Troll

If we go down our squad will get worse, not better.

While we may build a new exciting team with up and coming talent if we go down, I think it's much more likely that we'll see Shola and Carroll as our first choice strikers, and Carr and Ramage leading the defence.

Bit of a contradiction there - if there's one player who looks like he gives a shit and will give it his all, it's Alan Smith. But because of his complete lack of ability, I think every person on this forum would far rather see N'Zogbia on the pitch than him.

It wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen, but it sure as hell won't be a good thing.

Sunderland have the worst away record in the league, worse than Derby. If we play like we did against Blackburn we'll win easily.

Also, Geordies don't have loyalty to tesco - if sainsburys sold cheaper milk they'd probably go there instead, not keep going to tesco in the hope that one day milk would drop to the cheapest price in the country.

Wenger, for not signing Smith in the first place!

When Blackburn scored I was completely devastated, more than I have been at any match in recent memory. We outplayed them for 89 minutes, then threw the game away right at the end. I know thing like this are what football's all about, but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy them. Football is all about highs and lows, but I'd still rather have mediocrity over lows.

What would you prefer? Mid table cast-off players?

Roeder picked a couple. Mind you, that was when everyone was injured and the team picked itself.

We were all over them. Only two things stopped us winning - a lack of confidence (which will come back with time) and Brad Friedel (who doesn't play for everyone). Honestly, up until the goal, I've not enjoyed a match so much since Bolton on the first day of the season. If the way we played today is a sign of things to come, I'll be happy.

I've used the "he makes an effort" argument about players in the past, but after this season and Alan Smith, I just can't use it anymore.

That last article said he was Senegal's LB.

I don't see the problem. Assuming Enrique's not going to get played for whatever reason, unless we sign a free agent we're going to be stuck with N'Zogbia there for the rest of the season. This guy has played with two of our back four in the past, and is the captain of Senegal, so he can't be that bad. It's not like he'll be first choice LB forever, it sounds like he'll be in as cover until the transfer window opens.

One of them's bad enough, imagine both of them together!

That makes Allardyce's selections look good.

Last time we qualified, we came 7th and got in via the intertoto. Spurs got in from coming 5th, Blackburn by coming 6th (because both the league cup finalists were in Europe already) and West Ham by being FA Cup finalists.

He also looks to have hit a run of form right now - he made it into the ANC best XI. That was at right back though, which is one place he's not needed. Definitely worth trying out in a midfield that doesn't include Smith and Butt.

Last season we often played Pattison, O'Brien, Huntington, Onyewu, Babayaro and Bramble. We also went nearly the whole season with our only recognised strikers as Martins and Sibierski. The squad is better now, but mainly in terms of depth. It still needs a lot of work.

Have you not seen what he achieved with Liverpool and Blackburn?

Can someone remind me what happened last time we replaced Keegan with a world class manager. I forgot.

Derby: Down. Fulham: Down. Can anyone honestly see all of Reading, Birmingham, Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland and Middlesbrough (if we're in a relegation battle then so are they) finishing above us? Look at the current form table - we've only taken two from the last six games. But then you have Reading who are six points below us and have taken 0 points from the last six. Birmingham may have got a point yesterday, but they're still only 3 points from six games. And if you look at our last six games, we've had Man Utd twice, Arsenal away and Villa away. All tough games, which most of the teams below us would lose too. There is no way we'll go down.

I grew up in Dorset. The only professional team in the county was Bournemouth who were in division three, and I'd never been there before. The closest top flight team was Southampton which was over sixty miles away. When you're a kid growing up in an area with no football team, you support whoever's doing best, because that's what kids do. When I was in school, there were loads of Blackburn and Man Utd fans. I decided to start supporting Newcastle for no reason other than they were doing well (this was back in the first Keegan era). I had no ties to them, but I had no ties to anyone. But I stuck with them through thick and thin, and now I actually live in Newcastle and have a season ticket. I'll admit I became a fan for glory hunting reasons, but I was about 10 and I think that can be forgiven. But over the years my love for the club has grown and even though I started supporting the club for a stupid reason, there's no way I could stop now.

We already have a sponsorship deal for next season.

TBH, Craig Moore stood out in our defence when he was fit (although that's not saying much).