Chris_R

Never like to see us buying players of that age. If he comes cheap (Couple of million tops) then fair enough, but if we're spunking all our budget on someone who'll be plodding round like Nicky Butt in a couple of seasons then it's not such a good idea.

Butt off. Thank god for that

Shambles.

Ridiculous. Owen is a player who needs service, and he's had none. What do you expect him to do, drop into midfield, win the ball, beat 5 men round the keeper and tap it in? If we're not getting the ball to him that's the rest of the team's fault, not his. One thing he's proven year after year is that if and when the ball is played to him in the right areas, he scores. And he'll do the same today if we can sort out the supply. He is not with his thoughts on the Pitch!!! His body language is like that he gives a f*** off what's happening there! If you'd touched the ball about 3 times in 45 minutes because the supply behind you was so utterly gash, how would you feel? Sort the supply out and you have a happy striker who will score goals. Owen is the only truly class player at the club, and anyone who thinks otherwise or thinks we should get rid of him is deluded. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of Owen fanboy, but he's our most valuable player by a mile and would be our best player if only we'd get him the ball.

And Jonas seems to have gone right off the boil. Was great in his first few games but seems to be much less effective now. Partly because teams seem to be doubling up on him now all the time as they're identifying him as our main threat but I can't help but feel that he's lost some of his initial effectiveness too. Still working hard though, but not going past his man and not getting many crosses in, which for a winger is bad news.

Ridiculous. Owen is a player who needs service, and he's had none. What do you expect him to do, drop into midfield, win the ball, beat 5 men round the keeper and tap it in? If we're not getting the ball to him that's the rest of the team's fault, not his. One thing he's proven year after year is that if and when the ball is played to him in the right areas, he scores. And he'll do the same today if we can sort out the supply.

gahahahahaha, so underserved! We're still going to get raped though, only now it will be 10-1 instead of 10-0.

Perhaps it would be good for us to get a hammering, might persuade Ashley and Kinnear to get some reinforcements in.

Arsebiscuits.

Initially when this game sold out I was gutted I didn't get a ticket. Having watched the first half-hour through gaps in my fingers, I'm slightly less gutted now.

Lucky you. What game are you watching? I'm watching my team stand round on a field whilst the opposition play football.

Taylor limping now, probably trying to get himself out the firing line whilst it's still 0-0.

We're getting bummed. We have no outlet going forward, nobody can put their foot on the ball. We desperately need someone in central midfield in the transfer window. Desperately.

That. Especially the first bit.

something wrong mate? I think it's Kinnear's half-time team talk.

People keep going on about wanting Bruce here, well not if that's how he'd have us playing. I'm all for a bit of passion but that's just being a bunch of dirty cunts. Butt's been anonymous, although Duff and Guthrie have been little better. Whilst there's been nothing of note from Owen or Viduka I find it hard to blame them when they've been starved of posession. Still, see if we can sort it out at half time. Hope Beye's not too bad.

Is Enrique definitely injured as opposed to dropped?

That's pure comedy gold is that.

Haven't read the other 28 pages so doubtless my point will already have been made but if he's delaying until the summer it'll be so he can talk to English clubs. Right now he can only sign with Newcastle or with overseas clubs and it stays that way until the last month of his contract iirc. He's probably already been tapped up by another club though and doubtless already knows where he's going. And despite the "Money's not important" quote, I'd not be surprised to see him at Man City. Not blaming the lad for that mind, given the current off-field shambles of our lot I think any player with half a brain would look to get out if they could. Still disappointed though.

Fucking get in! That is all.

Should never have been sacked. Said it at the time, and I'll say it again now. Hope he's well enough to enjoy Christmas with his family and all the best to him for whatever time he's got left, hopefully a long time. Utter legend as a manager, and pure class as a man.

It's the rules that are the problem, not the people being paid to implement them. It's utterly ridiculous that standing up is deemed dangerous. I stand all the time at home, I stand often at work and I've never once come to any harm. People stand to sing in churches but you don't get stewards there telling the congregation to sit down or be ejected. That said, I stand at football matches and will continue to do so in direct opposition to the above ridiculous rules. But if asked to sit down by a steward, I will do so as the alternative is to potentially be ejected from the stadium. But I will stand up again the very moment he walks away, which he inevitably must.

I'm sick of this obsession with getting left backs in when what we desperately need is 2 quality central midfielders. Anyone with even one milky cataract eye can see this. Why can Kinnear not?

I doubt I'll say anything not already said 100 times in the previous 27 pages but here goes: Playing 6 defenders was a recipe for disaster. Jonas was utterly ineffective in the middle. When Guthrie went off at half-time with no midfield cover, why not bring a striker on and switch to 4-3-3? We were 2-0 up, at home, against Stoke City FFS. We got what we deserved today. I would like to think Kinnear will learn from this but he's 61 years old and has been managing for over 20 years and if he couldn't see that what he did today wasn't going to work then he never will. Shown up today as the second-rate manager we all know him to be.

Yeah, there was about 15 stewards trying to get 5000 people to sit down. I think they managed to seat about 10, but another thousand stood up in protest. Utterly pointless.