pinkeye

Mad Mick is upstairs in Beyond at the Gate.

Every time I see Gullit on tele commenting on football I want to smash his smug face right through the back of his head. What a prick, at least if he is in America he won't be insulting the Geordie nation by commenting on Sky Super Sunday etc.

I am definately staying at home for this one, I hate derby day. My dad and a few mates are coming round cos I have got the biggest tele out of all of us (smug - oh yes!). I doubt I will have a drink though unless we are winning. Going out to the quayside on the night so I hope we get at least a draw but, better a win.

I was just going to say about Duff, just compare Zog's performances this season against Duff at the start of last. I think you will agree that Zog gives us a lot more than Duff in terms of up and down the wing, decent defensive positioning as well as a powerful shot. Granted his crossing is weak at times but, that will come with experience. People say he is a sulk and has an attitude, well he has just recently signed a contract extension committing to a further 5 years up here. I think his sort of attitude is good, he hates being beaten and like Milner never gives up on a lost cause (ball rather than Newcastle being the lost cause!!). Milner has more skill than most at our club, could do with a couple of extra pounds of body weight to help him against the bigger full backs but, he is young and could develop into a real star. Great attitude, even though he is often the team scape goat when we a looking to make a change on the pitch, he is usually the first to be withdrawn.

I mentioned this in the pre match thread as well, I am against the idea of lighting the bridge white and red, even if it is only on Friday night as a "celebration of the upcoming derby". However, when you are on the metro at night you barely notice the fact that the bridge is lit up in red, purple, green, blue etc any way, so I doubt too many people will notice that the bridge is illuminated in football colours for one night. I was wondering the same as Big Dave, how can they light the bridge up in black when they do our colours? Regardless what we say here or write in e mails of complaint the idea will go ahead so may as well forget it. It'll all be over soon enough. I hate derby week!!

Did anyone else hear on the local news about the Metro Bridge over the Tyne? On Friday night, in celebration of the upcoming derby, they are going to illuminate the bridge in white and red then in black and white alternately. I don't want to see white and red together anywhere let alone on a bridge that is 500metres from my house!!!

Harper Beye Taylor Rozenhal Enrique Milner Barton Faye N'Zogbia Viduka Martins Subs to include: Cacapa Geremi Emre Owen I want to see Taylor stuck to Jones like glue for the entire match, not at all worried about any other of their players but, he is a serious threat.

My only critisism of Allardyce would be the way that he sticks with players like Geremi and Smith regardless of their performances, granted Geremi was dropped on Saturday to the bench but, Smith played the full 90, maybe I should have put played into inverted comma's..... He sees the players all week and makes his team selection based on their week of training plus, you would hope, the use of some tactical awareness regarding the opposition we face. The long ball game must be something we train and practice with because I am certain if it wasn't what he wanted he would change the tactic mid game. That does seem a little strange considering our front two / three are not blessed with great height....

Reading that piece on .com made me slightly depressed because sadly they have captured the mood amonst fans exactly. I have only ever left one game before the final whistle and that was Birmingham when we lost 5 - 1 in the cup last year, every other game I have stayed to the end regardless. Some people left their seats at 3 - 0 on Saturday but, that was probably just to get an early beer or something because I think most came back after half time. Obviously once the 4th went in the ground emptied somewhat. I found it very hard to get enthusiastic for the game as the second half ticked away and we looked less and less likely to score, I wondered to myself what the reaction would have been from the fans to a home goal with maybe 7 minutes left to play? I doubt I could have celebrated with much enthusiasm. The next game is an oddball as well, form book goes out of the window and all that, this is about pride, the pride of the team! They need to show us that they are happy to play for Newcastle and want the same as us. Beating the dirty mackems would help me believe again.

Given Beye Cacapa Faye Enrique Milner Barton Butt N'Zogbia Owen Martins I think that this will prove to be our strongest first 11. On paper it is a good enough team to give pretty much anyone in the premier league a good game. Should be played home and away, exactly the same.

Just the quickly taken free kick and a couple of wild strikes from distance.

