AyeDubbleYoo

Alreet, alreet. Not saying he's going to be good, it's just good to hear these things.

If nothing else, it's great to have a player who thinks it's a step up to join us, and wants to raise his game to play here. Better than our usual signings of hasbeens from better clubs.

Yeah, but that's also true of a pot plant. even just the pot. To be fair, I'd put Guthrie and Smith in ahead of the pot, and the other two behind.

I think he might unleash The Be(a)st from the start, hope he doesn't get 15 pathetic minutes like most of Hughton's subs.

Being an athlete isn't a talent though, anyone can achieve physical fitness through hard work. As Ronaldo says, he just couldn't be arsed.

Yeah, but that's also true of a pot plant.

And flying pigs to stop flights into Newcastle airport.

What makes you think he is quality? Good to see we are still trying to pick up good youngsters. What makes you think he's a good youngster?

Agree with Kewell, he could have been brilliant. Not sure being injured should count as wasted talent though...

He's the best player for one of the top 5 or 6 clubs in Europe and he's only 24 - don't think his talent is wasted at all.

Wouldn't it be better to enforce them for everyone though?

Aye, good noises there... I like Hughton's comments about the number nine shirt as well.

It's rank that.

Not average for this league though. How many other Championship sides have a collection of defenders that cost £15-£20 million and a collection of midfielders that cost £15-£20 million? If you're trying to say that the midfield isn't average then got to say you're wrong. On price they're worth more than most, but on ability they're shizzite.

I bet he starts Nolan and Butt against Cardiff and I also think they will beat us. I wouldn't be surprised if you're right there, I just hope it doesn't happen.

Saw enough CAUTION in the Leicster game to last me a lifetime and he just stood there perplexed and then made changes way too late. It might happen that we miss automatic promotion by 2 points, cause it's going to be close...We will lose more games as teams are less in awe of us than the start of the season and they've worked it all out...Hence Leicester continued to attack with 10 men cause they could see we were essentially toothless. Butt and Nolan basically have almost no movement and no ability to dicatate anything other than a pizza order on the phone. I'm astounded there are people in here who refuse to see that CH doesn't really have the mental and tactical tools to help us in the PL it is quite evident already, we are just scraping by at the minute....Sooner or later we'll lose 2 or 3 games close together. It sounds like you're really criticising the players more the Hughton. I hope he plays Guthrie in the middle now he has Routledge, that's pretty much all he can do to improve central midfield.

That's a fair point, but draws are a lot more valuable than defeats in more ways than just points. To a footballer, and to a certain extent a manager and the press, a draw is a decent result, you didn't get beat. It doesn't destroy confidence like defeats can do. I think this might be part of the reason that we aren't trying harder for wins - it's definitely part of the reason why I can't criticise our approach too much.

Stoke are looking stronger all the time though, aren't they? I think it's a big error to assume that football is gradually sorting itself into having the most attractive teams at the top and the rest below them. Maybe to a certain extent (i.e. the top 6 or so), but not generally.

It's not even about the PL though is it? We're getting routinely outplayed in the CCC. As Shak says if he can't do it now how in hell is he going to do it in a league that is light years ahead in terms of pace, power and technique?? If you're talking about performances then I can't disagree with you, it's obvious that we concede a lot of possession and often get overrun in midfield. But we're top of the league and picking up points fairly consistently. We look on course for promotion, I can see why Hughton won't change things.

I hadn't got that impression. He falls over a lot, but that's because he tries to run through people.

You could argue that the Premiership is mostly made up of teams who play 'bad football'. Not as bad as us, but they're all not Arsenal. I want us to play better football as well, but most of all I want us to get promoted. At the end of the day, you can't argue with the results we've acheived with a very average squad of players.

Shearer also had great touch, passing, crossing, shooting and decent pace (before injury) - think he had most of the talent you need to be a world-class player. It might have been achieved through a load of graft on the training ground, not sure if that makes a difference.

On a serious note though, it's part and parcel of the game that injuries occur to players and during that time they still get paid. If they had doubts about Dyer's fitness (which they should have) and/or they couldn't afford him, they shouldn't have offered him such a big contract in the first place. Would be interesting if footballers had to claim statutory sick pay after a certain number of months out like normal people!

I always thought Lua Lua was going to be immense, but he never quite made it. Not sure if it's wasted talent or just lack of talent.

You're probably right, his personality is probably his biggest weakness.