merlin

A very likely outcome...we do not travel well, and they are full of confidence. We have a poor record at Molyneaux too. Will be surprised if we get anything here.

I like him and think he's quality, he's not Beardsley x 2 though. Agreed - completely over the top. I haven't yet seen any player who is twice as good as Beardsley at his best.

Agreed - I don't think they'll be among the strugglers this season.

They are paid far too much and are the main reason so many clubs are in debt. Exactly right Mick....these guys provide the worst value for money as a ratio to the average PL wage. Ruining the game and about time it was stopped. If a player can't live on even 250,000 a year its a disgrace. Admittedly, they should get a decent pension/pay off when they retire because its a short career, but that should be linked to whether they continue in coaching or management.

Just hope we don't end up needing him back at SJP...Harper is a bit shaky at pres...hope its just a blip. Forster has done well at Norwich and if Harps is on the way down he may be ready for the first team.

This - they have to at least make top 4 again if they are seen to be progressing by their top players. City look the better bet and may even be in the running for the title.

Its a strange business with Waddle - he was a major part of the promotion side of 84 and we took him out of non-league football. HE wanted to go to Spurs and yet he seems to be negative about NUFC at every opportunity he gets. I reckon he's just an ungrateful Mackem at heart(he was always a S'Land fan as a boy despite being from Gateshead). Most famous moment was that awful record he made with Hoddle....oh, and missing a vital pen in the shoot-out with the Germans in 1990. Almost as infamous as Southgate who did the same 6 years later.. Forget him, he's not worth it. Although Supermac was a Londoner, he cares more about NUFC than Waddle.

Yes, Magpie418, I am in WA, south of Perth, hence the better time zone last night ; you guys had to start watching at 10.30 whereas it was 8.30 for us. Also, we don't have daylight saving here now, so that helps a bit in the Oz summer when we want to watch UK games. By the sound of it, you didn't have the best company to watch the game with...hope your head is still in one piece..!!

We had the match live here on Foxsports(and at a convenient time too - 8.30 pm here)so I was able to see the whole game as it happened. The day reminded me a bit of the Leicester match in 1993 when we won 7-1..even the No 9 got a hat-trick.. I was delighted for the fans who deserved such an unexpected treat after being out of the Prem and being fed a diet of rubbish prior to that. These days don't come round very often, so I hope everyone enjoyed it. For me, the biggest surprise of the day - apart from Villa's almost total surrender following their pen miss and Young's disallowed goal - was the all-round play of Andy Carroll. I have always felt that the lad had great potential but his movement off the ball was previously cumbersome ; not so today. He was, by a distance, man of the match and the Villa defence just could not cope with him. Admittedly, they made a big mistake by putting Clarke on him and the lad was simply lost, but Carroll gave a fine example of CF play, even dropping deep to set up attacks..his passing was excellent. He took his goals very well, no wild shooting, almost passed the 3rd into the net at the end and, of course, his awesome leap in the box to set up Nolan for the team's second which effectively killed the match. Williamson was steady and his tackle on Young in the box during the second half was timed to perfection. I have concerns over his pace(as with Coloccini)when facing the best PL strikers, but his reading of the game is good. Enrique was mostly his usual self but the defence was caught out by Young's run into the box for their pen. Great tackling in midfield by Smith & Barton(what a strike for the first !)and good running at their defence by Routledge but he spoils it by taking on too many defenders at a time. Jonas worked hard & caused them trouble all afternoon and Perch did better than I expected. Having given the side due credit for an excellent performance, we have to face the fact that Villa were dire. They were unlucky in that Carew made a mess of the pen and that Young's goal soon afterwards was ruled out, but there seemed to be no spirit in the side...a bit like NUFC in parts of the relegation season. Young was their best player, can't see him being there for long if this goes on and they were, of course, without some key players incl Agbonlahor, but their fans must have been shocked at the surrender...not that they deserve any sympathy after their gloating over our demise at the end of 2008/9. Totally out-muscled in midfield. I thought Babatunde's dismissal of Carroll's performance was way out of line - to say that his performance was better than the player he is seems to me to be a contradiction in terms. Carroll is only 21 and as I said some months back, some players do not mature until at least that age and he HAS improved. He will have far more difficult games this season than he had yesterday, but against Man U he was still dangerous, even without support so I hope he continues to improve. Unfortunately, if he continues to play as he did and gets his share of goals, he will be No 1 target by most of the big clubs because you just don't find CFs like him these days - the commentator said his performance reminded him of Drogba although that was a bit over the top just yet - and Carroll is English too. We would have a hard job keeping him in that event. Not getting carried away by this result as I didn't by the Man U defeat...we will still struggle away from SJP and I would take a point at Wolves right now because they will be a tough proposition at Molyneaux. Nevertheless, a great day which nobody would have dreamt of happening before KO...well done to all at the club !

