Gallowgate Toon

Shearer was a legend as a player no doubt, but everyone here is clouding their judgement if they're saying he isn't responsible today. His formation was pants, as was his starting selection, no Guthrie? what was that all about seems to me Dowie is pulling more strings than Al.

I agree tbh, very very poor formation even though it didn't work against Stoke.

Well hope Guthrie comes on for Butt then.

SMITH?

I just don't understand why you would change it round again after our promising spell against Stoke for half an hour, why not just keep the same team and shape from then?

Just woeful tactics and everything. 4-3-3 works when players are in the correct position. S.Taylor should be CB Beye RB and R.Taylor should be LB.

Just play 4 at the back too, against this lot where they have pace upfront 3 at the back is suicide.

We didn't play 3-5-2 when we played well against Stoke, why change it? rocks for brains.

Well this is shit. Tactics are useless still, 4-3-3 not 3-5-2 please.

Good players can still consistently score in shit teams, Martins (who is considered shite by a proportion of people) while he has been here has scored against 3 of the top 4 in England, Owen hasn't. Look at James Beatty he's scored a lot for a shit team and he did it for Southampton as well.

Disagree, showing against Man U proves that he's best as a starter. Something has obviously happened to Jonas since we saw him against them, he's either been trying to do too much or being told to play in a way that doesn't suit him etc. Obvious to me that we've not being seeing the 'real' Jonas for some time, but he's still played well for Argentina and it doesn't seem a coincidence to me.

Jonas looking more like the player from Man U and Guthrie getting an hour, he will be vital for us.

I think we would have done better if he'd started tbh we looked very devoid of ideas, he must start, and i think he'll play better because he'll be playing higher up the field instead of covering every blade of grass. Him, Barton and Guthrie is a mouth watering prospect considering the current crop.

Just been added to his new one, he's only got 90 friends atm man and about 25 of them are people from Newcastle.

Seriously doubt he was an impact sub, Stoke are arguably the fittest side in the league.

Just took it to Stoke, which is what we needed some endeavour, whether it was a tactical decision to run at tired legs which i doubt because Stoke are probably the fittest side in the league or it was just a rest, he proved when he came on he is vital. I'm looking forward to seeing what Al does with him tbh, hope he makes him play in this higher free role more often because we just need that creativity. Our midfield yesterday was just so lacking in anything and Stoke found that far too easy because it played straight into their hands getting numbers behind the ball and closing our options. I wonder if we'd have done better had Jonas started, but he must play every game from now on. A midfield of him, Barton, Guthrie and whoever else is a thousand times better than what we have at the minute, and i'm looking forward to the day they play together.

Made a huge difference yesterday imo. Carroll has got a lot of the plaudits for his goal but we were looking a lot more potent when Jonas came on. Dunno what position he was playing he seemed to have a free role, and it worked well showed us that the best way to beat teams like Stoke is to play real footballers, not cloggers. Remember Al saying last week Jonas needed to play further up the pitch, if he meant by what Jonas did yesterday then i feel much better as he showed great industry with some cracking runs, a couple of balls in the box, some nice balls behind the defence to Butt and Owen. However i do think it was wise to give him a bit of a rest, he has played a lot this season with internationals, but more of the same please Jonas.

If Oba aint' available then it has to be a straight swap for Loven, we need pace it's a necessity in today's game.

Although Carroll played well, I think a lot of credit has to go to Jonas cause we seemed a lot sharper when he came on, shame it was Guthrie that was taken off for him.

Chances are we were down there last night so he'd hardly travel back by himself. I know but what's the gain from that? I'd be more suspicious of feigning if he'd missed it altogether but on the day? Very strange indeed.

seems strange as to why he'd pull out when he didn't miss the game, he was in the stands.

I feel sorry for him like i do with many other players when they come here claiming this is their big move, especially as there looked to be a realistic chance we might actually push for Europe this season. Must make him sick seeing Depor only 5 points from the Champions League spot and we're 3 points from safety, could be the reason for his poor form tbh.

I'd like to see Nolan play alongside someone other than Nicky Butt before i make a real judgement on him.

Jesus christ. One of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read on on this forum. Well done. Coloccini makes 2 glaring errors, yet it's all Duff's fault for playing it simple. I feel sorry for the kids you manage. I already said that Colo made dreadfull errors, but the ball was safe out on the touchline, and instead was hooked into the top of the Penalty area. One bounce (and a poor touch) and the Anelka was all over Colo. If you think "playing it simple" means putting the ball into a dangerous area in such a way that it requires a one-time hoofing clearance than I'm glad you're not coaching my kids. That's an even dumber a statement than you think mine was. The way the ball came in to Colo (in hindsite) he should have hoofed it out of there, instead took a touch, bobbled it and then was in deep ****. I expect more from both players.....better control and touch from Colocini and not passing the ball into dangerous places. It's hard to disagree with some of what was said there, Duff could clearly see that Anelka was running at Colo before he even passed the ball, so it was stupid to play it back. It's a shame really because he'd been having a very good game before the mistake and it would have been interesting to see people's reactions had he not done it. He in general plays a lot better without Bassong, it's just a little too late atm because he's lost so much confidence.

Taylor looked canny in his first few games imo, agree that since the Man U game he's gone down a lot. Nolan meh, he's better than Butt cause he can pass but he's not better than Barton or Guthrie.