AyeDubbleYoo

There was a lot of talk at the weekend on 5 Live about how things are going tits up in the Liverpool boardroom andhow all the fans want is English ownership and someone who understands what football means to people over here (and are motivated by more than just business). I think we might have already found that, fingers crossed it continues to improve.

True, I've got nothing but respect for Beckham, he's come back from being the most hated man in the country - every obstacle he's had in the game he's overcome... he's proved to more than one manager who's written him off that he's still got a lot to offer. That said, I don't want him at Newcastle - the media attention would be insane.

Aye, good luck to him wherever he goes, always works 100% and has got us a few vital goals. Not consistently good enough for where we're aiming to be, but I still hope he can cut it in the premiership somewhere.

He's only 24, a lot of improvement (potentially) left in him.

No idea, they're just trying to fill the place aren't they? We would do the same if SJP was half empty.

But why should an experienced international player agree to a deal like that?

Yeah, but he'd make up for it with a comedy dive and feigned injury.

Nice to know we do something in the community. http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~1274194,00.html

We do need to be planning for Beye's replacement though, he's getting on a bit.

Honestly not worried about it as long as we stay up. Although I think we still might finish above Boro...

Very pleased today, just shows how important a good start can be - confidence is everything. Yes, a relatively poor Fulham side, but every reason to be chuffed tonight with the way the lads performed. I'd forgotten what a 2-0 win felt like...

The picture's a bit distorted though isn't it? I mean the best players from all over the world come to England to play now, the Premiership is the most attractive league to play in. So we shouldn't really be thinking of 'English players vs Foreigners', maybe 'English players vs Spanish players' etc is a better comparison. In those terms we aren't so badly off... it's a lot closer anyway. Obviously when managers have the whole world to pick from, there's a high chance the player they pick will turn out to not be from England.

Just to play devils advocate and kind of contradict myself in one post, how does what you've put have any relevance to Keegans tactical nous. Surely the only true measuree of Keegans tactical nous is decision which have benefitted us in games and so far there have been a few decisions he's made which havent exactly dispelled thoughts of tactical naiveity albeit in difficult circumstances. I mean, by your definition, who isnt a tactitian? Mclaren is even Graham Taylor is... I see what you're saying, I suppose I was just driving at the fact the his lack of tactical awareness has been exaggerated and he is a very experienced manager with not a bad track record. He knows how to win football matches in general. And the fact that his decisions don't always agree with what the fans would do doesn't mean they're not correct. The martins sub for example, many people reacted badly at first, but a lot of arguments have been made on here suggest it might have been a good move bearing in mind the circumstances. I'm happy that the team is in KKs hands, although he's not a tactical genius he knows the style of football he wants to play, and he can motivate players and buy the right players. I think those are the biggest attributes a manager needs.

The idea that KK is not a tactician is laughable - he's managed three premier league clubs and the national team for fuck's sake. He doesn't have the same image as maybe a Wenger or Benitez, but he knows a hell of a lot about the game.

He's just one of those players that are exciting and the fans can really get behind. I don't think we've had many recently, I love Oba too!

Quite pleased to see a couple of more positive threads appearing - it's been a while.

If he keeps us up and then gets replaced I'll be livid to be honest. If there's anything he's good at, it's spending money, not to give him a couple of transfer windows would be criminal.

Hell yeah. Thing is, if we scored first against Brum we'd have been gutted, but we showed great spirit and a much better style of play in the second half - showing fight that we didn't think we had in us. So aye, bring on Fulham... not a guaranteed win but couldn't pick a much better fixture at this point.

Hold on a sec, Allardyce played pretty much the exact same formation and system with all three of those at home to Derby, and he got hammered for it. Martins played right-wing that day iirc. Sam might have used a similar formation, but the approach to the game was totally different. With KK we get 433 used to link up the attack and create more chances, with Sam it was to get more bodies in midefield and stifle the opposition.

Too true, I'd much rather have a motivator like Keegan telling them to go out and express themselves than Sam saying "try to get your short pass percentage up to 88%"

Talksport had a whole hour last night about why Michael Owen is now shit - I turned it off after 5 minutes. Fuck them.

No side benefits from relegation - Derby might have a chance of winning a game next season, but that's about it. If we want to get rid of players we can do it in the premiership like everyone else - the amount we need to sell is overstated anyway. Who we add is much more important.

Initial reaction was disbelief, when I found out it was true I couldn't help be swept along with the emotion. There's precious few people in football we owe as much to as KK... he left us as genuine title contenders and his succesors have gone about fucking it all up (Sir Bob excepted). I'm still happy, in another thread I've said - he's earned the right to some bad results, he will get time to turn it around. And he'll go about it in the right way, unlike the anti-football that is Big Sam. And another thing, I don't see why we need to be ashamed of having sentiment towards the guy or wanting to see attacking football. The press can get on with it if they want to mock, we know how it feels to be Newcastle fans inside