This - we will struggle against anyone who has pace in their attack OR defence....

True, but as long as the fcb is owner this club will be a selling club. I believe if someone came in with a few million for Taylor or Carroll they would be away. We are in the same position we were a few years ago when Waddle Beardsley and Gasgoine were sold. True, and for even less reason - at least Beardsley was sold to pay for the Milburn Stand. The truth is though, that the club weren't ambitious under McKeag/Seymour/Westwood etc., at least, not enough to build a proper club. Ashley is also not ambitious for the club to be in the top 5, he just wants it as a plaything until he can get his money back - and that will be a LONG time in my opinion.

Hilarious to hear Wenger whingeing about Scholes. I notice that he has always been able to see Scholes' bad tackles, but somehow always misses those of his own players...strange, that...... Scholes DOES sometimes make bad tackles but I've never seen him make one as bad as Nolan's a couple of years ago - and who would you rather have in your side...even now Scholes is 35!??

Try telling that to players on the wrong end of his tackles...esp when they got broken legs !

Agreed - all the great sides have had good defensive midfielders or ball-winners. I reckon we would have won the title in 96 if David Batty had joined the club sooner because we were occasionally lightweight away from home...the 2-0 loss at OT was a case in point.... The best DMs are not just ball winners though - they can also play a bit. Don Revie's Leeds had Bremner and Giles, both of whom were good footballers but hard as nails. Likewise, Liverpool had Tommy Smith and Emlyn Hughes under Shanks, then Souness. Clough had Dave Mackay in his first season back in the top league with Derby and even Fergie had Keane. In our best days(50's) we had the likes of Joe Harvey and Scoular. We DO need this type of player to protect the defence, but the problem is we have a very limited budget and we need a striker as well..no good just stopping goals we need to score a few too, but on balance given the money shortage, I would go for the DM.

Back in the 70s, NUFC ALWAYS had poor results away from SJP - the same was also true in the 60s when we were in the top league. I always felt that this was because of a couple of factors;- 1. The club is a long way from the rest of the country geographically and until the use of air-travel in the 90s, the travelling itself was a problem for players.This is not as great a problem today. 2. It seemed to me that as long as the team did well at SJP(which they usually did - we often beat Leeds in their prime and also turned over Liverpool a few times as well as stuffing Man U 5-1 once - results you wouldn't dream of in the away game) the management and board were quite happy as we kept our home gate money and fans would turn up in the expectancy of a decent game at SJP. The players knew this, so didn't try as hard away from home. The other reason is one which holds good today - simply that we didn't have a big squad and our best players then tended to be forwards whereas the defenders came under more pressure away and that exposed their weaknesses(think Glen Keely and John Bird). The Fairs Cup team were the only ones with a decent back four...after that, the CDs were poor. The small squad also meant that a few injuries killed our chances of winning away from home.

