merlin

Fail to do that and the alarm bells will be clanging as loudly as at any time in the season.....

Santon is NOT a good defender - I hope Haidara can keep him out of the side, never mind pushing him forward. FBs are there to defend, and he is very poor at doing it - would sell if the right offer came in.

Do you have a hot line to Ashley by any chance...? I would have thought that the LAST thing anyone would do is try to predict what Ashley will do about anything.....

He has half the fans behind him because Ashley and Llambias have been very successful in brainwashing many supporters into the acceptance that we are a second-rate club, always will be and therefore can expect no better than a second-rate manager...or third-rate......

He is the same person who got so much out of less talents at his disposal last season. He's the same person that did the same thing at the other clubs where he has been.... Why do you think he has suddenly become a completely different manager to then...? We have better players now and should be playing better football with better results - we are not, end of.

can you expand on that? I already have earlier in the thread. Football clubs represent people and places. They inevitably take on the political identity of those places. Just because the game is a global money making machine does not change that. Barca-Real isn't the biggest game in world football because they're two very good teams. This is utter nonsense - NUFC is in what is generally accepted as a Labour voting area, but many of the fans share a love of the club whilst having totally different views about politics - and politics should NOT enter sport, OR be linked to it. Hitler tried that in the 30s but the England Team(and Jesse Owens in the Olympics)rammed that down his throat....similarly, the Soviets and Chinese have both tried to use sport to boost Communism and ironically, the Chinese have only started to show at the top of Olympic medal tables since they moved away from Maoism and to what is basically a Capitalist economy. Ask the likes of Olga Korbut and various Iron Curtain gymnasts what they thought of sport being used to foster a political agenda... As for Barca and Real, the only way they represent a political viewpoint is because the Catalans want autonomy from Spain and they identify Barca's successes with that aim, just as Real fans use Madrid as an emblem of Spanish would-be supremacy. There is NO similar situation in the UK unless you use the former rivalry between Celtic and Rangers and that is based on religion rather than politics - another thing which should be kept separate from sport. If you are trying to identify NUFC and most other Northern sides with the left wing of politics, it is hardly worth it if you subscribe to that view because apart from the 2 Manchester clubs, one of whom has many southerners in its fan-base, the northern clubs are not as successful whereas clubs in London(viewed by many Northerners as a den of Toryism)like Spurs and Arsenal have been more successful...... Politics has NO place in football whatsoever - either to boost the Right OR the Left and every effort should be made to keep the 2 separate. I agree with Felipao's views about the whole thing and about Di Canio... As I said before, I am far more concerned about his possible impact on the Mackems - and hence, on our chances of relegation - than any madcap political stance/demonstration he might make. If he replicates his successes at Swindon, any Socialists in the Sunderland fan-base won't give 2 stuffs about his views.... As Felipao said, we should be far more concerned about appointing a Lge 1 manager with a dodgy managerial record behind him........

A dismal, ignorant paragraph that could have come straight off RTG. You would know - you've issued plenty of 'em. Incidentally, this site is about football, not politics - no matter how some people may wish to make it so....

You mean like the 2 goals KK scored against us in the FA Cup Final at Wembley in 74....!?? Somehow, everyone forgot about that...... No I don't mean like that, because it was 14 years before I was born. Hard to "forget" about something that you didn't see happen. Just because it happened before you were born doesn't mean it didn't happen - its the same thing and surely you are old enough to remember Keegan..?

Some people are as much in denial as the so-called experts were about the Cyprus situation 6 months ago.....

We topped the Championship? Not counting this season you pedant. Me neither. Playing in the Championship just 3 years ago surely should remind people we are not entitled to stay up merely because we are Newcastle United. But you already knew that. Of course. We have a lot more fight in this side now though. Cabaye captaining the side instead of Owen for one. This team wants to stay up imo, those that took us down were already looking at their next clubs so didn't give a f***. A lot more fight..? You mean like on Saturday, and in the last game v Wigan..

Regardless of what people think of Di Canio, I reckon he will at least give them a lift, even if its only short term. Personally, I couldn't care less about his politics ; neither could I care less about Ferguson's, who, by all accounts, is a rampant Socialist, even if a Champagne one..I am only interested in how a manager does with his football club and in this case I reckon Di Canio is an improvement on what they had. Although he hasn't got much time to make a huge difference, he might just keep them up and worst of all, they will come into the Derby at SJP with renewed fire in their bellies. This makes it all the more important that we win the Fulham game because in my view, the Derby just got harder and the other 2 home games are very tough indeed. At this point, we are slight favourites to finish above them - but no better than that...I agree with Mick's assessment that Di Canio could well at least match or better Pardew's points per game ratio.

The players all loved Dalglish when he was in charge - one of the best NE sports writers told me that, and he hated the guy as we was difficult for the media to deal with... Didn't stop the club firing him, and things weren't as bad under Dalglish as they are under Pardew now...

