AyeDubbleYoo

Viduka was brilliant, he's like that bloke every pub team has who can hardly move but has amazing skills. That backheel shot he tried was shit, but can't complain! Oba didn't look fit, he would have got another on the break if he had been, so still might see him used as a sub against Fulham. Lovenkrands might be a good option from the start, at least he can move around a bit and he has a decent shot on him. I didn't think Owen was that bad but he needs chances made for him still. Finding it hard to celebrate properly, there's a lot of football left to play... but we've given ourselves a chance.

PS - you know we're at home against Fulham right?

I love going to Fulham, been there the last 3 or 4 seasons. Brilliant place to go, though you're right their fans are shit.

He might be able to make the bench, but chances are he'll have no impact... too jetlagged.

I rubbed the shit out of it.

This is what is giving me a tiny bit of hope. Quite a few times recently all of the other games have just gone exactly how we wanted them. Not a very rational basis for optimism, but I'm holding onto it!

Whoever finishes 4th bottom deserves to stay up, simple as that. We've been shit, but if there ends up being 3 even worse teams then we 'deserve' to still be in the premier league.

I'm in a state this morning like, it's as if I've got a job interview coming up or something, can't think about anything else!

To be fair, I think what Colo was told was what we all believed anyway... at the time.

Barnes we should have signed ages ago. I haven't really seen that much of Joe Ledley.

Martins will be a massive loss if he is out

I think a lot of it is down to language and culture, footballers are mainly working class blokes who get caught up in an amazing career and don't open their minds to the opportunities that are available.

I feel physically sick today, don't know whether I can even watch this one... horrible feeling. Heart says we will get the win, a lot of doubts in the head though :-[

Lawro predicts 1-1, can't see that happening, both teams have a penchant for conceding plenty of goals.

We probably have been one of the five or six worst teams, there's no real difference between those six teams IMO. Strangely enough, we probably aren't in the worst form, as weird as that sounds.

Good point, but I suppose allowing a referee to cancel a red card under their own steam is a bit different from allowing an 'appeal'. And who knows what sort of direct or indirect pressure refs would start to come under if managers and clubs knew that they could reverse their decisions after the game?

well thats never going to happen, if you got a speeding fine for driving within the speed limit, you'd want the right to appeal, surely? Yeah, I see what you mean, and I've already said that I think red cards shouldn't carry a ban anyway. I think being down to 10 men is punishment enough, and that can't be corrected after the game anyway. And often refereeing decisions are a matter of opinion, whereas my speed at any particular time is a matter of fact. (By the way, that currently is the UEFA rule, so it obviously is going to happen!)

I agree that there shouldn't be an appeal against a 'factual decision of the referee' though, people have to learn to just accept the referee's decisions. In a case of mistaken identity they can appeal, which is fair enough obviously.

I don't see why a sending off leads to a ban anyway. Surely the punishment is being down to 10 men during the game? Sometimes it's down to 10 men, a penalty, and a three game ban... that's way over the top IMO.

I suppose I agree with you, but it's not as simple as just doing what is 'morally right', you have to always think pragmatically and go for what will help you get results. Not saying Shearer is wrong here, but the iron fist approach isn't always the best one.

It really mystifies me how NUFC continually take chances on players with proven flaws. Why do we sign these people? Whether it's discipline, lifestyle or injury records, its mental.

Even the rest of the season is too short a time to judge a manager. Whether Al keeps us up or not really doesn't say much about his long-term potential as a top manager. 8 games is just too little time to know.

All the games went for us this weekend really, couldn't ask for a better set of results. Probably just taunting us with a whiff of survival, but still...

Everybody knows Barton is a psycho, so on that score Shearer has done nothing wrong at all. On the fines and rules thing, I'm not so sure. When a new boss comes in he needs the players on his side, not resenting him. I doubt the details of that Custis article are true though, so not going to slate Al based on that.

I would keep the team we used against Pompey, we will probably lose this game anyway so we should at least get the benefit of letting the team play together for another game.