AyeDubbleYoo

You're right, he looked promising. Is also physically a beast, which makes him hard to get off the ball. Enjoyed it when he flattened Sagna.

It doesn't matter what they say in the press, as long as they don't sack him. Which they won't, and don't plan to. So it's fine.

Also, Calderwood going had absolutely fuck all to do with the position of Hughton or the future of NUFC. He was always going to leave if an opportunity like that came up for him. Total shit again, linking two things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

We need to remind ourselves of this fundamental truth every time we see some bollocks shat out by the latest god-awful excuse for a journo. The whole thing is mental and a creation of the media IMO.

Ranger was one of your best players. Totally agree, thought he looked more than decent. Some surprisingly penetrating runs as well, which I don't normally associate with him.

I think Ranger and Vuckic will turn out to be top players for us if we manage their development right... wish Nile had scored or dived when he rounded the keeper! In the end we deserved to get beat, but not by that much. Not much to be depressed or annoyed about, just the pecking order at the moment. Was surprised to see Hughton bring on the first team players, stupid decision IMO. I've seen it done by many managers in the cup mind, they really can't decide whether it matters or it doesn't.

Don't understand bringing on Carroll and Jonas... if we don't care about the cup then why risk them? If we do care, why not play a strong team from the start?

Fair play to the team though, they were putting up a decent fight until that.

FFS

We are going to get raped here like.

Will the brochure just say "Everyone gets injured, I'll be back again soon"?

Well thanks for that As I said though, Arsenal are beatable, if we turn in a Chelsea performance we'll have a chance. They are obviously favourites, and we know they're capable of abusing teams on occasion.

I just can't see any possible reason why Ashley would even consider getting rid of Hughton at the moment. He's doing a decent job, the fans aren't protesting as much, he's much cheaper than any alternative. I know Ashley is bonkers, but this would be too much.

The Arsenal team is beatable, it's also capable of tearing us to shreds. Fingers crossed! Guess we know how they'll play, that's a minor plus. :-[

"The octopus miracle"

Hughton probably never intended to hoy him straight in as much as he's had to.

I'm not a sports scientist or an expert in fitness, but rugby players that are 6'3" and built like tanks can batter their way through 80 minutes of high-speed action. There might be a slight reduction in stamina compared to the build of a distance runner, but football is a game of sprints, not a marathon. I would much rather have a team of Enriques than any other build. Yank football has a ridiculously low amount of actual playing time, I seem to recall it was little over 10 minutes with all the stoppage. Plus given that you play two different squads depending if you are in offence or defence, at the end players only need to exert themselves for low amounts of time. On the other hand, an average football player runs over 10km in a match. Yeah, but the majority of American footballers aren't built like sprinters, they're built like massive blocks of flesh. Only the running backs and wide receivers are properly explosive from what I've seen. A footballer might run 10km, but a lot of that is relatively light jogging. Also it isn't very far anyway. I really think the high-intensity intervals aspect of the game is much more important. Look at Christiano Ronaldo, he's very much in the mould of a sprinter. Anyway, as I said, I don't have any actual evidence or expert knowledge to back this up!

It's class how he says he'll be back fit soon. How many times can he say that with a straight face? He hasn't managed a prolonged period of fitness for about 7 years.

Class image!

I'm not a sports scientist or an expert in fitness, but rugby players that are 6'3" and built like tanks can batter their way through 80 minutes of high-speed action. There might be a slight reduction in stamina compared to the build of a distance runner, but football is a game of sprints, not a marathon. I would much rather have a team of Enriques than any other build.

He looks like he needs a good dinner for a start - but I suppose its a fine balance between retaining your speed and increasing your strength Building lean muscle and reducing body fat shouldn't reduce your speed though. Sprinters are generally heavily built. Enrique himself was close to becoming a sprinter, according to his Wiki page.

BEN BEN BEN ARFA, did you support Newcastle before Hatem arrived?

Well no, it's about whether (hypothetically given the choice now) you would accept 17th place or prefer to take your chances with relegation. It's also not about being 'happy' about 17th, or 'aiming for 17th'. It's a subtle distinction I'll admit

Met quite a few southern mags at the Chelsea game the other week, it's always a bit weird but we managed to generate a decent atmosphere on that night.

Nobody said anything about being pleased with 17th. That's not the point.