You mean like the 2 goals KK scored against us in the FA Cup Final at Wembley in 74....!?? Somehow, everyone forgot about that......

A predictable result from a predictable manager - even allowing for the number of injuries we have. The summary on ESPN of the game told the tale - defeat admitted before we even started, and the only aim of keeping a hint of respectability to the scoreline.Nobody expected a win at the Etihad but this was abject surrender. We were lucky to get Nil - played off the park for most of the first half and the only surprise was that it took City over 40 mins to get on the scoresheet. One player up front for most of the half and he looks more disenchanted by the week. Unable to keep the ball for any length of time, it was inevitable that they would break us down. Second half started with a token 5 minutes of resistance in which we could have scored with a nice move between Sissoko and Cabaye, but that soon ended when City scored again after 55 mins. They had the game won, knew it and eased off but still got a 4th easily enough..... This is a disgrace to the thousands of fans who support the club and who deserve better, esp those who travelled to Manchester and probably paid over 150 pounds for travel, tickets etc... At present, Pardew is doing in football terms what UK Govts have all been doing over the last 40 years - managing decline. NUFC is going to end up as a permanent also-ran, just above a relegation place(if we are lucky) every year from now on if he remains in charge - his record proves that he initially has a brief period of success then his teams fade away and that is happening even though we spent more than any other club in January. He wasn't helped by the club's myopic decision in not strengthening the side last summer - but other managers at the bottom of the table have succeeded in getting their teams to do better since Christmas without the luxury of millions being spent on their sides...Villa and Southampton among them. We now face a crucial game v Fulham at SJP next week - lose that, or even draw, and we are heading for trouble again, with tough games against Liverpool, Arsenal and the derby with the Mackems at SJP...none of these games look at all easy and bearing in mind the atrocious away record, points will be needed from them. Clubs like Villa and Wigan will have had a huge lift from our bad run of results and redouble their efforts as a result - forget Benfica, the Fulham game is the one we need to win...desperately.

My view on Pardew hasn't changed since early in the season - he is running true to form at previous clubs, having a year or so of reasonable success then a steady drop-off in the performance of his team. Depite having millions of pounds-worth of new talent given to him - a luxury clubs like Villa, Wigan and Southampton have NOT had in the January window, the side has fallen from its little lift from these signings and is now once again looking poor. Nobody can deny there have been injuries, the one to HBA being a critical blow, but the team's performances have once again become pedestrian, defensive and sterile in attack, where Cisse looks like a poor Championship player....much of this has to be down to Pardew and his tactics. As people have said, O'Neill being fired from the Mackems IS another pressure - Pardew now looks worse than any other manager whose team are in trouble ; people have mocked Lambert at Villa but if they beat Liverpool today, he will have done a brilliant job given the absence of any financial back-up and the Saints new manager has done really well since he took over - or at least, he has made sure that the team has.... I am not advocating sacking Pardew at this time - its too close to the end now unless you could get someone really good which is out of the window - but he HAS to go in summer, whether we stay up or go down. He will never take the club forward and we will continue to have massive defeats like the latest one and worst of all, they will be whilst playing dire, sterile football. If Pardew stays, we will lose many of our better players, including Cabaye, in summer - no doubt in my mind.

I don't really want to think about it TBH, if he was sacked in those circumstances I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't really complain that much if he was sacked now, except for the effect on morale and club stability. Hopefully it won't come to that. Stability is bollocks without the right manager. That's a fairly nonsense statement, unless you believe the right manager will always be an unmitigated success from day one. Southampton changed their manager and everyone said they were knee-jerkers and stupid...they also seemed to have 'stability'. Changing managers hasn't worked out too badly for them, has it..!? I thought we were lucky to beat them at SJP and that they have played decent football ever since - UNLIKE NUFC under Pardew, who have spent millions more. He HAS to go - hopefully at the end of the season and that we have managed to stay up.

As ever with the current board, actions will speak louder than words. I will not accept that they have 'learned their lesson' until we start the 2013/14 season with the supposed necessary additions they are talking about making.... We will have a lot of competition for the players we need and I remain unconvinced that they will go the necessary distance to get those players. Time will tell.....

Whilst I am delighted that Haidara has escaped serious injury - much against the odds, he must have been a cat in a previous life - I am disappointed in both Wigan and the FA ; the former for trying to justify what was clearly one of the worst tackles seen in the PL and the latter for twisting and turning about rule interpretation. If everyone concerned, including Halsey, was so distraught about not punishing the incident, then I am sure justice could and should have been done. There are far too many occurrences these days of lawyers twisting the spirit of the Law into the letter of the Law, simply to suit their own purposes. Whelan and Co are a disgrace - normally, I don't wish any side ill-will, but in this case I fervently wish relegation - and a permanent place - in the Championship for this lousy little club and their small-town, small minded and bitter fans...unless they drop further in the league. I feel this way not because of the tackle itself but because of their gloating, smug and 3 - monkey type reaction to what could have been a career-threatening injury but for the grace of God. Pity the FA can't deduct 3 points for the Wigan denials/rections which have brought the game into disrepute.

