oldtype

we're not defending deep and we're not only playing long balls. I think there's a good mix of passing variety. If anything we tend to get into a bit of trouble when our fullbacks push up too hard. I agree that Kinnear has tactical issues, but it's not because of "long-ball." What's worried me is his horrible substitutions and his seeming inability to adapt our shape to the opponent's tactics.

Well, at least I've seen us score now. :-[ Honestly not too unhappy with the performance. We easily deserved at least a point if not all three, and probably would have won it comfortably if not for a certain individual... I wasn't aware of this, when did we bring Boumsong back? Wait, that was Cacapa? Well, I have trouble distinguishing between the two because they're both big, black, bald, and f***ing s***. Seriously, that's twice now that he's single-handedly, and I mean literally single-handedly cost us a match. Hopefully Kinnear will learn from his mistake and never, ever play him again. Great atmosphere from our support throughout the match. Watching a Newcastle match from the away end was really everything I dreamed it would be. I've completely lost my voice from screaming throughout the match, and the way the away stand at Fulham literally bounces made it feel like we were bringing the whole thing down when we scored. Lads in the back who kept banging on the metal caging got a bit annoying though. We got kicked out of the away pub exactly around when I arrived though, so I wasn't able to get a drink wonder what all the bother was about. Overall, I'm not as gutted as I'd normally be because a. I've finally seen Newcastle score at a live game, and b. I think performance-wise we've shown that we've got enough quality to avoid relegation if we keep playing at 100%. It was nice having one week where we could imagine that we'd dug ourself out of the relegation fight and could make it up to top half, but the time for dreaming is over now. Time to get our s*** together and prepare for a long, hard season. (f*** me, we're already back in the bottom three )

ok but if i get my head kicked in by a martial arts blackbelt who happened to be lost in south london i'm blaming you It would have to be one who also, by pure coincidence, happened to be wearing a Newcastle shirt

If anyone notices a confused-looking Asian sitting/standing alone with a pint at the pub tomorrow, feel free to come over and say hi.

It's been mentioned among Korean fans for a while that Jonas is basically Jisung Park, only better. Has the same work rate, pace, passing with better strength/balance. I think Fergie would love him. Although you would think he might have something against Argentines...

Few things in football better than experiencing us scoring at an away game IMO. Let's hope you get to feel it a couple of times tomorrow. Fingers crossed. This is probably a bad time to mention that I've also had the dubious pleasure of seeing our players booed off at halftime in every match I've attended as well.

three, so admittedly it's not a lot

Rational? Football fans? does not compute

might not be a bad idea I've come too far to do that though, even for the common good!

We shouldn't push him up too fast I think. Experiencing the highest level, even if it's only as a late cameo sub, too fast could just kill his confidence. Remember, Andy Carroll is a dominant striker at the reserve level. The first team is a huge step up.

oldtype, I watched the game in a boozer on County Rd and I'm a bit smashed now. Our fans always travel in good numbers but we're not the loudest, home or away. Absolute daylight robbery to get 3 points, we didn't even deserve a draw. A mad 5 mins and a bit of class from Saha made me a very happy lad. Aye, you were so poor I was more surprised than anything. Looked like Newcastle with Blue shirts for most of the match. Credit where credit's due though, you were able to force a lot of half decent crosses into the box and ultimately one (or two) of them was bound to hit the mark. #3 was just gravy.

I just want to see us score at a match I'm attending. For the first time. EVER.

That is word by word exactly what I was about to post.

Was at Upton Park for the West Ham - Everton match. Decent atmosphere for most of the match, but that might be just because I was stuck in the middle of what seems to be their "singing section." I was a bit disappointed with the Everton away support, pretty quiet untill they scored. West Ham dominated for 70 minutes, and they fully deserved their first goal. Came a bit late if anything. For most of the match I was thinking that Everton were, utterly, utterly shite and would not score today. I may have been just a bit annoyed because I had backed three of their players to be first scorer When West Ham scored the crowd exploded and really started pushing their team on. I thought the game was done and dusted.... And then they collapsed. Just utterly collapsed. Either they've got the most gutless bunch of players ever or they just don't give a shit. How can you not raise your game when the crowd is helping you on like that, much less descend into the abyss like that. Mass exodus out from the home fans started the minute Everton scored the second goal, (hey media, I thought that only happened at Newcastle ) When Everton scored the third pretty much the entire ground except for the away fans emptied. Suited me just fine, as it meant I could avoid the rush. PS1: West Ham's continued attempts to somehow link Obama with the club are just... awkward. PS2: West Ham fans behind me having a fit over Parker's "stupid pirouette turn things." Ah... Memories.

