toonarmy

smiths been fine, nothing great, barely seen much of him at all.

I just moved to New York, which means I can't have satellite of course, and thus no Setanta, I only have FSC, which means only one match for 2 months. Anyone know any good bars in Manhattan to watch Newcastle games with other Newcastle fans? I've heard Nevada Smith's name floated around, but it's probably packed with manure fans and such. Any other ones anyone knows of?

It's a chicken and egg thing-the teams that were doing well when games started being on tv in asia were the ones on tv a lot. that was the asian fan's only method at the time to know what was going on in football in England. Therefore they became fans of those teams and wanted them to succeed, since that was what they saw. If someone random won, they knew nothing about them, and therefore could not care. It is very difficult to get someone to care about a team in a league thousands of miles away, when they have no connection to the city/country, know nothing about them, and rarely if ever see them on tv.  otherwise, it is just a faceless player wearing an abstract jersey. Meanwhile, the teams on tv were the ones they feel a connection to, they recognize the players and are pulling for them, since they have even learned a little more about them and their history. Why would a fan there pull for the underdog they know nothing about, since they can only be fans of the teams they are exposed to. This doesn't mean that you could never get Asian fans to care about the other teams, but it wouldn't be easy. The "other" teams would have to win enough to get on tv, and win long enough to become more than just a faceless statistic, so that fans there with no other connection can feel a part of the team. Its not winning teams they are inherently pulling for-its the teams they are exposed to regularly, who are all around them and on tv and in the news, who they can connect to, who they can attach a face to-in short, the big 4 for now.

also assumes that oba will go back and play for nigeria again after being shot at last month. i think he will, but its far from a certainty.

good news: shola nearly scores on a header from a nice cross from milner

bad news: sibs has a broken arm likely, and emre off with injury

if you are looking at pure quality alone of the goal, i would argue messi's was slightly better. messi was going much faster seemingly, partly because the athletes have improved over time. the goal also looked a bit better because the defenders did a slightly more comical job. however, obviously, when you consider the significance of the goals, maradonas was more important, and thus a bigger and better goal. but on pure quality of the goal, i would argue messi's was ever so slightly better.

one other thing about cronaldo-he's cut down a bit on the diving, and hopefully he will cut it out totally soon to remove pretty much the main downside in his game. but also, hes starting to stay up on his feet and play through much more when he could easily go down and get that free kick, like last night at least a few times, like on the play setting up carrick's first goal i believe. he's got the strength to run through many fouls, and he's starting to realize he's even more effective staying on his feet, which is scary. i think that at this moment in time, he's the best in the world, which is always all you can ever compare, because different eras were always different in too many ways to make it fair.

incredible save by valencia

i agree about the ref, besides the pen decision, which was definitely iffy, he did a fantastic job, letting the players play, not getting in the way.

also, that bramble tackle was shockingly good. i was resigned to a goal coming, and then out of nowhere he made the tackle. i still dont know how he managed to make that tackle without committing a penalty, but great stuff from someone who usually finds a way to anger fans every match.

It's unfair to pin the blame on the gooch for the dumbass that wrote the piece. Obviously gooch was smart enough to realize newcastle was a great place for him to be, he's said all the right things, and who knows, he may even actually want to be here. It's possible that he received interest from Chelsea or manure, but decided he liked newcastle more or at least that playing time was more important than big-name. up to now, he seems to have made good choices for his development, so i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. hopefully he does well once he gets acclimated to the premiership, and then decides that newcastle is the right place for him in the future, which is what he's said so far.

groin injury he apparently has kept quiet for weeks, just finally got to be too much. still not ruled out yet for boxing day.

it's amazing how much being at the right position makes a difference, especially for young players. look at ramage, for last month or two, hes almost always played consistently decent, not too many mistakes. I remember the beginning of the season, he was out of position, and was horrendous, and we were ready to burn him at the stake. hopefully roeder stops screwing with the players, and plays them at their natural positions, especially once the injuries end. players like dyer need to be where they can maximize their impact, otherwise they look awful and do nothing, and the team looks like a mess.