How do you know that? I would not be surprised if Newcastle was sold before the window closes. I'm not saying it will happpen but it does explain the lack of activity at the club. In answer to your question - I DON'T know that, but there are a number of facts which make me believe that you theory is unsound. 1. Had any person or group, of substance been interested in taking the club over, they would have had it done long before this stage and probably by the end of June. The reason I say this is because they would want to have either their own manager installed OR want to provide Hughton with the funds to guarantee the club's place in the PL...why pay a fortune for something only to see it be worth much less in 9 month's time?? 2. There is no way that such a large transaction would have escaped the media's attention. 3. If there was any likelihood of this happening, Ashley and Co would not have put out that statement about their future plans for the club. They would just have kept quiet. The only thing that has happened in the last week or so which MIGHT give some credibility to your view has been MON's walk-out at Villa - he is one of the few managers that a new and ambitious owner MIGHT be able to persuade to take the job at SJP...and only then because of his fall-out with Lerner. To answer your points above: 1) When did Man City get bought? I think around about now is the ideal time to buy a club because you've got more bargaining power. To be honest there's a lot of dimensions to buying a club at this time that I'm not sure who is in the strongest position, buyer or seller? A potential buyer could let Ashley sweat with the threat of pulling out the deal and him having to spend money in the last few days of the transfer window to ensure Newcastle stay up. To get the price low as a buyer of the club I would be prepared to miss this transfer window as I would be confident enough with the squad we have to be able to safeguard relegation by buying players in January. Ashley on the other hand can play the card of asking for a higher price now to let the new owners have time to buy players/bring in new players. 2) We only knew about Ashley buying the club in the space of a few days, Ashley has proven he can keep big deals secret. Don't forget Ashley likes to keep his business dealings very private. 3) I would not waste your time or my time debating a statment from Ashley as he is a proven liar, his statements mean nothing. I don't think O'Neil has anything to do with it, I understand why you said it but I don't think it has any bearing on the matter. I tend to think the follwing has more to do with the possibility of the club being sold: Ashley desperate to sell Little transfer activity Cheap management structure Loyal/large support base (potential for a lot more) 3rd biggest fully developed stadium Cheapish wage bill Most of the points on both our threads are matters of opinion and each to his own... However, Man City were bought with sufficient time for the new owners to finance a bid for Robinho AND beat Chelsea to the player at the same time. Can you honestly see us doing anything like this by the end of the month? I personally wouldn't take a chance on this team getting to December and then trying to strengthen it - for a start, there are not as many decent players available in the Winter window and also, unless the team looks like scoring goals in the next few games, it might be so far behind the mid-table outfits as to make it very difficult to stay up. The defence looks none too sure either....! If I had paid the millions Ashley wants, I wouldn't even want to RISK relegation. MON WOULD have a bearing on the matter if he had already been set up by a prospective new owner...in his shoes I might just have waited at Villa until another job cropped up instead of walking out.

How do you know that? I would not be surprised if Newcastle was sold before the window closes. I'm not saying it will happpen but it does explain the lack of activity at the club. In answer to your question - I DON'T know that, but there are a number of facts which make me believe that you theory is unsound. 1. Had any person or group, of substance been interested in taking the club over, they would have had it done long before this stage and probably by the end of June. The reason I say this is because they would want to have either their own manager installed OR want to provide Hughton with the funds to guarantee the club's place in the PL...why pay a fortune for something only to see it be worth much less in 9 month's time?? 2. There is no way that such a large transaction would have escaped the media's attention. 3. If there was any likelihood of this happening, Ashley and Co would not have put out that statement about their future plans for the club. They would just have kept quiet. The only thing that has happened in the last week or so which MIGHT give some credibility to your view has been MON's walk-out at Villa - he is one of the few managers that a new and ambitious owner MIGHT be able to persuade to take the job at SJP...and only then because of his fall-out with Lerner.

I will probably have a few quid on Albrighton to score the first goal. Youth Hughton, youth, give them some games! Not many good enough unfortunately, or too young at this stage. Only Vuckic is currently worth looking at in midfield. Can you imagine ANY of them coming on and making the impact Albrighton did for Villa...?

