robbo_11

I think I might look into the youth awards for the next few months. Chris is linkedin good? I think I might get one, but had a quick look and unsure as to how it works!

Random spot was Joleon Lescott outside Subway along from Tup Tup last night.

The Brighton bet returns £39k so no way that will come in ha. Also Wigan just took the lead so doubt Blackburn will pull it off now.

Accumulators prior to KO. Blackburn, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Everton, Stoke, Aston Villa £1 returns about £70. Leicester, Ipswich, Leeds, Burnley/Norwich, Palace/Boro £1. Hull, Bristol City, Portsmouth, Forest/Watford, Millwall/Doncaster £1. Brighton, Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Brentford/Plymouth, Sheff Wed, Carlisle, Notts Co, Charlton, Oldham, Colchester, Swindon £1. Northampton, Rotherham, Shrewsbury, Hereford/Lincoln, Chesterfield, Wycombe/Port Vale, Stevenage/Accrington, Cheltenham, Gillingham/Oxford, Torquay, Bradford £1.

Although its come so late in the window I think £35m+ was too much to turn down for Carroll. Personally I think he is a bit of a knob and despite some great performances and goals I didn't really like him as a player. He was in Aspers on Saturday night and was acting a big timer at the black jack table. What's more annoying was we did it so late and now its unlikely we can replace him with another striker.

Deal close to £12m rejected by Wigan

Cole, Crouch and Heskey all been discussed as possible replacements. Crouch camp deny any deal happening. Cole camp has denied a deal will happen. Heskey has been rubbished by sources close to club (David Craig SSN)

Who said that David Craig? Aye. After he was on about the Carroll money he mentioned Llambias was trying to work on sorting out a short term deal to cover the striking options.

Sky Sports reporting that a short term deal could be done to solve Newcastle striking options.

Just back from the game so here are is my view. Before the game I said we would lose 2-1 so I'm happy with a point, but disappointed at how we couldn't hold on to a win naturally. I thought Danny Simpson did reasonably well, he put some good blocks in and tackles, but needed to close Lennon down more often. Coloccini scored a great goal, the control on the chest then the placement was tremendous. Leon Best did ok, but needed to be more alert when we had the chance to start play quickly. It was hard to say whether Ranger could have squared it for Lovenkrands but he was extremely close to going in. Guthrie harried the play along with Barton and most passes went to our team (one superb cross field ball by Guthrie to Gutierrez in the second half). Gutierrez had a good game causing Hutton many a problem (how easy did he go down as well?!). Van Der Vaart is obviously talented, but the amount of moaning was getting tiresome. Positives and negatives, but its another point toward safety.

The table is very close in the bottom half so I think its hard to say which teams are safe as results have been so indifferent. After the January transfers some teams could hit great form or bring in better quality players. Birmingham look to be in real danger. Their last league win was at home against Chelsea in November and they have not won an away game all season. They need to invest in a striker as they have no one able to score (Jerome and Ridgewell top scorers on 3). Wolves form has been indifferent often winning a game then losing the next game. Most of their wins have come at home apart from Liverpool away. They suffer from the same problem as Birmingham as they don't really have a player able to score 10-15 goals a season that can change draws into wins. West Ham, Wigan and Fulham are the other sides who could be in danger. West Ham have recently hit better form with only 1 loss in their last 5 beating Fulham away recently and in January you could see them spending some money on some more players. Wigan seem to be a team capable of securing a draw, but if they lose N'Zogbia in the transfer window then they lose their creativity. Fulham need to start picking up some points and stop the rot. They have had Zamora out for months, Dembele is no longer scoring as frequently and Andy Johnson doesn't seem the same player after injury troubles. These sides do however have goal difference in the favour as other sides around them have -10 goals plus. If Newcastle don't buy a player capable of scoring goals (I don't think Best, Ranger, Ameobi or Lovekrands are capable) then we could soon drop down the league. So far Carroll's goals have been getting us results. A lot of those teams near the bottom have been able to get draws and pick up a point, whereas I dont think Newcastle could keep a draw without some investment in a winger and a striker.

What did Toure do? I just heard the reaction from people around me and missed it. I did see Barry kick Barton though, but I doubt anything will be done about it.

Aside from two mistakes in the early minutes I don't think Man City outplayed us. We did well considering we put ourselves on the back foot and if Carroll had put the ball either side of Hart with his header we might have been back in the game earlier. What happened between Tiote and Toure?

Panathinaikos, Rangers, Schalke, Twente, Barca, Inter, Lyon and Man Utd - £2 pays £5558. Lyon, Barca, Man U/Valencia, Buraspor/Rangers, Benfica, Kobenhavn, Inter and Twente/Tottenham - £1 pays £1270. Kobenhavn, Inter, Lyon, Rangers, Schalke, Tottenham, Man Utd and Barca - £1 pays £481. Lyon, Barca, Man Utd, Buraspor/Rangers, Benfica/Schalke, Kobenhavn, Inter and Twente/Tottenham - £1 pays £500.

Have put £1.50 on Palermo and Sherif when both games were 1-1 which returned £20. Before games today put on £1 that PAOK, Villareal, Palermo, Dynamo Kiev and Sherif would win returning £27.

