Lenny

Totally forgot we’re playing the winner of this until about 5 seconds before the cross went

Niiiice

The fact that he should have scored is all that matters, isn't it? The whole team has been guilty of wasting chances all season, with Gayle top of the pile.

Should definitely have brought Murphy on like. Playing with confidence and in good form yet leaves him on the bench when we need a goal to win it, pretty baffling that. Completely.

Not impressed with Rafa's subs there; seemed to me like he was happy with a draw. Pretty shocking not making the final sub.

Painfully predictable, this.

Very frustrating, we've played some nice stuff at times and created enough chances to be a couple up. I really don't like Gayle; for someone in the team almost solely for his goal scoring, he misses a hell of a lot. He's not good enough. I'd like Murphy and Merino to get enough time to influence the game so would be bringing them on as soon as possible.

Age? He's 28 not 34

Great win. Only watched the second half and but for the latter stages we looked the better. Shelvey's distribution was very good, Murphy promised whilst still very raw and Darlow was our man of the match.

He bottled that chance by going down and was rightfully booked. The thing is, if he’d have shot first time there’s a high chance the defender catches him trying to intercept giving us a chance of a penalty, but he didn’t want to get hurt. He’s in the team for a single reason and he’s not been justifying his selection recently. As others have said, though, I’d still pick him.

Neville saying we might as well lose by 5 than by 2. Is this the FA cup?

Exactly. Anyone would think there’s a semblance of a game plan.

I’d rather we not be in such a way that we can’t even compete with the top teams. No one wants to see their team play this way, but I have to base my perspective on the circumstances we’re in, and therefore I understand our tactics. If we can play this way and keep it 1-0 until the latter stages then we could have a go at taking something. We will absolutely lose “going for it”, and I’d actually rather not lose 10-0 just so we can say we went for it.

He’s been the only player with speed of thought to get a pass off today. Very strange timing, this comment. Wrong. Lush post.

He’s been the only player with speed of thought to get a pass off today. Very strange timing, this comment.

Pretty certain he’d walk, claiming his hands were tied / someone else’s fault, before sitting through a relegation.

Elliot almost doing a Darlow... At least he was assertive though.

Early sub; what is this sorcery?

Only been half watching but whenever I've seen Atsu he's looked like the only player wanting to have a go at them.

That's why Hughton was so keen to sign Ben Arfa despite him being a massive bell end. Allegedly.

This current squad is definitely as ill equipped for the premier league as I've seen from us. I've always said that I'd rather have a team of limited try-hards at the bottom of the league than the talented, yet heartless mercenaries we've had in previous relegation seasons, but now I'm not so sure. There's a modicum of hope with talented mercenaries

Absolutely, and by a significant margin.

Absolutely woeful.

This is definitely on a par with the worst Newcastle team I've seen in terms of quality. We are collectively hapless.

We are worryingly bad. Such a horrible feeling when you look at the 18 at realise that there's no one you really feel confident will give us something. Not one of our players is dependable for a goal.