AyeDubbleYoo

Yes, he has that setting.

I bet the average French pass is about half the distance of England's. We just don't know how to play football properly.

Presumably a fitness test assesses whether he's fit, so if he passes it he's OK.

Play all three, problem solved.

It hardly reflects badly on us that we don't want him to play, teams do this all the time.

Who for?

Slightly dodgy source on NUFC wanting him not to play... no quotes, no club statement, nothing in public.

I don't mean it in the strictest sense, more like, if you have your 'defender' and he's on the only one back and standing on the sideline looking at the trees. Ah right, I admit that is necessary!

Yeah, but do they need positional sense when they're 7? I know if you're going to have competitive games then you need a semblance of a formation, but it can't be a good way to develop players - how can you know if a player is a defender or forward at that age?

Should be some interesting players in the French side as well. Never heard of any of them, but still.

The funniest thing is I've got no idea what he's really trying to do.

On the other hand, he did leave his shoulder in, in order to provoke Barton, then went down like a bag of hammers after a minor incident. I'm not excusing Barton, but Pederson's hardly a noble hero.

Dum dum dum! The game is tomorrow mind.

I would hope that wouldn't happen, there would be no real reason for it.

The 'joystick' coaches thing is a brilliant point, and I also don't believe we should be bringing kids up playing on full size pitches.

Same here. Especially because it's a fucking friendly. Really angry at the thought of this. Nailed on to come off injured. I'll be annoyed if he gets injured obviously, but I don't think it's a reason to wish he hadn't been called up. It's just part and parcel of football.

Never heard about that... if it's sold out I'm surprised they don't just open another section. Seems stupid to stop people going. Ah well, ITV it is.

To a certain extent I can understand how the frustration and cynicism has crept into our support. The fans have had a lot to deal with in recent seasons, and most of us are young enough to think that Keegan-era success is normal for NUFC.

The game's sold out according to the FA website, I was thinking of popping up there. Had no idea friendlies like this sold out... weird.

Looks like it's curtains for Johnson (if Hodgson doesn't get sacked).

Surely the fact he's getting these chances is a good sign though, if he wasn't so rusty he would probably have stuck one of them away.

Yep, as long as it's not St James Park.

Me and a few school mates used to write a Gateshead fanzine and hand it out at matches with a song sheet! Maybe we could get that going again... 50,000 copies.

And the away win at Everton, and Arsenal, and hammering Villa, beating Chelsea in the cup, outplaying Man City... quite a lot of paper we've got over those cracks.

I don't see any reason to believe that Harper will walk back in, it wouldn't make any sense. If Krul was looking shaky I could understand it, but he isn't.