thewellander

If Philip Anschutz buys the club, I will literally never buy anything from the club (including a ticket) as long as he is owner. I love NUFC, but I would feel sick to my stomach knowing that my money is going to his pockets, and possibly funding his ultra-right-wing projects. Let's all hope that he doesn't get control.

There seem to be some rumblings of Citeh possibly giving Hughes the sack. I'd take him in a heartbeat if that happens.

What's the point of having Michael Owen on the field if we don't have players on the pitch who can deliver the ball to him? It's unbelievable that we only made one substitution in this game. Charlie should have come on for Duff and Geremi (he was on the bench, wasn't he?) should have come on for Butt, imo. Cacapa cost us the game, but the lack of delivery didn't help us. In the last 15 minutes, the lads could barely push past half and when they did, they held the ball helplessly in midfield. That being said, we need to bounce back next game at home and get back on track. It's not the end of the world.

It was worth giving him a go, but at the end of the day he cost us the game. Plain and simple. Cacapa's time with NUFC is up. He should now be the last choice CB.

Jonas will continue to get better with match fitness and so will Barton, so I feel that we have difference makers on our team right now. I probably shouldn't be expecting to win, but I really think we could get three points out of this. If things work out tomorrow, we could be in 9th place and in shooting distance of fighting for Europe. I know it's unlikely, but I'm going to revel in the positive feelings tonight.

Perhaps as way of proper comparison you'd like to post a team from today's squad without 7 first team midfielders and 2 best strikers (Bowyer, Dyer, Emre, Parker, Jenas, Luque, Milner, Shearer, Owen from that squad iirc) I don't think Jenas was there then. Yup, you're right. I edited, but too late. Only 6 injuries in midfield. It is a ridiculous comparison. Our best first team in 2006-2007 would have looked like this: Given Solano Taylor Moore Babayaro Dyer Parker Emre N'Zogbia Martins Owen We would have the following alternatives: Harper, Krul Carr Bramble, Edgar, Ramage Onyewu, Huntington Bernard Duff Butt Milner, Patisson Luque Sibierski, Ameobi Rossi, Carroll Source: http://www.nufc.com/html/2006-07html/app-goals.html That is not a bad squad, and the first team you have selected there was in an extreme injury crisis. In context, as UV says, what team would we be able to field if we would have to do without: Collocini (Taylor was out as well), Jonas, Butt, Barton, Duff, N'Zogbia, Guthrie, Owen and Martins? The defence would be considerably stronger than it was back then, but we wouldn't look thrilling by any means: Given Beye Taylor Bassong Enrique Geremi LuaLua Smith Gonzalez Ameobi Xisco To be fair, part of the reason why one could argue we've progressed is because we've rid ourselves of the injury prone players who should have made up our first team squad two years ago but couldn't stay fit long enough to make an impact. And yes, I say that realizing that we still have injury problems today, but even if Dyer and Parker were better midfielders than Guthrie and Barton, at least (as it stands) our current lads are a bit younger and more likely to stay fit for a duration. Your point is well taken, though, and I admit that based on results, it's pretty damn hard to suggest that we've improved at all.

It's hard to see anyone in that side who isn't still on the team that I would have right now, with the exception of Milner, perhaps. I truly think that we're one or two players away from having a really competitive team. The fact is that we should have gotten those players during the last transfer window, but we're still improving.

Unchanged side. 2-1 win. Barton and Owen (off the bench) to score. Looking forward to watching this game.

I hope this isn't true. I barely can support the guy now.

Either Shola makes way or nobody does. I don't see a formation change, because things have been more-or-less working for us lately. Personally, I would play the same team on the weekend, and feel good knowing that Owen is on the bench in case we need him late on.

It's a tough situation, really. I've always given Ashley the benefit of the doubt, but it would be hard to imagine that he could ever come back from this in the eyes of the fans, or that he would even want to. That being said, if he does have to stick with the team, I hope that the fans support him, because not supporting him won't accomplish anything at this point.

I've been reasonably happy with Guthrie as a stop gap until we can get in another central midfielder. I think Barton looked alright yesterday, considering his lack of match fitness. I would imagine that he'll be starting in central mid from now on, and will improve every week. For now I would stick with the pairing, or else have Barton and Geremi. We're definitely missing class on set pieces, which Geremi could improve, but we do need someone faster in a holding midfield position to cover our woeful central defenders.

My hope is that once Owen gets back, Duff and Jonas can have a decent striker to put the ball into and our scoring will improve. Duff had some great runs yesterday, but obviously his finishing was poor. At the same time, he would benefit from having someone like Owen in the box, I think. Duff on the right, Jonas on the left (but switching periodically duringt the game), Martins using his pace up front, and Owen doing what he does best as a clinical finisher, and we should be able to cause problems for most defences. That is, if they stay fit.

So excited about today's game. I've had to move to the middle of nowhere for work and I haven't seen a NUFC game in so long I can't remember. But I'm home today, so I get to watch. --------------Given----- Beye---Taylor---Coloccini---Enrique Jonas-------Guthrie------Duff -------------Barton--------- ------Martins------Ameobi That's what I reckon it will be, at any rate. Prediction: 3-1 Toon. Martins for two, and Guthrie for the other.

Looks reasonable. I doubt Martins will start, though. Probably Xisco or (heaven help me) Shola starting instead of Martins. I don't expect much, but a win would get looking up again, so I'm really hoping for three points.

I'd have to say Drogba for both. I can't think of anyone from the past that I dislike as much as him. Maybe Solskjaer.

Canada. Grandfather was from South Shields, so I decided I should cheer for Newcastle, though I never really knew him or who he would have favored.

I'll always appreciate Keegan for what he did in the past, but I do blame him at least in part for the disaster that we're in right now. I definitely wouldn't want him back now. I don't trust him to do what's best for the club anymore. It's a shame really.

I've always supported him. He's done more for this club than anyone since Sir Bobby. In a lot of ways, he's probably saved our club and he doesn't deserve all the grief that he's gotten from the masses.

Guthrie, Jonas, Coloccini, Basong...all have been decent signings. Coloccini was a club record for a CB. Xisco may yet come good. Ashley bought our club from Fat Freddy and bailed it out of massive debt out of his own pocket. I think he can be forgiven for wanting to make smart signings and not spend over the top. It's too bad that things didn't work out between Keegan and the board, but no matter how much we love Kev, it's not fair to pin the blame completely on Ashley.

Agreed. It's sad that Keegan is gone, but he chose to walk away. We've got to move on. I'll miss him, but I'm not going to hate Ashley or boycott Newcastle United because I don't know the whole story.

Xisco must feel really loved.

Hindu, I love how you put N'Zogbia and Geremi on there twice each and yet still only put Smith and Ameobi in parenthesis. Classic.

But that's just speculation. None of us can say for sure that he wasn't willing to put money forward for the right players. We needed better centre backs and we got Coloccini on a record-breaking transfer for our club, for example. When Fat Freddy was in charge, most of the sensible posters on this board were calling for us to get our house in order, and invest in young players who could build up a decent team over a few years. And that is exactly what we have done. We didn't sign a Dyer, an Owen, a Smith, a Duff, a Boumsong, a Viduka, or a Luque. But we did sign Jonas, Guthrie and Basong (who have shown great promise) and now Xisco, who I think is also promising. Moreover, we signed all of those players completely out of the blue, which means that none of us actually know for sure what is happening behind the scenes. We don't know who we made bids for, how much Ashley was willing to spend for those players, and why we didn't sign them. We shouldn't turn on the man who saved our club based on what we think we know, when we know absolutely nothing.

Or they're trying to line up a replacement before they announce.