Won £40 off some random Argentinean accumulator a few nights ago so spread a few £1 accumulators on for tonight. Rosenborg, Man City, Atletico, Gent, Sporting, Zenit, Sampdoria, Getafe and Hajduk - £424. Leverkusen, Man City, Atletico, Gent, Lille, Zenit, Stuttgart, PSV, Odense and AEK - £2662. AEK, Getafe, Samp/PSV, Young Boys, Metalist, Zenit, Sporting/Lille, Gent, Atletico, Man City and Rosenborg/Leverkusen - £2000. AEK, Odense/Getafe, Samp/PSV, YB/Stutt, Metalist, Zenit, Sporting/Lille, Atletico, Man City, Gent, Rosenborg/Leverkusen - £6000.

Oldham, Crewe, Torquay, Aldershot, Lincoln, Chesterfield and P'Boro £1. Barnsley, Boro, QPR, Doncaster, Coventry, Leeds and Millwall £1. Wigan, Man Utd, Wolves/Sunderland, Fulham/Birmingham, Man City, Bolton, Everton and Arsenal £1. Bayern, Real Sociedad B, Leverkusen, Hannover, Hamburg, Crotone, Torino, Empoli, Siena, Ascoli and Pescara £1.

Wolves, Man Utd, Chelsea, West Brom/Stoke draw, Celtic, Cardiff, QPR and Burnley will return £527.

Not been the best day for betting today, however still hoping Al Ittihad can get me about £40 after putting £3 on them whilst they were 1-0 down. Also have put £5 on Twente, St. Etienne, Bordeaux, Caen and Inter.

Him and Nolan were in Tiger last night.

Jonas and Xisco in Koos last night. Jonas got photos with everyone and even danced with some people. Lita, Boyd, Robson and Bates from Boro in Floritas part. Mate went over to Lita to ask how he was doing and he just blanked him before asking him to go away (obviously standing on your own waving your fingers in a dance move is too cool). Boyd acknowledged him with a handshake at least. End of the day the Boro players seemed like knobs considering not everyone knew who they were and the girls didn't chat despite 'I'm a footballer'.

Justin Hoyte, Marvin Emnes, Anton Ferdinand, Kieran Richardson and Michael Chopra all in Tup Tup last night.

I think we played fairly well and did well to contain Man City for the most part, but obviously luck was not with us today. It was very sad to see Ben Arfa injured like that, but strange that we didn't even get a freekick. Hopefully he makes a full recovery, but as much as I would love for us to sign him I don't think Ashley will pay out for him. The Man City penalty was ridiculous as Tevez wasn't in the area and Williamson won the ball. I think what was more galling was that the referee didn't even use the linesman and made the rash call. When it came to our penalty claim he was in a great position, but just let play carry on. They talk about the Respect campaign for referee's but today I can't see anyway in which he could be defended. Tim Krul did well when called into action, which wasn't that often. James Perch had a better game (that stamp by Lescott could have led to a broken ankle), but still needs to read the game more. Colo looked composed before the injury. Sol Campbell was good when he came on and Williamson was excellent, although he could have scored with a free header near the end. Jonas played very well in the first half causing all sorts of problems, but was quiet in the second half, probably due to City targetting him as the dangerman. Joey Barton had a very good game, breaking up their play and trying to get the ball out wide. Routledge didn't offer a lot, his crossing wasn't the best and against Lescott he had no chance to challenge for the ball. Kevin Nolan was pretty useless, the game bypassed him and he wasn't involved at all. Ameobi did decent, but with limited support and he could win all the flick ons he wants, but Nolan was never going to run onto them. Carroll came on and lumping the ball up to him against experienced defenders isn't going to be effective, his touch could also do some work. The annoying thing about Man City was the way the played the game, they didn't offer a lot, but the amount of cynical fouls given away when Newcastle looked like breaking was atrocious. Boateng and Toure were two that were booked for doing this, but how De Jong never got booked despite leaving his foot in on Gutierrez is a wonder.

Gokhan Tore

I've only saw the second half today, but James Perch is a Championship player at best. He has average pace and occasioanlly a decent tackle (like on Etheringham today). However his faults outweigh his positives. I saw it mentioned on here that he might be to blame for the first goal, but really if Carroll remains within touching distance of Jones he has a better chance to clear the ball or put Jones off. - He needs to learn how to judge the flight of the ball. Two examples from today when he left Etheringham in behind trying to push up before making a recovery tackle and then his own goal as he checked where Huth was before diving for the ball. - He should try and relax on the ball, often when he makes a mistake he tries to get rid of the ball quickly and normally just anywhere as opposed to a team mate. He never looks comfortable controlling a ball. - Spatial awareness is a let down as he just doesn't understand where other players are/or will be going. Right at the end today he gets tackled by Williamson as he went for Jones, however if he had supported Williamson instead by going round him he wouldn't have ended up on his arse. - A corner at Everton which is cleared slightly and we can still apply pressure, but then Perch tries a half volley that goes way over the bar instead of playing it wide to the corner taker to get another cross in. - His yellow card record speaks for itself, most likely he has been booked because he has been to slow to react to a situation or has made an error and tries to make amends. Not every recovery tackle will come off like on Etheringham today. I don't want to say he is done for, but I'd rather have Ryan Taylor in his place before Danny Simpson comes back to fill the RB role.