Chris_R

Brain the size of a pea. Good luck to the lad, met him once and seemed really canny but I would be seriously worried if he got anywhere near our first team squad.

Fucking hell, a midfield of Butt, Geremi, Smith and Duff just fills me with dread. Not one of them should be anywhere near our club. They may be great people or nice blokes or be good in the dressing room, but as midfielders they offer little (Geremi) or nothing (Butt, Smith and Duff) going forward.

No chance of getting that job after spending £80m with the mackems and achieving precisely fuck all other than to build another relegation-threatened side.

Nail. Head. If he said he DID have an 80% chance of keeping Owen, I might listen. I'd say the chance of him staying is as close to 0 as to be not worth talking about. Perhaps he's saying he wants Butt and Owen to stay, then Butt will stay and Owen will go and we'll claim it as a triumph that we've kept 1 of them.

Tragic quoting skills there, but you get the point.

i'd have took enrique off and went to 3 at the back. we were a goal down against 10 men. saying that i'd have strated owen instead of shola. Shola's always going to start though. After all, who else in the team is going to play the "John Fashanu" role for us so we can hump high balls up to them from the back?

4.45 miles PR Sunderland AFC SR5 1SU 0845 671 1973 7.21 miles PR Newcastle United Football Club NE1 4ST 0191 261 1571 I feel dirty.

I was shocked to say the least when he took Jonas off. Switching to 3 up front is a good idea when behind but not when you take off the only midfielder who scares defenders. Butt offers nothing going forward (And little enough going back) so he should have been the one to make way IMO. And there was a very strong argument for N'Zogbia on for Duff as well. Martins Ameobi Owen N'Zogbia Barton Jonas That would have been a lot more frightening to Fulham than what we ended up watching.

I don't finish work until 8pm on a weekday, so I can't get to any midweek ones without wasting holiday allocation. It sucks balls, frankly.

I always approach the corner of the Gallowgate and Milburn stands, irrespective of where I'm sitting, then proceed to go round the ground clockwise until I get to my seat. If I'm in the middle of the Gallowgate, this can be quite a walk! Also, once in I always go up the outside of the stairs, so I'm walking the longest distance up the stairs as well. Absolutley no idea what started either of these, been doing them for 15 years now. If I can't do them (ie because I'm going in to the ground with some mates and would feel like a bit of a freak explaining that I need to do the above.) then I feel all wrong and we invariably get beat.

No matter what happens to Famagusta, Ketsbaia has done wonders there and deserves massive congratulations. He's been there 4 years now and has consistently overachieved. Not sure he's ready for a job like ours yet, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see him on a bigger stage sometime soon.

I'd back Ashley if he put his hand in his pocket to strengthen the playing staff and appointed a top-class manager.

Yeah, we've had half our best players out for ages. Beye, Jonas, Owen, Martins & Barton. If all of them had been fully fit for the last 7 games, we'd be a damned sight higher up the table than we are. Or, you know, we're not very good. ?...The point is we've been missing a hell of alot of important players at the same. Even last year we were good when we had our best players available. It's just a shame that we can never seem to put the best team out. I think though that goes back to our woeful lack of strength in depth. We've got a decent enough first team, but as soon as we get any injuries we're screwed.

Yeah, we've had half our best players out for ages. Beye, Jonas, Owen, Martins & Barton. If all of them had been fully fit for the last 7 games, we'd be a damned sight higher up the table than we are.

Don't agree at all. They were all over us, and the goal wasn't a shock at all. Kinnear though has just said we shouldn't have sat back and defended a 2-0 lead, we should have gone out and caused our own problems. So it seems that it wasn't on his instructions that we were playing so deep.

A few stats from the game: Corners: 7 to us, 8 to them Shots: 9 to us, 13 to them Posession: 49% us, 51% WBA OK we won, but it could so easily have been the other way. And I don't buy the "Lacking confidence" thing. They're in the mire as much as us, but we're at home and 2-0 up. Where did they find confidence from to play so well in the second half when we could not?

Agreed 100%. I spent the whole second half shitting myself. Simply not on against a team like West Brom.

We need players who can beat a man, and he's one of only a handful in our squad who are capable of that. For that alone, I don't want him to leave. We're desperately short of flair, creativity and pace as it is without making the situation worse - irrespective of his consistency or end product.

Rush them back? Jonas has had a shoulder injury - Unlikely that this is going to be damaged in a match. Barton has had no injury at all. He might have match sharpness issues, but not fitness issues. When players have leg injuries, it's sometimes important not to rush them. No harm in throwing Barton and Jonas on from the start though IMO. I understand what you're trying to say but a broken Collarbone is something that needs to be nurtured, because it can easily break again if not managed properly. Barton, maybe your point is valid, however I personally think it was the right decision not to start him. But if the broken collarbone is healed enough for 10 minutes action, then surely it's healed enough for 90? He can either take a blow to it or he can't. Certainly he should have been introduced a hell of a lot earlier, 10 minutes was a joke. And I don't see how it was right not to start Barton when Nicky Butt is the alternative. You've got the match fitness issue here as well. Whilst a player may be fit enough to run around a training park, playing in a match is a whole different ball game, and even being out of it for a couple of weeks screws you up. So tell me, if you're 100% physically fit (As Barton will be) then how do you get match fitness?

Rush them back? Jonas has had a shoulder injury - Unlikely that this is going to be damaged in a match. Barton has had no injury at all. He might have match sharpness issues, but not fitness issues. When players have leg injuries, it's sometimes important not to rush them. No harm in throwing Barton and Jonas on from the start though IMO. I understand what you're trying to say but a broken Collarbone is something that needs to be nurtured, because it can easily break again if not managed properly. Barton, maybe your point is valid, however I personally think it was the right decision not to start him. But if the broken collarbone is healed enough for 10 minutes action, then surely it's healed enough for 90? He can either take a blow to it or he can't. Certainly he should have been introduced a hell of a lot earlier, 10 minutes was a joke. And I don't see how it was right not to start Barton when Nicky Butt is the alternative.

Rush them back? Jonas has had a shoulder injury - Unlikely that this is going to be damaged in a match. Barton has had no injury at all. He might have match sharpness issues, but not fitness issues. When players have leg injuries, it's sometimes important not to rush them. No harm in throwing Barton and Jonas on from the start though IMO.

WHS. 5 of the bench should have started today (Xisco, Enrique, Jonas, Barton and N'Zogbia for Shola, Bassong, Geremi, Butt and Duff respectively) and we'd have had a much better chance in the game. Fitness shouldn't be an issue, Jonas is the fittest player I've ever seen so a while out with a bad shoulder won't have changed things that much, and Barton hasn't been injured he's been banned so again fitness shouldn't be relevant. Barton could be short of match sharpness perhaps, but not fitness. And he'll only get match sharpness by playing. Really needs to have the balls to make some changes for the next match.

I'd LIKE to see: Xisxo Martins N'Zogbia Barton Guthrie Jonas Enrique Coloccini Bassong Beye Given We'll probably see something entirely different to that though.

Just in from the pub. mackems deserved it. Enrique should have started instead of Bassong Barton should have started instead of Butt Jonas should have started instead of Geremi N'Zogbia should have started instead of Duff Our best spell was in the last 10 minutes. Shambolic that we waited so late to make the changes but I'm optimistic going forward.

No, he's being played there ahead of Enrique. And perhaps also N'Zogbia.