Well that was our first back to back series of wins this season so that should be a huge confidence booster for the players. We also have a good run of winnable games coming up and without making wild predictions I think we will take something from Reading, Portsmouth and the mackems over the next three and cement our position in the top half of the table, maybe even top 6.

Well for those that were at the match last night it wasn't boring, the atmosphere was one of the best, if not the best, all season. We attacked right from the start and although Spuds did have their chances we seemed to have them contained. Steve Bennett did his usual trick of trying to disrupt our play with unnecessary free kicks and selctive blindness but, on the whole I was thoroughly entertained last night. There is still a little bit of the long ball game left in our perfromances and to be honest I really felt for Martins as he remonstrated with the defence, particularly when we went 4 - 5 - 1 in the last 10 minute, what is he supposed to do with balls like that? The very best we can expect is that he outsprings the 6'3" defender on his back and gets a flick on. When he is on his own up there it flicks on to who? Even Viduka likes the ball to feet, we need to get the midfield more involved in the game and pass through them, not over them. Boring Newcastle - Not for me!!

That sums my support to England up as well, indifferent! I feel no passion, or at least nothing like the passion I feel when I watch Newcastle. That feeling when the team first comes out onto the pitch has never changed for me since I was a kid standing in the "Corner". I actually felt more for the England Rugby Union Team last weekend when they made it to the final of the world cup and I don't even understand the rules of that game............

That is one of the first newspaper articles that actually gets it right. Very refreshing to read a piece that casts some symapthy towards the feelings of the average Newcastle fan, or football fan generally!! Wonder how many people watching the match tonight will realise that the Russia game represents a milestone......................... Michael Owen will have played more matches for England in the last two years than he has for Newcastle!! Hardly surprising to read on the BBC website this morning that Sam is holding back on any new contract offer for Owen until he has proved his ability to string a few games together for his CLUB, even if that means that we eventually lose him to another team. To be honest, for me, he can go when ever he wants to. He certainly won't be any different in his attitude if he played for Man Utd, Liverpool or bloody Middlesbrough, he would still put England first, because seemingly that is a great honour!!! I would have said that playing for your club and having 50k fans cheering because they love you week in week out would be a far greater honour!

I've got it. It's a good read with plenty of facts and figures. The sort of thing that I would like to take on holiday and read while lying in the sun!! Anyone read Gazzas autobiography? That was a very good read with some proper laughs in it as well as some interesting facts that I didn't know.

Desn't seem that long ago. Well, he is one of those rare characters that is remembered fondly by everyone who knows anything about football.

Alan Partridge got it 100% spot on: Womens football = Monkey Tennis.

you know a girl called Alix? you know a girl called Alix? Second name Cox? No, sorry neither Alix or Alix Cox (he he he).

I go in the Sovereign Club (pricey) and as you place your card in the machine the screen above displays your name, in my case Mr M Pinkney and that is it. The people who entered before me all had the same name on their cards and two were girls, Mr A Smith (for example). As long as an adult is not trying to use a concessionary ticket there is no problem with getting in.

My all time favourite chant / song is: We got Mirandina, He's not from Argentina, He's from Bra-zil, He's fuckin brill. Anyone remember Mick Mahoney, super goaly la la la la la or He's fat, he's round, he bounces on the ground Micky Quinn - Micky Quinn

I have been trying to work it out. It is basically a 10 month interest free offer so divide the cost of your ticket by 10 and that is what you pay between now and May next year. If we have a good run in the League cup this season we could get about 6 free home games, value approx £120, add that to 3 - 4 in the FA CUp and that could be an extra £80 worth of tickets. Next season could be a different story if we qualify for the UEFA Cup. Add those matches to the League and FA cup and we could get nearer £300 of free games. This all depends on whether you go to every home cup game already and pay for the privilidge, not every season ticket holder does of course!! EDIT: Just noticed it says "a seat for every home cup game". Not necessarily your own?

Big shame, thoughts are with the family and friends. x

There is a small piece about the match on NUFC.COM but, there are no details about Owen yet.

Cheers for that.