Wallace

Feel sick already and constantly changing my mind about the outcome.

Rob Hulse from QPR to Millwall. I never even knew he was there.

If Graham is desperate to come back to the NE and we don't want him then Sunderland is his only choice.

I've lost whatever little trust I had in Pardew in the past few weeks, but f*** me how the hell would he get away with doing anything like you suggest? The circumstances are completely different to the above scenario. He is also a different person with different experience now! Is it not possible that he has learned something from that fiasco? Granted Pardew wasn't involved in what names we signed, but I'm fairly certain he knows our weaknesses, and will play the new players, moving heaven and earth for them in fact, as he knows they are the only chance we have of staying up. The circumstances are far from completely different - at West Ham, they were fighting against relegation just as we are now and it wasn't until he was pressured into playing Tevez regularly that they escaped....if you remember, Sheff Utd tried to get the Hammers relegated in their place because there was an irregularity with Tevez' registration or something and they said it was his goals that saved W Ham.... Hadn't Pardew already been sacked before Tevez started playing regularly?

Heard somethng the other day where they said he would be the next big star from Africa now Drogba is near the end of his career.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/10187334.THE_INSIDER__Newcastle_could_still_achieve_top_academy_status/ THE INSIDER: Newcastle could still achieve top academy status Saturday 26th January 2013 DESPITE reports yesterday suggesting Newcastle United had once again missed out on Category One status in the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) academy categorisation, the Insider has learned that a final decision will not be taken until the end of the season. Last July, Sunderland and Middlesbrough were awarded Category One status, while Newcastle were initially graded as Category Two, a situation that had the potential to seriously hamper their ability to attract young English players. The Magpies appealed against the decision, and the Premier League effectively granted them a grace period to make some changes before another assessment. That is why Newcastle United are playing in the new Barclays Under-21 Premier League, a competition that is only supposed to be open to Category One clubs. Yesterday, a series of reports emerged suggesting Newcastle had once again failed to achieve Category One status following a reassessment process. However, The Insider can reveal those reports are incorrect as Newcastle are not due to be assessed until later in the season. A decision is expected before the end of the campaign, and Newcastle officials remain hopeful they will be upgraded to full Category One status.

Supposedly a hamstring problem but probably a precaution as it is a cup game.

I would have thought the captaincy issue would have been discussed in the conversation Pardew had with Colo and therefore the conclusion must have been that Colo was happy to continue as captain and Pardew was convinced that he would be in the right frame of mind. If it looks like he is not coping then at least we have cover now and can rest him for a game or two.

It was mentioned on Talksport but I don't recall hearing or seeing such comments. I wonder if there has been a mix up with what some of the French clubs have been saying about their players joining us.

Then again Arsenal played a weak Newcastle team without their best players (Cabaye and Ben Arfa) and pushed them all the way. If we had those 2 available, we might well have beaten them.

There's also the possibility that Pardew has to think now and i don't know about you but Pardew having to think is very dangerous IMO. That's very true.

Should put an end to that Allardyce always keeps teams up nonsense. I would absolutely love it. He is in the second year of a 2 year contract and they don't seem to be in any rush to extend it.

The nice thing is there options now. Previously the team picked itself so it must have been easy for opposition managers to work out their game plan.

It was said yesterday that they booked a bigger venue that normal for the press conference which raised the question why. I guess it was due to all the French media they were expecting.

Two teams that can play very well in the first half and then completely lose the plot in the second half. No idea how this will pan out. The Millwall game could further affect Villa's confidence one way or another as it could help them move on from last night's result.

who is it, Auclair? Julien Laurens

I don't see why, given we desperately need a player like this whether Colo stays or goes. And I suspect ashley and pardew will have been shocked enough recently to actually accept the fact that we need transfers in very soon. It's 22nd Jan, and we've had one transfer. We were at the stage where getting three in in the first week could have actually made a significant difference to our league position. We can still use the argument that getting one or two players in before Villa could get us important points. We need him regardless of whether Colo stays or goes. The concern is though that if Colo does end up staying and his "head is not right" that he becomes more of a liability than an asset and without backup, we would be well and truly stuffed. And it does appear that off the field issues can affect Colo's game.

I am a bit worried about this too. It will eventually become a weakness if only French players will join us. Clique-forming at some level is inevitable once you go beyond a certain number. If we end up signing all of Gouffran, Mbiwa, and Sissoko, it is even reasonable to expect that English be the primary language on the training ground anymore? Pardew has said they all have to speak in English whilst at training. That will obviously be the cast policy-wise, but once the French players start outnumbering the non-French ones you have to wonder how easy that would be to enforce. Yeah I totally see where you are coming from with that. Just wanted to point out that Pardew has already addressed it as it has been pointed out as a concern by the media. The thing is that they might speak English at the training ground but probably very little away from it as the French players will probably socialise together and not use that much English. We've already heard new players say language is not a problem in a game because they can speak French to each other. Some players will be lazier than others at learning English especially if there are a lot of French speakers around them - they'll just do enough to get by. I heard Santon interviewed recently and his English is far superior to Cabaye's because he obviously spends most of his time with local people. I remember a comment by Cabaye saying that he was looking forward to understanding English well enough so that he could understand the banter and humour in the dressing room. I can imagine it will be the non-French speakers that will be the ones feeling they are missing out on the joke these days.

Obviously we have no idea what is happening and when the player is due here. I just hope that the club does it best to get the players over here pronto once a deal is agreed in order to reduce the risk of it being hijacked.

I'd say they're in real danger of missing out on the Europa (except I don't know how many teams will get in this year, obviously). Everton and Liverpool look very strong, and hopefully we'll keep our form up too. If Chelsea win the League Cup, it could go down to 7th place in the league depending on who gets to the Cup Final. If Chelsea get knocked out of the LC this week, then the winner of the LC will get one Europa place.

It would be another mental decision. Too many French speakers in the team and new ones arriving without any English - it has to be Cabaye.

I read somewhere yesterday that there was a local businessman who they were hoping would loan them the money but it would take the club a long time to pay him back.

Redknapp said in his post match interview that he needed a central defender as he was losing Nelson.

Bloke behind me criticises absolutely everything he does and I mean everything - even when he does something really good, the bloke says he hasn't done it in the right way. His comments have caused some friction with others around him at times.

Debuchy's home debut today. Hope he has a good game. Would be a shame for him if there is a negative atmosphere in the stadium today.