Based on the interview at least, JFK seems to know his stuff. Refreshing. When's the last time you saw a manager agree with us exactly?

Harper Carr Taylor Ramage Huntington Milner Parker Butt Duff Martins Sibierski That's the squad we were forced to play for most of 2006-2007 due to first-team inuries. Even if you bring back some of our better injured players like Dyer, Emre and Bramble(yes, bramble. He was the best CB we had that season.) the squad is still shocking. (You can't really say Owen was an NUFC player in 2006-2007. Roeder had him at his disposal for about two matches) Let me put that into perspective for you. That back line? One of them is currently the weakest member of our back four. The second plays in the Championship. The third is a squad player for a League One side. The last one is currently without a club and will never play football at the top level again. The more you think about it the fact that we weren't relegated that year seems more and more like an achievement. Our defense that year was arguably worse than Derby's ever was.

yeah, just noticed.

theres the supporters buses which alot of people will be on and there's a trains at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm from Kings Cross to Newcastle (the 8pm is direct with no changes) some people are staying with me on the sunday night in London I am going to eb getting the bus down there at 23:50 on Saturday night, arriving in London for around 07:00. On the way home I am getting a bus to Stansted airport and flying at around 21:50. Excluding tube fees and the easybus it is costing me £32. Including them two though it has probably comes to about £45 but it's worth it since we are having the full dya there. I've got that overnight bus twice before, it's alright Did you just sleep on the way down, or did you opt for the "hardcore party animal - I party all night AND day" plan? i fell asleep after about 30 minutes, you wake up and you're there I've been on that bus once. We had two drunk French blokes way in the back singing s*** in French the whole way down. I've never wanted to kill a human being more before.

This is quite simply 100% press invented. Agbonlahor had no intention to press charges. Aston Villa had no intention to complain. The FA had no intention to punish Barton. Just the press whining and pouting in the hopes that they could get rid of one of their big targets.

Fucking media will push this to the limit until they drive Barton out of football.

http://www.dotpenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/barack_obama_race_card.jpg

Villa suffering from a congested season kind of reignites my dormant sympathies for Glen Roeder. He had an immensely congested schedule, with a weak squad to begin with (Bramble first choice CB, Sibierski our main goal threat, only two recognized fullbacks at the club and they were Babayaro and Carr), and a simply f***ed up amount of injuries. In some sense it's an achievement that he kept us up that year. He wasn't cut out for the job, but I find it difficult to hate the bloke. If AZ away didn't happen (or if Dyer/Bramble didn't lead the resulting player revolt,) he might still be here leading us to consistent mid-table mediocrity (which doesn't sound so bad considering where we are now.)

Bremen at home and Panathanikos away I believe. Would really like to see them qualify and cause a bit of a stir.

Oba should probably play ahead of Owen anyway solely based on the fact that he'll probably be at this club for a while. Owen is nailed-on to leave in the Summer or even before that. It make sense from a long-term perspective to keep developing Oba at Owen's expense even if in the abstract Owen is a better footballer.

Kinnear's tactics simply don't work without Shola Ameoheskey up front to knock down those balls forward and create space for the small striker partnering him. Shola is now undroppable. (OMFG I can't believe I just typed that. ) It's either a straight swap for Martins (very harsh on Oba,) or changing to a 4-3-3 and dropping Duff (harsh on Duff + why change a winning tactic.) In the end I really don't think Owen can come back in to the starting lineup for now. Rather have him coming off the bench until we inevitably pick up another injury or Oba hits a cold streak. (which will probably happen sooner rather than later given his inconsistency)