You won't find me defending his transfer policy at this time because the side NEEDS investment in order to be sure of staying in the PL, let alone make progress. Unfortunately, nobody who has any big money is interested in buying the club at this time and we can put this down to several things but the main reason in my opinion is that we have not been successful for 40 years. We are not on the radar for rich overseas buyers. Even Blackburn have won the PL within the last 15 years...clubs like Leicester and Villa have won silverware during the last 20 also. Then there is the huge debt for which Ashley wants his money back.. The one thing in his favour is that had we still been owned by the previous regime, we would almost certainly have been bust by now - at least we are still in the ball-park and the club's current financial situation means that we are unlikely to fall foul of the new requirements that all clubs will have to fulfill in the future. Sadly, unless someone with big bucks and ambition comes along, the situation here is likely to be repeated NEXT close season too.

Yes, most sensible comment on the whole thing Dave...nail on head.

He might not have been the worst but he allowed Scholes to be the best. No doubt Nolan tries but he's so slow he can't hope to compete with a mobile midfield like Man U's, especially if he's got equally slow partners in Barton and Smith. You can get away with it in the Championship, in the premier you will get run down like an old dog. Scholes didn't need any help from Nolan - he looked 10 years younger than Nolan in the way he controlled the midfield and kept running until the end...no comparison between the two.

This game was about as predictable as football ever gets. The team passed the ball around quite well in the early part of the match without ever threatening Man U from open play. Carroll, who did well in my opinion, was the only player who gave them any trouble and they had him well marked. He should have scored from the corner, no doubt, but unless he gets some decent support up front I fear that he will be burnt out by Christmas. Not only is he trying to play as a lone striker but also he has to cover for a poor midfield and defence. Coloccini showed the tendency to make errors when under pressure that he displayed last time in the PL . If people are happy to come away from a game with a 3-0 defeat, then it seems to me that Ashley is laughing all the way to the bank ; he can get away with not improving the side as long as other teams get tanked by a bigger margin. Personally, I was neither impressed nor depressed by this game because it showed exactly where the club are now and are likely to remain for the foreseeable future. Hughton's substitution of Jonas baffled me - OK, he had made a bad error which led to one of the goals, but to bring another forward on when the midfield were being overrun at that stage in the match was pointless because we lost Jonas' work rate and covering which may have prevented Giggs' goal. Ameobi - as someone has said, the QM2 turns faster. He turns casual play into an art form... Routledge always LOOKED decent when he had the ball but he also tends to run into blind alleys which is probably the reason he has not carved out a career at one of the big clubs he has been with before. What a player Paul Scholes is - his display last night showed exactly why it would have been worth a cheeky bid from us as soon as we got promotion and before Man U tied him to another contract. I suggested this back in May but even if the lad had said no, there was never a chance of the current board doing that because of his age and wages. He was without doubt the best player on the field and ran the midfield like a puppet master. Scholes is just the sort of player we could have done with for 2 seasons until we got properly established in the PL... a bit like Beardsley back in 1993. For a 35 year old, he put younger players to shame by his commitment over 90 mins. Overall, the only plus is that we avoided a heavier defeat. Otherwise, the game confirmed all we know about the team and its weaknesses. We can only hope that the likes of Man U can do us a favour by stuffing teams like Blackpool by an even greater margin because that would help to reduce Blackpool's goal diff with us which is currently +7..! Although I never ever expected this side to break the duck, it remains a total disgrace that a club of the size of NUFC have failed to beat Man U at OT since 1972...almost 40 years - and its hard to see that changing any time soon.

As I said before, I will not make a judgment on survival until at least 2 months of the season have passed. That gives time for burnout to begin on other threatened clubs IF they are going to flop and it also gives us a chance to see how NUFC have performed against a variety of opponents. If we are struggling badly by November, I reckon it will be tough to stay up.If not, we have as good a chance as any of the likely bottom 6. Problem will be scoring goals and creating good chances, none of which will be solved unless decent money is spent - unlikely.

Hard to see beyond a thumping in this match - regardless of who is signed in the meantime... Man U are slow starters but I wouldn't hold out any hope on that basis - they will just have too much for Newcastle. If they get an early goal, it could be a hammering but I never predict scores in games. Anything better than a 2-0 defeat is a bonus in my view because goals may be hard to come by.

Acuna was very underrated. Totally agree with that Mick - never understood why he was sold, played out of his skin against the Arsenal midfield in one game I remember.