thewellander

I'll admit that I didn't read the rest of the thread, so I apologize if I'm repeating what someone else said earlier. I'm not happy about this result, but I keep in mind that we didn't have Martins, Barton, Bassong, or Beye. Those four players are arguably the most important players for us to have on the pitch based on this season's performances.

That's my f***ing boy!!!!!!!!! Oh Canada!

This is actually hard to watch at the morning. The game started at 7am over here and I'm starting to regret not sleeping in.

F****ing refs!!!

On the bright side, we're only down one goal and they only managed to score on a free kick and we've got 15 minutes to sort this out. Another "tale of two halves" for Newcastle this season? Let's hope so.

There's no way we should let him go before the summer. If he's keen to go, then he can f*ck off, but not in January. We're too thin as it is.

Owen Hargreaves is Canadian, even though he plays for England. Edit: There are also other Canadians signed to Premier League teams, although they're either on loan or in youth squads: Derrick Bassi – Boro Asmir Begovic – Portsmouth Shaun Saiko – Boro Adam Street – West Ham

I was just watching his post match interview on nufc.co.uk and one thing he said that interested me was that he claimed that he was told by the coaching staff that Bassong was a left back, but it was Bassong himself who talked to Kinnear and told him he wanted to play left centre, so he was given the chance. I know it's a small thing, but if that's true, I'm actually sort of impressed that Kinnear listens to his players and seems willing to try things out. There are some managers who don't seem to talk to their players at all. Also, even if he's made some tactical mistakes (which he has) I've been impressed that he's been willing to give players chances to prove themselves and has stuck with in-form players, even if they aren't the typical starters. He clearly came in with a mentality that the experienced players should start, but he's allowed Bassong to take Taylor's place and N'Zogbia to take Duff's because they came in and earned the spot. When a manager shows that kind of consistency then the players, I think, will play well for them and will genuinely feel that if they give it their all, they will be recognized for it. That being said, he needs to learn to keep his mouth shut to the media. Kinnear out!!!!

Great game. I mistook us for Argentina a couple times with all the passing. We can win this yet. The Enrique/Lennon pairing has been great to watch.

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but I didn't see it. Just watched JFK's pre-Spurs press conference and he said that he wasn't really moving forward on Viduka's contract because he was under the impression that he was retiring and returning to Australia. Any thoughts? Should we be trying to resign him, at least for another year?

Resigning Owen isn't just about resigning one of our top players, our captain, and our top goal scorer, it's also a signal of intent that we're serious about moving beyond our current problems and that Ashley is willing to put some of his money up for improved wages and still supports the club. So, I think it's pretty vital that we do what we can to keep Owen, in that respect. Unless we're planning to sign Kaka in January, that is.

I don't understand why Kinnear would even consider unsettling a back four that is performing so well right now. Bringing in another LB isn't a bad thing, but almost regardless of who it is, he should start on the bench and Enrique should keep his spot, imo.

No more Intertoto, my friends. It doesn't exist anymore.

I wouldn't say that Enrique was outstanding, though he did have a good game. He still gives the ball away too easily for me. But I will say that I think he's got a great upside and he's far better than an LB we've had in recent years. I'm definitely happy with him. I'm only now watching the game, but one thing that's really caught my eye with our back four is that when they do make mistakes, they seem to take responsibility for them and they work very hard to recover.

If we do well in the transfer window, I have no worries. Assuming our new signings are improvements (which I know is a BIG assumption), this team will not get relegated: ---------------------Given Beye-----Coloccini-------Bassong-------Enrique New RM------New CM----Guthrie/Barton----Jonas -----------------Owen-------Martins Subs: Harper, Taylor, Geremi, Guthrie/Barton, Viduka, Zogs, Ranger!!!!

Guthrie, Basson, Coloccini, Jonas...all great business in the transfer window this season, as it's turning out. Obviously the jury is still out, but Guthrie has been playing well and deserves his place in the starting 11.

I went back to 3 from 4, because I'm one of those knee-jerk NUFC fans. If we sign a couple decent midfielders in January, I'll probably change to a 1.

I probably wouldn't have wanted Bullard in the summer, but I would definitely welcome him in now.

Man City and Wigan didn't happen, I suppose? I wasn't saying that. I think Spider Jerusalem said it better than I could. The fact that we were at home for all three games is probably a coincidence. It's fairly easy to point out what the problems were in each game, and it's doubtful that the support was one of them.

Had we not fallen apart against Stoke we wouldn't be having this conversation, and the only reason we fell apart against Stoke was because of poor decision making from Joe Kinnear.

With the confidence we will gain from this and Spurs' general increase in confidence since Harry took over, it could be an absolutely cracking game. Get at good atmosphere at SJP and it could be a great Chritsmas fixture. Really looking forward to next match, tbh. With only three points separating 18th from 10th, and both teams with identical records, this game is huge for both teams. Hopefully Kinnear has learned a thing or two about what style of football our players should be playing.

mackems.gif and at the same time I was thinking the same thing. I would actually be happy for him if he went somewhere next year to get regular first team football. He's been a great player and has shown a lot of dedication and would be a massive loss to the club, but he has the talent to start at most clubs in the Premiership, and he deserves it.

I've mostly supported Kinnear up to this point, but that Enrique comment is a complete disgrace. I'm quickly losing my patience for JFK.

I'll be positive. It wasn't that long ago that Aston Villa was looking to be in the shit, with an unsupportive owner and an all-out player revolt. Then they got a new owner, who didn't infuse the club with billions of pounds, but rather some good decisions, and now they are a legitimate contender for a Champions League place. We're a club that's been plagued by bad decisions at the board room level, and an unfortunate and long-lasting string of injuries to our top players. The fact that any pundit can laugh at NUFC's fortunes, while saying that Chelsea is "cursed by injuries," with a straight face is utterly disgusting. No team has been harder hit by injuries over the past three to four seasons than we have. In spite of that, we have some good players (ie, Jonas, Coloccini, Given, Beye, Basong, Martins, Barton) who seem to be committed to the club and can make up the backbone of a contending club, if we can attract an owner who is able to make good decisions. We've had crisis after crisis and we continue to survive, and still have a great fan base and are in the top flight of a very competitive system. There are definitely lots of reasons to be worried about the immediate future, but there's also room to be optimistic that our fortunes can, and will, turn around. Besides, even if we continue to be a bottom-half team or we end up in the fizzy pop league, I'm still going to love this club.

Thanks for the reasonable post, rebel_yell12. It was very well-put and I agree with almost everything you've said. My main problem with Owen as captain is that he's not signed on to the club past the end of the season. That's where I see a lack of commitment, at least in the long term. I suppose that doesn't mean he can't be a good captain while he's at the club, but it would be nice to have a captain who isn't going to be at another club next year (or possibly in January). If a captain leads by example, on and off the pitch, then we need a captain who wants to be here enough to not let his contract expire. And, yes, I realize that it isn't all Owen's fault. It's his right as a player to play for the club that he wants to, but perhaps he shouldn't be captain.