AyeDubbleYoo

Lest we forget, Louise Taylor writes for The Guardian.

There's absolutely no way that Gosling will be thrown into this game.

Routledge can beat his man like.

Perch in midfield is about the only thing I can think of worse than Smith playing.

Yeah, probably around £50k. I think around £60k.

I agree, who else than him is there linked to us anyway? The Ziani deal isn't going to happen either. Since when does anyone being "linked to us" make any difference? We know that NUFC don't tell the press anything any more.

Must be asking for +£25k at the very least. I think he must be asking for £35k.

We must have the most podgy-faced squad in the league.

By the way, is there anything in the laws of the game that to be considered a foul, something has to actually impede the opponent? For example, Walcott having a hand placed on his arm clearly wouldn't fulfil that criteria.

Obviously not the main reason. That would make him a real tit. He definitely partly blames him tho. And UV - spot on. Well yeah, obviously he is placing some blame on Krul, but he deserves it. He's no scapegoating him for the loss, or trying to avoid blame himself though. Anyway, such a minor point it's hardly worth talking about.

TBF, the 'Pardew blamed...' bit is not a quote, it's a journo's spin on the quote. I don't think that Pardew was saying that Krul was the main reason we lost.

Aye, I'd go for this as well. We just have to avoid playing Smith and Nolan as our CM partnership.

Newcastle fan, ain't he? Might have a shot. I've heard this somewhere before!

haha where'd he get that from? Fuck knows, he seems unable to accept that Hughton is a real name, so his name must be the nearest alternative that my Dad's heard before.

He's one of the top few at least, and much better than a team at our level should expect to have.

He doesn't even have any forearm tattoos, he's clearly not cut out to be a footballer.

Yeah, that's what I meant basically, it shouldn't affect Krul too much. Hopefully it will motivate him, I'm sure he knows he's been below-par recently.

Yep. Pardew's comments about Krul after the Stevenage game were ridiculous and Hughton's post match would have been completely different. Perfect example. I liked how Hughton dealt with the press too, but there are very few managers that take his approach. He might have become more open over time as well, we'll never know. I never like managers singling out players in public, but I don't think criticising Krul's kicking was too out of order. If it motivates the lad it's a good move, if it crushes him it's obviously a mistake.

IMO the criticism of his quotes in the press has been way overblown. It's a non-issue for me, he's just a more open character and more conversational with the press than Hughton. Not a big deal at all.

I don't think Pardew has done very much wrong TBH, the Stevenage result was poor but it might well have happened under Hughton as well. Don't think I'm 'defending' Pardew, there's nothing to defend him for.

Argh, me too, my Dad still calls him Chris Horton... drives me mental.

But why would he come to NUFC except for a good deal? He has no affection for the club. Fair enough if he signs for QPR or someone it'll be ridiculous, but he's entitled to consider his options. Maybe so but we deserve players who will crawl over broken glass to sign for us. When HBA refused to speak to other clubs because he had his heart set on Newcastle a standard was set. Larsson isn't fit to clean Ben Arfa's boots so he can piss off frankly. I think you'll agree that Ben Arfa was a very rare case. I really like the way the club has moved away from throwing money at mercenaries, and I'm not saying they should be starting again, but players have options - especially when coming to the end of their contracts. I'm not disagreeing with you really, if money is his only reason for coming then I don't want him either.

But why would he come to NUFC except for a good deal? He has no affection for the club. Fair enough if he signs for QPR or someone it'll be ridiculous, but he's entitled to consider his options.

My shirt came today - woop!

Sweet lord, the thought of a central midfield made up of Smith and Nolan