oldtype

Given, Carr, Ramage, Moore, Elliott, Solano, Bowyer, Emre, N'Zogbia, Shearer, Ameobi: 3-1 win Given, Solano, Huntington, Taylor, Ramage, Parker, Butt, Emre, Milner, Martins, Dyer: 3-1 win Given, Ramage, Taylor, Huntington, Pattison, Solano, Butt, Milner, Dyer, Martins, Sibierski: 3-2 win Given, Beye, Faye, Cacapa, Jose Enrique, Geremi, Butt, Emre, N'Zogbia, Martins, Owen: 3-1 win Harper, Beye, Taylor, Faye, Jose Enrique, Barton, Butt, Geremi, Owen, Viduka, Martins: 4-1 win Given, Beye, Bassong, Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Gutierrez, Guthrie, Butt, N'Zogbia, Ameobi, Owen: 2-1 win Aside from the 4-3-3 under Keegan (and perhaps even that), those are some pretty bloody horrific teams. We've always been underdogs against Spurs. No need to start slitting your wrists already.

Harper Beye Edgar Bassong Taylor Jonas Guthrie Nolan Duff Owen Carroll We have ALWAYS been worse than Spurs. We have ALWAYS had no right whatsoever to beat them. But we always do. I refuse to be pessimistic. 2-1 win

Sorry babatunde, added the photo of Kinnear late Having put together that little montage, I realize that I feel surprisingly little antipathy towards Glen Roeder. Yeah he was a shit manager, and he was never going to take us forward, but he certainly has contributed nowhere near as much to the destruction of the club (IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, I KNOW KEEGAN DID GREAT AMAZING -worthy THINGS IN THE 90s) as the other six. The fact that we didn't go down in 2006-2007 despite an epic injury crisis that makes our current one look like a joke is nothing short of a miracle.

No Kinnear? I started out with the first row but added a bunch. He's there now

http://img.skysports.com/07/11/218x298/FreddyShepherd_598656.jpghttp://img.skysports.com/07/09/218x298/GraemeSouness_566271.jpghttp://img.skysports.com/08/01/218x298/MikeAshley_621291.jpghttp://img.skysports.com/09/01/218x298/Sam-Allardyce_1853938.jpghttp://img.skysports.com/08/03/218x298/Kevin_Keegan_696802.jpghttp://img.skysports.com/08/10/218x298/joe-kinnear_1429521.jpg

I kind of know what you mean. Today was a great game, but I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed it as it was so f***ing tense. I meant the goal was scrappy from our point of view, with our slapstick defending making it easy. There's definitely a gap between us and the rest, though. An amalgamation of our squad and yours would have a good chance of cracking the top four. Unfortunately, neither team are good enough at the moment. With us the problem is that we've got the money, we're too hit and miss with our signings. With you, you don't have the money, but when you do spend it, you spend it well. Moyes is a quality manager, though, at least as good as, and arguably better than, O'Neill, overall because he makes some really great signings. No offense to either of you, but the sight of an Everton fan and a Villa fan patting each other on the back is just about enough to make me weep these days.

It appears you aren't a fan of Martins Dave. What if he was given a chance with Carroll who today showed he can actually flick the ball in the direction of his strike partner. Probably wouldn't help because running into channels is to Martins what hitting accurate long passes is to Nicky Butt. It's like he doesn't want to use his pace to get on the end of through balls. No, that would be too easy wouldn't it.

That's the spirit, f*** the 6 games to play, the ship has sunk, what hope is there, the other teams are all in brilliant form and will in no way slip up. Which statement is more pessimistic?

The sad thing is, during his brief productive patch under Kinnear he was good in the air, held up the ball well, and actually did work his socks off. Somehow since coming back from injury he's managed to unlearn all of those positive attributes.

A really, really top class header by the way. Just like his one against West Ham was.

By the way, I think somebody in the match thread mentioned that he'd deleted all of his friends on Facebook who were Newcastle fans? Think that makes it pretty obvious where his intentions lie...

Nothing to smile about really. We can call it a "frownie" instead.

He'd probably refuse because the seats on your car weren't cushy enough

Martins' first touch + Owen's injury proneness + Viduka's work ethic + Smith's goalscoring ability = http://www.goal.com/resultsimg/3983.jpg You know what? We need an Ameobi smiley.

All very likely to be gone. I wouldn't dream of saying no to being shot of Ameobi or Smith, but we're going to need to be striker shopping before we start tearing up the squad.

When in the past three years have we ever been favorites against Spurs? Yet we've beat them every single time. In with a chance.

Big and knows how to stick it in the back of the net. I don't care if he has 0 "footballer" skills, those two qualities alone make him important for us next year no matter what league we're in.

It's Spurs. We'll win. I flat out refuse to succumb to reality and think otherwise until the shit actually hits the fan.

two points off the Mackems, Hull and Blackburn still in touching distance... hope is very much alive.

Even if he did feign injury, we'll have to deal with it in another way. We just can't afford to lose him now. Bullshit we can't. If he plays again after feigning injury and destroying our tactical shape, that would seriously undermine Shearer's leadership. What does the club need right now? Our pride (and Shearer's), or players capable of making a difference? Are you sane? What kind of message do you think it sends out to the players if Shearer says "okay Oba, you feigned injury but I'm going to start you every week anyway because we've got nowt better." Is everything painted in black and white for you? Its called player management - obviously Shearer isn't going to say that, but he certainly shouldn't be letting Oba rot in the reserves. The players are nothing but resources, and its how we manage our resources thats going to get us out of this rut. I'd have no qualms if he was shipped out at the end of the season but this just isn't the time for that. Fucking hell man, he's not Fernando Torres. There is absolutely no need for the entire club to bend backwards to accommodate him despite his idiocy. What kind of message does it send out to the squad as a whole if Shearer is unwilling to stamp his foot down on this?

Q: How do you know when Shola Ameobi is at full match fitness? A: When he goes and gets himself injured again.

Even if he did feign injury, we'll have to deal with it in another way. We just can't afford to lose him now. Bullshit we can't. If he plays again after feigning injury and destroying our tactical shape, that would seriously undermine Shearer's leadership. Beg your pardon but...Shearer's what? Shearer's leadership? Are you sure about that? I think you were trying too hard to be snarky there that you forgot to say what you were actually trying to say.

Dropping Ameobi and Butt. Jesus, this "test" is about as difficult as second-grade arithmetic. Why the fuck do our managers consistently manage to fail it.

Even if he did feign injury, we'll have to deal with it in another way. We just can't afford to lose him now. Bullshit we can't. If he plays again after feigning injury and destroying our tactical shape, that would seriously undermine Shearer's leadership. What does the club need right now? Our pride (and Shearer's), or players capable of making a difference? Are you sane? What kind of message do you think it sends out to the players if Shearer says "okay Oba, you feigned injury but I'm going to start you every week anyway because we've got nowt better."

At least he showed up to play.