing for the club....

There iS a decent player in there with Haidara - MUCH better coming forward than either Santon or Dummett. He is still young and a decent manager/coach could improve his reading of a game and his defensive weaknesses which are mainly as a result of his eagerness to attack. Crosses the ball with his LEFT foot, unlike Santon and has more pace than Dummett. He is raw and his game was set back by that tackle by Mcmanaman at Wigan but I would persist with him...extra coaching in the afternoons to sort him out.

Would take Moyes or McLaren but our options are limited...Moyes MIGHT be tempted to try it, even just for the fact that he would like to ram all the Man U criticism down people's throats, but he might also think he wouldn't have enough control over buying/selling. Pulis would be more successful than Pardew but he walked out on Palace for the same reason as he could well need to do at SJP....see above re Moyes.. You can bet your mortgage than Ashley will be praying that we don't lose to both Saints and Hull....

He's a good player and I am not surprised he has settled in so well...he does like to get forward and he is good at it, but he needs better players to cover for him at the back when he goes down the flanks. Our defence was shocking yesterday.. As people have said, Janmaat is the most likely candidate for a summer sale where the club will probably pick up almost 10m if he keeps up a high standard in a poor side.

Watched the whole game more dispassionately than I ever have when NUFC are involved....only time I got really into it was when Aarons curled that shot into the post(unlucky not to score) but I thought it summed the game up when Williamson scored from the rebound. Unless he spends too much time with Pardew, Aarons has the makings of a very good player...pity he didn't have KK or similar in charge of his development. Poor performances from many players ; Cabella was very moderate although he did keep trying, de Jong invisible after that run into the box in the first half, Sissoko hopeless in that position, tries to beat players when a quick pass and move would be better and he holds up the flow of the game. Haidara was more involved in the game than most and kept attacking down the left side and he combined well with Aarons when he came on but Hiadara needs to work more on the defensive side of his game. Janmaat is fitting in quite well, looks a threat going forward but did leave gaps occasionally at the back....we would have lost if he hadn't scored that first half equalizer. Riviere will be lucky to score by Christmas in the current set-up and I have doubts as to whether he will get any assistance before January - can't see any signings today unless Ashley was as shocked as the rest of us by the appalling defending that lead to all Palace goals, but especially the 2nd and 3rd - Puncheon had enough time to write his name on the ball before he despatched it past Krul and at least 3 players - Colo, Colback and Janmaat - could be culpable for that as they were all close enough to have attempted a block or challenge. Dropping points at SJP to a moderate outfit like Palace(who did deserve something out of the game as they were the better side for the last 25 minutes , Aarons apart) does not augur well for future tussles and we could easily lose by 4 or 5 against the likes of Spurs or Chelsea. Once again, the club's parsimony - they have only spent the money they received for outgoing players - could come back to haunt them and this time it looks as if Pardew is not going to get the benefit of a good start ; lose to Saints and then to Hull at SJP and I cannot see how this total Gobsh-te can keep his job. As for implicating the crowd in losing the 3rd Palace goal(we were caught up in the crowd wanting a 4th), these are the comments of an idiot...perhaps he's forgotten what happened down at the Emirates when Arsenal's fans wanted THEM to go for a 4th against us...they got another 3 instead... Another dire season beckons under this Pinocchio double......

No question that Pardew's catenaccio tactics will make it hard for any striker, but Riviere is hardly in the Remy class when it comes to getting goals. His record wasn't too great in France and that can hardly be expected to improve in a tougher league like the PL. Remy had the advantages of possessing pace off the mark(something Cisse badly lacks)and the ability to judge balls played behind the last defender...he also had the advantage of having Cabaye behind him. Riviere possesses none of these attributes, willing enough though he seems to be and he will struggle to score in this side as will many strikers. Ashley and Co are unwilling to pay big money to secure a decent PL standard forward so goals will be a rare commodity. Strikers are always going to cost the largest outlay in building a team and the fact that the club bosses won't find this cash will be a big problem. Add Pardew to the equation and goal-scoring becomes like climbing Everest....goal-scoring m/f players like de Jong are just the icing on the cake - they can NEVER make up for the lack of a decent striker.

The worst thing about this new thread is that it too is likely to reach 1000 pages before we get rid of this fraudulent con-man.....if then.

It suits the media to have us where we are... a better manager might improve things and that would never do....

They are playing to their clientle -lots of fans have too.