My Foxtel failed last night - no signal - so I missed the game. I have seen both the winning 'goal'...undoubtedly a blatant hand-ball by one of their players in our box - and the unbelievable tackle by Mcmanaman on Haidara. This tackle is, without doubt, among the top 5 worst tackles I have seen in more than 50 years of watching football - at best, it was horrifically timed and rash - at worst, malicious and downright dangerous. I have seen it twice and each time it struck me that it defied belief that either the Ref of one of the other officials failed to see it because it was a clearly-visible incident without obstruction. That Mcmanaman failed even to receive a booking is incredible - one has to assume that there is downright corruption in football officialdom and that this is the reason that FIFA/FA are fighting shy of using an officlal in the stand with TV access, who can inform the ref what has occurred - there can then be NO excuse for not dishing out the correct decision which was undoubtedly a sending-off. The guy went through Haidara into his shin with the leading boot about a foot off the ground and I was sure his leg must have been broken. That the officials also failed to spot a blatant hand ball in our box which led to their winner only compounded the sense of injustice. Had this happened to a Man U player, Ferguson would have gone ballistic and for once, I would have agreed with him. Pardew's meek acceptance of this incident has strengthened my wish that he be gone ASAP because from reading the match comments, it appears that we once again were second best to a team who perenially struggle to avoid relegation and we have become their 'rabbits' at their ground - a total disgrace for a club like NUFC. We can only hope Haidara is not seriously injured because he seems to have a load of talent ; that, coupled with the loss of Debuchy, has left us with several top players injured and I hope the rest can pick up enough points over the next month or so.

Basically sums it all up for me - excellent post. We cannot go into another season with all this happening - it is a waste of decent players.

Very disappointing news - HBA is one of the few players we have who has great dribbling ability and change of pace..this type of player gives a team a bit of unpredictability and an added weapon that can change a game. We could have done with him in the last few weeks of the season, esp in the EL with 2 difficult games with Benfica to come...I hope it doesn't cost us. Marveaux must try to step up but he hasn't got HBA's pace unfortunately.

We're far too cautious and too often we've only got one player in the box to aim at, sometimes we've got nobody at all to aim at. Santon ran one ball right to the line and looked up only to see that he had nobody making a run, his ball in was poor and I think that was mainly because of the lack of bodies. He looked and saw nobody and was in two minds about what to do so ended up losing possession. Yes, agree with this in the games I have seen Mick ; I suppose Pardew had some excuse this time because an away goal for them would have been catastrophic but in general we are too slow to build attacks and too negative, hence the low scoring rate. Not enough people attacking the ball when the likes of Debuchy get it into the box from a decent cross and this is going to come back and bite us on the ar-- eventually...that was why I made the comments about the 69 Fairs Cup win and although Pop Robson was a regular scorer, we got goals from other players too with Moncur scoring 3 over the two legs of the Final....too much responsibility on Cisse now.

I wasn't able to see the game, but the goal came at exactly the right time - no time for them to try for an equaliizer, which was vital. The comments about Marveaux don't surprise me - I always thought he had class and since he had the op in the summer, he has been really good ; I did see the goal on the news and his ball in was excellent, similar to the one that created a goal for Ba at Arsenal. He can see a great pass long before any player on the books with the possible exception of Cabaye. Taylor seems to have come of age now as a CB but the problem is keeping him fit - the thought of Williamson joining MYM is a bit scary...it was vital to keep a clean sheet and full marks to the CBs for doing it. From what I've read, we are not creating enough chances in the box and I still reckon a new striker is vital in summer. As for the rest of the tournament, its going to be tough now ; I still wouldn't fancy us against Chelsea over 2 legs although we MIGHT have a chance v Spurs ; Fenerbache is a really tough nut because Turkey is not a good place to go to get a result and Italian teams are always tough to beat. We have done well to get this far - when we won this competition in 1969, we didn't have a problem scoring goals....4 against Feyenoord, 5 v Vitoria Setubal, 3(home AND away) v Ujpest in the Final....even when we had a really tough game against Zaragoza we managed goals in the away leg that enabled us to get through on the AG ruling after narrowly beating them at SJP. No such goal feast this time and we will need to step up the goal threat if we want to progress...and not just from one or two players either....

This - definitely. We are short of pace up front and this guy seems to have it. Whether he would choose us over Arsenal is another matter......

This - it was very short-sighted not to complete the transfer and may have cost us dearly had we not ended up spending big bucks in Jan..