LoveItIfWeBeatU

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/02/22/nufc-academy-aims-to-be-among-the-very-best-72703-30379504/

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/02/22/newcastle-united-fooball-club-youth-blueprint-72703-30379502/

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2012/02/22/newcastle-united-to-invest-1m-more-in-academy-61634-30379078/

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2012/02/22/nufc-academy-has-the-potential-to-be-the-best-61634-30379079/

It's a bit harsh to not take other teams performances into account. It's easy to argue that with the players Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City have got they should be playing better football than they are at the moment. We'd all like to play wonderful, entertaining football but at the end of the day it's a results business. I'd rather win than play pretty football. Apart from Ben Arfa for Obertan, Pardew played the side I would have picked against Spurs. We got hammered. A more defensive set up might have got us a better result.

A few people have said we're not playing "well". Can anyone tell me a team who are playing consistently well? Not Chelsea or Arsenal for a start. Sunderland are on a good run but are they playing well? They seem to be about sitting back and hit teams on the break. Apparently they aren't that entertaining to watch but the good results excuse that. Swansea and Norwich play passing football. I'd rather be where we are in the table than they are though. Even Man City with their squad are grinding out 1 - 0 wins. Tottenham are playing well I suppose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17033853

Why were they allowed to run up such a tax debt in the first place? I'm sure HMRC knew Rangers owed them long before the figure reached £49m. The same goes for Portsmouth. It stinks that clubs can live beyond their means and expect to get away with it. Thanks to Ashley taking the unpopular, painful (but correct) route of running NUFC as a business we are probably now one of the best financially run clubs around.

This game is live on ITV4 in case people didn't realise.

Routledge doesn't make the Swansea first 11. Obertan is useful to bring on as an impact sub. I wouldn't start him. If not Ben Arfa we need a new right winger (it hasn't helped that Marveaux has been injured most of the time). Tranquillo Barnetta on a free in the Summer perhaps?

Would be just our luck this season. E.g. QPR got a load of new players before our game and a new manager before the next game. Dirty Harry gets off with tax evasion and then England manager hype just before we play Spurs.

We were awful. You make your own luck but it seems every ricochet even landed at the Tottenham player's feet. Parker should have been sent off in the first half for his tackles from behind. He did at least 3 and only got booked for one of them. I still think it's a joke that Man City loaned out Adebayor to Tottenham. We were destroyed by a player Tottenham probably can't even afford to buy or pay his full weekly wages. Man City will probably sell him to them for a knock down price!

No, we want Sunderland to draw against Arsenal next week and then have a replay which goes to extra time which Sunderland then lose on penalties. Nice and tired out before the derby.

The guy on "BBC Final Score" going through the team at the Cardiff game said "Vuckic returns to the side".

As long as they don't win the cup, the more games they have to play the better.

Why would a Smoggie fan run on and slide tackle (and potentially injure) one of their own players?

The last time the FA appointed the "popular choice" as England manager it was Keegan and that didn't work out well. Hopefully all the "Harry Redknapp for England manager" talk and all the court case stuff will upset Tottenham's preparation for Saturday.

Does this go to extra time if it's a draw at 90 minutes or is it straight to penalties? I wouldn't mind this being an energy sapping 120 minute game to 'help' Sunderland prepare for their next game.

We haven't played brilliantly that often but which team has? Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have all been misfiring. Alan Hansen got a rocket from Fergie last week for suggesting Man U haven't played that well this season.

As usual the MOTD highlights missed out a load of chances e.g. Perch's shot, Cisse's header straight at Given, Obertan's over the bar shot, etc. They didn't even discuss the challenge on Taylor or the fact that he was stretchered off!

I was with the benching of Ben Arfa today after his last two games but I really don't understand the "today wasn't a game suited to Ben Arfa" stuff each time he's not playing (and NUFC wins) Not suited as in if he kept losing the ball it puts a lot of pressure on us when the opposition team are hitting us on the break with pace. If Ben Arfa is running forward the rest of the team will race forward to support. If he loses the ball we're out of position and having to sprint to get back. I bet Obertan starts on the right next week to go up against Bale. Obertan has the pace and work ethic to chase Bale. I doubt Ben Arfa will be trusted to do that. I think you're exagerating the amount of ball he loose during a game He had two bad games against Brighton and Blackburn, but otherwise I don't think that you can summarise his football and contribution to the team this year, with the little chances given by Pardew, like that. After all, Jonas loose the ball a lot in first half but he kept his place in second half and played better... It was not a game for him against a (poor) Villa and it will not be a game for him against the Spurs, so when will he play ? Jonas runs all day. If he loses the ball he tends to run after it. I've just noticed your user name so I see it's probably a waste of my time expecting you to admit to anything negative about Ben Arfa's game. I'm a Newcastle United fan rather than a Ben Arfa fan. If Ben Arfa plays well for Newcastle then great, if Newcastle win without Ben Arfa that's fine by me too. By the way, it's lose not "loose".

I was with the benching of Ben Arfa today after his last two games but I really don't understand the "today wasn't a game suited to Ben Arfa" stuff each time he's not playing (and NUFC wins) Not suited as in if he kept losing the ball it puts a lot of pressure on us when the opposition team are hitting us on the break with pace. If Ben Arfa is running forward the rest of the team will race forward to support. If he loses the ball we're out of position and having to sprint to get back. I bet Obertan starts on the right next week to go up against Bale. Obertan has the pace and work ethic to chase Bale. I doubt Ben Arfa will be trusted to do that.

Today wasn't a game suited to Ben Arfa. If we'd been chasing the game and hadn't used up our substitutes I would have imagined Ben Arfa would have come on. Ben Arfa can create something out of nothing but he also loses the ball quite often. With Aston Villa hitting us on the break with pace it would have been very risky to have Ben Arfa on, especially when his ball retention isn't great. As for Pardew, keep up the good work!

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/sport/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/02/05/james-tavernier-won-t-be-among-united-cull-79310-30268327/

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/newcastle-united-news/2012/02/04/returning-given-is-set-for-a-warm-welcome-61634-30263751/ http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/02/03/james-perch-why-i-m-loving-life-on-tyneside-72703-30257213/