LoveItIfWeBeatU

The BBC report is littered with mistakes. They seem to confuse Sissoko with Cisse. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21455111

I see we won 0 - 0 on aggregate according to the BBC: - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21536915

It has to be said that Ben Arfa can have no complaints when it comes to how NUFC treat him when he's injured. Each time he's been injured he seems to have done his recovery and physiotherapy in France (Clairefontaine). He only seems to come back to Newcastle a week or two before he's ready to start a game. He's been very unlucky with injuries at Newcastle. It would be good for him to go a season without being out injured for months.

I'm an atheist. A lot of our players seem to be religious. That's fine if it keeps them out of trouble off the pitch but I'm not a fan of players who think NUFC defeats are "God testing them". Their god obviously doesn't think much of NUFC. Man U are the "Red Devils" and they win all the time.

His corners aren't very good.

As I said after the Tottenham game, with the benefit of hindsight, Obertan would probably have been a much better sub than Marveaux turned out to be.

Yanga-Mbiwa was picked for the Europa League squad over Debuchy because Yanga-Mbiwa can play centre back and right back where as Debuchy only plays as a right back. Therefore I don't find it that strange that Yanga-Mbiwa is at right back. On paper, playing at right back is less likely to cause a problem compared to starting at centre back. Colo and Taylor should know each other's game whereas Yanga-Mbiwa is new to the team.

Yes but how often has he made a big difference on a game?

To be fair to Elliot, apart from his first game where he was shaky I think he's shown that he is a decent keeper. Harper's contract ends this season. I assume we'll be getting another keeper to replace Harper unless one of the young keepers becomes 3rd choice.

Marveaux has a lot of fans on here but we don't seem to have won many games when Marveaux plays from the start. I guess a lot of that is to do with him getting games when the likes of Ben Arfa and Cabaye have been out so he hasn't been playing in our strongest team. People like him but does he make a big enough impact in games for us? I'm still not sure whether the Premier League suits him. He hasn't played a lot of games but you'd like to see him stamp his authority on a game. For example, if he plays on Thursday I'd like to see him have a big influence on the game.

I thought Marveaux was anonymous after he came on to replace Gouffran. For me Marveaux only seems to have an impact when he's playing behind the striker. In hindsight maybe Obertan would have been a better sub for Gouffran. Obertan can often play like a headless chicken but his pace is similar to Gouffran and Gouffran's pace was causing Tottenham problems. I'd play Marveaux on Thursday behind the striker.

Were NUFC actually named by his club? NUFC.com had quotes from his club saying they'd received an offer but they didn't say who from. People assumed the offer was from NUFC. The offer may well have been from NUFC but NUFC weren't named.

There were rumours that NUFC made an enquiry. We've only got Cisse, Gouffran and Shola as senior strikers. We must be in for another striker in the Summer.

It sounds like Gouffran was almost definitely arriving in the Summer before his signing was moved forward to January. Was his Summer signing a done deal? Anyway, we almost bought Remy so you'd have to think if everything had gone to plan we would have got Remy in January and Gouffran in the Summer. Based on that, I think we will be buying a striker in the Summer. The £8m set aside to pay for Remy hasn't been spent (assuming the money to bring the Gouffran and Sissoko signings forward wasn't from the same pot. If it was we've spent around £4m of it).

Only one player who has played in the Champions League can be registered. So NUFC can only register one from Yanga-Mbiwa or Debuchy as both have played in the Champions League this season. Simpson, Perch or Santon can play right back. Apparently Yanga-Mbiwa can also play there too.

Almost as much as "Demba Da" whoever he is. Whitley Bay playing Metalist Kharkiv is good for them but £10 a ticket is steep considering it is £15 a ticket at SJP on the Thursday. I guess NUFC will have scouts in attendance.

Saw him do it twice, not sure what he was doing. First one was given as a freekick IIRC. Yes, it might have been twice he did it. I saw Pardew call him over (I think it was when Ba was down) probably to tell him to keep his hands down!

One problem with Taylor yesterday was he kept jumping with his hands straight up in air. It could easily have resulted in a penalty if the ball had hit one of his hands.

Tiote!

That guy walking all around the Gallowgate was dressed as "Lion-O" from the "ThunderCats". "You don't know where you're going" was what the crowd sang at him. You'd think he'd just go and ask a steward where his seat was. Strange how when he eventually found his seat there was no one else in fancy dress near him. Maybe he was just a loony?

Steven Taylor will probably start due to the fact that he has played against Demba Ba numerous times in training. The NUFC staff will probably think that gives Taylor an insight as to what he's up against compared to Mbiwa going in cold against Ba. Having said that, if Ba used to boss Taylor every day in training I think we would start Mbiwa instead.

Why would he have wanted to go to Wigan now? I would have thought Simpson would be happy to leave in the Summer as a free agent. He'll probably get a signing bonus and slightly more wages by not costing his next club a transfer fee. In the Summer he'll probably have more clubs to choose from and he'll know what division those clubs are playing in. I'm happy to have him as cover. He is also available to play in the Europa League games. Only one from Debuchy or Yanga-Mbiwa can be registered to play in the Europa League so we may need Simpson. http://www.nufc.com/2012-13html/toon-de-france.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21202513 6ft 4in and only 13 stone? No way is Samba only 13 stone. He looks like a heavy weight boxer. I'm 6ft 5in, I go to the gym regularly and I weigh 15 stone. I'd assume Samba weighs at least 15 stone. Looking at Jonathan Pearce, I wouldn't be surprised if he himself didn't weigh more than 13 stone and I doubt he's very tall.

Our bench was very light on attacking options against Aston Villa so it's good news that Marveaux and Obertan are due back.

what you on about, we've got shola, ranger and campbell ? I'm sure you are joking but just in case, I meant senior strikers. I counted Cisse, Gouffran and Shola (and I don't think Shola's goals per game return warrants the "striker" label).