Totally uninspiring for much of the game - these 2 sides will be vying for the title of closest to watching paint drying this season. It is clear that the buying and organization of the side(not much of either down to Pardew)is designed to prevent many goals being conceded but its also clear that the formation will struggle to score themselves. Apart from the fact that none of the forwards looks to be a regular scorer in the way that Remy did last season, the build-up is so slow and cautious that even a defence as limited as Villas didn't have much difficulty in getting back to cover before attacks reached their penalty area...this has been a regular feature - and failing - of Pardew sides. Janmaat looks to be a very promising RB and will be a real asset if he continues to show this sort of form - as has been said, he has settled far quicker than Debuchy did and he is still young for a defender. de Jong obviously has talent and produced the only goal-worthy effort in the second half which could have snatched the 3 points but it would have been a bit of a travesty. Very little else to comment on other than to say that the game highlighted exactly what most fans with half a brain knew anyway ; Williamson is NOT a PL CB, and we lack a decent striker. That's it....long hard season lies ahead if we go past the deadline with this forward line.

I wouldn't bank on it - the intellect of quite a number of younger NUFC fans these days is seriously questionable. The very fact that people swallow all the rubbishy propaganda that the club emits on a regular basis tells you that, but another factor is that many fans don't want to face the truth because to do so would mean they have to face the fact that they are being conned and nobody likes to be shown to be a fool. Its easier to blame Ashley for starving Pardew of money(partly true, but even if he didn't, you wouldn't trust this clown to spend it wisely or be able to organize the side and get the best out of each player) than to admit that the manager who you regularly ask to 'Giz a wave' is actually the Emperor wearing his supposed 'new clothes'. It would take a run of around 6 successive home hammerings to get anything LIKE a major crowd revolt against Pardew and the team is packed with midfielders aimed at preventing such events happening. People will still accept narrow defeats or draws at SJP until Christmas - wait and see. There are very few goals in this team.

Remy's not good enough for a team above us imo, neither was Ba. If they want to sit on the bench and get more money then yeah, but if they want to play week in and week out there's no where but maybe Everton or Spurs to go in terms of pushing near the top. The very top teams don't bother with players like that when there are clearly much better strikers that they can start or have in rotation. Remy and Ba are not and never were good enough. Remy is another level of footballer to Ba, imo. Ba reminds me more of Yakubu and Darren Bent than anyone else. His general play is poor. Remy is a much better all around footballer. Agree with this - Remy is a far better all-round player. He IS worth a better club than NUFC currently are...people don't like to face that but its true. Under Ashley and Pardew we are just perpetual also-rans and no better than the likes of Southampton ; we just get better crowds. They (well at least I) just have a different opinion. Spurs/Everton/Us is his limit in terms of a striker starting every game. At Liverpool he would work in rotation, but I don't think he's top 4 level at all like. Why do you think we are on the same level as Spurs or Everton...? I will be astonished if we finish higher than either of those clubs. Also, I reckon that alongside Sturridge, Remy would have got more goals than he managed here.

No one's going to boo on the first day of the season. No one's going to boo on the first day of the season. No one's going to boo on the first day of the season. Fairly sure there were boos after we lost 1-0 to Spurs 10 years ago. Like the Dalglish booing I think that was because everyone was fed up with going nowhere, and maybe we hadn't invested in the squad. With quite a few signings this time round I get the feeling fans will be more optimistic and so Pardew's getting a fresh start effectively. Three or four poor performances on the bounce and that will soon change. Dalglish had just spent almost 18m that pre-season. Dalglish was popular with the players but very unpopular with the media, unlike Pardew who the media fall over backwards for...some of Dalglish's signings(Nobby, Given, Hamman )were excellent and they WERE his signings then, not ones the manager had little choice in. Dalglish got a poor press and his cautious approach was compared badly with KKs by fans. He was sacked after we drew at Chelsea in the first game and with Charlton at SJP in the second...hardly a disastrous start but these days losing to Man C at home is apparently a 'good' result because it was by less than 3...

Remy's not good enough for a team above us imo, neither was Ba. If they want to sit on the bench and get more money then yeah, but if they want to play week in and week out there's no where but maybe Everton or Spurs to go in terms of pushing near the top. The very top teams don't bother with players like that when there are clearly much better strikers that they can start or have in rotation. Remy and Ba are not and never were good enough. Remy is another level of footballer to Ba, imo. Ba reminds me more of Yakubu and Darren Bent than anyone else. His general play is poor. Remy is a much better all around footballer. Agree with this - Remy is a far better all-round player. He IS worth a better club than NUFC currently are...people don't like to face that but its true. Under Ashley and Pardew we are just perpetual also-rans and no better than the likes of Southampton ; we just get better crowds.

We need more than just a finisher...we need CBs who can stop OTHER teams' finishers...